What are Google Discovery Ads? Examples + a Campaign Tutorial

With every campaign comes specific goals advertisers want to achieve. For some, it's brand awareness. For others, it's increased website traffic.

But what if your goal is to reach audiences who are already prime to take action? With Google Discover ads, you can reach them – up to 3 billion of them to be exact.

Let's dive into what Google Discovery ads are, how they work, and how to set one up today.

Using customer intent signals, Google uses machine learning to determine when users are most likely to engage with a brand. According to Google, brands should use it to:

• Scale their conversions.
• Reach new customers.
• Reconnect with previous customers.

Another thing that sets Google Discovery ads apart from other campaigns is the limited campaign settings. Advertisers cannot adjust:

• Ad rotation
• Frequency capping
• Delivery method
• Device targeting
• Placement targeting
• Contextual targeting
• Manual bid strategies

This campaign type offers automated campaign settings for bidding and targeting so that advertisers can focus on optimizing campaign performance.

Discovery Ads vs. Display Ads

The key difference in these ads is who they're reaching and where.

Discovery ads reach those exhibiting high-intent behavior, as determined by Google's algorithms. For instance, they're great for ecommerce businesses looking to acquire new consumers and introduce their audiences to products and/or services.

Display ads, on the other hand, are not always meant to drive this type of action. In addition, display ads deliver ads in the Google Display Network whereas Discovery ads are only on Google feeds.

To launch a Discovery campaign, you first have to gather your creative assets, such as your copy, images, and logo. Next, you need a daily budget high enough to cover at least 10 times your target CPA bid.

Then, you'll need to enable sitewide tagging in your ad account along with conversion tracking. Lastly, you must review and ensure you comply with Google's personalized ad policies.

Once you've completed these key steps, you can start setting up your campaign.

Step 1: Set up a Google Discover ad campaign.

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.

2. Click 'Campaigns' located on the left of the page menu.

3. Click the '+' button, then select 'New campaign.'

4. Choose your marketing objective.

5. Click on the 'Discovery campaign' type.

6. Select 'Continue.'

7. Pick your geographic and language targeting for this campaign.

8. Select your audiences.

   1. You can choose between customer intent, your data (i.e. remarketing list), and in-market audiences.

9. Set your bidding strategy and average daily budget.

10. Click 'Save and continue.'

11. Click 'Save.'

After setting up your campaign, the next step is setting up your single-image ad and multi-image carousel ad.

Step 2: Upload your creative assets.

There are two formats available for Discovery campaigns: single-image ads and multi-image carousel ads.

For this campaign, you must upload multiple versions of some assets, as Google will create different combinations to optimize your campaigns, such as:

• Headlines – You must upload between three to five headlines up to 40 characters each.
• Description – You can have anywhere from one to five descriptions up to 90 characters.
• Business name, CTA, and Final URL – You can only have one of each.
• Images – You must have at least one landscape image, one square image, and a square logo, with a maximum file size of 5MB.

For additional information on asset requirements for Discovery ads, click here.

Here are the steps to upload your creative assets:

1. Log into your Google Ads account.

2. Click on "Campaigns" and select your Discovery campaign.

3. On the left page menu, click on "Ads & Extensions."

4. Click on the "+" icon then select "Discovery ad" or "Discovery Carousel ad."

5. Upload.

Step 3: Undergo the "Learning" period.

Once your campaign goes live, you must allow two weeks for Google Ads to optimize your bids.

During this time frame, you may see the label "Learning" next to your bid strategy status. This is an indication that you should avoid making any bidding changes and assess once that time expires.

Google Discovery Ad Examples

Gmail Feed

One place Discovery ads will show up is in Gmail. When you navigate to the "Promotions" or "Social" tabs, you may see ads like this:

Once you click on one of the ads, it will open up like an email and show details on the offer from the brand – as shown below.

YouTube Home Feed

Another place you'll find Discovery ads is in the YouTube app.

As you scroll down the "Home" tab, you will likely see ads like these with the yellow "Ad" indicator.

Google App Discover

Have the Google app downloaded on your device? You may see Discovery ads if you have the "Discover" feature turned on.

The Discover feeds offers personalized content to users based on their web history, interests, and saved items. Here's an example of an ad on the app:

One thing to note about the Discover feed is that it's unavailable to consumers in Germany, Australia, and France. As a result, those consumers also won't see ads like these in their Google App.

