Email marketing success isn’t about blasting out emails—it’s about precision and impact. To drive results, you need to target the right leads, provide real value, and create personalized experiences that convert.
A strong email lead generation strategy is non-negotiable for achieving this, and in this article, I’ll show you exactly how to build one.
Before diving into the strategies, let’s quickly cover the fundamentals of email marketing lead generation.
What is lead generation in email marketing
Lead generation in email marketing is all about one goal: turning prospects into subscribers who eventually become paying customers.
The process starts with attracting the right audience using tools like lead magnets, opt-in forms, or sign-up perks. Once they subscribe, the focus shifts to nurturing them with value-driven emails that address the recipients’ pain points, answer their questions, and guide their decisions.
Email marketing lead generation strategies
Quality leads don’t happen. You generate them. And for that, you need a solid strategy.
Below, I’ve shared eight actionable, straight-to-the-point email lead-generation strategies that work.
1. Build a quality email list
A huge email list is impressive. However, you need to prioritize quality over quantity. Focus on building a list of engaged recipients who actively want to hear from you. It leads to higher open rates, better deliverability, and ultimately, more meaningful conversions.
Here’s how I tackle this email marketing challenge:
- Offer irresistible lead magnets
To convince prospects to share their email addresses, you must give them something they can’t ignore. But not just any freebie will work. You need something that directly addresses your audience’s needs or solves a specific problem.
What works as a lead magnet:
- Exclusive, gated content: Whitepapers, case studies, or research reports relevant to their industry or challenges such as “10 Content Marketing Strategies for SaaS Startups.” This could feature real-world success stories with actionable takeaways.
- Actionable resources: Templates, toolkits, checklists, or step-by-step guides that save time or simplify a task they struggle with.
- Interactive freebies: Free trials, professional niche quizzes, or calculators that deliver specific, actionable results. For example, a “ROI Calculator for Digital Advertising Spend” or “Personalized Marketing Strategy Quiz.”
- Community access: Invitations to webinars, live Q&A sessions, or private groups where they can learn from experts. Emphasise exclusivity here such as “Join an Invite-Only Mastermind Group” or “Access Our Private Slack Channel for Marketing Leaders.”
For instance, check ⬇️ how HubSpot effectively utilizes free marketing templates as a powerful lead magnet:
Once the visitor clicks the “Get You Free Templates” button, they’re immediately prompted to provide their email address in exchange. This is a win-win strategy because it provides value to the audience while capturing their contact information.
- Simplify the sign-up process
No one likes long or complicated signup forms. So, you have to do everything in your power to simplify them and ease the sign-up friction.
For starters, limit the form fields to the bare minimum required to start the conversation. For most businesses, this means just an email address and name. For B2B, you might add fields like “Company” or “Job Title,” but only if they are essential to segmenting or personalizing follow-ups.
Avoid overwhelming prospects with unnecessary questions at this stage, and place forms where engagement is naturally high:
- Landing pages: Dedicated pages designed to convert visitors into leads.
- Sidebar widgets: These remain visible as users browse.
- Blog post banners: Inline CTAs for readers actively engaging with your content.
- Post-scroll pop-ups: Pop-ups triggered after users have engaged with your content, increasing relevance without being intrusive.
Pro Tip: Tactfully use exit-intent pop-ups to capture users about to leave, offering them an incentive to stay connected.
If a two-step form is necessary, make the initial step quick and engaging. For example, collect a single piece of data (like an email) in the first step and ask for additional details only after securing the initial commitment.
For instance, Neil Patel adopts a two-step (but simple) approach to getting visitors to fill in the opt-in form. First, right in the banner section, it engages visitors with an interactive website analysis:
When the visitor enters their website URL, the system quickly analyzes key aspects of the site and provides a quick summary. However, to receive a detailed analysis and uncover valuable insights, visitors are asked to enter details such as contact information, industry, business type, marketing team size, etc., in the next step:
- Leverage social proof
Social proof is one of the most powerful psychological triggers for decision-making. When people see others benefiting from your offerings, it validates their choice to engage and creates a fear of missing out (FOMO).
