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Four Things to Help You Drive Email Clicks Right Now

Zerobounce
Zerobounce
Feb 15, 2024
Four Things to Help You Drive Email Clicks Right Now
Four Things to Help You Drive Email Clicks Right Now

Getting your audience to engage with your emails isn’t a simple task. 

There are more than a dozen factors that could impact the performance of a given email.

  • The audience’s familiarity with your brand
  • The list segment - does the email cater to a specific group or interest?
  • Email list quality - Are the email addresses valid and active?
  • Your average campaign metrics - bounce rate, spam complaint rate, past engagement
  • The content - subject lines, preheader, call-to-action
  • Use of spam trigger words

We know you’ve likely felt an impact from one or more of these. Finding actionable solutions feels daunting.

The good news? You’re not alone. Companies and email marketers around the world encounter these issues regularly.

But you can achieve stronger email engagement by using the tactics below. Let’s help you connect with your email audience.

How to get more email clicks: from content to deliverability

Poor email performance is challenging to address if you’re unsure what to measure. When emails don’t get traction, many marketers focus on fixing a single aspect of their strategy when it’s likely a combination of two or more elements. 

Before you click send, ask yourself:

  • What does your email deliverability look like? Are your previous campaigns being delivered to the inbox, or are they landing in the spam folder?

  • Is your email design on-brand and congruent with your other marketing channels (social media, ads, blog, etc.)?

  • Does your email list contain valid contacts, or have some of those emails expired?

  • Are you segmenting your email database by their specific interests or needs and creating customized content for each group?

Getting a clear understanding of your previous campaign performance will then help you identify the exact factors impacting your email engagement. As a result, you can use data-driven insights to adjust your strategy and increase overall email engagement and clicks.

According to Mailchimp, the average open rate is 21.33% across all industries, and click rates are 2.62%. Although nuanced, if your metrics fall below Mailchimp’s benchmarks, that’s a sign that there’s room for improvement.

1. Keep emails out of spam and reach the customer's inbox

Even a well-crafted, beautiful email is not guaranteed to land in your recipient's inbox.  

A significant cause of spam placement is a poor email sender reputation (sometimes called sender score). Your sender reputation is a numerical score from internet service providers (ISPs) to measure your email domain’s health and trustworthiness. 

Companies with high sender scores are viewed as legitimate, safe senders, while those with low scores are more likely to be persons or groups associated with spam or phishing attempts. It makes sense that ISPs want to keep those emails out of the inbox. 

Here are the known factors that contribute to your sender reputation:

  • High bounce rates - Internet service providers want yours to be 2% or lower.

  • Spam complaint rate - Aim for no higher than 0.1% (1 in 1,000 emails sent).

  • Email list hygiene - Connected to the above, ISPs expect businesses to clean and avoid invalid emails, spam traps, etc.

  • Email blacklisting - Blacklist services keep track of untrustworthy, high-risk senders. If your domain is on a blacklist, your reputation will be hit hard.

  • Email engagement - When subscribers open your emails and click on the content within. It tells ISPs that your emails are relevant. Staying out of spam will help you improve these metrics.

The risk of spam placement is higher than ever with Google and Yahoo’s latest revised sending requirements. The two tech giants partnered to enforce new email-sending requirements to protect users from malicious senders and high-risk email content.

An overview of Google and Yahoo’s new email sender requirements

In order to fight spam and phishing attacks, both Google and Yahoo revised their sending requirements for those that send more than 5,000 daily emails. 

According to Google’s Group Product Manager Neil Kumaran, starting February 1, 2024, “We’re requiring those who send significant volumes to authenticate their emails by following well-established best practices. Ultimately, this will close loopholes exploited by attackers that threaten everyone who uses email.”

So, what does this mean for you? Google and Yahoo both now require each of the following:

  • Authenticate your emails - Email authentication verifies that an email sent from your domain comes, indeed, from your organization. While not new practices, the different types of email authentication are now required. They include
  • Sender Policy Framework (SPF) - A record that establishes a list of email domains and IP addresses that your company sends email from

  • DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) - A digital signature that verifies your emails. Your email domain has a public key on its DNS records, while the email service provider has a private key. These keys must align.