Google Discovery Ads is Google's latest tool to help advertisers reach their target audience. As always, be sure to experiment and optimize your campaigns.

What are Google Discovery Ads? Examples + a Campaign Tutorial was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

18 Strategies to Increase Employee Retention

Sometimes employees stay at a company for many years, loving the work they do and feeling like they’re exactly where they’re meant to be. Conversely, some employees leave and pursue other opportunities.

Whatever the case is for your business, you likely want to retain all of your employees, whether they’ve been with you for ten years or just started last quarter.

In this post, learn what employee retention is and discover high-impact strategies that will help you satisfy your employees and keep a low retention rate.

What is employee retention?

Employee retention is a business’s ability to keep their employees and reduce employee turnover, which is when employees leave their jobs for other opportunities or reasons.

Increasing employee retention directly impacts business success, as having more employees or the right amount of employees makes it easier to reach business goals.

Employee retention is expressed as a percentage, and below we’ll discuss how it’s measured.

How to Calculate Employee Retention Rate

The formula to calculate your employee retention rate is rather straightforward. You simply divide your total number of remaining employees during a set period by the total number of employees you began with during that same period and multiply the number by 100.

For example, let’s say you began Q1 with 43 employees and finished Q1 with 39 employees. Your equation would look like this:

(39 / 43) x 100

And your employee retention rate would be 90.69%, or 90.7% rounded to the nearest 10th.

Why is employee retention rate important?

Employee retention rate is important because it helps you understand how your business fares in keeping employees and whether or not there need to be improvements to your employee retention strategies.

If your rate tells you that you have lower retention, your business likely spends more money hiring new employees than helping existing employees succeed. In fact, according to Gallup, the cost of replacing employees can range from .5 to 2x times an employee’s annual salary.

How to Improve Employee Retention

Recent HubSpot Data found that marketers reported that they believed that the reasons for high employee turnover were a lack of work-life balance, lack of flexible schedule, or lack of career growth opportunities.

Data Source

Improving employee retention means reducing employee turnover and continuing to meet overall business goals that contribute to success. It usually begins with hiring the right employee and additional strategies we’ll discuss below.

Employee Retention Strategies

1. Use comprehensive hiring practices.

As mentioned above, employee retention often begins by simply hiring the right people. And, the best way to hire the right people is to have a recruitment process that ensures you’re hiring the right people.

It’s best not to subject candidates to a long and drawn-out process as it may send them elsewhere. More so, going through interviewing in a way that helps you best understand the candidate and if they possess the right skills for the role or will be able to develop them on the job.

2. Strive to create supportive work environments.

Employees need to work in environments where they feel supported; a key to retaining employees. Therefore, strive to create an environment where employees flourish and perform to their best abilities.

Some of the best ways to do so are by providing adequate on-the-job training, practicing effective and clear communication, and offering benefits and perks.

3. Provide proper training and development.

Training and development are crucial to employee retention.

If employees aren’t adequately trained for their jobs, they may feel underprepared for their work or as if they aren’t performing well. If employees feel like they can’t do their job, they may pursue opportunities that offer comprehensive onboarding and on-the-job training.

4. Always communicate.

Communication is a pillar of employee retention. When people understand what is expected of them and there are open lines of communication, they’re more likely to feel prepared for their jobs and ask questions if they are confused.

For example, if you’re a people manager, saying “You need to improve next quarter” is less effective than saying, “Next quarter I’d like to see improvement in XYZ areas, and some ways to ensure you’re meeting targets in those areas is to do XYZ.”

Communication is also critical for higher-level executives, as employees want to hear from business leaders about how the business is faring and how their job duties relate to overall success.

5. Offer benefits and perks.  

Benefits and perks are a significant part of employee retention. Offering them shows employees that you genuinely care about their wellbeing, and it can give them a sense of security about their lives. For example, benefits like health insurance ensure employees can find adequate care if they get sick.

Added perks can be fitness discounts, access to corporate deals, or maybe even providing coffee in the workplace. If you’re hoping to include perks directly related to employee desires, ask employees for feedback about what they're interested in having offered.

6. Create career development plans.

Working with employees to create a path for development at work is a great way to encourage retention. It gives people a goal to work towards and can be a significant motivating factor.

Quarterly, bi-annual, or annual career chats where managers sit down with employees and discuss where they want to be, how they can get there, and what opportunities are open to them is a great way to practice this.

7. Provide effective manager training.

Employees sometimes leave their jobs because they don’t feel supported by their managers. To combat this, ensure that your business invests in effective training for managers so they can effectively support employees and their development.

Effective training also ensures managers are equipped to have tough conversations with employees when necessary, like letting them know that they need to further develop specific skills or make changes to their job processes.

All in all, people want to feel that their managers care about them, and proper training can ensure that this happens.

8. Create internal recognition programs.

A great way for employees to feel seen and appreciated at work is to have internal award programs, where employees are recognized for their hard work. You’ll show employees that you value what they do for your business, and all of their coworkers can be aware of their impact.

In practice, this can look like a peer recognition program where coworkers nominate other team members or a manager nominated award.

9. Support employees in educational endeavors.

One reason employees leave companies is to go back to school and continue their education.

Instead of losing employees, you can consider supporting their educational development while they remain on the job. For example, some companies pay for or reimburse employees for academic courses they complete while still working for the company.

10. Encourage skill development.

You want employees to receive the training they need to succeed at their jobs. Still, you should also encourage employees to develop additional skills that will aid in their professional development. By doing so, employees can progress into new roles within your organization instead of seeking opportunities elsewhere.

For example, say an employee is stuck in a rut where they feel like they already know how to do their job but are desiring to do something more. If there are no opportunities at their current workplace to learn new skills, they may seek an opportunity at another company that will allow them to learn new skills.

Instead, if that employee can develop additional skills while remaining on the job, they may be more likely to stay. For example, employees can propose new projects within their team that will place them outside of their comfort zone and require new skills, or take on a workplace opportunity that requires new skills, like organizing a speaker series and learning about recruiting talent.

11. Show employees how their work affects customers.

A great way to help employees see that their job means something is to ensure they know how their work affects customers. This could look like highlighting customer success stories or case studies where employees can truly see the fruits of their efforts and how a customer has succeeded because of the work they’ve done.

Conversely, when employees don’t feel like their work means something, or they don’t understand how they can help the customer, they may be more likely to pursue an opportunity where they clearly see how they make an impact.

12. Offer fair compensation.

A significant reason employees leave is that they feel they aren’t adequately compensated for their work. Case in point — LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report from 2020 found that companies rated highly in providing fair compensation had a 56% lower rate of attrition.

Therefore, a best practice for increasing employee retention is to ensure that you’re fairly compensating employees, starting with baseline salary. You can also consider offering raises, promotions, or taking on new responsibilities.

13. Always provide actionable feedback.

Employees want to understand their performance, so providing feedback is critical. They’ll know areas of high performance, as well as specific skills that need improvement.

Having this feedback shows employees that you care about their performance and how it affects the company. When feedback is actionable, you show that you care about their development and aren’t just instructing them to do better with no additional advice.

Employees that aren’t given feedback are left confused about their performance and unsure if they need to make changes, lacking guidance, and may go somewhere else where they understand more about how they’re fairing.

14. Encourage a proper work-life balance.

Employees who feel they’re expected to be in work mode 24/7 will be stressed and likely develop feelings of burnout. They may also decide to pursue work elsewhere, where they know that it is encouraged to live a life outside of work.

Instead, encourage people to have a work-life balance and set boundaries. For example, maybe you say that people should set time frames in which they will be doing work, and then times where they will put everything aside and pick it up tomorrow.

Promoting this balance can also look like encouraging employees to take time off when necessary or even taking breaks during the workday.

15. Practice effective change management.

All workplaces have to deal with change, and sometimes that change can be unexpected.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an excellent example of practicing effective change management. Millions of people worldwide were suddenly expected to pivot to different working styles, and change management was necessary to prepare workers for these changes and create a smooth transition.

Being able to reassure employees when changes are happening, both big and small, can help assuage any fears and anxieties they may have about doing their jobs. Without this, employees may feel they are being left behind and seek opportunities elsewhere.

16. Always emphasize teamwork.

Rarely do people work in silos, so you should always encourage employees to work together as a team so people feel as though they aren’t working independently to help solve company needs.

Encourage employees to get to know their coworkers, contribute in group settings, and collaborate when necessary. You can also encourage employees to turn to each other for advice and assistance before reaching out to a manager.

17. Offer flexible work options.

LinkedIn’s Global Talent Report names four P’s of employee experience: people, place, product, and process. Place, concerning employee retention, means where people work, whether physically in the office, are remote, or a combination of the two.

