The Email Factory

Email best practice

Making emails more useful – Part 2: Content marketing

4 minute read

Tony Macpherson

Most marketing emails want you to buy something and that’s fine, it’s why they exist. But if every email you send is a promotion, a sale or a product push, you’re missing an opportunity to do something more valuable: become genuinely useful to your subscribers.

Content marketing in email isn’t a new idea but it remains one of the most underused strategies available, particularly in B2C. The brands that do it well don’t just sell to their subscribers, they give them a reason to engage with the next email.

Content builds what promotions can’t

Promotions drive transactions. Content builds loyalty. It’s a distinction that matters because customer lifetime value is difficult to grow through promotional email alone. Inboxes are full of offers, discounts and limited-time deals. Standing out in that environment by being genuinely useful is more durable than trying to out-promote the competition as well as being better for your margins.

Helpful, informative or entertaining content makes subscribers feel good about your brand. Trust increases, they engage more and when they’re ready to buy they’re more likely to think of you first. Content marketing is a long-term strategy and the compound effect on loyalty and lifetime value shouldn’t be underestimated.

What useful looks like

The most common design focus is that emails should be clean, clear and simple with an obvious call to action. That’s true for a sales email but it’s not a universal rule. It depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

I think there’s an argument that says if people want to read something, it doesn’t matter if it’s in an email or on a website – especially if we’re reading on our phones. Not that emails should be essays – an introduction or summary linking to the full story on a website or app can provide a good balance.

Useful content in email can take many forms depending on your sector and audience:

A fashion brand can go beyond product grids to offer styling guides, seasonal look books or advice on how to wear a specific piece. Context brings the product to life in a way that a price and a buy button can’t.

A travel or hospitality brand can do more than show images of destinations and prices. Information about a location – its history, culture, things to do, lesser-known attractions – helps build anticipation and gives subscribers a reason to read rather than scroll.

A B2B brand can use email to share industry insight, practical guidance and real-world stories that positions them as a trusted partner rather than just a supplier.

A retailer can show customer reviews, how-to guides, product care advice or behind-the-scenes content to create a connection beyond the transaction.

The common thread is usefulness. Content that helps, informs or entertains creates a different kind of engagement than content that simply asks us to buy.

Of course, AI is now involved

The take up of AI tools to generate content ideas, images and write copy has been nothing short of remarkable.

Never has it been more critical to remind ourselves that human ideas, imagination and tone should prevail as the amount of content made using AI increases. There’s a growing backlash against blatant AI output, particularly amongst younger age groups.

Whilst AI makes it easier than ever to produce content quickly and at high volumes, if it sounds like it could have been written by anyone – or worse, like it was written by the same tool every other brand is using – it loses the distinctiveness that resonates with us and how we live.

Your brand voice, perspective and expertise borne from experience are what makes content worth reading. Use AI as a tool to support that, not replace it – ‘slop’ is obvious, strikes of laziness and is homogenous.

And don’t use AI to write an email marketing brief. That makes it even tougher to translate your message into a unique, brand-voiced email providing content designed to enhance the human experience. Bear in mind that AI needs detailed guidance and is always backwards looking.

Content marketing is for life, not just for…

Content marketing only works as a sustained effort. A single well-crafted email with great content followed by months of promotions won’t build the habit of engagement you’re looking for. Consistency is what creates the expectation that your next email will be worth opening.

This requires planning. An editorial calendar, a content pipeline and ideally a budget to resource it properly. Working at least a quarter ahead gives you the breathing room to produce content thoughtfully rather than reactively. It also lets you align content themes with key trading periods, seasonal moments or product launches in a way that feels natural rather than cobbled together in a hurry.

Yes, there will be changes along the way – there always are but having 80% to 90% of what you need in advance is a big advantage, not least in terms of our sanity because of the time pressures we all work with these days.

Start with what you already have. Most brands are sitting on more usable content than they realise — website copy, product information, blogs, customer reviews, social media posts, staff knowledge and expertise. Repurpose and adapt before creating new content from scratch.

Come closer baby

The best content marketing doesn’t broadcast, it invites. Build in ways for subscribers to engage beyond clicking through: surveys, preference centres, review requests and questions that invite a reply. It may help to be selective here by choosing small groups that focus on particular purchases.

The more your subscribers interact across your marketing channels the more data you have to make the next email more relevant and the stronger the relationship becomes.

Track what performs. Which content types get clicked? Which topics drive the most engagement? Let your subscribers tell you through their behaviour to determine what to include more of going forward.

Better together

Done well, content marketing in email transforms the relationship between brand and subscriber. Instead of something to be tolerated or filtered out, your emails become something worth reading – a regular source of value that builds trust, reinforces loyalty and keeps your brand memorable before the next purchase decision.

It’s a harder thing to build than a promotional calendar but it’s also a harder thing for your competitors to copy.

Email personalisation

Making emails more useful — Part 1: Personalisation and targeting

3 minute read

Tony Macpherson

Keeping your customers engaged and your brand front of mind has never been harder. The device that lets you reach your customers instantly is also the device they use to stream, scroll, shop, chat, message, call and do everything else in their online lives. The competition for attention is relentless and the mental filtering people have developed to manage it means your email marketing needs to be spot on.

