Best Practices

Overview

Every marketer dreams of email marketing success. The first step to achieving success in your one-to-one marketing program is to gain an understanding of industry best practices. The first one to master is ExactTarget's Subscribers Rule! philosophy. Follow the three basic tenets of ExactTarget's Subscribers Rule! philosophy and you'll be well on your way to building a successful one-to-one marketing program.

1. Serve the individual
2. Honor their unique preferences with regard to communication, content, frequency & channels
3. Deliver them timely, relevant content that improves their lives

Your subscribers come first. Respect their preferences and deliver them meaningful content.

See ExactTarget's Digital Marketing Resources Guide for industry standards and resources. 

For more information, get customized tips, tricks, and additional resources that will help you optimize your one-to-one marketing program through ExactTarget's Quick evaluation. You'll take a short survey to help us assess your current one-to-one marketing program and instantly receive all the tips, tricks, and resources you need.

Understand Your Deliverability

Perhaps the area that causes most concern to one-to-one marketers is deliverability. After all, if your emails aren't making it to the inbox, your subscribers can't interact with them. And if your subscribers can't interact with your emails, it will eventually "kill" your one-to-one program. By following the practices below, you can rest assured you won't end up getting blacklisted:

1. Play by the Rules of ISPs and Filtering Companies
   Legitimate emails are often filtered before ever reaching their intended recipients. Senders who deploy high quantities of email promotions, send to 'dirty' lists, or generate many complaints (and consequently "look like spammers" to ISPs) are blocked. Don't underestimate the power of ISPs and SPAM filtering organizations-their control over the delivery of email messages only continues to increase.
    
2. Reduce SPAM Blocking with Permission-Based Email Marketing
   Don't abuse the relationship you have with your subscribers. They opted-in to receive a certain type of email communication from you (such as a newsletter) and gave you permission to email them. But don't think just because they gave you permission for one type of email communication, that they'd like to receive anything you want to send them (such as promotional emails or offers). It is your responsibility to honor their preferences (Remember the Subscribers Rule! philosophy!).
    
3. Move to Double Opt-in to Reduce Threat of Blacklisting
   Blacklists are an email marketer's worst nightmare. Reduce the risk of finding your IP address listed on one by implementing a double opt-in campaign. Trigger an opt-in confirmation email immediately after a subscriber signs up and ask them to confirm they'd like to be added to your list. When your subscribers say "Yes" twice, you're less likely to end up with a "dirty" list or deliverability issues down the road.
    
4. Maintain a Consistent From Address and Subject Line Recognition
   By using a consistent "from name", your subscribers will grow accustomed to receiving email from you and will be less likely to hit the "SPAM" button. Make your subject lines clear and easy to recognize - if your subscribers instantly know who the email is from, they'll be less likely to report your emails as SPAM.

If you still have questions you can learn more about deliverability and CAN-SPAM compliance in ExactTarget's CAN-SPAM Compliance Whitepaper.

For a more detailed look at deliverability, see Email Deliverability.

Optimize Your Email Design

Email design is vital to the success of your email marketing program. As a marketer, you're interested in improving ROI, click-throughs, and conversions. The design of your messages plays a huge role in their success. After all, you want your subscribers to see your message the way you intended, and that starts with good email design.

Start with the basics. Below you'll find a few of our email design basics - think of it as Email Design 101.

• Image Recommendations
  • ExactTarget supports both JPEG and GIF images - ensure your images are one of these file types before uploading into your ExactTarget account.
  • Keep your images to 600 pixels wide.
  • Images should follow the standard web resolution: 72 dpi. 
  • Images should be no larger than 200 KB.
• Header Recommendations
  • Keep your headers to exactly 600 pixels wide and no deeper than 150 pixels.
  • Headers should follow the standard web resolution: 72 dpi.

Grow Your List

We understand how important it is for you to grow your list. But it's just as important to ensure the subscribers that you acquire are quality  subscribers - the engaged subscribers who want to be on your list. Below you'll find a few of the rules to live by when growing your list, taken from our List Growth Study.

• Organic growth rules! The tactic for growing your list is capture opt-ins on your website. Also, have your call center associates ask customers who call in if they'd like to join your email list or have your point of sale associates try to capture opt-ins at the point of sale. Less successful tactics? 'Hunting tactics' - where marketers go looking for prospective subscribers. Give your customers every opportunity to opt-in after they've initiated contact with your brand. Consider all of the customer touch points that your company has - audit each touch point to ensure that you are providing your customers with opportunities to opt-in to email communications. 
• Sell value. Successful list growth begins with gaining permission from your subscribers. But you want your subscribers to take the initiative to sign-up without feeling coerced or trapped. It's up to you to clearly articulate the value of your one-to-one program. Remember, your subscribers come first. They're asking themselves, "What's in it for me?" Make it easy, and answer the question for them. Provide your prospective subscribers with the frequency and content expectations of your mailings.
• Diversify, track, and evaluate. Don't rely on a single technique to grow your list. Employ multiple list growth strategies and closely track and monitor all of your list sources. 
• Don't look for a silver bullet. Many marketers gravitate toward list growth tactics that promise quick results. However, list growth tactics that promise quick and easy results doesn't necessarily mean quality results. And the quality of, not quantity of, your subscribers should always be your end goal. 
• Use Technology. Don't dismiss the value of newer technologies to grow your list. Take advantage of ExactTarget's Social Forward to grow your list via social networks and word-of-mouth. Try using Text Capture for subscriber who prefer mobile interactions. For more tips on how to grow your list the right way, check out our List Growth Advisor. 

For more information, learn how to grow your list in just 60 seconds with ExactTarget's Email List Growth Advisor. You'll receive personalized recommendations based on your specific needs.

Subject Lines

The subject line is arguably the most important part of your email because it gauges user interest. Open rates are a measure of reader interest. Click rates are a measure of relevance. 

Below are several guidelines when creating your subject line: