Lately, we’ve talked about best practices of website design and development to improve the overall user experience with your brand (see Improve Website Usability With On-Site Search Box, for example), but email marketing also sends a strong message about your brand’s identity and interactive experience. For example, just as you have a limited amount of time to capture your website readers’ interest before they return to the search engine results page, your email marketing messages must do an effective job of quickly reeling in your readers.

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes; they receive multitudes of email messages per day. Many emails get deleted and never read. For some, your email marketing is the first encounter they have with your brand. So how do you create an effective email campaign that gets noticed and reaps positive, measurable results?

Below are 10 tips that can help improve the usability of your company’s email marketing:

1. Be consistent. Just like your blog entries are posted on a regular, recurring basis, ensure your marketing emails are deployed on schedule. Readers like to know when and how often to expect your materials, especially if they make time in their schedules for your emails.
2. Email marketing can be used for a variety of purposes, including announcing promotions or discounts. However, steer away from only offering discounts or coupons. This creates a false association with your brand that you are only a discount company. Utilize this opportunity to encourage registration for one of your services (direct readers to a registration page), announce a new release, or send targeted emails based on user interests and/or click behaviors to improve your conversion rates.
3. Users don’t like to feel locked in to a service; therefore, offer an easy opt-out feature that allows readers to be removed from your subscriber mailing list (as much as it hurts you to lose a potential customer). Giving readers the option and flexibility to stop receiving your services will sit much better than creating frustration that can come from forcing readers to receive your messages. Create a brand image of integrity and respect. Even in losing a subscriber/potential customer you have a chance to create an honest, reputable identity.
4. Make sure your email messages reflect your brand. If you have brand guidelines or specific messaging, incorporate these into all outgoing correspondence for consistency. For example, if you are a health-care provider, implementing humor into your email advertisements is probably not recommended. Rather, emails would be better served if they conjure emotions, lifestyle situations and peace of mind. Use the same messaging as you do in your other company collateral, as this is what your customers are familiar with.
5. As mentioned in the introduction, appearance grabs attention in a split second. Based on your website, users create aesthetic impressions of your company’s credibility in less than a second. The same can be said of your email marketing. Create a design that is consistent with your website, so users can connect the two. If you’re sending readers to separate landing pages, make sure these are also in line with your brand’s identity.
6. Write content that is relevant to your readers, or risk being perceived in a negative light (“junk” mail). In order to market with the most relevant messaging, gather demographic data regarding your email recipients, and segment your email messages. Also, analyze how your mailing list is responding to your marketing. Then, tailor future emails based on your findings. Obviously, you should make certain your images and copy are balanced and complementary.
7. Test your emails to make sure links work properly, images and the preview pane can be viewed, etc. If anything in your email message does not work, you create disconnects between consumers and your brand, and you risk losing a customer because of a poor user experience. Imagine the reader saying, “If this email is an indication of the website’s usability, I will not visit.”
8. Use HTML and text versions of your email. Always strive for simplicity in email marketing. Consumers receive a plethora of what they call “junk” email on a regular basis, so you have to get your point across in a hurry (or they won’t read your emails). And when setting up HTML versions, remember that some readers may be opening your messages with mobile devices.
9. Make your call to action clear and stand out. Try using call-to-action buttons or back links to your website. Improving the navigability of your emails also means improving usability. The more usable your emails, the better the chances readers will visit your website.
10. Some email programs allow you to use variable data for personalization. This can be added in your subject line or within the body of your email. More elaborate programs allow you to customize messages even more by swapping in/out different calls to action, images or offers. Even by introducing your email with “Dear, [John Doe],” you are creating a bond with your readers.