This means that a critical aspect of employee retention is offering employees to choose a preferred mode of work, whether that be entirely in-person at an office, a hybrid option between working at home and going into the office, or completely remote.

By doing this, employees can pick a mode of work that speaks best to their needs. For example, some people are caregivers to family and friends, so having the opportunity to work from home and continue to provide care can be the difference between retaining them or losing them to a company with more flexibility.

18. Create an inclusive work environment.

An inclusive workspace is critical to retention, as employees who feel safe and valued in the workplace are more likely to stay within your company.

This means that it’s important to champion diversity, inclusion, and belonging at work so that all individual employees feel recognized, seen, and cared for by your business. You can do things like:

• Create diversity programming,
• Create employee resource groups so employees can connect with others in the workplace that share similar identities,
• Create an inclusive language guide for your business to refer to to ensure that writing is inclusive of everyone.

Companies that don’t practice diversity see its effects in their retention — for example, nearly 50% of people of color have quit a job because of experiencing or witnessing discrimination at work.

Retaining your employees often begins by hiring the right person. But even then, it’s essential to continuously work to make employees feel safe, comfortable, and able to succeed at their jobs.

If you’ve calculated your business’s business retention rate and found that you want to raise it, leverage the tips on this list to begin lowering your turnover rate.

18 Strategies to Increase Employee Retention was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How to Repost on Instagram: 4 Ways to Reshare Content From Other Users

While most social media feeds are distractingly busy,Instagram is different — you can only look at one post at a time. This makes it a great medium for businesses looking to make the most of visual elements.

And while Instagram's simple, clean interface makes it easy to focus on users' beautiful photography and interesting videos, it also leaves something to be desired: the ability to easily repost other users' content. This is a major roadblock when you want to share content your target audience could benefit from.

But fear not: for every problem, the internet has afforded a solution. We tested out four different ways to repost content on Instagram in a few simple steps. All of these methods are free, but some require you to download an app from the iOS App Store or Google Play first.

To repost someone else's Instagram post, it’s best to obtain permission first to ensure you are not infringing on someone else’s copyright or license. Additionally, giving the creator credit for their work is recommended. Once permissions are squared away, repost using one of the methods below.

The screenshot method doesn't require other websites to repost on Instagram. It's worth nothing that this method only works for reposting photos, not videos. Here's how to do it:

1. Find a photo on Instagram you'd like to repost, and take a screenshot with your phone.

• For iOS: Press down on the home and lock buttons simultaneously until your screen flashes.
• For Android: Press down on the sleep/wake and volume down buttons simultaneously until your screen flashes.

2. Tap the new post button.

Once you've got your screenshot, return to your Instagram account. Tap the "new post button" in the top right of your Instagram screen.

Then select post from the drop down menu.

3. Resize the photo in the app.

Keep in mind that your phone will take a screenshot of everything on your screen, not just the photo you want to repost. So, be prepared to crop the sides of the screenshot to capture just the image you want to share with your followers.

After you've cropped or resized the photo to your liking, click "next."

4. Edit and add filters of your choice.

Edit and filter the post like you would any other Instagram post.

5. Add a citation.

The repost won't include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the original poster with the photo you're reposting.

6. Add a caption.

At the top you'll see a preview of your post along with space for a caption. You can choose to tag people or organizations, and a location.

7. Click share

Once you've finished customizing the post with the options above, click share at the top right corner. The post will be live.

Instagram Reposting Apps

In addition to using the screenshot method, you can also use a third party app. The options below are our favorite apps for reposting on Instagram.

Repost: For Instagram

1. Download Repost for Instagram.

Download Repost: For Instagram for iOS or Android. The app integrates directly with Instagram so you can share content from other Instagram users from your mobile device.

2. Identify a photo or video to repost.

Open your Instagram app and find a photo or video you'd like to repost from your own Instagram account. Tap your chosen photo from the original poster's photo gallery to see its full view, as shown below.

(Psst — do you follow HubSpot on Instagram?)

3. Copy the post's share URL to your clipboard.

Once you're on the photo's or video's landing page, tap the "..." icon in the upper-righthand corner of the post. Then, tap "Copy Link."

4. Open Repost: For Instagram.

Once the photo is copied to your phone's clipboard, open Repost: For Instagram. The post you copied will automatically be on the app's inbox, as shown below.Tap the arrow on the right hand side of the post. There, you can edit how you want the repost icon to appear on Instagram.