Here’s how to maximise the impact of social proof:
- Showcase numbers with context: People are drawn to specifics. Instead of a generic CTA like “Get free weekly workout plans,” elevate the message to “Join 10,000+ fitness enthusiasts who trust us for their weekly workout plans.” Adding credibility to the number—like emphasizing growth over time or engagement levels—makes it even more compelling. For instance: “Downloaded by 25,000+ professionals in the past year.” or “90% of our subscribers see results within 30 days.”
Pro Tip: Make sure to test the messaging thoroughly. Sometimes, it can be offputting if it’s too marketish.
- Include testimonials and case studies: Highlight success stories or user feedback to build trust. Choose testimonials that are relatable and specific, such as: “This guide saved me 10 hours a week and increased my leads by 40%.” Pair testimonials with names, photos, or job titles to boost authenticity. Case studies with measurable outcomes add even more weight.
- Display user actions in real time: Use tools like live notifications or counters to show how many people are engaging with your content. For example:
- “John from New York just downloaded the guide.”
- “300 new users signed up this week.
- Make social proof visual: Numbers and testimonials are more impactful when paired with visuals. Use graphs or charts showing user growth or engagement, badges or icons that emphasize certifications or achievements, or screenshots of user comments, reviews, or success metrics. But remember, social proof isn’t about bragging. It’s about building trust and demonstrating the value of your offerings.
- Go where your audience is
Effective email capture starts long before visitors land on your website. It begins where your audience is most active and engaged on the platforms they already trust. Analyze where your audience spends most of their time by using tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, or CRM data. By strategically leveraging these spaces, you can meet them where they are and guide them to your opt-in forms.
Here are some effective outreach channels:
- LinkedIn for B2B:
LinkedIn is a goldmine for B2B lead generation due to its professional focus. Here’s how to leverage it:
- Sponsored content: Run ads promoting gated content like whitepapers, templates, or case studies relevant to your target audience.
- Engage with groups: Share valuable insights or free resources in relevant LinkedIn groups. Use these spaces to position yourself as an expert and drive traffic to your sign-up page.
- Direct messaging campaigns: Personalize outreach to key decision-makers with a compelling lead magnet.
Pro Tip: Use LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms to capture emails directly on the platform without requiring users to visit your website.
- Instagram for B2C:
Instagram excels at driving traffic and engagement for consumer-focused brands. Strategies include:
- Stories with swipe-up links: Promote lead magnets or free resources with a clear call-to-action (e.g., “Swipe up for your free guide!”).
- Contests and giveaways: Host engaging competitions that require email sign-up to participate. For example, “Sign up for our newsletter to enter and win [prize].”
- Interactive polls or quizzes: Use Stories or Reels to host short quizzes that lead viewers to your sign-up form for detailed results or follow-ups.
Pro Tip: Include your sign-up page link in your bio and mention it in posts and Stories for easy access.
- YouTube:
Video content builds trust and offers multiple touchpoints to capture emails. Use YouTube effectively by:
- Video descriptions: Include a clear, compelling link to your email sign-up page, highlighting what subscribers will gain (e.g., “Get your free toolkit here”).
- End screens and cards: Direct viewers to your lead magnet or newsletter sign-up as a next step after watching.
- Pinned comments: Highlight your email capture link in the top comment of each video.
- Avoid the “quantity over quality” trap
Prioritizing quantity over quality in email marketing is a costly mistake. Buying email lists is a surefire way to tank your deliverability, kill your sender’s reputation, and alienate potential customers.
Why?
It’s illegal to send unsolicited commercial emails in many jurisdictions, including the United States (under the CAN-SPAM Act), the European Union (under GDPR), and Canada (under CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation).
Also, purchased lists often include outdated, invalid, or inactive email addresses. This leads to:
- High bounce rates, damaging your sender’s reputation.
