Elements of a Successful
Email Marketing Campaign
by Tamara Gielen

The Boring Slide
• Email Marketing Consultant @ OgilvyOne
• Blogger @ BeRelevant!
• Community Manager @ Email Marketer’s
Club
• Social Media Addict ☺
• www.b2bemailmarketing.com
• www.emailmarketersclub.com
• Twitter: @tamaragielen
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

4 Crucial Elements
• Product, incentive, content…
Offer • What do you want them to do?
• Permission is key!
List • The right person @ the right time
• Copy, design & development
Creative • Envelope, body, destination & follow-up
• Don’t use Outlook!
Tools • You get what you pay for
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

What’s your objective?
• Who is the target audience?
• What is the purpose of the email?
• How will you measure success?
• What are you testing?

Does your message provide value?
Ask yourself:
• What is the email about?
• What’s in it for the reader?
• What do you want the reader to do?
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Subject line: tell, don’t sell!
• Is your from name recognizable?
• Is the key message clear in the first 50-60
characters?
• Does it describe what the email is about?
• Does it describe how the reader will
benefit when he opens the email?
• Does it entice readers to open the email?
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Optimize the (pre)header
• Did you include a teaser at the top of your
email?
• Are you linking to an online version?
• Are you asking readers to whitelist your
address?
• Is there a company logo at the top?
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Why is the preheader important?
Gmail:
Outlook:
Preheader
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Optimize for the preview pane
• What is visible in the top 400x300 pixels?
– And what does this look like without images?
• Does this tease the reader to open the
email?
– Offer, table of contents
Preview pane
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Is your copy scannable?
• Can I understand the message in 5 seconds?
• Do you use action-oriented language?
• Are your paragraphs maximum 3 lines long?
• Do you use subheaders and bullet points?
• Is the email understandable without images?
• Are you using ALT-tags?
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Hotmail – no images
No ALT–tag!

Outlook – no images
ALT-tag

Gmail – no images
ALT-tag

Is it obvious what
you want the reader to do?
• Does the call-to-action (CTA) stand out?
• Is your CTA placed above the fold?
• Do you have a CTA at the bottom as well?
• Are you linking to your CTA more than
once?
• Is your CTA an image?
• Have you tested the wording of the CTA?
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

What do you put in the footer?
• Did you include an unsubscribe link?
• Are you including your contact details?
• Are you asking readers to forward the
email?
• Inform readers why they receive the
email
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

DO:
DON’T:
Email Marketing Forum 2008 – Tamara Gielen

Don’t forget the landing page!
• Don’t just link to your homepage
• Make sure you use the same visual
elements
• Keep forms as short as possible
• Test and optimize for conversion
• According to MarketingSherpa, optimizing the landing
page has the highest impact on ROI

Useful resources
www.b2bemailmarketing.com
www.emailmarketersclub.com

Thank you! Questions?
Email: tamara.gielen@ogilvy.com
Mobile: 0477 666 930
Twitter: @tamaragielen
www.linkedin.com/in/tamaragielen