The good news is that the tools and data available to email marketers have never been better but what’s required to get the most out of them is a considered approach. One that’s built around what your customers actually want rather than what’s easiest to send.

Hello <first name>, goodbye interest

Treating personalisation as putting someone’s first name in a subject line is so twenty years ago! Customers who receive emails that don’t reflect their interests quickly pass them by.

Personalisation means sending a message to a specific person based on what they’ve actually done – their purchase history, their browsing behaviour, their engagement patterns. Even basic targeting outperforms sending the same email to everyone and the data to do it is almost certainly already sitting in your ESP or CRM platform.

As a minimum, most email marketers should be able to:

Identify their most valuable customers and treat them accordingly
Understand who is engaging and who has gone quiet
Use purchase and browsing history to inform what products or content to feature
Know when their audience is most likely to interact and send at these times

Beyond that you can use preference centres, behavioural triggers, trend analysis and RFM modelling (recency, frequency, monetary value) to give you the raw material to send emails that feel genuinely personal rather than broadcast.

Rise of the machines

The gap between what the best marketers are doing and what everyone else is doing has widened significantly in the past few years. Up until recently, ‘big data’ was something only the largest organisations could mine and use effectively. Then along came AI and added the ‘intelligence’ layer that started to use information from the biggest dataset of all – the internet.

But, of course, AI works best in an enclosed system where data is robust and query output reliable.

Sophisticated predictive models can now rank customers by likelihood to purchase, churn or respond to a specific type of message. Recommendation engines can show the right product to the right person based on behaviour at an individual level. Propensity models gives a steer on how customers change and move across data segments. And they can do it at scale. Real-time personalisation tools can adapt email content dynamically using a multitude of data points.

The brands investing in these capabilities are pulling ahead.

That said, the fundamentals matter more than the technology. The most sophisticated recommendation engine in the world won’t compensate for bad or incomplete data, a poorly designed email, badly written copy or a sending frequency that encourages your subscribers to tune out.

Testing times

A common mistake with personalisation is trying to do too much too quickly. Define your goals specifically – “increased revenue” isn’t a goal, it’s an outcome. Ask yourself what behaviour are you trying to influence and in whom?

Build a testing plan into your regular activity. Choose segments that best match your test attributes and isolate them so you can measure properly. Roll out what works and retire what doesn’t. Personalisation is an iterative process and the brands that do it best are the ones that have been refining their approach consistently over time.

Content is king, but context is kingdom

Personalisation isn’t just about what you send – it’s about when, where and why your email is likely to be read. An email opened at 7am during a commute on a phone is a different context to one opened at 8pm on at home with a laptop or tablet. The call to action that works in one setting may perform differently in another.

Think about the journey your email is part of. Where is your customer in their relationship with your brand? What did they do last time they heard from you? What are they likely to do next? The more clearly you can answer those questions the more relevant your emails will feel – and relevance is what keeps people subscribed, engaged and buying.

Endgame

The goal of personalisation is to make every email feel like it was sent specifically for each subscriber and worth reading. Get that right and email stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like a service.

That’s what makes emails more useful.

Email personalisation

Good behaviour — revisited

3 minute read

Tony Macpherson

When it comes to sending marketing emails, batch-and-blast is still surprisingly common. The same message, sent to the same people, at the same time regardless of who they are or what they’ve done.

The smarter approach? Using behavioural data to trigger relevant, timely emails based on what people actually do. I wrote about it in 2015 when the best marketers had already been sending emails like this for years so the idea is nothing new.

So why is batch-and-blast still a thing, especially when the technology available to send more relevant and timely emails has made it easier than ever? The expectations of the people receiving your emails have shifted. If you’re still sending the same email to everyone, it’s about time you shifted and caught them up.

Why behaviour matters more than ever

As consumers we’ve become accustomed to personalised experiences across search, social media and the websites we visit. When a marketing email arrives that has no relevance to us – wrong product, wrong timing, wrong tone – we don’t just ignore it, we unsubscribe. Or worse, we mark it as spam.

Behavioural targeting gives marketers the chance to change that. And the best part is that you already have the data you need. It’s gathered every time someone visits your website, clicks a link in an email or interacts with your brand. No form. No survey. How people behave is more indicative of what they want than what they might tell you anyway.

Think of it this way. A customer visits your website, browses a specific product category, adds something to their cart and leaves without buying. They didn’t do that by accident. They came to your site because they were interested. The question is whether your email programme is set up to respond to that signal or whether it’s going to send them your next scheduled newsletter about something completely unrelated.

What’s changed since 2015

When I first wrote about behavioural email marketing, it was mainly something the most sophisticated brands were doing. Today the tools to do it are widely available and the technology is mature so there’s really no excuse for not using it.

More significantly, AI and machine learning have taken behavioural targeting to a level that wasn’t possible ten years ago. McKinsey’s recent thinking on ‘next best experience‘ describes AI-powered systems that can detect what a customer needs before they even realise it – co-ordinating every touchpoint across the entire customer lifecycle, sequencing communications intelligently and personalising content dynamically at scale.

The results they cite are significant: customer satisfaction up 15-20%, revenue up 5-8%, cost to serve down 20-30%.

That’s the fully evolved version of what behavioural email marketing was pointing toward in 2015.