- Low open and click-through rates, signaling poor email quality to ISPs.
Lastly, recipients of unsolicited emails are likely to mark them as spam, which can further increase the chance of your emails being filtered directly to the spam folder.
Therefore, focus on building your email list organically. You can also use tools like Hunter for finding professional email addresses. However, always respect privacy and obtain explicit consent from recipients in advance.
2. Segment your email list
Your audience is diverse, not a one-size-fits-all group. Each subscriber has unique needs, interests, and positions in their buying journey. By segmenting them into different cohorts, you can deliver tailored, relevant messages that resonate with specific groups—boosting engagement and conversions while avoiding irrelevant content that turns others off.
Here’s how to effectively divide and segment your email list:
- Start with basic demographics
Demographics are the simplest and most effective starting point for segmentation. Factors like gender, age, location, and income level can heavily influence what your audience wants—and when.
For instance, if you’re a clothing brand, you can leverage gender segmentation to create targeted International Women’s Day campaigns. As a result, you can send exclusive discounts on women’s apparel or jewelry to your female recipients.
- Segment by behavior
Behavioral data is segmentation kryptonite. It leverages real-time actions and interactions to create highly relevant campaigns, making your emails feel personal and timely. By focusing on how subscribers engage with your brand, you can deliver the right message to the right people at the right time.
Here’s how to approach behavioral segmentation:
- Purchase history
Purchase history is an indicator of a customer’s preferences and loyalty. For frequent buyers, reward their commitment with exclusive perks like loyalty discounts, VIP-only access, or early product launches. First-time buyers, on the other hand, benefit from nurturing campaigns that introduce them to your brand, recommend complementary products, and build trust.
If you notice lapsed customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, win-back campaigns offering special discounts or incentives like free shipping can effectively re-engage them. For example, sending an email with the subject line “We Miss You! Here’s 20% Off Your Next Purchase” can reignite interest and encourage repeat purchases.
- Browsing patterns
If a customer frequently visits certain product pages or categories, follow up with emails showcasing those items or suggesting similar alternatives.
For example, the email above leverages browsing behavior by reminding the recipient of a product they viewed, using personalized messaging (“We noticed you had your eye on this!”) and social proof (“Fan Favourite”) to reignite interest and drive conversion with a clear CTA.
- Cart abandonment
Many potential customers add items to their cart but leave before completing their purchase. Automated follow-up emails sent within 24 hours can remind them of their selection, often including a visual of the abandoned items to rekindle their interest.
To sweeten the deal, consider offering limited-time discounts, free shipping, or scarcity-driven messaging. Including reviews or testimonials of the product in the email can also help build trust and encourage completion of the purchase.
The email above reminds the recipient of the specific product they left behind, using motivational messaging (“Keep that momentum going”) and a visual of the item, paired with a clear CTA (“See My Cart”) to nudge them toward completing their purchase.
- Engagement metrics:
Engagement metrics help you understand how your audience interacts with your emails and allow you to customize campaigns accordingly. Highly engaged subscribers—those who frequently open and click your emails—are ideal candidates for exclusive offers, early access to new products, or referral programs. For less active subscribers, re-engagement campaigns can help rekindle their interest.
This email from Exoh targets disengaged users by using playful messaging to re-capture attention and re-engage them with a clear CTA and free shipping incentive to encourage action.
- Use lead scoring
Not all leads are created equal, and that’s perfectly fine. To maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns, you need to prioritize your audience based on their engagement and readiness to convert.
This is where lead scoring becomes invaluable. By assigning points to your leads based on their behaviors and interactions, you can identify which prospects are most likely to convert and which need further nurturing.
For example, if a recipient opens an email, they earn a few points. If they click a CTA, they earn more points. Conversely, ignoring multiple emails in a row might result in a deduction of points. These scores provide a measurable way to gauge interest and determine where each lead stands in the sales funnel.
