Email marketing best practices are the backbone of any email marketing strategy or program. Best practices are there to help your email programs be effective, get your email delivered, provide value to your prospects and customers, and help you close deals. But in a world that's crowded with email and other marketing "noise", sometimes it's better to break the rules to get the best results.

Here are a few examples of how you can bend the rules of email marketing to cut through the clutter and get your messages read – and acted on:

Subject Lines

A 50 character maximum is the golden rule of subject lines. Marketers, wanting to get as much of their message across as they can, typically use all the characters that are available to them (and sometimes go a bit over!). But companies can also tease interest out of their email recipients by using much less than all 50 characters. For example, Anthropologie, a leading retailer that offers ladies clothing and home decor with an artistic bent, garners a high open rate using a short and catchy subject line that piques their demographic’s interest – “Dust off the dog ears.” This subject line comes in at a cool 21 characters, but is compelling enough to stand out in the inbox and entice their audience to click.

ALL CAPS is a major no-no for email marketers. But in some instances, subject lines in all caps can, and will, work. In the instance of Overstock.com, the subject line “CYBER MONEY-LAST DAY 10% OFF” can really stand out in the inbox compared to “Shhhh! It’s a secret sale.” Depending on your target audience, all caps may work well for you.

Email Format

As email marketers, we’ve all been told to design email with a good balance of copy and images. But in some cases, this rule may be working against you. Depending on your brand and your message, a more copy-heavy email may outperform a beautifully designed email. Take, for example, Marketing Over Coffee, a podcast that concentrates on the latest marketing practices and hot topics. The site ran an email template test in which one design was copy heavy and graphics light. The other template was nicely designed, with a good balance of graphics and copy. The results were surprising.

The “ugly” template performed just as well as the “pretty” template. The key take away from these examples is that best practices are simply guidelines from which to experiment. Email marketers shouldn’t feel constrained by them, but use them as a sounding board to bounce ideas off of to determine what works best for your company. The best way to know if email marketing best practices or rule breaking is best for your company is to develop a solid test strategy to determine what subject lines, email formats, or other elements will deliver your best results.

Sometimes breaking the rules is not only fun, but it works.

Stay tuned for part two of this series next month.

###

About the Author

Shannon Titus is the senior marketing programs manager at Lyris. She is responsible for creating compelling email marketing communications and programs to share with Lyris customers and prospects.

Related Resources:

• Subscribe to Inside Lyris HQ our monthly online-marketing newsletter.
• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.