What good looks like in practice

Personalisation isn’t adding someone’s first name to a subject line. It’s sending a unique message to someone based on what they’ve actually done. A one-to-one (or very close to) email with a relevant message at the right time and a compelling call to action.

Some examples of behavioural triggers worth building if you haven’t already:

Cart abandonment – the most well-known trigger, and still one of the highest-converting emails you can send. Timing matters enormously here and how many emails in the sequence depends largely on the revenue each email generates. Three emails is likely the limit but if there’s enough money still coming in from the third email, add a fourth and measure it.
Browse abandonment – someone views a product but doesn’t add it to their cart. A timely, relevant follow-up can bring them back. Be careful with this one though as it can come across a bit ‘big-brother’. I’d strongly suggest having no more than two emails in this sequence.
Post-purchase – the moment after a purchase is one of the highest-engagement windows you have and is a great way to keep in touch with your new customers and build a brand story. Emails include: confirmation, onboarding, cross-sell and review request.
Win-back – customers who haven’t engaged or purchased in a defined period. A well-timed, relevant message can reactivate a surprising number of them. Avoid using “We’ve missed you!” In the subject line (or anywhere else for that matter!)
Milestone triggers – birthdays, anniversaries, loyalty thresholds. Low effort, high return, and they feel genuinely personal when done well.

Where to start

You don’t need to implement everything at once. Start with a single sequence – cart abandonment is the obvious choice because the intent signal is so clear and the ROI well established. Get that working well, measure it, then build from there.

The technology to do this is available in most email platforms. What it requires is good data, a clear strategy, properly built automations and someone who understands how the pieces fit together. That last part is where many brands fall short – the thinking behind them needs to be done properly.

In a world of increased digital distraction and rising subscriber expectations, well-timed and relevant emails aren’t just nice to have. They’re the difference between an email programme that drives revenue and one that drives unsubscribes.

I wrote that in 2015. It’s even more true now.

Artificial intelligence

Ask the AI: a Q&A with ChatGPT on email marketing

5 minute read

Adrian Young

What’s the best marketing channel on the planet? Email, obviously. Well, we would say that*.

But what if we bring in someone – or something – with a less biased opinion? ChatGPT may have an amiable tone but its perspective is clinically impartial. Let’s find out what it has to say about the world of email marketing.

(*actually we’d say that all marketing channels play a role and work best together.)

Setting it up

ChatGPT isn’t known for its brevity. We want short, snappy responses for the sake of this article. The first thing we’ll do is prepare it for the concept and request that the responses are a little less loquacious than normal.

The Q&A

TEF:We’re going to do a Q&A on the topic of marketing. Please keep your answers short. A sentence or two per answer is plenty.

CGPT:Sure, let’s get started! What’s the first question on marketing?

TEF:Which marketing channel has the best return on investment?

CGPT:Email marketing often has the best return on investment due to its low cost and high engagement rates.

TEF:Realistically, what level of return on investment could a company expect from email marketing?

CGPT:Companies can typically expect an ROI of $38 for every $1 spent on email marketing, although this can vary based on industry and execution.

TEF:What are the ingredients of an effective marketing email?

CGPT:An effective marketing email includes a compelling subject line, personalized content, clear and concise messaging, a strong call-to-action, and an attractive design.

TEF:Let’s examine each of these. What makes a compelling subject line?

CGPT:A compelling subject line is short, attention-grabbing, and creates a sense of urgency or curiosity. Personalization and clear value propositions also increase open rates.

TEF:Can you give an example?

CGPT:Sure! An example of a compelling subject line is: “Unlock 20% Off Your Next Purchase – Limited Time Offer!”

TEF:Now, let’s focus on design. What are some important considerations in a responsive email design?

CGPT:Important considerations in responsive email design include ensuring readability on both desktop and mobile devices, using a single-column layout, optimizing images, and incorporating large, tappable buttons for calls-to-action.

TEF:And now personalisation. How can a company gather suitable data in order to personalise emails on an individual level?

CGPT:A company can gather suitable data through customer sign-up forms, purchase history, website behavior tracking, and email engagement metrics. Surveys and preference centers can also provide valuable personalization insights.

TEF:And you mentioned a strong call-to-action. Can you give a couple of examples?

CGPT:Sure! Examples of strong calls-to-action are “Shop Now and Save 20%” and “Sign Up Today for Exclusive Access.”

TEF:Your earlier answers touched on two big topics in email marketing: fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) and accessibility. Let’s look at the latter first. What are some key considerations when creating an accessible email?

CGPT:Key considerations for creating an accessible email include using descriptive alt text for images, ensuring sufficient color contrast, structuring content with clear headings, using legible fonts, and providing text versions for complex graphics. Additionally, emails should be navigable via keyboard for those using screen readers.

TEF:Accessibility is often lacking in marketing emails, even those sent by major companies. Do you agree?

CGPT:Yes, I agree. Despite the importance of accessibility, many marketing emails from major companies still lack features like alt text, proper color contrast, and screen reader compatibility, which can exclude a significant portion of the audience.

TEF:Why do you think this is?

CGPT:This often happens due to a lack of awareness or training on accessibility standards, prioritization of aesthetics over functionality, and tight deadlines that lead to shortcuts in the design process. Additionally, some companies may underestimate the importance of accessibility in reaching a broader audience.