The best part about lead scoring is its automation potential. Tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Marketo allow you to set up custom scoring criteria based on your goals.
- Give the recipients control
Preference centers let recipients share their interests and communication preferences. They can choose what they want to hear about, such as tech tips, travel deals, or health advice. You can also let them select how often they receive emails—daily, weekly, or monthly.
For example, here’s Pocket’s preference center that allows users to manage the type of emails. You can choose to get emails for the best articles of the day, Saturday Hits, German articles, as well as emails regarding Pocket’s latest features or updates.
- Maintain list hygiene
Keeping your email list clean and healthy is critical to the success of your campaigns. A poorly maintained list not only damages engagement but also harms your sender’s reputation, leading to lower deliverability and performance.
Maintaining list hygiene means regularly monitoring and managing your email list to ensure it only contains valid, engaged, and accurate email addresses. Neglecting this can lead to:
- Hard bounces: These occur when emails are sent to invalid, closed, or nonexistent email addresses. A high bounce rate (>2%) can signal spammy behavior to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), reducing deliverability.
- Spam complaints: If disengaged subscribers mark your emails as spam, ISPs will penalize your domain, increasing the likelihood that your emails land in spam folders.
- Low engagement rates: Sending to inactive subscribers skews your metrics (open rates, click-through rates) and impacts your ability to measure success accurately.
- Blacklisting risks: Continuously sending to invalid or unengaged addresses can lead to your IP address being blacklisted by major email providers.
Here are three evergreen tips to keep your list clean:
- Remove inactive subscribers: Subscribers who haven’t engaged in 6-12 months are dead weight on your list. These inactive contacts hurt your metrics and waste resources. Before removing them, run a re-engagement campaign to rekindle interest. If they remain unresponsive, remove them to improve your overall list health.
- Verify email addresses: Use email marketing tools to catch and delete invalid emails from your list.
- Eliminate duplicates: Duplicate entries lead to over-emailing, frustrating subscribers and increasing unsubscribes. Check for and merge duplicate entries to prevent over-emailing.
3. Take care of email deliverability
Email deliverability is the measure of your ability to land emails in recipients’ primary inboxes rather than spam or promotions folders. Improving deliverability requires a combination of technical best practices and a subscriber-first mindset to ensure your emails are both trusted and engaging.
Here’s how:
- Authenticate your domain
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) want to know you’re trustworthy, and protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help prove it:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Ensures only authorized servers can send emails on your behalf.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a digital signature to your emails, verifying your authenticity.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): Ties SPF and DKIM together while providing visibility into email-related issues.
- Avoid spammy content
Spam filters are stringent and unforgiving. Even minor missteps can trigger them, so crafting clean, professional emails is essential.
Here are three tricks to stay safe:
- Subject line optimization: Avoid excessive punctuations (like “!!!”) or all caps. Keep it clear and intriguing without sounding desperate. It’s best to A/B test your subject lines to identify the most effective options for your audience.
- Email body best practices: Overuse of images, sloppy formatting, or too many links can set off red flags.
- Balance text and images: A 60:40 text-to-image ratio works best to avoid spam filters. That means a minimum of 60% text and a maximum of 40% images.
- Monitor your sender’s reputation
Your sender reputation is like a credit score for your email campaigns—a higher score ensures better inbox placement. Neglecting it can lead to widespread deliverability issues.
Check the actions below to help monitor and improve the reputation:
- Use reputation tracking tools like Sender Score to check your sender’s reputation.
- Check for patterns in your email bounce logs. A sudden spike could indicate blacklisting or technical issues. Hard bounces (invalid or non-existent email addresses) should be immediately removed. At the same time, you must keep an eye on repeated soft bounces (temporary issues like a full inbox or server problems).
- Gradually increase your sending volume for new IPs or domains to avoid getting flagged as spam. Start small (e.g., 50 emails/day) and scale up over weeks.
- Encourage engagement
Engagement signals to ISPs that your emails are wanted. The more your recipients interact with your emails, the better your deliverability.