You can choose to copy the original caption to your post or add a new one later.

Tap the arrow icon at the top or "share." Then, tap the Instagram icon to edit your draft.

5. Edit the post's caption and share your repost.

Write a caption and click "ok" when finished.

When you're ready to share the post, tap "share" as you would a regular Instagram post.

Using InstaRepost

1. Download InstaRepost.

Download InstaRepost for Android devices to share content from other Instagram users from your own Instagram account via your mobile device.

2. Give InstaRepost access to your Instagram account.

Open InstaRepost, log in using your Instagram credentials, and authorize it to access photos, friends, and similar content associated with your Instagram account.

3. Use InstaRepost to look up the original poster's username.

InstaRepost will only show you a small selection from your Instagram feed. If you know what post you're looking for, tap the magnifying glass icon on the bottom toolbar of the InstaRepost app to access the Explore tab. Enter the username of the person whose photo you want to repost.

Image Source

Image Source

4. Save the photo to your phone's camera roll.

Once you've found a post you want to reshare, tap the arrow in the lower right hand corner. Then, tap "Repost," then "Repost'' again. This will first save the photo to your mobile device's native camera roll, where you can retrieve it in the Instagram app.

Navigate to your Instagram app and tap "Library." You'll see the post saved to your phone's camera roll. Tap the photo to pull it into Instagram.

5. Add a filter and a citation, and share your repost.

Add a filter and edit the post as you would any other. Then, select "Next" and tap the caption field to paste the original caption. The repost won't automatically include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the content's original poster. Then, press "Share."

Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

Using DownloadGram

DownloadGram lets Instagram users download high-resolution copies of Instagram photos and videos to repost from their own accounts. Luckily, there isn't an app you need to download to repost using this process. Here's how to do it:

1. Open Instagram and find a photo or video to repost.

Open your Instagram app and find the post you want to repost. Tap the "..." icon in the upper righthand corner of the post and click "Copy Share URL" (this button will be the same for both iOS and Android mobile devices).

2. Paste the post's share URL into DownloadGram.

Open your mobile internet browser and navigate to DownloadGram — or simply, downloadgram.org. Paste the URL into the text box that appears on the website's homepage. Then, tap "Download."

Tap the "Download Image" button that appears further down DownloadGram's homepage.

3. Download the post.

You'll be directed to a new webpage with the content ready to download. Tap the download icon — the box with an upward-facing arrow, as shown below — then tap "save image."

4. Open Instagram and find the photo or video in your camera roll.

Return to your Instagram app. The image will be saved to your phone's native camera roll, so edit it as you would any other Instagram post.

5. Add a caption and share your repost.

The repost won't include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the original poster with the photo or video. Then, press "Share." Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

1. Open the instagram app and find the photo or video you’d like to add to your story.

2. Click the paper plane icon at the bottom of the post.

3. Click “add to your story.”

4. Personalize the draft post with stickers or text.

You should see a draft of your story. Use the icons at the top to modify text, color, stickers and other animations.

5. Click “your story” in the bottom left corner.

You also have the option to click “close friends” on the right, bottom corner (shown above) if you only want a select group to view your story. Then your new post should show up in your story like in the example below.

With stories, the same best practices should be followed as for sharing a post. If you don’t know the person and suspect the content you’d like to re-share might be licensed material, ask for permission first. Give credit to the original posters whenever possible.

Share Your Favorite Instagram Posts

Now that you've learned how to repost on Instagram, you can diversify your profile with content sourced from friends, family, and brands. Use the methods above — being sure to cite the source of the original post — to quickly and easily reshare your favorite content.

This article was originally published November 18, 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

How to Repost on Instagram: 4 Ways to Reshare Content From Other Users was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

17 Email Marketing Best Practices That Actually Drive Results

While email marketing may not get the attention some newer marketing channels get, it's still a terrific way for you to generate leads and convert more prospects for your business.

With that in mind, I want to share some email marketing best practices you can use to generate more leads for your business.

 

1. Don't purchase contact lists.

This first tip should come as no surprise, but given the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it bears repeating.

Email campaigns depend on a healthy open rate, and if you're contacting people whose information you bought – rather than earned from a previous interaction – you'll quickly see your emails' performance drop.

The GDPR also requires each European recipient's consent before you reach out to them, and purchased email lists usually do not come with that consent.

For help reaching your target audience, consider Versium Reach – a platform made for B2B marketers that allows you to own data on your target audience across multiple marketing channels.

