Hit the ground running with our guide to email marketing! You'll learn about the best tools in the industry, how to use them, and tips and tricks to enhance your email's impact on customers!

1. HOW TO TAKE YOUR EMAIL
MARKETING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

2. Email marketing has been around for 20 years. Now we have
swaths of data on what works and, just as importantly, what
does not work. While there is no magic formula for crafting the
perfect email, there are proven best practices that can help
you achieve high open rates, click rates, and user
engagement.

3. THE KEYS TO SUCCESS
CONTENT
PRESENTATION
TOOLS

4. We are here to help build brands and grow companies.
CONTENT
Content is priority number one. If what you’re offering isn’t interesting
and valuable to your reader, they won’t be your reader for long.
Maker sure your content is relevant, succinct, and clearly stated.
Make it personal. Make it short. Make it accurate.

5. Our Team Creative Process
PERSONALIZE IT
GET TO THE POINT
ACTION!
Nearly all email marketing platforms make it not only possible, but simple and
fool-proof to call your reader by name. If your reader’s first name appears in the
subject line or preview line of the email, they are twice as likely to open it.
Whatever platform you’re using, learn how to include personalization and try it
out!
Long, drawn-out messages are rarely ever read to the end. Readers are
looking for the key points in your email; make it easy for them. You don’t need
to offer every detail of your product. If they want to know more, they will click
through your site. (So be sure to include a great big “click here” button!)
Communicate your message effectively and succinctly, and you’ll see
engagement rates skyrocket.
Every email should call on the reader to take action. “Sign Up!” “Check out the
store!” “RSVP!” Whatever you want your reader to do in response to the
information you’re giving them, they should be able to take the first step
immediately, right in your email.
CAN-SPAM ACT
You can’t reach your customers if your organization gets in trouble for breaking
the law! Passed in 2003, the CAN-SPAM Act introduced regulations for all forms
of commercial email. Some of the requirements include accurately representing
the entity the email came from, not using “deceptive subject lines,” and honoring
opt-out requests to your emails.

6. We are here to help build brands and grow companies.
PRESENTATION
Make your email look good. Really good.
Showcase your content in an eye-catching, clickable
format that looks great on all devices.

7. GRAPHICS
This is the game changer. Once
you’ve brought them into the email
with a great subject line and header,
dazzle them with a great looking
email.
Images and colors are going to
engage your readers much more than
plain black and white text, so try
working the text into a graphic or an
infographic. Email graphics should be
no wider than 600px, to ensure proper
and full display on both desktop and
mobile devices.
Include a great big colorful button
with a simple call to action. “RSVP”,
“LEARN MORE”, “SIGN UP NOW.”
These buttons will draw not only the
reader’s eye, but their most as well.
And remember, whatever graphics
you include in your email should be
linked to your site or wherever you are
directing your reader, so no matter
where the reader clicks, it brings them
right where you want them to go.
SUBJECT LINES
Draw them in with a subject line
that they just HAVE to click.
It should strike the reader
immediately as intriguing and.or
personal (Ex: “You’ve got to see
this.” “Did you lose this?”) You can
also employ the platform’s
automatic-personalization features
in the subject line. (Examples:
Jane, you forgot something” “Your
thoughts, John?
Also, keep in mind that using terms
such as “FREE” or “$$$” will get
your message blocked by spam
filers. Check the list of words that
most often get emails blocked so
that you don’t fall into these spam
traps.
HEADER
Think of this first taste of the email
as your hook, and you need to reel
readers in! If you need a hand
writing this sentence and you’re
struggling with length and details,
Tweetify it! Write this first sentence
as if you are sending out a Tweet
on the subject. Keep it light, keep
it relevant, and engage!
DEVICE
OPTIMIZATION
More and more, your content
is being viewed on mobile
devices rather than desktop
or laptop computers. You
want to make sure your email
looks great on both, so
graphics should not feature
text that is too small to read
when displayed on a phone.
Keep graphics to 600px or
less in width, and be sure
that they are optimized for
web viewing (aim for 400 K
or less for graphics to
reduce load time.)

8. We are here to help build brands and grow companies.
Tools
Use these great tools to help you
achieve an effective and sleek email
that won’t end up in the spam box.
Here are a few of our favorites.

9. Find your preferred email platform based of your budget, list size and goals.
MailChimp is great for beginners. It is the
simplest of all email platforms because of
its simple drag-and-drop tools and user
friendly email creation process. If you have
less than 2,000 subscribers to your mailing
list, you can send them up to 12,000
emails/month promoting your organization
for free!
MailChimp also has a wide variety of
templates that can be used to customize
your email to perfection, but if you’re a
power user who needs every tool in the
shed, and can’t afford to have your
account suspended for a few bounced
emails, GeniusMailer is the better option.
GeniusMailer offers a wide variety
of features, such as deep
analytics insights and reports, a
content scorer that is great for
ensuring messages won’t get
blocked by spam filters, and lots
of customization. It is worth the
price.
MAILCHIMP
Many large organizations use Emma (YMCA,
Bridgestone, and Firehouse Subs). Emma comes with
a wide array of features, including a mobile app to
check your campaigns’ performances on the go!
You can integrate Emma with popular customer
relationship management software (CRM),
ecommerce solutions, and event planning software
such as Salesforce, Shopify, and Eventbrite.
Emma also includes automation features so that
people can receive offers from your organization
once readers respond to an email. This is helpful to
gain information and to later give individuals personal
offers based on their needs and desires.
Pricing starts at $49/month for up to 2,500
subscribers.
GENIUSMAILEREMMA
EMAIL PLATFORMS

10. MailChimp is very sensitive to
bounced emails and old/invalid
addresses being mailed.
Thankfully, tools such as Kickbox
are excellent for cleaning up your
mailing list. Verifications are cheap
- checking 5,000 email addresses
costs $40.00 and is much more
reliable than other platforms that
promise to remove bad addresses
but never do. With a clean, sleek
interface, Kickbox is the ultimate
tool for email verification and
cleanup.
sharelinkgenerator.com is the
fastest, easiest option for creating
customized share links for
Facebook (though we don’t advise
using this site to create Twitter
share links. We’ll talk more about
that later.)
It’s easy for you as you’re creating
your email, but more importantly it’s
easy for your users to share with
just 2 clicks whether on a desktop
or mobile.
SOCIAL SHARING
CLEANING UP
YOUR EMAIL LIST
FACEBOOK TWITTER
The best option for creating
pre-populated tweets is
clicktotweet.com. While it may take
a few minutes to figure out the
process the first time you use it, it
won’t take long before you see
results,
Clicktotweet sets up the easiest
and most accessible process for
your users, especially those on
mobile. They will not be prompted
to download an app or to log in
before seeing the pre-populated
tweet, as other sites require.
KICKBOX

11. Contact Jake Scott at jake@swiftkurrent.comNeed Help?
Swiftkurrent Services
– Email Marketing
– Digital Ads & SEO
– Social Media
– Websites
– E-Commerce
– Photography
– Branding
– Mobile Optimization