Email marketing delivers the highest ROI of any other marketing channel. Email marketing is hard. By now, most marketers have figured out the secrets to doing it well. One of these statements is a lie. By the end of this session, you’ll be able to call me out on my lies, and know: • how to make calls to action that work and why colors matter more than you think (yes, color psychology is a thing) • how to understand and manage your sender score – IP warming hurts • your marketing automation tool is tricking you into sending bad emails • what the robots that decide your email deliverability fate care about • how great subject lines could ruin your click-through rates

1. EMAIL MARKETING
Two Truths and a Lie
Director, Global Marketing Operations Managing Partner, Consultant

2. 5 ways to use this presentation
1. Get back to basics – good solid email marketing
2. Train your team
3. Reinforce best practices with stakeholders
4. Implement some new approaches
5. Validate your greatness
You should definitely download this
deck because there’s a useful
appendix 
Want a copy? Find me on LinkedIn.

3. 1. Email marketing delivers the highest ROI of any
other marketing channel.
2. Email marketing is hard.
3. Most marketers have figured out the secrets to
doing email marketing really well.

4. By the end you will be able to …
Make calls-to-action that work really well
Avoid bad email traps your martech is tricking you into using
Ensure your subject lines don’t ruin your click-through rates
Understand and manage your sender score
Please the robots that decide your email deliverability fate
…and call me out on my LIE.

5. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility

6. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Click here
Accessibility
Learn more
Download the
Whitepaper
Download
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
[PICK A CTA]
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd
hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi
fheo blah hof jfie Download this new
whitepaper: Email Marketing: Two Truths
and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t
ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things you
can start doing right now to go from good
to awesome.
Awesome Logo
EMAIL MARKETING:
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
Get some
Be specific
Action in context
Could work,
in the right
context

7. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd
hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi
fheo blah hof jfie Download this new
whitepaper: Email Marketing: Two Truths
and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t
ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things you
can start doing right now to go from good
to awesome.
Awesome Logo
EMAIL MARKETING:
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
Subject Line: 5 Tips for Creating Amazing Emails
?

8. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd hi
blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi fheo
blah hof jfie Download this new whitepaper:
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie, to
learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t ruin
your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better. Check
out this whitepaper for things you can start
doing right now to go from good to
awesome.
Awesome Logo
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd hi
blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi fheo
blah hof jfie Download this new whitepaper:
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie, to
learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t ruin
your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better. Check
out this whitepaper for things you can start
doing right now to go from good to
awesome.
Awesome Logo
> 2X better CTR

9. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
?

10. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd
hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi
fheo blah hof jfie Download this new
whitepaper: Email Marketing: Two Truths
and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t
ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things you
can start doing right now to go from good
to awesome.
Awesome Logo
EMAIL MARKETING:
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
Learn more
Request a Quote Now >>
OK if positioned as secondary CTA (subtley)

11. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility

12. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Not even a
pre-header
with a CTA!
One tiny CTA
at the bottom

13. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Most email clients do NOT populate images by default. Only about
50% of people change this setting.
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd hi
blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi fheo
blah hof jfie Download this new whitepaper:
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie, to
learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t ruin
your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better. Check
out this whitepaper for things you can start
doing right now to go from good to
awesome.
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h hihd hi
blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd ehief hoi fheo
blah hof jfie Download this new whitepaper:
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie, to
learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your sender
score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide your
email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that don’t ruin
your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better. Check
out this whitepaper for things you can start
doing right now to go from good to
awesome.
Put your CTA
in a shaded
text box
instead of an
image
Pre-header with link goes here
Include a pre-
header with a
link to your
CTA

14. LOGO
Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
? Don’t let your
marketing
automation
tool trick you
into bad
behavior.

15. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
How color impacts email performance:
1. Visual appeal
2. Context
3. Sentiment /
emotion

16. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h
hihd hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd
ehief hoi fheo blah hof jfie Download
this new whitepaper: Email Marketing:
Two Truths and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your
sender score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide
your email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that
don’t ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things
you can start doing right now to go
from good to awesome.
Awesome Logo
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h
hihd hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd
ehief hoi fheo blah hof jfie Download
this new whitepaper: Email Marketing:
Two Truths and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your
sender score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide
your email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that
don’t ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things
you can start doing right now to go
from good to awesome.
Awesome Logo
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h
hihd hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd
ehief hoi fheo blah hof jfie Download
this new whitepaper: Email Marketing:
Two Truths and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your
sender score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide
your email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that
don’t ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things
you can start doing right now to go
from good to awesome.
Awesome Logo
Email Marketing: Two Truths and a Lie
Are your emails the best they can be?
Download the
Whitepaper
Words blah bjhksa dla idsi hduhd h
hihd hi blah huohfeo huohd hop iofd
ehief hoi fheo blah hof jfie Download
this new whitepaper: Email Marketing:
Two Truths and a Lie, to learn how to:
• Create calls to action that work
• Understand & manage your
sender score
• Avoid automation tool trickery
• Appease the robots that decide
your email deliverability fate
• Write great subject lines that
don’t ruin your click-through rates
Your emails could be so much better.
Check out this whitepaper for things
you can start doing right now to go
from good to awesome.
Awesome Logo
1
2 3
4
Complimentary Colors
Contrasting Colors Matching Colors
Arbitrary Colors

17. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
Which do you prefer?
Which image would make you buy a T-shirt?
Context
matters

18. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
One last thing...
…make sure you
HAVE a CTA!!

19. Call-to-Action (CTA) Success Drivers
Words
Context
Color
Placement
Focus
Accessibility
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your emails are actionable…
…now are they deliverable?

20. Deliverability Drivers
Email address
validity
Sender score
“SPAM” words /
characters in
subject line
“SPAM” words
in email body
copy
Too many
images
(large email files)
Number of, and
nature of
hyperlinks
The sender
Missing plain
text and/or
image ALT text
Personalization
merge fields
List size
Bad/Bloated
HTML

21. Deliverability Drivers
Sender Score
Manage it like you
would a credit score.
 Know your IP address(es)
 Monitor your score regularly
(it changes every 30 days)
 Know what impacts it
 Know whether you have a
dedicated or shared IP
Range 0-100
GOOD > 90!

22. Deliverability Drivers
Sender Score
To warm your IP address(es):
 Gradually send emails to recipients you know are valid AND
engaged
 It’s better to send more small batches than fewer large batches
 Monitor positive AND negative interactions & adjust accordingly,
increasing in frequency and volume only as positive engagement
increases
To maintain a good sender score:
 Send content that your users want, and have explicitly opted-in
to receive
 Practice proper contact list hygiene by removing unengaged
users
 Send email at a consistent and appropriate frequency
It is easier to
establish a positive
reputation as a
new sender, than
repair an existing
reputation.
Dedicated IP
addresses, only
All IP addresses

23. Deliverability Drivers
There’s more to it than sender score.

24. Deliverability Drivers
Email address
validity
Sender score
“SPAM” words /
characters in
subject line
“SPAM” words
in email body
copy
Too many
images
(large email files)
Number of, and
nature of
hyperlinks
The sender
Missing plain
text and/or
image ALT text
Personalization
merge fields
List size
Bad/Bloated
HTML

25. Deliverability Drivers
“SPAM” words /
characters in
subject line
“SPAM” words
in email body
copy
Free
No
Offer
[ ]
Password
Email
Expect
Who really
New
Subject
Talk
?
Terms and Conditions
Junk
Spam
Financial
Win
Guaranteed
Opportunity
Urgent
Unlimited
!
Meet
Find out
Instant
Laser Printer
Investment
Effective
Honor
Why pay more?
Unsubscribe
Top ‘professional’ words/characters spam filters looked for in 2015

26. Deliverability Drivers
Too many
images
(large email files)
Number of, and
nature of
hyperlinks
Personalization
merge fields
 Limit number of images
 Avoid unnecessary icons
(i.e. social media)
 Use shaded boxes for CTAs
 Import images in correct
size (vs resizing in editor)
 Don’t use images where
HTML could be used
(like borders)
 Avoid unnecessary
hyperlinks
 Avoid hyperlinking terms
like “learn more” and
“click here”
 Some possible triggers
cannot be avoided
(like unsubscribe links)
 Do not use merge fields in
subject lines
 Limit merge fields in body
 Only use when email really
warrants ‘personalization’
 People aren’t fooled
Did you know…Email filters take
image-to-text-ratio into account,
favoring a higher ratio of text.