2. Avoid using 'No-Reply' in the sender's email address.

Have you heard of CAN-SPAM? This longstanding piece of legislation is a popular and important guideline for all email marketers in the U.S.

One major rule in CAN-SPAM is to never use the words "no reply," or a similar phrase, as your email sender's name (for example, "noreply@yourcompany.com").

"No reply" in an email message prevents recipients from responding and even opting out of further emails, which CAN-SPAM protects their right to do so at any time.

Instead, have your automated emails come from a first name (for example, jamie@mycompany.com). Your customers are much more likely to open emails if they know they were written by a human being and it keeps you compliant with email regulations.

3. Stick to fewer than three typefaces.

The less clutter you have in your email, the more conversions you'll get.

Don't junk up your email with more than two fonts or typefaces, as that can distract readers and ruin your email’s visual appeal.

In addition, you want to use web-safe fonts with sizes between 10-point and 12-point. This ensures your email will be legible on all readers and devices.

4. Optimize the email's preview text.

If you subscribe to a newsletter, you’ve likely seen a message like this at the top of your email: “Email not displaying correctly? Click here.”

Don't get me wrong – it's a helpful warning but keeping it in the preview text of your email (also known as the preheader) can drastically impact your email’s open rate.

Firstly, because you’re telling recipients, “Hey, this email might not work." Secondly, it doesn’t provide any insight into what the email is about.

Your preview text should supplement your subject line by adding in details to capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to open.

By default, preview text pulls in the first several words of the email body and displays it next to the subject line before the person opens it.

The problem is custom email templates often stick with conditional statements like "Can't see images?" or "Not displaying correctly?" at the top banner, allowing it to slip right into the preview when it goes out.

As a rule of thumb, always write a custom preheader that teases what your email will offer.

Pro-tip: HubSpot users can fix this problem by customizing the preview text themselves in the backend of their email marketing newsletter.

5. Include an email signature.

Even if your newsletter is technically being sent to your contacts on behalf of the company, rather than an individual, the email should include the signature of a specific person.

In a 2019 State of Business Email Marketing study, 41% of marketers said they use email signatures for branding and visibility. The second most popular reason for its use was to maintain standard, cohesive sign-offs across all their companies.

Another reason you should include your email signature is that it’s a touch of personalization. People are naturally more inclined to read an email if they know it came from a human being, not just a collective marketing team. Your email signature is your ticket to their attention.

Want a quick way to make a beautiful email signature? Use HubSpot's Email Signature Generator. We also have an Out-of-Office Email Generator to make your response to incoming messages just as delightful.

6. Clean your mailing list regularly.

Some of your email contacts might not opt-out of your email campaign, but will still never open your emails.

It's tempting to email as many people as possible to reach more prospects, but keeping your least-engaged recipients on your mailing list can kill your open rate. People who never open emails make your campaign look worse since you're not analyzing the campaign's quality against your most loyal recipients.

Review your list of subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails over a certain period of time, and remove them on a regular basis. This gives you a more accurate email open rate and keeps your email campaign clean of the people who are no longer interested in hearing from you.

You can also implement a workflow in which they’re gradually moved to a less frequent email list based on activity.

For instance, say you have a daily newsletter. You could implement a workflow in which subscribers who do not open your email in two consecutive weeks are moved to the weekly email. Then, those subscribers could be moved to the monthly newsletter if they don’t open 4 consecutive emails. And so on.

It keeps you from bombarding your subscribers with emails they’re not interested in while keeping your list clean.

7. Keep the main message and call-to-action above the fold.

Above the fold refers to the information that’s visible to the reader before they scroll down.

Even though recent research suggests that consumers scroll more than they used to – because of social media and vertical timelines – above the fold content still gets the most attention.

Eyetracking research from Neilsen Norman Group found that consumers spend 57% of their viewing time on above-the-fold content. That number drastically goes down to 17% of the second screenful and gradually decreases as they scroll.

With this in mind, place your message and CTA above the fold. It’s the first thing your recipients will see once they open your email, therefore increasing your conversion rate.

You can also run an A/B test first to validate the hypothesis and see if it works for your emails.

8. Personalize the email greeting.

How often do you read emails that begin, "Dear Member"?

You might segment your email audiences by the type of customer they are (member, subscriber, user, etc.), but it shouldn't be the first thing recipients see in your company messages.