TEF:Let’s now look at FOMO. This is a standard tactic in (email) marketing. But is it ethically sound?

CGPT:FOMO can be ethically sound if used responsibly and truthfully, creating genuine urgency without misleading consumers. However, it becomes unethical if it manipulates emotions excessively or uses false scarcity to pressure people into making purchases.

TEF:What is the best way to measure a marketing email’s performance?

CGPT:The best way to measure a marketing email’s performance is by tracking key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, and overall ROI. Analyzing these metrics helps determine the email’s effectiveness and areas for improvement.

TEF:And if you had to pick just one metric, which would it be? Take into account both the objective of a marketing email, and what can be measured accurately.

CGPT:If I had to pick just one metric, it would be the conversion rate. This metric directly measures the effectiveness of the email in achieving its goal, whether it’s driving sales, sign-ups, downloads, or any other desired action. A high conversion rate indicates that the email successfully persuaded recipients to take the desired action, making it a crucial indicator of overall email performance.

TEF:Are you aware of any brands that send particularly good marketing emails?

CGPT:Yes, there are several brands known for sending particularly effective marketing emails. Examples include Airbnb, Spotify, Sephora, and Patagonia. These brands often excel in personalization, compelling content, visually appealing designs, and clear calls-to-action, which contribute to their email marketing success.

TEF:Now, let’s look at the future. Where does email marketing go from here?

CGPT:In the future, email marketing is likely to continue evolving with advancements in personalization through AI and machine learning, deeper integration with other marketing channels for omnichannel experiences, increased focus on interactive and dynamic content, and stricter adherence to privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. Additionally, there may be innovations in email design to enhance accessibility and engagement across diverse devices and platforms.

TEF:AI is obviously a hot topic in recent times. How will AI’s role grow in email marketing?

CGPT:AI’s role in email marketing will expand through personalized content generation, optimized send times, and automated segmentation, enhancing campaign efficiency and engagement.

TEF:Personalised content generation is an important one. We already have that in the form of one-to-one product recommendations. But is it conceivable that we’ll reach a stage where AI can write, design, code and send unique emails on an individual level?

CGPT:Yes, it’s conceivable that AI could eventually write, design, code, and send unique emails on an individual level, leveraging vast amounts of data and advanced algorithms to tailor messages precisely to each recipient’s preferences and behaviors.

TEF:So, theoretically human input could at some point become nil and the email marketing process becomes entirely automated?

CGPT:Theoretically, with advanced AI capabilities, the email marketing process could become highly automated, minimizing human input in content creation, design, and even campaign management. However, human oversight and strategic input would likely still be necessary for overall campaign direction, creativity, and ethical considerations.

TEF:Interesting stuff. Email is a medium of contrasts. In some respects old-fashioned, in others at the forefront of technology. Does it have a bright future?

CGPT:Absolutely, email marketing continues to have a bright future due to its adaptability, cost-effectiveness, and ability to deliver personalized, targeted messages. As technology evolves, so too will email marketing’s capabilities, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in engaging audiences and driving business outcomes.

TEF:Let’s wrap it up. Can you write a single sentence that captures the spirit of email marketing?

CGPT:Email marketing: the timeless art of connecting with audiences through personalized, impactful messages.

Well, that’s pretty positive

ChatGPT’s responses might not be ground-breaking but there are some useful reminders about best practice in there. And if the machine sees such a rosy outlook (sorry) for our medium, that means the people who write about email are optimistic. I’m one of them.

Email Marketing

Email: the big picture

3 minute read

Adrian Young

Email is a wonderful marketing medium. Its ROI is legendary. One might go so far as to say that it’s the best marketing channel. They might even be right – but there’s a better way to look at it.

A component of a larger machine

What’s the best meal in a restaurant you’ve ever had? Compliments to the chef! Of course, the (head) chef isn’t alone in the kitchen. There’s a sous chef. And a saucier. In fact, there’s a whole team’s worth of culinary talent.

We can keep zooming out. The waiter who delivered exceptional service, the interior designer who cultivated the perfect ambience, the couriers who delivered fresh ingredients, and the farmers who produced them. Remove any part of the equation and it all falls apart.

Email marketing is also a part of a bigger picture. The most effective marketing campaigns are those in which multiple channels actively work together. But even when this hasn’t been consciously planned, it’s still happening to some degree. An email engager wasn’t always a subscriber. They arrived via your website or social media or by some other non-email means. That raises a question.

Who gets credit?

Attribution in marketing can be seen through tunnel-vision. It’s a little too easy to give exclusive credit to the most recent link in the chain. The truth of attribution is that it’s often more fuzzy than focused.

Even when a clear click-to-conversion can be tracked from a particular email, who’s to say that a series of emails hasn’t influenced that decision? Maybe there wasn’t even anything particularly tempting about that latest email, but it happened to serve as a convenient conduit to your website.

We haven’t even left the scope of email and this is already becoming blurry. There are broader factors to consider, such as your social media activity, or web content, or external influences like third party reviews or good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. A complex series of events leads up to every conversion. The marketing report may assign success to Wednesday’s email, but it’s worth taking a step back and considering the full story.

