10 Best Practices for Email Marketing to Boost Engagement & ROI

Email marketing remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels, with an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent (Source: Litmus, 2023). However, success depends on strategic execution. This guide covers the 10 best practices to optimize your email campaigns for higher engagement, deliverability, and conversions.

Table of Contents

1. Build a Quality Email List
2. Segment Your Audience
3. Craft Compelling Subject Lines
4. Optimize for Mobile Devices
5. Personalize Your Emails
6. Design for Readability
7. Test and Optimize
8. Maintain Email Deliverability
9. Automate Where Possible
10. Measure Key Metrics
11. FAQs

Build a Quality Email List

A successful email marketing strategy starts with a permission-based, engaged subscriber list.

Key strategies:

• Use double opt-in to confirm subscriber interest (reduces spam complaints)
• Offer valuable lead magnets (e-books, checklists, or exclusive content)
• Avoid purchased lists (violates GDPR/CAN-SPAM and hurts deliverability)
• Place signup forms strategically across your website and social media

Pro Tip: Grow your list organically by promoting signups through webinars or loyalty programs. Tools like Mailchimp or Klaviyo offer built-in form builders.

Segment Your Audience

Segmentation can increase email revenue by up to 760% (Campaign Monitor, 2023).

Effective segmentation criteria:

• Demographic data (age, location, job title)
• Behavioral data (purchase history, website activity)
• Engagement level (active vs. inactive subscribers)
• Customer lifecycle stage (new leads vs. repeat buyers)

Craft Compelling Subject Lines

47% of recipients decide to open emails based solely on the subject line (Invesp, 2023).

Best practices:

• Keep under 50 characters for mobile optimization
• Use action-oriented language ("Get 20% Off Today Only")
• Create urgency ("Last Chance: Sale Ends Tonight")
• A/B test different styles (questions vs. statements)

LSI Keywords: email subject line tips, open rate optimization, email preview text

Optimize for Mobile Devices

61% of emails are opened on mobile devices (Email Monday, 2023).

Mobile optimization checklist:

• Use responsive email templates
• Keep subject lines short
• Increase font size (minimum 14px)
• Use single-column layouts
• Make CTAs thumb-friendly (at least 44x44px)

Personalize Your Emails

Personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates (Experian, 2023).

Personalization tactics:

• Use merge tags for names/locations
• Recommend products based on past purchases
• Send birthday/anniversary discounts
• Tailor content to user preferences

Design for Readability

Visual best practices:

• Use a clear hierarchy (H1, H2, bullet points)
• Maintain 60:40 text-to-image ratio
• Ensure alt text for all images
• Stick to brand colors and fonts
• Place primary CTA above the fold

Accessibility Tip: Use tools like Litmus to test how your emails render across clients.

Test and Optimize

Continuous testing improves performance over time.

What to test:

• Subject lines (A/B test with 10-20% of list)
• Send times (varies by audience)
• Email length (short vs. long-form)
• CTA placement and wording
• Different content formats (video vs. text)

Maintain Email Deliverability

Poor deliverability wastes 21% of marketing emails (Return Path, 2023).

Deliverability checklist:

• Authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Monitor spam complaint rates (<0.1% ideal)
• Clean your list regularly (remove inactive users)
• Warm up new IP addresses gradually
• Avoid spam trigger words ("free," "guarantee")

Automate Where Possible

Automated emails have 70.5% higher open rates than generic campaigns (Epsilon, 2023).

Essential automations:

• Welcome series (3-5 emails)
• Cart abandonment sequences
• Post-purchase follow-ups
• Re-engagement campaigns
• Event-triggered notifications

Measure Key Metrics

Track these KPIs to gauge success:

Metric	Benchmark	Improvement Tips
Open Rate	15-25%	Better subject lines, segmenting
Click-Through Rate	2-5%	Clear CTAs, relevant content
Conversion Rate	1-3%	Strong offers, optimized landing pages
Bounce Rate	<2%	List hygiene, valid addresses
Unsubscribe Rate	<0.5%	Better targeting, frequency control

Conclusion

Implementing these email marketing best practices will systematically improve your campaign performance. Focus first on list quality and segmentation, then optimize content and design for engagement. Regular testing and metric analysis will reveal additional opportunities for refinement.

For ongoing improvement, stay updated with resources from the Email Marketing Rules blog and HubSpot Email Marketing Guide.

FAQs

Q: How often should I send marketing emails?
A: Ideal frequency depends on your audience. Start with 1-2x/week for most B2C businesses, or biweekly for B2B. Monitor engagement metrics to adjust.

Q: What's the best day/time to send emails?
A: Generally Tuesday-Thursday between 9-11 AM local time performs well, but this varies by industry. Always test with your specific audience.

Q: How can I reduce unsubscribe rates?
A: Improve targeting, offer preference centers, ensure content relevance, and avoid excessive frequency. A/B test different approaches.

Q: Are plain-text emails better than HTML?
A: It depends. HTML allows for branding and visuals, while plain-text often feels more personal. Test both—transactional emails often perform better as plain-text.

Q: How long should my emails be?
A: Focus on value over length. For newsletters, 300-500 words is common. Promotional emails should be concise (under 200 words) with clear CTAs.