  • Domain-based Messaging, Authentication, and Conformance (DMARC) - A DMARC policy tells email receivers what to do if authentication fails (requires SPF and DKIM).

Email authentication doesn’t just keep you out of the spam folder; it will protect your company and your audience from email fraud. Tools like a DMARC Monitor can simplify the process of authenticating and monitoring your sent emails.

  • A one-click unsubscribe method - People should be able to unsubscribe from your email list with just one click, Google and Yahoo state. Adjust your settings to comply with this requirement and honor unsubscribe requests within two days.

  • Maintain a low spam complaint - As described above, Google and Yahoo will take note of your spam complaint rate. Keep it below 0.1% (1 in 1,000 emails). You can do this by removing subscribers who report spam, maintaining a predictable sending frequency (don’t send too many emails), and keeping your emails relevant to the audience. 

Assess the performance of your latest email campaigns with the above metrics in mind.

If you bounce emails, observe lower-than-average open rates, and haven’t cleaned your email list, your sender reputation might be low. Additionally, You can check your email sender reputation with domain lookup tools like Google’s Postmaster Tools or Barracuda. A score of 70 and above is acceptable, meaning your sender reputation is not the cause of low performance. 

However, the lower your sender score, the more likely your emails will land in the spam folder (or get blocked entirely). Fewer eyes on your emails result in fewer clicks, less website traffic, and fewer signups/sales.

2. Email validation is essential for improving email marketing results

Invalid email addresses lead to bounces. If you’re unfamiliar, an invalid email address has one or more of the following issues:

  • The email address doesn’t use the proper email address format. A valid email contains a username (the local part) and a domain (e.g., company.com), separated by an ‘@’ symbol.

  • The email address uses restricted characters. It’s best practice to use numbers (0-9) and letters (upper or lower case). Special characters (e.g., ! or #) depend on the mail provider. For example, Gmail only allows letters, numbers, and periods.

  • The address doesn’t exist on the specified domain

An email bounce occurs when your email service provider cannot deliver your message due to permanent or temporary errors.

As mentioned earlier, the accepted benchmark for email bounce rate is about 2% (20 out of 1,000 emails sent).

Exceeding this threshold is risky as it increases the likelihood that your future emails will be relegated to the spam folder. Recipient email servers will prioritize companies with better reputations than yours.

Email validation for your email list can help to identify invalid email addresses before you send your next campaign.

According to Yahoo, regularly auditing your database is essential for email deliverability. So, at least once a quarter, validate your database and remove invalid and dormant accounts. On average, 23% of your contacts decay every year, according to the ZeroBounce Email List Decay Report

Weeding out those poor-quality addresses helps you build a list of real, valid contacts, boosts the visibility of your emails, and provides better opportunities to improve email engagement and conversions. 

Email lists degrade by 23% yearly, so remember to run yours through an email validation service at least once a quarter. 

Even if you don’t see an immediate improvement in email open rates, link or image clicks, or conversions (whatever your goal may be), you’ll have better data to measure performance. 

For example - if a campaign has a high bounce rate due to invalid emails, you can’t reasonably attribute poor email performance to other factors like email design or content. Those failed deliveries heavily skew your campaign performance metrics. 

With a clean, validated list, you can enjoy the peace of mind of knowing your emails are being delivered. Then, you can accurately assess whether or not an email works or if it’s time to experiment with a new approach.

But before you chalk up a poor campaign to low-quality content or design, know that your audience segment can make a difference. Let’s look at what we mean by email list segmentation and how it impacts engagement.

3. Segment your email list to create more relevant messages

Once you’re confident that your email list is valid and healthy, it’s time to think about

  • Who’s on my email list?
  • What’s the signup source (a specific blog article, a product page, a social post)?
  • Is the reader interested in a specific topic that we can speak to?
  • Is this a current customer, a lapsed one, or a new lead?

Leads come to your company for various reasons based on their specific needs. They want answers to their questions and solutions for that need. To further study your audience and understand who they are, you can break down your email list into groups based on demographics, behavior, and psychographics. 