Clicks aren’t everything

It goes without saying that clicks are one of the key indicators of an email’s performance. After all, the goal of a marketing email is usually to drive traffic to a landing page. A click therefore seems like the email’s final goal, before Team Website takes the baton.

By that theory, all clicks could be considered equal in value. Except they aren’t. An enthusiastic clicker might be disappointed by the content they’re met with online. Is that a weak landing page’s fault, or a misleading email? Most likely some hard-to-measure ratio of the two.

Are conversions therefore the best way to measure an email’s success? Maybe, but not the only one. A non-clicking opener has potential latent value, as does a non-purchasing clicker. As humans we often think in absolutes, but reality is rarely so black and white. Sales may be the most direct way to gauge an email’s performance, but its real contribution to your brand runs deeper.

The depth of design

Design is another aspect of email that is easy to oversimplify. An email’s design isn’t just its layout and colours. It’s the whole shebang. Copy, imagery, links – they’re all intertwined.

Even the subject line isn’t as isolated or single-purpose as it may appear. Its influence extends beyond the initial open, and perhaps beyond the scope of that one email. Words are a big part of your brand’s personality.

Design considerations like responsive layouts and dark mode and accessibility should not be treated as standalone concepts. It’s far better to make an accessible design… than to make a design accessible.

Back to reality

It’s easy to preach. In the real world and the hubbub of business, there isn’t always the luxury of stopping to think about the big picture. It might even come across as an excuse. Hey, this email had a terrible click rate… but at least it raised awareness!

Nonetheless, it’s worth pausing from time to time to consider how everything fits together. There’s a causal chain. Nothing is random. No two things are truly distinct. These concepts aren’t only relevant to email or marketing or business, but to every aspect of our existence.

Email Marketing

Are your emails ethical?

3 minute read

Adrian Young

Alcohol makes you attractive! Vaping is cool! Some marketing is obviously unethical.

But most unethical marketing isn’t so cartoonishly blatant. Not only can it be unknown to the customer, but even the marketer may not necessarily be aware that they’re doing anything wrong. So, how do we make sure our emails are morally sound?

Defining unethical

Firstly, let’s agree on what is meant by unethical. Merriam‑Webster defines the word as:

not conforming to a high moral standard

And in turn, moral is defined as:

conforming to a standard of right behavior

So we’re dealing with right and wrong, good and bad. A subjective topic to an extent, and one with blurry boundaries.

With regards specifically to the ethics of marketing, let’s refer to some third party sources. Forbes, Kendrick PR and Brafton are among the top results when searching for the topic. They all agree that misleading information is unethical. Some other factors include the incitement of controversy, marketing without consent, and exploitation of emotions.

Tell the truth

Honesty is a recurring theme in the ethics of marketing. No legitimate marketer would misrepresent a product. Or would they?

You don’t have to make outright false claims about a product to be dishonest about it. It’s not uncommon to employ Photoshop or other trickery to simulate – and likely exaggerate – a product’s properties. That de-ageing cream works wonders… in the digital realm!

Or what about the offer itself? A get‑it‑while‑it‑lasts 24‑hour sale certainly creates a sense of urgency, especially under the ominous presence of a countdown clock ticking down to zero. But if the offer’s surprise extension is pre‑planned, then it is dishonest. A lie is a lie.

Your customer is not a fish

So don’t bait them. A misleading or vague subject line might lure some openers. But ultimately that does customers a disservice. If the big surprise turns out to be a little disappointing, then people rightfully may not be so tempted next time.

It’s respectful to the customer to be transparent in subject lines and message previews. State the offer up-front and let the reader – a human being – make their own decision.

Accept disinterest

Subscribers come and go. But they don’t always close the door when they’re leaving. It’s good practice for various reasons to ultimately remove inactive subscribers from your mailing lists.

Strive to make emails for everyone

Somehow we’re in the mid-2020s and accessibility is still often skimped on or outright ignored in email. Image-heavy emails with insufficient alt tags, a confusing tab order and lack of semantic code are not uncommon.

Worryingly, there is sometimes an attitude based on pre‑conceived notions of the audience’s level of ability. Our readers are young and hip – we don’t need to worry about accessibility! Don’t be that marketer.

Even in a hypothetical and statistically-impossible scenario where 100% of a company’s mailing list is completely able, there’s an important point to remember: an accessible email is a better email for everybody.

Take the bad with the good

Don’t take our word for it… take the word of these glowing customer reviews that we have cherry‑picked! For a more balanced and believable view, a link to Trustpilot along with a live score combines the powers of brand advocacy and honesty. Bad reviews will naturally happen from time to time. Take it as an opportunity to show the world how you put a problem right.

Some fundamental contradictions

I mentioned earlier that the customer is not a fish. And yet this is an industry in which hook is an accepted piece of terminology.

Kendrick PR cites fearmongering as an unethical marketing practice. But marketers swear by FOMO – the fear of missing out.

Similarly, Brafton criticises the triggering of negative emotions as a means of manipulating consumer decisions. What is fear if not negative?

Does it matter?

Honesty may be the best policy, but is it good for business? If relatively minor sins help to bring in the numbers, and customers aren’t even aware of being played, then it could even be perceived that there’s no harm done. Doing the right thing might not always be a sufficient motivator when there’s pressure to hit targets.

