Litmus
“Can we put video in email?” This question has come up a lot over the years, and we still hear it from time to time. After all, video seems like a great way to up the subscriber experience. But can you actually put video in email? And should you? It depends. Which seems like the go-to answer for all things email. Email has so many things to consider that every question raises more questions. So let’s dive into the pros and cons, how to fake it, how to actually embed a real video in your email, and some examples you can take inspiration from. Do videos in emails work? Yes, you can use videos in emails! And, there’s evidence that you should (at least sometimes) use video in email. According to the State of Email Trends Report, only 34% of marketers are using video in email, but over 50% of
Marketing strategies face some headwinds in 2024. They must adapt to leverage emerging technologies while operating under tighter budgets and an increased focus on accessibility and data privacy. Let’s take a closer look at how companies can navigate these very real—but not insurmountable—challenges this year. Marketing budgets In January 2023, many experts shared dire warnings about the economy. It was clearly headed for a recession. One year later, despite multiple interest rate hikes, the U.S. remains recession-free. A report from the National Association for Business Economics found that 76% of those surveyed believe the risks of a recession this year have fallen to 50% or less, and some businesses, like Bank of America, are predicting a soft landing. However, when they planned their 2024 budgets, most marketing teams expected to do more with less this year. Those tight budgets will push companies to streamline fragmented collections of niche marketing technologies.
In this new era of email, first party data matters more than ever. Measuring email opens alone is not enough to gauge email performance. Email engagement is gold, but subscriber expectations are skyrocketing almost as fast as your email workload and complexity is growing. Last fall we launched two new powerful features, available in every Litmus plan, to help you embrace this new era of email with open arms: Litmus Email Guardian monitors and protects all of your most important emails Litmus Personalize Essentials makes email personalization easy and effective for all marketers Over the next few months, you’ll see several new innovative features that will help you elevate email engagement and make every send count. Starting with… Live Polls in Litmus Personalize Essentials If you’ve been searching for ways to level up your email personalization strategy, you’re in the right place. Live Polls in Litmus Personalize Essentials help you
If you’re like the 41% of email marketing pros who responded to our 2023 State of Email survey, email marketing is your most effective marketing channels. But did you know over 14 of all emails never make it into the inbox? While email deliverability can feel like a bit of a mystery at times, you don’t have to cross your fingers and hope that your messages end up where you intend. With Litmus Spam Testing, you can identify and fix issues that might otherwise land your emails in spam—long before you hit send. Read on to learn more about why spam tests are so important, what they can help you identify, and how to conduct them. What is Litmus Spam Testing? Litmus Spam Testing scans your emails against 20+ different tests, identifying any issues that could prevent you from landing in the inbox. Best of all, it provides actionable advice
They say, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” I’m not exactly sure who ‘they’ are, but I agree with them in this case. In email, your first impression comes from three parts: the sender or ‘from’ name, the subject line, and the preview text. Everyone remembers the ‘from’ name and subject line, as your email service provider (ESP) won’t let you send an email without them. But preview text is a whole different situation. And if you forget it, you’re leaving that piece of your first impression up to the whims of your subscriber’s email client. In this post, you’ll learn how to take control of your preview text to ensure your email’s first impression is flawless. What the heck is email preview text? Preview text is the bit of text below or next to an email’s subject line in the inbox that gives extra
Every email marketer wants their messages to arrive in the inbox and not the spam folder . So when Gmail and Yahoo announced they’d be enforcing new sender guidelines that deeply affect deliverability for anyone sending to their addresses, every email marketer’s ears perked up. Hence why we hosted a virtual Litmus Talks with experts from Yahoo, Braze, and SocketLabs to weigh in on how best to navigate these requirements. Don’t have time to watch a virtual event? Here are some of the key takeaways: What the requirements are and how will they impact deliverability Which steps to take technically and strategically How to frame these adjustments for internal stakeholders With that, let’s dig into the details… What are the new requirements? And how will they impact deliverability? To begin, let’s briefly recap what these requirements entail. If you’re a bulk sender—which Google defines as anyone sending 5,000 or more
Here’s the deal: whether they’re subscribers, prospects, or loyal customers, the demand for personalization is non-negotiable. (And we’re not just talking about “Hello %%first_name%%.”) With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly prevalent, there’s a growing demand for more human-centric marketing . In fact, 64% of emails sent by companies leverage personalization using dynamic content—making it a standard practice in the industry. If you’re in the business of fostering brand trust and creating customers for life, then meeting this expectation is just the bare minimum. 76% of buyers expect personalized attention because they understand that tailored experiences reflect a brand’s commitment to understanding their needs and preferences. So—how do you meet these subscribers, prospects, or loyal customers where they’re at? By offering personalized inbox experiences that surpass the standard. Keep reading to learn about the importance of personalized emails along with tactics you can apply to your own email marketing program. What
The Community Spotlight—a monthly blog series highlighting some of the amazing members of the email community —is back for 2024! Every month, we interview, highlight, and celebrate the splendid members of the email community. We dig into where they got their start, where they are now, and explore their challenges and passions in email. This month, we’re chatting with Najmah Salam —designer, copywriter, strategist, and former teenage graffiti artist. Najmah Salam (she/her/hers) Marketing Alchemist at NajmahSalam.com Follow Naj on LinkedIn, Instagram and X (Twitter) What did the beginning of your time in email marketing look like? Like many other email specialists, I fell in love with email marketing completely by accident. My meet-cute with email happened in my first role in the UK as a marketing assistant for an online personalized gifts company, and one of my many tasks was to create emails every week. It wasn’t long before
Looking for some fresh ideas for your email marketing program? You might be in the beginning stages of coming up with a new email nurture or want to learn more about how your subscribers interact with a different email design. After all, when they have a great experience with your emails, it has a positive ripple effect on your overall brand. So, where can you find email design inspiration and examples for new strategy, copy, design, and development ideas? Let us be your inspiration guide! I—along with the rest of the email team—dug into our bookmarks and found some treasures that have helped us along the way. And I hope they help you, too. Important questions to ask yourself about your email campaigns When looking for some email inspiration, you can easily turn into a magpie—be attracted to bright, shiny things! Here are some questions I keep in mind when
Emails can feel a bit predictable with an image here, a block of text there. One way to liven up the subscriber experience? Background images! They add another dimension to your design, making your emails “pop.” When done well, they make your email feel like a million bucks. Keep reading for: The benefits of background images 5 creative examples of brands using background images Design considerations How to code background images What are background images? (And what’s the point?) Background images are images that are applied to the background of, or behind, an element. The major benefit of using background images is they allow you to place additional HTML content on top of them. Unlike other images, where only the image itself can exist in that space, background images provide layering possibilities, so you can have extra images, text, or calls-to-action (CTAs) existing within that same space. Plus, by using