Here are some great recommendations to help you start thinking about segmenting your email list:

  • Create a list for first-time buyers - They’re new to your service. Welcome and make them feel special by acknowledging their support and suggesting resources relevant to their purchase.

  • Create lead nurturing lists - Some subscribers are brand-new to your company, so don’t treat them like any other subscriber. You can further segment your email leads by tracking what caused them to sign up (a webinar attendee, reading a blog article through organic search, in-person meetings).

  • Create churn lists - A lapsed customer also represents a unique audience. They’ve used your company, so you can skip the introductions and get right to their needs. Try to find out why they haven’t purchased recently or unsubscribed, and tailor your emails based on the feedback.

  • Segment by product interest - If someone is interested in a CRM tool, don’t clutter up their inbox with emails about design tools. If an email lead tells you what they’re interested in, believe them. Create emails explaining your product's benefits and why it’s better than competing options.

You can use a wide variety of attributes to justify email list segmentation depending on the nature of your business and your audience. Some companies even use social data such as gender, age, location, occupation, or income level. 

The better you understand the subscriber individually, the better equipped you will be to create a highly effective, personalized email message. Segmenting your list into smaller groups fosters genuine customer relationships and helps build anticipation and loyalty for your brand.

4. Keep your content on-brand and relevant

Creating a cohesive brand experience across all channels builds a recognizable identity for your company. Everything matters – your content, visual assets, and tone of voice all work together to build the public perception of your brand.

To ensure your emails look and sound uniquely like you, assess these key aspects:

  • Design: Are your email visuals aligned with the imagery you use on other platforms? From your color palette to the overall vibe of your design, every aspect should further build audience familiarity with a brand. 
  • Content: Are your emails addressing topics relevant to your industry? Sticking to your niche and sharing high-quality, educational content helps you build trust and authority with your audience. 

In streamlining your email creation process and enforcing brand guidelines, consider tools like Beefree.

With Beefree drag-and-drop functionality and Style setting allows you to effortlessly customize and enforce your email designs to align with brand's identity. Once you've established designs that resonates with your audience, Beefree enables you to save your templates and content blocks for future use. In short, Beefree simplifies the creation on-brand emails and saves valuable time and effort, allowing you to focus on delivering consistent and more engaging messages to your subscribers. Plus, Beefree’s agnostic nature makes it easy to easily export your emails to your sending platform of choice.

Create a Beefree account now – it’s free

Overview: Driving Email Engagement with Effective Strategies

Driving email engagement is an ongoing challenge, but it’s manageable when you know how to measure your performance and reach your audience. 

  • Strive for a strong sender reputation - Monitor your bounces and spam complaints. Look out for risks like email list quality and email blacklists that can hurt your sender score. Also, authenticate your emails to comply with Google & Yahoo’s requirements to keep your emails out of the spam folder and maximize your visibility.

  • Validate your email list - Clean up your database at least once per quarter. Using a real-time email validation tool with your email list signup forms will also help you keep invalid emails and spam traps off your email list. A clean email list boosts your email deliverability and enables you to reach the inbox.

  • Segment your lists & customize the message - Be thoughtful when approaching your readers. Every customer wants to feel special, and understanding their interests and needs will help you present a meaningful solution. A personalized email meant for an individual will encourage higher open and clickthrough rates.

  • Keep your brand’s content consistent - You shouldn’t send emails in a vacuum. Work closely with your website team, ads managers, and social media experts to ensure your messaging is on point. Remind your readers why they’re subscribed to your list and how your company offers something different. 

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Now, let's be honest—you’ve likely heard about all of these rotating for the last few years. While email marketing has come a long way and is changing faster than ever, there’s only so much you can do within 600x1,500 pixels. However, there are no limits to where your creativity can take you. 

Let’s get into it.  

#1. Unique, tailored experiences 

Damian Grabarczyk, the co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., says, “We faced the challenge of connecting meaningfully with an audience that expects more than one-size-fits-all communication.” 

When we speak about crafting tailored emails we mean going beyond the recipient's first name in the subject line. We’re talking about optimizing your entire email strategy to design multi-stage touchpoints to nurture leads across the customer lifecycle. As well as, leveraging data to send hyper-personalized, relevant, and engaging emails that feel less like a broadcast message and more like a conversation. 

