Do’s And Don’ts: Email Blast Tips For Startups

Billions of emails are delivered to inboxes throughout the day. Yes, you read that statement correctly. It is no longer millions, but billions of emails that are sent on a daily basis. With the amount of emails that are flooding professional and personal inboxes on a daily basis, it’s time that startups took a new approach. Here are some “Do’s and Don’ts” email blast tips that should become second nature.

Email Blast Tips For The Savvy Startup

In order to stand out from established brands, startups need to keep the following do’s and don’ts in mind as they prepare to send out their all important, brand-building, audience gathering, email blasts.

So, without further ado here are a few do’s:

1. DO Focus On One Topic — Email blasts should be focused on a singular topic. Period. Do take the time to discover the best topic for your blast before you click send. Do follow up on the first email with another communication that aligns with the same topic. An overcrowded email doesn’t have a place in a startup’s email blast. After all, you only get one chance at a first impression; as such, you better make it a memorable one.
2. DO Make An Irresistible Subject Line — An email blast’s subject line is the headline to your startup’s story. In a limited number of characters you must make your story pop, encourage recipients to open, and wow them from the beginning. Clever and catching subject lines that pique recipient interest levels are the ideal choice for an email blast.
3. DO Personalize Email Blasts — The term “email blast” can often be misleading. While some readers might think that means sending the same email to every recipient, they would be sadly disappointed. If you want to increase open rates, improve recipient engagement levels, and encourage conversions, then you need to personalize your emails.
4. DO Use A Creative Call-To-Action — You are inspiring people to purchase your services, buy a product, learn something more, share your story, and the list goes on. Before you can generate an action you must first inspire. In other words, say goodbye to boring “contact us” language and hello to creative word play.
5. DO Use Audience Segments — Once again the term “email blast” can be a little confusing to new players. An email blast does not mean that you take every recipient on your business lists, add them to your email blast list, and click send. However, it does mean that you conduct audience segmentation, so that you can send the right email blast to the right group of recipients. Simple customization efforts can result in higher conversion rates and a reduced number of unsubscribe notifications.
6. DO Make Emails Distinctive — Speaking of customization, your emails should be distinctive. Defining what “distinctive” means to your company will require you to first understand your brand persona. After that, it’s up to you to use design styles to make your email jump of the digital page.

Now, it’s time to look at a few don’ts:

1. DON’T Send Email Blasts Without Testing Them — Before you send out an email blast to an entire segmented list, you will want to first send out a test email to yourself. This test email should be run through a platform that shows how it will render across devices and operating systems. Avoid the embarrassment of an email that doesn’t load, display, or otherwise function properly. Test before you click send.
2. DON’T Include Offensive Or Hateful Content — It is never okay to send out offensive or hateful content. Humor is great; however, offensive humor cannot only be detrimental, it can sink your startup before it has even gotten out of its incubator stage. Being professional and accommodating, no matter what marketing strategy you implement, is key when you are sending out email blasts.
3. DON’T Spam! Ever! — Like the above “don’t”, this rule must be adhered to at all times. If you send out spam, especially as an email blast, then you will most likely find that your email addresses are blocked. Additionally, you will soon discover that spam cheapens your brand.
4. DON’T Over Email Blast — Email blasts shouldn’t be daily occurrences. Your subscribers need to look forward to opening your emails, not gleefully swiping to delete. Create a schedule, measure data, track results, and conduct thorough email marketing analysis to determine how often you should be sending out creative email blasts.
5. DON’T Hide The Unsubscribe Link — As much as it might hurt, especially when your company is still in the startup stage, under no circumstances should you hide the unsubscribe link. Your email blasts must be professional and abide by email marketing rules and regulations, which means that the unsubscribe link must be easily identifiable.
6. DON’T Skimp On Formatting — Over half of the emails received are viewed on mobile or tablet devices. From your typeface to your graphics and layout, your email blasts must be mobile friendly and properly formatted. A failure to convert to mobile friendly emails will result in poor marketing results.

The Bottom Line: These Email Blast Tips Can And Should Be Used By Startups

With this list of do’s and don’ts at the ready, you and your startup can enjoy the numerous benefits of a strategically planned email blast. Whether you choose to send out an email blast on a quarterly basis or can generate worthy content on a monthly schedule, be sure that you measure your results to better adjust your future email marketing strategies.