But what if a company can earn a reputation for transparency? What if customers become aware of one brand’s honesty in the face of their competitors’ tricks? Maybe that’s hoping for some unrealistic karmic justice, or maybe it’s something worth striving for.

Artificial intelligence

Humanised email marketing in the age of AI

3 minute read

Adrian Young

We live in the age of artificial intelligence. Sort of. More accurately, we live in the age of algorithmic content‑generation.

Computer programmes can write copy, draw pictures and generate code in seconds. Again: sort of. The intelligence aspect of AI is very overstated – these programmes have no actual understanding of what they’re doing. Therefore they are ~~blissfully~~ emotionlessly unaware when errors occur in their output. And those errors can be both glaring and numerous.

This of course is a technology in its early stages. With a human at the helm, to guide and refine, it can already be used to great effect. So what happens as the technology develops, and the need for human input becomes less and less?

Marketing by machines

Computer programmes can analyse customer behaviour and serve up unique one‑to‑one content in email marketing. The scale, speed and accuracy far exceeds the capabilities of any human marketing department.

For years this has primarily meant product recommendations. These often take the form of a block of personalised content within an otherwise static email. As we move into a more sophisticated era of content generation, it’s not far‑fetched to imagine entirely computer‑authored emails tailored to each unique customer’s preferences from top to bottom.

Be contactable

Email is – or at least should be – a two-way communication medium. All too often however, companies send marketing emails from no-reply addresses. It’s a closed door, and tells the customer: our message matters, yours does not.

As marketing becomes increasingly robotic, leave that door open instead. Give your customer the reassurance of accessible human help.

Join the conversation

Social media is the perfect medium to humanise your brand. Reply to comments, good or bad. Show a sense of humour. Let the world see that there’s a human presence behind the corporate facade.

Likewise, don’t let negative feedback or complaints go unanswered. Nothing puts me off a company like cookie‑cutter replies to bad reviews on Trustpilot. Turn negative into positive by demonstrating a human solution when things go wrong.

A matter of preference

Machine-learning is powerful. But an algorithm will never know your customer better than they know themselves. That’s why a preference centre remains an excellent starting point for personalised email content.

A tick‑the‑box preference form gives customers an easy way to tell you their interests. The obvious benefit is more relevant email content. The less obvious but equally important benefit is the message it sends about the value you place on human choice.

Turn customer into creator

You can create content for your marketing emails. Machines can create content for your marketing emails. But you know who else can create content? Your subscribers.

Invite your customers to share photos or other content themed around your products. Perhaps tie it to a competition. Incorporate this content into marketing emails and suddenly they have more of a community feel rather than corporate.

Everyone gets a vote

Continuing the topic of subscriber interaction – why not encourage engagement through surveys? A simple click‑to‑vote system can be tied to a database at the back end. And let’s keep that two-way communication in mind – current results can be shown via images generated in real time.

The benefits are numerous. Customers see that their opinions are valued. Surveys serve as an insight into consumer behaviour. And your emails become an engaging, living thing.

Be individual

Authentic human content is going to become increasingly uncommon… and increasingly valued. A unique brand voice will be more important than ever.

But why stop at brand level? A company is made up of individuals. Opinion pieces by team members or guest content by industry experts can give your emails a captivating human touch.

The value of authenticity

Generative AI is a fascinating development of the digital age. Anyone can become artist or author or musician at the push of a button. And yet when that work is devoid of effort and meaning, it becomes a kind of creative candy not worthy of perusal. Does that matter when the purpose is marketing rather than self expression? Does it matter when the desired output is a catchy pop song rather than a heartfelt ballad? What happens when it becomes impossible to discern between the creations of a human and a computer? This is a technology that raises many questions across all aspects of human life.

Bringing the focus back to email marketing – it’s important to keep up‑to‑date with technological developments. But perhaps the best marketing in the coming years will be that makes a real human connection with customers.

Email best practice

Your email marketing accessibility checklist

5 minute read

Adrian Young

It’s the 2020s. Your marketing emails need to be accessible. It’s an ethical and legal obligation. Actually, scrap that – it’s simply the right thing to do.

But there are a lot of accessibility considerations, and therefore a lot of things to accidentally overlook. Here’s a handy checklist to keep your emails on track.

Use proper text

Images of text is awful practice and a major barrier to accessibility. Don’t do it – ever.

Use a minimum body copy font size of 16 pixels

That is generally agreed upon to be the smallest acceptable size for body copy. A bit bigger is even better. And it’s worth getting out of old habits of rendering footer content in miniscule lettering. If something is important enough to include in an email, it’s important enough to be readable.

Left-justify paragraphs of text

Centered text is fine for headings and calls‑to‑action. Larger blocks of copy, however, should always sit to the left. It’s easier on the human eye and an easily-implemented accessibility improvement.

Code semantically

HTML is full of descriptive elements like <h1> for primary headings and <footer> for, well, footers. Use them. Alternatively, you may wish to consider their ARIA equivalents.

Describe your tables

Add role="presentation" to every table that makes up your email (unless it is actually a data table of course). The HTML <table> element is repurposed in emails for structure rather than data, so make sure it’s marked as such.

Use responsive code properly

Your email’s content should fit to any screen size. But if you need to resort to cheating – i.e. doubling up blocks of content with separate desktop and mobile sections – then your design needs to be re-evaluated.