Many are using AI machine learning algorithms and AI automation to analyze customer interactions, past purchases, browsing habits, website visits, and even social media behavior to curate engaging email content that resonates deeply with the real-time needs of recipients.

For PetLab Co this looked like including content such as an individual’s pet health history or product usage timelines. Damian Grabarzyk expands, “This approach transformed the conversion rate and strengthened customer loyalty. As we look ahead, I see brands in 2025 moving beyond generic personalization to adopt strategies that make customers feel truly understood and valued.”

On the other hand, many are leaning into user-generated content (UGC) for crafting tailored experiences. Customers today are more likely to trust the opinions of peers over branded messages. UGC like customer reviews, testimonials, videos, and photos are the best form of social proof depicting real people using and benefitting from your products or services. 

We see the benefits of using both AI and UGC to get the most out of your email conversions ;). 

#2. AI tools as an addition, not a substitution

Experts at NordPass state, "AI-powered content generation tools are not here to replace email copywriters and marketers. These tools make us more efficient. The smarter the tool is, the better equipped we are to create high-performing email content that drives results." 

AI tools can support us by significantly enhancing the speed, precision, and effectiveness of your emails. For instance while traditionally A/B testing has required a lot of time to analyze small variations with AI you quickly implement and test multiple email elements and make adjustments based on real-time engagement data. There are AI algorithms that can even predict which variations are most likely to resonate with different audience segments, leading to more accurate targeting and faster optimization.

In short, AI tools are revolutionizing the way we craft and optimize our email’s deliverability. There are many different types of AI solutions so we suggest finding the right one for your needs. 

#3. Even more transparency around data

With AI continuing to rise, folks are more and more concerned about where their data is going. That’s where zero-party data collection becomes a key strategy in email marketing, allowing you to gather data directly from customers rather than relying on third-party sources. 

Zero-party data includes information that consumers willingly share, such as preferences, interests, and purchase intentions. This data is often collected through surveys, preference centers, quizzes, or interactive content and is highly valuable because it is shared explicitly, ensuring accuracy and deeper personalization without privacy concerns associated with third-party tracking.

As privacy regulations tighten, zero-party data will empower you to deliver hyper-personalized email experiences while respecting user privacy. This approach will help you build trust, as customers feel more in control of their data, and you gain insights that lead to more relevant and engaging email content.

#4. The death of static emails

With attention span getting shorter day after day, digest-format emails are expected to rise in popularity in 2025. Presenting email content in an easy-to-scan, organized, and minimalistic layout will surely help deliver the most relevant information in a fraction of the time. 

Additionally, interactive emails will allow recipients to directly engage within the email without having to visit a landing page or website. Interactive elements like product carousels, polls, and quizzes create a dynamic experience that keeps subscribers engaged, especially in visually driven industries like fashion brands

So what now? 

You’ve heard these strategies before, but now it’s time to actually put them into action. The brands that win at email marketing in 2025 won’t just be sending emails—they’ll be creating experiences. Whether it’s hyper-personalized content, AI-driven efficiency, zero-party data collection, or interactive emails that break the mold, the key is to stay ahead of the curve.

So, what’s the first strategy you’ll finally implement? Your inbox (and your audience) are waiting.

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What do customers think about your brand’s products? The best way to find out is to ask them directly, which you can do via strategic email campaigns.

Email makes gathering authentic product reviews quick and easy. By collecting sincere feedback, you can build trust, increase sales, boost loyalty, and innovate product improvements. 

That said, requesting reviews via email requires precise timing, personalized messaging, and lots of engagement optimizations. But don’t worry—we’ll walk you through some key steps to create email campaigns that deliver the valuable feedback you need.

Why product reviews matter

Product reviews do more than confirm that you're meeting customers’ needs. Sincere feedback drives loyalty and sales, offers valuable customer insights, and helps you develop a strategic product development roadmap.

