Email Marketing checklist
Make sure you’re ticking off all the essential elements!

When starting email marketing, there’s so much to think about, and the last thing you want to do is get your first campaign wrong – after all, first impressions matter!

To help you out, we’ve put together an essential email marketing checklist to help you get started and avoid those common pitfalls.

1. Understand who your audience is, and if you’re buying a list, ensure the criteria include who you’re targeting and you’re not trying to sell the proverbial ice to the Eskimo!
2. Get your email template right – make it easy to read and not too ‘busy’. You want your customer’s eye drawn to the calls-to-action rather than the fancy squiggles around the border.
3. Get your subject line right – make it catchy to trigger the reader’s curiosity.
4. Split-test your subject line – so you can see which works better.
5. Split-test your email content – so you can see which works better, which calls-to-action generate the most interest, and which doesn’t work.
6. Personalise the email – Dear <name> will always work better than a generic ‘Hi there!’
7. Make the email enjoyable – include different types of content for the audience to consume.
8. Create follow-up emails triggered by what the customer does with the initial email. Automate these, so you don’t have to do it manually. In Klaviyo, this is called Workflows; in Mailchimp, it’s called Automations, and they will save you lots of time and money! They will also help to generate a better return on your investment.
9. Set up the email so it is sent from a real person – it’s much more personal than getting an email from a company.
10. Always follow the General Data Protection Regulations so you don’t fall foul of the Information Commissioner’s Office!