Use high contrast colouring

Low contrast can be difficult for a visually‑impaired person. Make sure your text, buttons and images stand out. How do you know if the contrast is sufficient? Try running your view online link through the Web Accessiblity Evaluation Tool.

Use high‑resolution imagery

Low resolution (or actual size) images look blurry on modern high density screens. Make sure all of your images are saved at double the maximum logical resolution at which they’ll appear in your email.

Optimise your images

Big file sizes + email is not a good combo. Mobile users in slow network areas will experience sluggish download times and potential broken images.

Describe images via alt tags

Readers using screen readers won’t know what your images depict unless you describe them. Developmental laziness excludes customers. Take a few seconds to type photograph of this or illustration of that.

Use blank alt tags on decorative images

But don’t waste your reader’s time by tagging images as decorative curve or suchlike. It’s just fluff.

And keep decorative images to a minimum

The more complex your design, the more section‑hopping a screen reader needs to perform. Not to mention the greater the chance of your email breaking. Web is the place for fancy. Email works best with a little more restraint.

Prepare for non‑animated animated GIFs

Outlook doesn’t like GIFs. It’ll only show the first frame. If something essential sits later in your animation, not everyone will see it.

Go easy on the GIFs

TV shows are announced with a warning when strobe effects or other flashing colours are coming up. You don’t have the luxury of forewarning people in email, so keep your animated GIFs gentle.

Use PNG images with transparency

Logos, icons and other non‑rectangular images can be unexpectedly left sitting in blocks of colour on dark mode. Use PNGs with transparency instead to let them blend naturally.

Don’t put critical content in background images

Because background images in email have a flaky history. Use them for cosmetic purposes only, and make sure your email still looks good if it falls back to a flat colour.

Maintain a consistent layout

It’s fairly popular in email to have alternating left/right layouts for images and text from story to story. Because it… looks cool? But from a screen reader’s perspective, the layout is confusingly inconsistent. A uniform design is much easier to navigate. Oh, and don’t be tempted to mess with the page’s tab index sequence instead!

Use plenty of white space

Too many things crammed together is visually distracting. Space items apart and give your design room to breathe.

Don’t cluster links

Text links or other small elements should never be close to each other. It’s confusingly fractured, and a finger pressing a touchscreen is liable to hit the wrong one.

Big buttons

Your major links should be presented as large, easy‑to‑press buttons. That keeps them both visually and functionally prominent. For maximum accessibility, make sure they are clickable all over and not just the text in the middle.

Design and code for dark mode

Oh, and on that topic – make sure your email is explicitly coded for dark mode. That means a carefully selected alternative colour palette and possibly substitute images in places that make sense.

Write concise copy

Rambling passages of text are not well‑suited to marketing emails (great for blogs though!). Tell people the essentials and let them click through to a website if they’re interested in the full story.

Don’t use cryptic subject lines or preheaders

Open-bait subjects don’t do anyone any favours. Respect your customer’s time by letting them know in advance if a message is worth opening.

Use descriptive calls‑to‑action

Ambiguous and mixed links are common in email. Often a feature’s image links to a different place than its button. You may know what goes where, but your customer does not.

Don’t overlink

Linking every square inch of your mailing to a landing page is frustrating for the end user. Only link calls-to-action or images that make logical sense. Paragraphs of text do not warrant links!

Keep your code under 100KB

Or your email will be clipped in Gmail.

Always include a view online link

Your email may be rendering perfectly in all of your tests, but that’s not the point. Your user may prefer or need to view it in a browser for personal reasons.

Don’t send from a no-reply address

Email is a communication tool. Don’t send the wrong message by making it a one-way street.

Send relevant content

Segmentation and targeting isn’t the most obvious aspect of accessibility, but it is one nonetheless. Presenting people only with relevant information helps to ensure that your mailings feel inclusive.

Test, test, test

Testing deserves a checklist all of its own. Broadly speaking, the following accessibility aspects of your email need to be checked for every send:

Visual check: the most obvious one. Your email needs to look presentable on as many devices and email applications as possible. A bank of real devices and/or previewing service like Litmus is a must.
Screen reader check: knowing how your email sounds is often overlooked. Look out for phrases like “2X points”. That may make sense when read, but when spoken it’ll sound like “two x” than “two times”.
Dark mode check: if you check light mode only, you’re only getting half the picture. Always take the time to check your email in forced dark mode environments like Outlook, and in controlled dark mode environments like iPhone Apple Mail.
Images-off check: your email needs to remain perfectly understandable even if images fail to load – which can happen for various reasons.

Is that everything?

Probably not. Accessibility is not black and white – it’s a scale. But the good news is that you don’t need to produce the perfect accessible email overnight or indeed ever. Every step towards more accessible emails is a victory in itself.

Email Marketing

How to win with email in Q4: two Black Friday strategy musts

2 minute read

Dela Quist

With the upcoming festive season on the horizon, it’s prudent to gear up for the anticipated surge in activities. Let’s delve into two pivotal strategies that will serve as the cornerstone for your success during this critical quarter.

1. Prepare the inbox providers for increased email volumes: strategic IP-warming

Imagine your email deliverability as a cultivated relationship. You wouldn’t barge in without letting someone know, would you? Similarly, your emails require gradual notifications to the inbox providers. To guarantee smooth email delivery during the bustling festive period, consider implementing IP-warming strategies. This entails incrementally escalating your email sending volume and frequency from late August through September.