To encourage engagement, use actionable language for CTAs, such as “Claim Your Spot” or “Get 20% Off Today.” Ending your emails with questions like “Have feedback? Reply and let us know” or an experience rating system is also a good practice.
4. Send relevant and personalized content
People engage with emails that feel like they’re written just for them.
Whether it’s a valuable resource tailored to their interests or a special offer designed to their needs, personalization makes people feel seen. And feeling seen? That’s a shortcut to trust and conversions.
Here are some tips from my email marketing strategy that will help you personalize content the right way to get high-quality leads:
- Use dynamic content
Have you ever wondered how some brands seem to send you exactly what you’re interested in? That’s dynamic content in action.
Dynamic content allows you to send tailored emails by adjusting specific sections based on the recipient’s data. For example, if one subscriber loves shoes and another loves bags, the automated email highlights products in their preferred category.
How to implement dynamic content:
- Look at factors like purchase history, browsing behavior, or even geographic location to identify key variables for dynamic content.
- Decide which parts of your email should change dynamically. This can include dynamic headers for personalized greetings, dynamic body for product suggestions based on past purchases, or dynamic CTAs such as “See new arrivals near [City].” For example, in the image below, the “Recommendations for you” section is static and does not change with the recipient, unlike the “Specializations & Courses” section, which is dynamic and changes with the recipient’s interests and interaction history.
- Choose an email marketing platform that allows you to automate dynamic content, set up dynamic rules, and test your emails to ensure the correct content appears for each user segment.
- Send trigger-based emails
Trigger-based emails are automated emails sent when a user takes (or doesn’t take) a specific action. They capitalize on timing and context to drive engagement. For instance, if someone has a discount coupon expiring, you can send a reminder email like the one below:
To send trigger-based emails, first map the triggers and figure out the trigger logic. Do you want to send a gentle reminder to your cart abandoners? Or you want to send an automated thank-you note post-purchase? Identify such key touchpoints where your email can make an impact.
Next, add value to your message. Make it less about selling and more about helping the user. For example, for cart abandoners, instead of “You forgot something,” try, “Still thinking about [Product]? Here’s 5% off to seal the deal!”
- Personalize email subject lines
As per a survey conducted by Klenty, email subject lines that have the name of the recipient had the highest average open rate of 43.41%. But don’t stop there—dig deeper into your recipient’s interests and behavior to hit the mark.
Here are some tips:
- Use dynamic data: As mentioned earlier, you can leverage dynamic content to personalize subject lines based on individual recipient data. This allows you to tailor each subject line to the specific recipient. For example, “Don’t Miss Out on [Specific Product Category] Deals!”
- Create FOMO or exclusivity: Subject lines like “John, VIP access ends tonight—don’t miss out!” or “Stacie, Your Free Trial Is Ending Soon” tap into the recipient’s fear of missing out on premium deals.
- Keep it concise: Even with personalization, keep your subject lines short and to the point. Avoid overly long subject lines, as they can be difficult to read and may even trigger spam filters.
- Focus on individual needs: If you’ve collected data on customer preferences, you can tailor your subject lines accordingly. For example, “Eco-Finds Just For You” for environmentally conscious recipients.
- A/B test different approaches: Experiment with different personalized subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience. Track open rates and click-through rates to determine the winner.
- Offer tailored recommendations
Tailored suggestions go beyond “You might like this.” They’re rooted in data and context, showing your subscribers you “get” them. This is hyper-personalization, also an emerging trend in email marketing that can help you nurture leads effectively.
Some important tips to get you started:
- Use purchase and browsing data: If a recipient viewed or bought a specific product, recommend complementary items. For example, when someone purchases a camera, you can suggest tripods, lenses, etc.
- Segment deeply: Go beyond “new vs returning customers.” Instead, create micro-segments like “Gadget Gurus” (tech lovers buying frequently) or “Seasonal Shoppers” (those who only buy during holidays).
