12 Email Marketing Tips to Get More Opens and Clicks
Email is one of the few marketing channels you own outright, but only if people open, read and click. These 12 tips cover the whole process, from building the list to measuring results, so your next campaign works harder.
Key takeaways
- A smaller list of people who asked to hear from you beats a large list of strangers, every time.
- Subject line, sender name and preview text work together to decide whether an email gets opened.
- Authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) helps your emails reach the inbox instead of the spam folder.
- Judge campaigns by clicks and conversions, because open rates are no longer reliable.
Unlike social media, where a platform decides who sees your posts, email goes straight to people who chose to hear from you. That makes it one of the most dependable channels for a small business.
It also makes it easy to waste. Generic blasts, unclear calls to action and neglected lists all push your emails toward the trash or the spam folder. The tips below are grouped into four stages: building the list, writing, sending and measuring.
Build the right list
1. Get clear consent
Only email people who agreed to hear from you, and tell them at sign-up what they will receive and how often. Consent is not just good manners. It is the basis of most anti-spam laws.
The rules differ by country. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act requires, among other things, honest subject lines, a valid physical postal address and a working way to unsubscribe. In the EU, the GDPR and related privacy rules generally require clear, opt-in consent for marketing email. Canada's CASL is also consent-based. Check the rules where you and your subscribers are located, and ask a professional if you are unsure.
Common mistake
Buying or renting an email list. Those people never asked to hear from you, so they ignore your emails or mark them as spam. That can damage your sender reputation for every future email and may also break the law.
2. Segment your list
Not every subscriber needs every email. Group people by what you know about them, such as what they bought, what they signed up for, where they are or how recently they engaged. Even two or three segments let you send messages that feel relevant instead of generic.
3. Set up a welcome sequence
New subscribers are often at their most interested right after they sign up. An automated series of two to four emails over the first week or two can introduce your business, deliver what you promised at sign-up and point people to your best products or content. Write it once and it works for every new subscriber.
Write emails people want to open
4. Write specific subject lines
A good subject line tells the reader what is inside and why it matters to them. "Your spring garden checklist" beats "April newsletter." Keep the key words near the start, since many phones and inboxes cut off longer lines. Avoid misleading subject lines: they hurt trust and, in some countries, break the law.
5. Use the preview text
Preview text is the short line most inboxes show next to or under the subject line. If you leave it blank, many email apps fill it with the first words of your email, which may be "View this email in your browser." Use it to add a second reason to open, rather than repeating the subject line.
6. Give each email one main call to action
Decide the single thing you want readers to do, such as book, buy, read or reply, and make that action obvious with one clear button. Secondary links are fine, but they should not compete for attention.
Example (fictional business)
A local bike shop's monthly email had eight links: three products, two blog posts, social icons and a survey. The owner rebuilt it around one goal, booking a spring tune-up, with a single "Book your tune-up" button. The email became shorter and easier to read, and booked tune-ups were simple to track.
Design and send with care
7. Design for mobile first
A large share of email is read on phones, so design for a small screen first. Use a single-column layout, a readable font size, short paragraphs and buttons that are easy to tap with a thumb. Always send yourself a test and check it on your own phone before sending to the list.
8. Test your send timing
There is no universal best time to send. Your audience's habits matter more than any general advice. Run a simple test instead of guessing:
- Pick two options, such as Tuesday morning and Thursday evening in your subscribers' main time zone.
- Split a segment randomly and send the same email at each time.
- Compare clicks, not opens, after a few days.
- Repeat the test two or three times before treating the winner as a pattern.
9. Keep your list clean
List hygiene means removing addresses that hurt your results. Remove hard bounces (addresses that do not exist), process unsubscribes promptly and give long-inactive subscribers a last "Do you still want to hear from us?" email before removing them. A smaller, engaged list tends to reach the inbox more often than a large, quiet one.
10. Set up email authentication
Mailbox providers want proof that your emails really come from you. Three standard DNS records provide it, and your email platform will usually give you step-by-step instructions to add them.
| Record | What it does, simply |
|---|---|
| SPF | Lists the servers that are allowed to send email for your domain |
| DKIM | Adds a digital signature so receivers can check the email was not altered and really came from your domain |
| DMARC | Tells receivers what to do if an email fails those checks, and can send you reports about who is sending as your domain |
Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required bulk senders to authenticate their email, make unsubscribing easy and keep spam complaints low. Even if you send small volumes, setting these records up now is a sensible step.
Measure what matters
11. Track clicks over opens
Open rates used to be the headline metric, but they are now unreliable. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, introduced in 2021, can load email images, including tracking pixels, in the background. That can make an email look opened even when the person never read it. Other privacy features and image blocking add more noise.
Focus instead on click-through rate, conversions such as purchases or bookings, replies and unsubscribes. These reflect what people actually did.
Pro tip
Add tracking parameters (UTM tags) to the links in your emails. Your website analytics can then show which campaigns led to sales or sign-ups, not just which ones got clicks.
12. Test one change at a time
When you test, change only one element per test, such as the subject line, the button text or the send time. If you change three things at once and results improve, you will not know which change helped. Keep a simple log of each test and what you learned.
Your action plan
- Check that your sign-up form says what subscribers will receive and how often
- Create two or three segments based on purchases or interests
- Write a three-email welcome sequence and turn it on
- Confirm SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up for your sending domain
- Switch your main campaign metric from opens to clicks and conversions
Frequently asked questions
How often should a small business send marketing emails?
Send as often as you have something useful to say and can keep up the quality. For many small businesses that is somewhere between weekly and monthly. Watch unsubscribes and spam complaints: if they rise after you increase frequency, scale back.
What is a good email click-through rate?
It varies widely by industry, list size and email type, so general benchmarks are only a rough guide. The most useful comparison is your own history: aim to improve on your last few campaigns.
Why are my emails going to spam?
Common causes include missing authentication records, sending to old or purchased lists, high spam complaint rates and misleading subject lines. Start by checking SPF, DKIM and DMARC, then clean your list.
Do I need double opt-in?
It is not required everywhere, but asking new subscribers to confirm their address keeps typos and fake sign-ups off your list. Some countries and industries expect it, so check the rules that apply to you.
Related reading
The bottom line
Better email results start with permission and relevance, not clever tricks. Build a list of people who want to hear from you, send them focused emails that work on a phone and judge each campaign by the actions people take.