Think of this IP warming as an initial rapport‑building exercise with inbox providers. By establishing a consistent and trustworthy sending pattern, you cultivate the provider’s confidence in your emails. This practice also serves as a reminder to recipients who might have lapsed in engagement. The proactive approach not only ensures delivery but also reinstates your brand presence.

2. Align with algorithm expectations: maintaining consistent patterns

Email algorithms function like an intricate choreography. They’re attuned to your regular steps, but sudden changes can lead to a misstep. During the festive season, it’s customary to elevate your email frequency. However, abrupt fluctuations in sending volume or recipient interactions can trigger algorithmic scepticism, potentially affecting your deliverability.

To foster a harmonious dance with these algorithms, gradually escalate your sending volume in alignment with your plans for the festive season. This measured progression affords the algorithms the time to recalibrate and assimilate your new rhythm, ensuring your emails secure their intended place in the inbox.

Bonus strategy: trigger optimization and collaborative efforts

Triggers play a strategic role in guiding subscribers down the funnel to conversion and increased lifetime value. Update your triggers and if at all possible implement any triggers missing from your armoury (use an agency if you are time or resource constrained). In particular triggers related to browser behavior and the purchase funnel ‑ user experience is paramount during the Black Friday and Christmas season when the most revenue is at stake. Agencies bring a wealth of expertise and insights, streamlining the process of trigger optimization. For further insights and actionable guidance, explore these pertinent articles:

In conclusion, meticulous planning and strategic implementation are integral to maximising the potential of the Black Friday and Christmas season for email marketing endeavours. By prioritising these effective strategies, you’re poised for a rewarding holiday campaign!

Email Marketing

The importance of a good email marketing brief

3 minute read

Alex Bugiu

You want to send an email campaign to your customers. The marketing department has everything planned out, more or less, so that only leaves the production stage. No problem – just send a few notes over to the email devs. They’ll know what do do. Now, await a test email in your inbox, ripe for approval.

But you don’t receive the test. Instead you’re bombarded with a series of questions from the production team. Cue a lengthy to‑and‑fro sequence of messages. Looks like the devs didn’t know specifically what was required all.

So, what went wrong? There was a critical missing ingredient: a clear brief.

Detail pays off

When passing work to other teams, a structured brief is the best form of communication. Without it, holes appear – leading to confusion, guesswork, questions… and potential mistakes. The bottom line is time and money.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to save time by throwing together a quick brief. That way the other team can begin their contribution sooner and you get to tick a task off your to-do list. In reality this hasty approach will only serve to add more time for all parties in the long run. That’s not good for anyone’s stress level!

Some email brief pointers

Include as much information as possible

Layout, images, colouring, links, copy, tracking, subject line, preheader, dynamic content, audience – there’s a lot to cover for even a single email. What may seem obvious to one department, may be a mystery to another – particularly when external agencies are involved.

The design itself is part of the brief

It’s possible that you’ll be sending a design file such as a PSD to the dev team. While that will cover many aspects of the build, it must be supported by a comprehensive brief. How should the content stack on mobile? Which segments are to see which features?

Keep irrelevant information out

While it’s important to include all necessary information, it’s best to do so concisely. It’s unlikely that the developers will need to know why something is being marketed a particular way.

Timelines

An often-overlooked aspect of briefs is the internal timeline. When do you want initial tests? How long is to be allowed for review and feedback. On what day must everything be signed off and set up? Setting a timeline for the project helps other teams prioritise their work and you can plan your other activities in accordance to the project schedule.

Jargon

Your jargon may not be someone else’s! Plain English is in everyone’s interests. Alternatively, it may be helpful to include a glossary of terms in your documentation.

Placeholders

Ideally a brief should only be supplied in its entirety. But this is the real world. Some assets might not be ready on time, particularly in the retail industry. Maybe an image is still with retouching department, or the new product you want to advertise arrived later than expected and a photoshoot still needs to take place. In these kind of situations a descriptive placeholder can make all the difference. Flag pending content to the other teams and answer those confused questions before they can even crop up.

Template

A good brief takes effort. But that effort doesn’t need to entail reinventing the wheel for every new job. By creating a brief template, you ensure consistency both in information and where to find it. Familiarity will soon follow and everyone will know where to find what.

Sign-off on creative assets

Layout, images and copy should be ideally signed off before anything is sent to the production team to be built. Something that may seem like a quick edit could in reality take far longer. Maybe that additional comma needs to be added across multiple versions of an email. And then there’s the re-upload, re-testing and re-approval process. It’s always worth aiming to finalise creative decisions before the coding stage.

Feedback

Once the email is built and you have the tests, you might have some amendments. Perhaps a link on the website has changed, or one of the products in the email has gone out of stock. It is important that when sending feedback that the information clear and to-the-point. For example: this is the new product URL, or swap product X with product Y. The feedback should be treated as a mini brief and follow the points above.

A simple email brief example

Final words on how to write an email brief

Writing an effective email brief isn’t always a quick or easy task. But going the extra mile at that stage, will save everyone a lot of time in the future and get you the desired end product. I guess you could say let’s not be brief.