- Incorporate real-time trends: If they browsed a trending product, highlight it with social proof like real-time sales stats or user-generated content (refer to the image below).
- Automate recommendations: Use AI-powered platforms to auto-generate relevant content based on subscriber data.
- Tailor your recommendations to different funnel segments: By segmenting your audience and tailoring your email campaigns to each stage of the funnel, you can deliver more relevant and engaging messages. For example, you can recommend products along with customer testimonials to nurture leads in the Interest Stage, while offering exclusive discounts in the Decision and Retention Stages.
- Optimize email sending time
Timing is everything in email marketing. Sending emails at random times without considering your audience’s behavior can significantly reduce open rates and engagement. By optimizing your email send times, you can ensure your messages land when recipients are most likely to read and act on them.
Here’s how to find the perfect send time:
- Analyze historical data: Look at your email platform’s analytics to determine when your audience typically engages.
- Segment by time zone: For global audiences, schedule emails to land at local times for each region.
- Consider your industry and audience: For a B2B audience, emails sent during business hours (8 AM – 10 AM) are generally more effective. For B2C, you must consider your audience’s lifestyle and when they are most likely to check their emails.
- Experiment with send times: Send out the same email to small segments of your audience at different times to see which times result in the highest open rates and click-through rates.
Besides these, you can also consider the following trends spotted by HubSpot, Omnisend, and Moosend :
- Tuesdays and Thursdays have the highest open rates. (Source)
- Fridays are the most ideal for conversions. (Source)
- Emails sent after 6 PM get low engagement. (Source)
- Emails sent around 8 AM and 2 PM yield good results. (Source)
- Emails sent on the first day of the month are the most effective in terms of sales. (Source)
- Celebrate milestones
Birthdays, anniversaries, or even the date they joined your email list—these are perfect opportunities for personalized emails.
You can gather data during sign-ups—ask for information like birthdays, anniversaries, or important dates tied to your brand. Then, create templates for each milestone such as “Happy Birthday, [Name]! Here’s 10% off to celebrate YOU!” or “1 year with us! Here’s a gift for being awesome!”
With email marketing software like Mailtrap, you can automate milestone emails so your recipients get the right message (with a discount, of course) without you lifting a finger.
5. Keep consistent sending schedule
Your recipients have habits. Some check emails during their morning coffee, while others scroll at night. A consistent sending schedule trains them to expect your emails at a time when they’re most likely to engage.
And if it’s tricky to stick to a schedule, here are some tips that I swear by:
- Start with data: Analyze engagement metrics for past campaigns. Do open rates dip when you send more than twice a week? Or does engagement climb when you send a weekend roundup?
- Define your frequency: Sending too many emails annoys people, and sending too few makes them forget you. For most businesses, two to three emails per week is a sweet spot. You can start with 1-2 emails weekly. Gradually experiment with 3-4, but keep a close eye on unsubscribers and spam reports
- Use automation for scheduling: Mailtrap Campaign Scheduling lets you plan and schedule email marketing campaigns in advance. This way, you can automatically optimize your send times and factor in different time zones.
- Segment by audience: Different groups may need different frequencies. Loyal customers might appreciate weekly updates, while new leads might prefer bi-weekly emails.
- Create a content calendar: Plan themes, promotions, and reminders in advance and map out recurring topics like weekly tips, product highlights, or customer success stories. Set clear dates for content creation, review, and scheduling. Most importantly, add wiggle room for last-minute changes, like trending topics or urgent updates.
- Adapt, but don’t abandon: Life happens. Sometimes, you need to change your schedule for your email newsletter—like during a big sale or event. That’s fine. Just don’t disappear afterward. If you break your routine, have follow-up emails ready beforehand to ease back into your regular rhythm.
6. Use a reliable email-sending provider
The quality of your email-sending provider directly impacts your email marketing success. A low-quality provider can lead to poor deliverability, limited functionality, and scalability challenges, all of which can cripple your campaigns. Choosing a reliable email-sending provider is critical to ensure your emails consistently land in inboxes and that you can scale effectively as your business grows.
