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How much should I budget for email marketing?

Now that you've decided to invest in email marketing, a question you're probably wondering is, "How much should I budget for email marketing?" The answer is as simple as it is nuanced: You should budget as much as you can afford to lose.

If you start with email marketing, your ROI will likely be small (or non-existent). So, if you have $10,000 set aside for your business but only have enough runway until the end of the year, make sure to save enough so that even if your email campaigns don't bring in new customers or sales right away, then you'll still be able to make payroll and pay rent.

On the other hand, if your business has reached a point where it's ready to scale, look at how much revenue your emails are bringing in and allocate 25% of those profits back into your marketing budget.

How can I get more subscribers?

Please give them a reason to subscribe. If you create great content, you are already doing this, but make sure you communicate that clearly on your blog or website, so visitors understand what they'll get for subscribing.
Give them some options about how often and how much you're going to send them. Most people are happy with once a week, but some may prefer monthly emails or even daily tips from your blog posts. Make it easy for them to choose their subscription preferences.
Make it easy for people to subscribe and unsubscribe from your emails. When someone comes across your content on a blog or website, don't make it hard for them to find the subscription form—put it right in clear view at the top of the page where everyone can find it easily, and include as few fields as possible (name and email only). And remember: make unsubscribing just as easy! They won't mark you as spam by mistake when they intended to unsubscribe because they found the option too difficult or confusing before leaving in frustration.

What is the best subject line length?

The ideal line length is 50 characters or less. Shorter lines have much higher open rates than longer ones. The best subject lines are between 6 and 10 words long. They get the most open because they're clear, concise, and fit seamlessly into your readers' inboxes. A subject line that's too long will get cut off in some email clients, making it impossible for your readers to know what you're writing about.

Do I need to be mobile-friendly?

Yes! It would be best if you were mobile-friendly. If you're not, it's going to hurt your business.

Your email marketing campaigns must be mobile-friendly. According to some stats:

The average American spends 2 hours and 51 minutes on their phone every day. Eight hours and 21 minutes are consuming media across devices.
59% of people will delete an email that is not optimized for mobile.
30% of people open most of their emails on mobile phones.
Mobile-friendly emails generate three times more conversions than non-mobile-friendly emails.

How long should my emails be?

There's no one-size-fits-all, perfect length for email marketing. The best length depends on your audience, the purpose of your message, and the frequency of your email campaigns.

Here are some general guidelines:

People have lower awareness spans than goldfish nowadays. Feel free to go long if you work in a very slow-paced industry with an older target audience (like lawn care equipment).
If you're sending emails every week, go shorter (3–5 paragraphs). People will be less likely to get fatigued by your messages and unsubscribe if they know another email is coming next week.
Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to content. Your customers would rather read 1 paragraph of awesome content than five paragraphs of blah blah blah.

When is the best day to send emails?

The best days to send your emails are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In a recent analysis of 6 billion emails, Experian found that those three days produced better open rates and click-throughs than other days.
Monday is not recommended unless you're sending something very time-sensitive. People have enough to do on Mondays without having your email clog up their inbox. Save it for another day.
When it comes to weekends, Saturday is typically an off day since people shop or spend time with family and friends. Sunday may be a good option if you have a large international audience (e.g., subscribers living in Asia and Europe). However, if you target U.S.-based customers, avoid this day as it's usually reserved for family dinners and watching football games.

Can I test how many emails I send in a week or month?

The best way to test the number of emails you send is to listen to your customer feedback and keep track of the performance of your campaigns. If a customer emails you asking to be removed from your list, they're telling you that they don't want the emails you're sending. Or if customers are opening, clicking through, and converting on a certain type of email but not on others, it's clear that those are your most effective communications.
How do you decide the maximum number of emails you should send? It depends on how often your audience is looking for relevant content from you. If someone is shopping for shoes every day, they'd probably be happy receiving an email every day as long as it's relevant and doesn't waste their time.
On the other hand, if someone hasn't thought about getting a new vacuum cleaner for three months, then once a month would probably be okay for them (assuming there's nothing else going on in their lives). What matters is that when they get the email from you, it feels like something useful —a reminder or shortcut—instead of spam.

What is a good open rate for an email campaign?

The median open rate for email campaigns is 20%, but this varies widely by industry. While 20% is a good figure for comparison, a better practice might be to compare your open rates with previous campaigns or with industry benchmarks.

When is the best time to send my email marketing campaign?

The best time to send an email marketing campaign will vary based on your industry, business, and audience. You'll need to consider a few factors:

When does your audience expect to receive emails from you? Are they email-heavy people who check their inboxes at the crack of dawn, or do they only pay attention to their inboxes once or twice a week?
What action do you want them to take after receiving the email? Are you sending an e-newsletter, or are you sending a promo that only lasts for 24 hours? Does the offer need immediate action?
Where are your recipients located in the world? Time zones matter. If you're targeting customers in Australia and New Zealand, don't send them an email newsletter during normal business hours because it will arrive at night.

How can I make sure people are getting and opening my emails?

Here are some tips to ensure your emails are opened and read:

Use a catchy subject line. It should pique curiosity and revolve around the audience's interest in your products or services.
Personalize each email with the recipient's first name (or nickname, if you know it).
Write in a friendly, casual tone that would be used between friends. It shouldn't sound like an essay you're writing for school.
Keep paragraphs short, as they're easier to read than long ones.

How often should I ask people to do something in my email campaigns?

We recommend not asking for the click more than once per email. Please limit the number of CTAs you provide in your campaigns to one or two and make sure your emails are easy to scan so that users can find your links without reading them through from start to finish.

Should I use a first or third-person voice in my emails?

There are many arguments for either side (people prefer the first person because they like to know who they're dealing with, and people prefer the third person because it feels more professional). It comes down to what feels right for you and your audience. We like to use the first person in our emails because we want them to feel friendly and personal. If you're not sure which one to go with, try testing out both options - send a few emails in the first person and a few in the third person - and see what kind of response you get from each email.
If you have an established company that needs to uphold certain industry standards, then the third person might be better for you. If your business is more casual or niche-based, the first person can be friendlier.

Should all of my content be unique, or can I send different versions of the same content to different groups of people?

Our best advice is to focus on what's most important to your brand and audience. You don't need to cram in everything you want to say or include every product or service you sell. Instead, focus on the goal of your content—whether it's selling a product, getting someone to sign up for an event, or simply building awareness of your brand.
In addition, remember that different audiences will respond differently to different types of content. There may be some legitimate reasons for sending them different emails depending on their interests: sending out special offers tailored by location can help reduce unsubscribes by sending relevant offers only.
Of course, all this means you could be writing several versions of each email campaign. But it's not as difficult as it might sound: write a template that outlines the key information that needs to appear in any version (such as times and dates), then personalize it with the specific details required by each group (where they'll be located). This way, sending out mass emails doesn't mean sacrificing sophistication.