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10 Important Parts of an Email Message

1) Sender

Always make the “From” line something appropriate and specific.

This needs to be a real email address

Avoid generic names that can get lost or be ambiguous like: admin, sales, info, mail, new etc.
Only if you are strictly an online retailer is it appropriate to list your "From" name as your website, such as Amazon.com vs. Amazon.

2) Subject

Always try to compel your reader to open the email, consider this the perpetual “first impression” you can never take back

Be Compelling – if it’s a promotion then say so right away! List your key info first.
Be Descriptive – what is your email about
Be Personal – Always use their name IF APPROPRIATE, it has to be readable and natural or it will have a negative effect. Also consider past purchase behavior or preferences.
Be Professional – Use title text and never make spelling errors or send your email out with errors like “Test Email” in the subject line.

Be Concise – most people only see a certain number of characters so make your point in as few words as possible, under 50 characters is preferable.

Dynamic Insertion

Most email programs can pull a name an insert into the subject line from your list, giving it a personal feel, and greatly increase your click through rate.
You can also put in other dynamic info that you know about them, for instance a printer model if they have purchased ink from you before: “Amber, Running Low on Ink for Your Epson MP160 Printer?”
Always make sure you TEST!

A/B Testing

Because the subject line is so important, you may want to test the subject line on a small number of recipients before sending it to the entire list. This is called A/B Split Testing.
You choose let’s say 10% of your list and split it in half. Send each half of that 10% a different subject line.
Once you get some activity on the send you can then decide which is the winner, using pre defined metrics like click through rate or purchase behavior.
You then send that subject line to the remaining 90% of your list, increasing the overall performance of that send.

You should be able to easily pick out a good or bad subject line from these below:

3) Context / Design

Professional

You want your email to look professional or you will lose credibility with your audience. You need to establish your expertise in the subject, gain their trust in your company or product, etc. You need them to take you seriously at first glance so don’t be against hiring a professional designer.

Consistent

Email design and context must be consistent with your company and brand messages. You will often see that emails mimic the website quite a bit.

Email:

Website:

4) Content

Relevant

Email copy must be relevant to the reader and your company. Give readers what they want and they will keep reading. If you are able to segment pieces of your list around preferences or lifestyle make sure you are speaking right to them. They are also much more likely to stay on your list, even if they don’t buy this time, because they believe you are sending them relevant content.

Compliant

Email copy must be compliant with CAN-SPAM requirements so that your message will be delivered. You can view those requirements here: The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers

5) Links

You want to insert links in your content wherever possible. You always want to make sure potential customers can click through when they are ready.
You want to offer different sections of your site for them to click through so that you may segment them later. For instance in the example below, if someone clicked on cubicles and viewed your cubicles page, you then have a record of that click and can send them an email all about cubicles next time. The more relevant the message, the more likely the conversion.

6) Header & Footer

Call Tracking

Always put a tracking number in your email. Tracking numbers keep track of every call that comes in through that line and are able to give you information on how many people contacted you via this message. While we do have click-through rates and possible ecommerce data, it is still surprisingly often that people pick up the phone. This is much common in the service industry where no services are purchased online.

Make it prominent, you never want a client to work too hard to contact you!

Website

Although you may have links throughout your content, you do always want to list your website in your email.

Contact / Company Info

You will almost always find company name, address, privacy policy, etc in the footer

Email Address

While many people will reply to your message by simply hitting reply, most will assume it is a noreply and look for your contact info elsewhere. This is almost always located toward the bottom of the email, usually considered the footer, but not always.

Unsubscribe

You must ALWAYS give your readers the option to unsubscribe to your email list . This is not negotiable, if you don’t do this most major email service providers will block you from sending to any of their subscribers

“The Boring Stuff”

You can add more info, legal info, promotion restrictions, etc in your footer:

7) Hosted Version

You always want to have a “hosted version” of your email. This is when there is a duplicate version of your email online somewhere.

If there is any issue with the message that is beyond your control, you certainly want to give readers every chance to view your message.
Messages like “Trouble viewing the below message? Click here” or “ If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.” are very common to see at the top of an email message. When you click on them you are taken to the hosted version.

8) Forward to a Friend

Anytime you can get someone to send an email on your behalf that is wonderful, however if you can get them to send an email AND get their friends email address for your database, that is perfection.

Include a link in your email that connects to your email platform:

Have them fill in their friends information:

Their friend gets your email, addressed from their friend:

If you can offer them something for forwarding it that will of course increase the likely hood that they will forward it. Shoebuy.com offers the friend $10 off their purchase, and you get a free pair of shoes, up to $100, if you refer 4 friends:

9) Alt Text / Image Rendering

So let’s say you’ve got your email covered, it’s perfect in every way and it looks amazing. You have to remember that 95% of the people who get your message will not see what you are seeing because of privacy rules and filters!

Make sure you have a lot of text in your email so you don’t end with a blank email. You want to make sure that you are getting across as much as you can if no one ever sees your images.
Use “alt text” tags to describe what the images are.
Examples Below (following 2 pages):

Bad Example:

What you send:

What they see:

Good Example:

What you send:

What they see:

10) Spam/ Opt-in

Opt In

Opt in e-mail is a term used when someone is given the option to receive "bulk" e-mail, that is, e-mail that is sent to many people at the same time. Typically, this is some sort of mailing list, newsletter, or advertising. Obtaining permission before sending e-mail is critical because without it, the e-mail is Unsolicited Bulk Email, better known as spam. (from Wikipedia)
Unconfirmed opt-in

A new subscriber first gives his/her address to the list software (for instance, on a Web page), but no steps are taken to make sure that this address actually belongs to the person. This can cause e-mail from the mailing list to be considered spam because simple typos of the email address can cause the email to be sent to someone else. Malicious subscriptions are also possible, as are subscriptions that are due to spammers forging email addresses that are sent to the e-mail address used to subscribe to the mailing list. (from Wikipedia)

Confirmed opt-in (COI)

A new subscriber asks to be subscribed to the mailing list, but unlike unconfirmed opt-in, a confirmation e-mail is sent to verify it was really them. Many believe the person must not be added to the mailing list unless an explicit step is taken, such as clicking a special web link or sending back a reply e-mail. This ensures that no person can subscribe someone else out of malice or error. Mail system administrators and non-spam mailing list operators refer to this as confirmed subscription or closed-loop opt-in. (from Wikipedia)

Double Opt In

On a double opt-in list, all email address must be confirmed before they are added. A request for confirmation is sent to the submitted address and the address owner must take some action to confirm that

she is the owner of the email address
the address is working
she indeed wants to subscribe.

Who Cares?

There are a million reasons to only use targeted opt-in lists, but here are the few most important:

Deliverability – With all the spam blockers and privacy features out there, if you end up in a junk folder, your potential customer will never even see your message.
Return on investment – If people want to receive your emails you won’t be wasting your time on design, creative and sending costs. They will be much more likely to perform the action you are trying to get them to do.
Your sending reputation – if users mark your email as spam you will eventually not be able to send to any user on that email service provider. You can monitor this through feedback loops with the providers.

10 Important Parts of an Email Message

1) Sender

2) Subject

3) Context / Design

4) Content

5) Links

6) Header & Footer

7) Hosted Version

8) Forward to a Friend

9) Alt Text / Image Rendering

Bad Example:

Good Example:

10) Spam/ Opt-in

Other Major Topics to Research Before Sending Emails:

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