Here are some questions to ask when picking one:
- Do they help you set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with guided instructions or automated integrations?
- Can you choose between shared or dedicated IPs?
- Does the tool allow you to monitor your sender score directly?
- What support options do they provide? How quickly does the provider respond to queries? Do they offer live chat, email, and phone support?
- Do they provide a detailed knowledge base (step-by-step guides, video tutorials, troubleshooting resources)?
- As your list expands, can the provider handle higher volumes without charging you much?
- What API integrations does the provider offer?
Besides this, make sure your email-sending provider also offers advanced email marketing features such as segmentation, hyper-personalization, A/B testing, analytics and reporting and drip campaigns, etc.
7. Run A/B tests
A/B testing is a powerful method to optimize your email campaigns by identifying what resonates best with your audience. When you run an A/B test, you create two versions of an email (let’s call them Variant A and Variant B). Next, you send them to smaller portions of your audience to see which version drives better results.
But, note that A/B split testing an email is only as good as the strategy behind it:
- First, be clear about your goal: Are you testing subject lines to boost open rates? Or experimenting with CTA buttons to drive clicks? Define your purpose upfront.
- Test one variable at a time: If Variant A has a different subject line and format compared to Variant B, how will you know what caused the difference? So, stick to one change.
- Let your test run long enough: If you end it after 30 minutes, you might miss trends that emerge over time. Wait at least 24 hours (or longer if your audience spans multiple time zones.)
- Review your results critically: A 2% increase in your click-through rate might sound great, but if your audience segment was too small, the results could be misleading. You can use Mailtrap analytics to accurately track metrics.
8. Test emails in different email clients
Email clients like Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and Yahoo render HTML and CSS differently, often leading to inconsistent designs. An email that looks perfect in Gmail could appear broken in Outlook or cluttered on a mobile device. Testing emails across various email clients ensures your message is visually appealing and functional, regardless of where your readers open it.
Here’s how you can go about it:
- Know your audience
Figure out where your audience is reading emails. You can leverage analytics from email marketing tools to see which clients and devices are most popular with your subscribers.
So, if 60% of your audience is on Gmail, prioritize that. But don’t skip lesser-used clients entirely—every subscriber matters for generating leads.
- Use an email testing tool
Manual testing across dozens of email clients and devices is a productivity nightmare. Instead, use Mailtrap to preview your emails in multiple clients at once. It simulates how your design will render in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and others.
Pro Tip: Pay close attention to Outlook. It’s notoriously bad at rendering emails, especially ones with fancy designs or interactive elements. If it works there, you’re golden.
- Optimize for mobile devices
Around 81% of people open emails on their phones, so mobile responsiveness isn’t optional. Test on iOS and Android devices to ensure your email scales beautifully.
Tools like Email on Acid allow you to run a pre-send test. This involves sending test emails to a diverse range of devices and operating systems. You then get screenshots showing how your email appears in each one (refer to the image below).
In addition to this, ensure buttons and links are large enough for thumb taps (minimum 44×44 pixels) and spaced out to avoid accidental clicks.
- Watch out for images and fonts
Different clients handle images and fonts differently. One might auto-disable images by default, and the other might not support your custom font.
Therefore, always:
- Include alt text for images to provide context if they don’t load.
- Set fallback fonts like Arial or Helvetica.
- Optimize image sizes for faster load times without compromising quality.
Wrapping up
Email marketing lead generation is not rocket science. Even so, it requires precision, testing, and a strategy-first mindset.
Now, of course, managing all of this solo or even with a sales team can be overwhelming. That’s where Mailtrap comes into play. It streamlines the entire process: from sending personalized emails and scheduling campaigns to A/B testing and avoiding spam folders.
The best part? It’s intuitive and user-friendly, even if tech isn’t your strong suit.
So, give Mailtrap a shot. Because if you’re going to do email marketing, do it right.