email marketing - the when, where & how

I've just read Hubspot's "The Science of Email 2014" report, hot off the press today! The main take-away points I thought relevant to you were:

• ensure your email gives value to the recipient
  
• always include an unsubscribe option otherwise you could be in breach of the SPAM Act
  
• test your email for desktop, tablet and mobile devices
  
• create personas for your target audience and test different formats
  
• click-through rates (CTR) are highest on the weekend so trial sending your email on different days
  
• emails with 300-500 characters had highest click-through rates
  
• create subject lines that are concise and persuasive
• avoid the term "newsletter" in your subject line - indicates it's being sent on your time schedule, not because you have something really exciting and new to offer
  
• personalize your email by using the recipients first name
  
• using the words "you" "download" "free" or "thank you" in subject line when relevant can greatly increase your CTR
  

And some Pro-Tips from Hubspot:

• ensure you include alt-text captions for your images as many companies will block images
  
• include a couple of images but dont go over the top in number or size - in this case, smaller is better
  
• work on your data list constantly to keep it clean
  
• optimize your email for HTML and plain text recipients

Keen to read more?
Eight more little tricks to make your emails more clickable.
How to create a 5 Star subject line