Email tips

Here are some best practices to follow when communicating with your clients by email.

If you’re sending bulk emails, try to avoid a ‘spray and pray’ email send.
Think about segmenting your existing clients into different audience types, so you can begin to send more relevant email content. Consider what are their needs, their location or their industry.
Remember to ask for permission before emailing and make sure recipients have the option to unsubscribe. Read the regulations and use this handy checklist.

ESP’s allow companies to send bulk emails, segment, send nicely stylised emails and provide useful insight into what content information your clients find useful, what subject lines work best and when’s best to send your emails.
Some examples of free or inexpensive ESP’s are MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and Drip.

Keep it concise and interesting. No longer than 40-50 characters. Codepen is a useful tool to test the length of your subject line.
It should explain how the client will benefit from opening the email.
Be honest - if the content of the email doesn’t match what the subject line has promised, it creates confusion and mistrust.
Avoid using CAPS, exclamation marks and the word free in subject lines. Many email providers are programmed to pick these up as SPAM.
Here’s a useful article with some of the top no-no’s.

Length - less is more - you should make reading the email as painless as possible for the client. Too much information can be overwhelming and can cause important information to be missed.
Use special formatting (bold, spacing, headings, bullets) to highlight key sections or points - but use sparingly!
Use FreeAgent’s suggested messaging but adapt it to suit your tone of voice.
Hyperlinks - adding a full URL to your email can look messy, so remember to hyperlink your text!
Special elements (fonts, images) - make sure your fonts and images are correctly sized. The general rule for image size is 600 pixels.
If you’re emailing your client using your personal email (Outlook, Gmail…) then a simple attachment may be easier.

Your email signature is a great place to advertise any marketing content. Keep your email signature short and just have one promotional message for best results (you can always switch it up regularly!)
For example, try sharing FreeAgent’s guide to Making Tax Digital with your clients:

Kind regards,

[Your name]

Check out this useful guide to HMRC’s Making Tax Digital.

Ensure that they are print-friendly - light backgrounds, limited colours or black & white are preferable.

When it comes to sending emails, quality over quantity is the key. If you can, send no more than two ‘non-personal’ emails a week.
The general rule for B2B emails is to send them within working hours, so Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.