27. List size
Missing plain
text and/or
image ALT text
The sender
Deliverability Drivers
 Be consistent
 Names with real emails
addresses > general
inboxes BUT it’s hard to
fool filters
 Set up BOTH SPF and
DKIM
 Send small batches over a
period of days
 Use drip programs vs.
batch sends
 Remove people form lists
as they stop engaging
 Always have properly
formatted plain text
 Always insert ALT text
See appendix resources to learn
more about SPF and DKIM.

28. Deliverability Drivers
 It might be better to build natively
(depending on your email system)
 Don’t copy/paste from third party
HTML/Rich text sources (like MS
Word!)
 Watch out for HTML formatting
redundancies
 Check your HTML before sending
Bad/Bloated
HTML
Did you know…There is no established standard for
email code rendering. The trick is to keep it simple.

29. Now you should be able to …
Make calls-to-action that work really well
Avoid bad email traps your martech is tricking you into using
Ensure your subject lines don’t ruin your click-through rates
Understand and manage your sender score
Please the robots that decide your email deliverability fate
…time to call me out on my LIE.

30. 1. Email marketing delivers the highest ROI of any
other marketing channel.
2. Email marketing is hard.
3. Most marketers have figured out the secrets to
doing email marketing really well.

31. Email is the Jason Bourne of online: somebody’s
always trying to kill it. It can’t be done.
~Anon
Instead of one-way interruption, Web marketing is about delivering
useful content at just the precise moment that a buyer needs it.
~ David Meerman Scott
Clarity Trumps Persuasion
~ Dr. Flint McGlaughlin
What makes content engaging is relevancy. You need to
connect the contact info with the content info
~ Gail Goodman
QUESTIONS?
Thank you!

32. APPENDIX

33. Email Layout Tips
[LOGO]
Headline
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor
incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
• Ut enim ad minim veniam
• quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris
• Nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in
voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste
natus error sit doloremque laudantium, totam.
Disclosure of nature of email
Physical Address
Unsubscribe Link
CTA
[IMAGE]
View on mobile | Visit our website | Contact Us | Chat
Follow us on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
Duis dolor in reprehenderit in veli
Short banner keeps critical copy
higher in the email
Use color-filled text box for CTA
button instead of image to
reduce # of images
Embrace white space! It allows
the eye to go to the critical copy
and CTA
Always include compliant
footers
A simple image makes the email
more eye-catching & engaging
Pre-headers make your email
more mobile-friendly & should
be a continuation of your
subject line (not redundant)
Use words, not images, for you
Social Media follow links
Incorporate logo into banner to
reduce # of images and keep
critical copy higher
Keep copy concise, and break
up with bullets to make It easier
to read
Put the “view won mobile” link
in the footer, instead of the pre-
header.
Offer the CTA in multiple
locations, including in-line.

34. Useful Resources
Email Actionability (CTAs)
• More from me about color psychology and why it matters in marketing
• The Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Design & Copy of CTAs (HubSpot)
• 75 CTAs to use in your email marketing (Campaign Monitor)
• Rules for optimizing your email CTA (Comm100)
• Guide to Email Image Rendering on desktop, web and mobile applications (Litmus)
Email Deliverability
• Check your Sender Score (ReturnPath)
• How to Warm an IP Address (SendGrid)
• Understanding SPF and DKIM (ReturnPath)
• Why your emails look bad in Outlook – what Outlook does and does not support (Pardot)