Email Best Practices: Who’s on the Naughty and Nice List This Holiday Season?

When the holiday shopping rush kicks in, it seems like email marketing best practices take a backseat. Marketers often switch up their strategies, focusing heavily on promotions while overlooking key tactics like cart abandonment recovery.

According to a survey by Strongview and Selligent, nearly 300 email marketers revealed their holiday game plan. The majority are doubling down on promotional emails and basic marketing tactics, leaving essential programs, such as cart abandonment reminders, on the sidelines.

“Marketers are falling into the trap of shouting to their customers in an attempt to rise above the holiday noise,” said Andre Lejeune, CEO of Selligent. “Instead of using this time to strengthen customer relationships, they’re focusing solely on short-term gains. Those who align their holiday email campaigns with long-term goals will see the biggest returns.”

The Holiday Email Playbook: What's In and What's Out

• Sales and Discounts Dominate – A whopping 63% of marketers rank sales promotions as their top holiday email strategy, and 80% include them in their top three priorities.

• Cross-Selling Takes a Backseat – Product recommendations and cross-sell opportunities are largely overlooked, with fewer than 10% of marketers making them a primary focus.

• Cart Abandonment is Underutilized – Only 23% of marketers prioritize cart abandonment emails, despite their proven effectiveness.

• Post-Purchase Emails Are Overlooked – Just 26% consider follow-up emails after a purchase a key strategy.

A Shift Towards Targeting—But Not Personalization

While promotions take center stage, some marketers are still leveraging targeting techniques to make their campaigns more effective. About 39% rank segmentation and targeting as their top holiday tactic, while 56% include it in their top three strategies. However, more sophisticated approaches like open-time personalization (21%), offer testing (21%), and video in email (11%) aren’t widely adopted.

Email Marketing Budgets Hold Strong

Despite shifting priorities, email marketing remains a powerhouse during the holiday season. Half of marketers reported increasing their email marketing budgets for the 2016 holidays, while only 1.5% planned to cut back. The rest are sticking with their existing budgets.

The Bottom Line

While marketers are eager to maximize holiday sales, those who focus solely on promotions may miss valuable opportunities to engage customers. By balancing short-term sales with long-term relationship-building, brands can ensure they stay on the ‘nice list’—and in their customers' inboxes—long after the holiday season ends.

Google Reaching Out Directly to Senders Regarding Unsubscribes: A New Era in Email Deliverability

In the ever-evolving world of email marketing, one of the most pressing concerns for businesses is ensuring their emails make it to the inbox, not the dreaded spam folder. With the rise of consumer expectations and stricter privacy regulations, email service providers (ESPs) like Google are continually refining their algorithms to improve user experience. One of the latest developments in this area is Google's direct outreach to senders regarding unsubscribe rates. But what does this mean for email marketers, and how can businesses adapt to this new reality?

The Growing Importance of Unsubscribes

Unsubscribes are not just a routine part of email marketing—they’re a crucial signal to both senders and email providers about the quality of your emails. When a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe, it could indicate several things: the content is no longer relevant, the frequency of emails is too high, or the email simply doesn't add enough value. Too many unsubscribes can harm your sender reputation, impacting deliverability rates.

Traditionally, email marketers have monitored unsubscribes through analytics provided by their ESPs, but Google is taking a more hands-on approach. Recently, Google has started reaching out directly to senders whose unsubscribe rates exceed a certain threshold, signaling that something may be wrong with their email campaigns.

Why is Google Doing This?

Google's core goal is to provide its users with the best experience possible, and this extends to email. By reaching out directly to senders about high unsubscribe rates, Google is trying to ensure that users aren’t bombarded with irrelevant or unwanted emails. It’s a push toward better list hygiene, improved content relevance, and better overall engagement.

Here are a few reasons why Google is taking this step:

1. Improving User Experience: Google’s primary concern is the experience of Gmail users. If a user is constantly unsubscribing from a particular sender's emails, it’s a sign that the content isn't meeting their expectations. Google wants to reduce inbox clutter and improve engagement for its users.

2. Maintaining Deliverability: High unsubscribe rates can be a sign that emails are being marked as spam, which can affect deliverability. By alerting senders about high unsubscribe rates, Google is essentially nudging them to take corrective action before things escalate.

3. Encouraging Better Practices: Google wants to push email marketers toward best practices like list segmentation, personalized content, and proper email frequency. By flagging high unsubscribe rates, Google hopes to encourage marketers to rethink their strategies and create more engaging, targeted campaigns.

What Does This Mean for Email Marketers?

For businesses, this shift from Google is both a challenge and an opportunity. While it's a reminder that unsubscribes shouldn’t be ignored, it also provides valuable insights into how Google perceives your email strategy. Here are a few ways businesses can respond to Google's outreach and safeguard their email campaigns:

1. Monitor Unsubscribe Rates Closely

The first step in dealing with this change is to keep a close eye on your unsubscribe rates. Track them regularly across your campaigns and look for trends or spikes. If a particular campaign sees a higher-than-usual unsubscribe rate, dig into the content, frequency, and list segmentation to understand why.

2. Refine Your List Segmentation

One of the best ways to reduce unsubscribes is through better list segmentation. By sending more targeted and relevant emails to specific groups, you reduce the likelihood that recipients will feel the need to unsubscribe. For example, segment by demographics, past purchase behavior, or engagement history to tailor your emails.

3. Adjust Your Frequency

If you’re sending emails too frequently, it could lead to unsubscribe fatigue. Make sure you're not overwhelming your subscribers with too many emails. Test different frequencies and monitor the impact on your unsubscribe rate to find the optimal balance.

4. Reevaluate Your Content Strategy

If your unsubscribe rate is high, it’s time to take a step back and assess your content. Is it valuable to your audience? Is it personalized and relevant? If not, consider overhauling your content strategy to provide more value and engagement to your subscribers.

5. Follow Google’s Guidelines

Pay attention to any direct communication from Google. If they inform you that your unsubscribe rates are too high, it's a sign to take immediate action. This could include making changes to your email lists, content, or overall strategy.

6. Use Authentication and List Hygiene Tools

To ensure your emails aren’t marked as spam, use email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses. Google and other ESPs prefer senders who follow these best practices because they help ensure better deliverability and lower bounce rates.

Conclusion

Google's move to directly reach out to senders about high unsubscribe rates is a significant development in email marketing. It serves as both a warning and a guide for businesses looking to improve their email strategies. By closely monitoring unsubscribe rates, segmenting lists effectively, and delivering relevant, engaging content, businesses can not only avoid falling into Google’s radar but also improve their overall email marketing success.

In this age of evolving email practices, keeping a pulse on unsubscribe rates and taking proactive steps is essential to maintaining a strong sender reputation and achieving inbox success.

To ensure the success of your email campaigns, don’t forget to check your email’s spam score and performance using testmailscore.com. This free tool provides in-depth insights, helping you optimize your emails and maintain a healthy relationship with both your audience and email providers.