Email remains one of the most effective channels for reaching your audience. This article shares best practices to help you design email campaigns that optimize delivery, open rates, and click-through rates.
1. From name
Using a recognizable "From" name and email address is essential for brand recognition and establishing a professional appearance. Recipients should be able to easily identify you among the many emails they receive daily.
Good examples:
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CM.com
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LinkedIn
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Spotify
Bad examples:
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no-reply
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notification
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hello
2. Subject line
Just like the "From" name, the subject line should be clear and correspond to the email content. It should provide insight into what the recipient can expect upon opening the email. The subject line is often the deciding factor in whether someone opens your email.
Avoid using tricks or clickbait subjects to force an open. Misleading recipients can damage trust and lead to your emails being flagged as spam.
Good example: Your Exclusive Guide to [Topic]: Download Inside!
Bad example: !!!CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU WON A FREE PRIZE!!!
3. Personalization
Personalization is a key factor in email success, as it increases engagement by delivering relevant and individualized content to your subscribers. Without personalization, your emails may fail to resonate with your audience, reducing their effectiveness.
By connecting customer data sources to the Customer Data Platform (CDP), you can segment your audience more effectively, transitioning from mass mailings to targeted emails that create a unique and meaningful experience. Additionally, our AI recommendation engine enables you to personalize emails with product recommendations tailored to each recipient.
Here are some effective ways to personalize your emails:
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Tailor content based on buyer behavior.
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Optimize for personal devices (design emails for both desktop and mobile).
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Celebrate birthdays.
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Offer category-based discounts.
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Share personalized stories.
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Provide recommendations based on abandoned carts.
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Send product updates and maintenance reminders.
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Add a relevant employee signature as the sender.
Personalization goes far beyond simply saying, "Hi [First Name]." It’s about creating a tailored experience that resonates with your audience and drives engagement.
4. Email design
On average, people spend about 15 seconds reviewing an email. If your email content is poorly designed or irrelevant, it may take the same 15 seconds for the recipient to mark it as junk.
Good email design not only engages your audience but also helps avoid spam filters. For example, emails that consist solely of a large image may be flagged as spam. Aim for a balance of 40% text and 60% images.
Here are some key design tips:
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Design consistency: Ensure your email design aligns with your other marketing channels, such as social media, to strengthen your brand identity.
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Cross-platform compatibility: Most emails are opened on mobile devices. Make sure your email is responsive and looks good on both mobile and desktop.
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Appropriate greeting: Start with a personalized greeting, including the recipient's name.
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Content relevance: Ensure the email content expands on the subject line and provides additional relevant information.
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Call-to-action (CTA): Include clear and prominent CTAs that guide recipients on what to do next.
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Aligned text and consistent font: Use a readable font and maintain consistency throughout the email. If you use a secondary font, do so sparingly.
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Easy unsubscribe options: Make the unsubscribe option visible and easy to use, ideally with a one-click process.
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Footer information: Include your company name, address, and contact details in the footer to build trust and verify your identity.
By combining personalized content with a clear and engaging design, your email will stand out.
5. Understanding your open & click metrics
Open and click rates are useful indicators of how your email campaigns are performing, but they come with an important caveat: these numbers can be inflated by automated systems outside of your control.
Many email clients and security tools — including Apple Mail, Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook — automatically pre-fetch email content or scan links before the recipient even sees the message. This means a tracking pixel can fire or a link can be followed by a security bot, registering as an open or a click in your reporting even though no real person engaged with your email.
What this means in practice:
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Open rates can be overstated due to Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, which pre-loads email content — including tracking pixels — for users who have opted in.
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Click rates can include automated link scans from security gateways like Microsoft Safe Links or Gmail's spam filters, which visit URLs in your email to check for malware.
Because of this, avoid treating opens and clicks as your sole measure of campaign success. Instead, pair them with downstream metrics that require a real person to take action:
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Website visits — use UTM parameters on your email links (e.g.
utm_source=email) so you can track email-driven sessions separately in your web analytics. -
Conversions — track goal completions such as purchases, sign-ups, or form submissions that originated from your email campaign.
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Revenue attribution — measure the actual revenue generated within a set window after the email was sent.
Opens and clicks remain a helpful starting point for spotting trends and comparing campaigns over time. Just make sure you're also looking at what happens after the click to get a true picture of your campaign's impact.