Personalizing the greeting of your emails with your contacts' first names grabs the attention of each reader right away. For HubSpot users, this is called a personalization token, and creating one looks like this:

Then, the address line of your email would automatically produce the contact's first name by fetching this personalization token in the email's HTML, like this: Hi, !

Don't worry, personalizing an email's greeting line with 50 recipients' names doesn't mean you'll have to manually write and send 50 different emails from now on.

Many email marketing tools today allow you to configure the greeting of your email campaign so that it automatically sends with the name of the people on your contact list – so everyone is getting a personal version of the same message.

9. Keep your email around 500 to 650 pixels wide.

If your email template is wider than 650 pixels, your email won’t show up correctly and will require users to scroll horizontally to read the full email.

This is a pain, to say the least, and will likely affect your conversion.

Having your template fit within the standard format will make for easier readability, better conversions, and an overall better user experience.

10. Split test your subject lines and calls to action.

If you can't seem to increase your email's open and click-through rates, a couple of things might be wrong: You're not emailing the right people (are you buying your contact list? See the first tip at the top of this blog post), or the content needs to be improved.

To start, focus on the latter, and conduct an A/B test.

A/B tests can be used to improve almost any of your digital marketing content. In an email, this test splits your recipients into two groups: Group A receives the regular newsletter, while Group B receives the newsletter with a specific variation.

This variation tests to see if your audience would be more or less likely to take an action based on that element.

HubSpot Marketing Hub users can conduct email A/B tests on anything from the subject line to the call-to-action (CTA) inside it.

For example, you might change the color of your CTA from red to green to see if your email's clickthrough rate increases. If it does, the test indicates that you should change your emails' CTA color to green from now on.

11. Include your logo.

Logos are a must when it comes to emails.

A 2020 study by Red Sift and Entrust found that logos positively impact email engagement as well as brand recall.

Brand recall increased by 18% after a five-second exposure when including a logo in the email. Purchase likelihood also went up by a whopping 34% in emails where logos were included.

With this in mind, add your logo to your email design to ensure that it’s always included.

12. Name the offer in your subject line.

When you include an incentive in your subject line, you can drastically increase your open rates.

"Free shipping when you spend $25 or more" and "Receive a free iPod with a demo" are examples of good, incentive-focused subject lines.

However, be careful not to overwhelm your readers with savings- or product-related emails.

Customer loyalty starts with casual industry insights – only after nurturing should you start introducing offers. Here's an example of an email with an enticing subject line and warm, welcoming body copy:

13. Allow recipients to subscribe to your newsletter.

You might be thinking, "Wait, if they received the email to begin with, shouldn't they have already subscribed?"

Usually, yes, and therefore adding a "Subscribe" button to your email doesn't help those who've already agreed to receive your emails. But great content is shareable content, and if your current subscribers are forwarding your emails to their friends and colleagues, you'll want to help them subscribe, too.

Add a small but visible CTA that allows an email viewer to subscribe to the newsletter if they received this email from someone else.

But remember, because your newsletter should already be driving another action, such as downloading an ebook or becoming a community member, make sure this "Subscribe" button doesn't distract or confuse users, weakening your main campaign goal in the process.

14. Write compelling (but concise) subject lines.

A good subject line should contain between 30 and 50 characters, including spaces. The reason why you do this is that email providers often cut off subject lines that go beyond this length.

Your email subject line should also create a sense of urgency while giving readers some indication of what to expect once they open the email.

15. Use auto-responders for opt-ins.

Be prepared for your readers to forget they opted in.

Set up an auto-responder that reminds people they opted into your email database. The auto-responder should be sent out one day, five days, and 10 days after the person registers.

Each auto-responder email should also include additional content or bonus material to reward the reader for opting into the newsletter– or your readers might not feel they have enough incentive to actually opt-in.

16. Closely tie emails to landing pages.

Your landing page should match the email in terms of headline, copy, and content. The look and feel of your landing page should also match the email as consistency goes a long way toward a customer's trust.

Just make sure you're using tracking tools to see which emails and landing pages performed the best so you can keep sending what's working.

17. Conduct a five-second test.

Send a copy of the email to a friend or business associate. Can they quickly tell what your call-to-action is? If so, you're golden. If not, keep working.

There are a lot of new tools at a marketer's disposal that are getting attention these days. But email marketing has stood the test of time regarding its influence on your users. This old, reliable, and faithful tool can really ensure you get the most out of your marketing initiatives.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in June 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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