  • Fosters customer loyalty: Requesting and listening to feedback makes your customers feel valued and heard. It demonstrates that you prioritize customer satisfaction, which helps you build stronger, long-term relationships. Review requests also act as re-engagement emails by starting new conversations with customers.
  • Increases sales: Social proof drives sales. According to a recent survey by Power Reviews, 90% of potential customers use online reviews to make purchasing decisions. In fact, reviews have more influence over purchasing decisions than product prices. Turning product reviews into customer testimonials and encouraging reviews on third-party sites can significantly boost sales.
Image sourced from powerreviews.com
  • Builds Customer 360 insights: Customer feedback delivers insights into customer needs and sentiments, enriching Customer 360. Exactly what is Customer 360? It’s a unified, 360-degree view of customer data. It empowers you to tailor products and customer experiences to meet individual needs and preferences. 
  • Drives product improvements: Sincere customer feedback reveals what target customers like/dislike about your products. It provides key insight into their value, functionality, and usability, unlocking large-scale development opportunities.

How to create an email campaign to collect product reviews

Want to unlock the power of product reviews? Let’s explore how to create email campaigns that encourage customers to share their feedback.

Segment your audience

Like promotional emails, product review requests shouldn’t be sent to every subscriber.

If subscribers haven’t had the chance to try your product, product review requests will feel irrelevant and may trigger unsubscriptions. So, only send review email requests to customers recently trying your product.

You can do this by segmenting your email list based on where customers are in the buying cycle. Target loyal customers, recent purchasers, and first-time buyers with tailored email campaigns. This ensures that you’re sending emails to customers most likely to respond with insightful feedback.

Write a compelling email subject line

According to Superoffice, 33% of people open an email based on the subject line. 

Image sourced from superoffice.com

To get the click-through rates you want, your email subject lines should be personalized, relevant, and engaging. Here are some examples:

  • Did you love [product]? Or hate it? Let us know!
  • We value your opinion — help us improve!
  • We want YOU to help us make our product better!
  • Up for a discount? Share your feedback for 10% off! 

Learn more > Tips for writing open worthy subject lines.

Optimize for customer engagement

A successful email marketing strategy relies on customer engagement. Here are some key email elements you need to encourage interactions.

  • An attractive email design: With the right layout, color scheme, typography, and images, you ensure easy readability and promote interaction. Use these engagement-boosting email design best practices to help you create a design that boosts conversion rates.
  • Gratitude and value: Thank customers for reading the email and explaining why their feedback is so important. Also, consider including a personalized Gmail email signature with your content details to build trust and encourage customers to engage with your review request. 
  • Personalized, relevant content: Personalized email content motivates engagement. Use customer data platform (CDP) data to tailor messages to individual customers. What is a CDP? It’s a centralized platform that collects and unifies customer information, building comprehensive customer profiles. 
  • Incentives: Offering a small discount can motivate customers to leave reviews, especially first-time buyers. That said, incentives can (sometimes) generate insincere reviews, so stress the importance of honesty. 
  • A strong call-to-action (CTA): Your CTA should direct readers straight to the reviews submission page. Use clear CTAs with bold buttons and typography to make it stand out.
  • Mobile responsiveness: If your emails are slow to load or don’t display correctly on mobile devices, your bounce rate will spike. Leverage solutions that offer advanced mobile optimization features — such as Beefree— to create responsive emails every single time.

Ask specific, concise questions

Complex, drawn-out questions that are too open-ended can disengage customers. So, get straight to the point with concise, direct questions. Here are some examples:

  • What did you think of [specific product feature]?
  • How often do you use our product?
  • What are your favorite/least favorite features?
  • How likely are you to recommend this product?
  • What could we do to improve our product?

Use a mixture of closed and open-ended questions to increase your chances of receiving meaningful responses.

Make it easy to respond

The easier it is for customers to leave a review, the more responses you’ll receive. So, make the process as seamless and convenient as possible. One way to do this is with survey emails.

Email surveys have high response rates. They can be completed within the email with minimal effort, which is a big plus for busy customers. And, they can generate a wealth of quantitative data and metrics that are quick to analyze, leading to faster improvements. BeeFree has an extensive collection of email survey templates to suit every need.

For longer review requests, include a CTA that directly links to the review submission page. Review forms should use simple, clear language, be optimized for mobile, and have a progress bar. 

You could even provide your telephone contact details to allow customers to leave a review via telephone. It’s the preferred communication method for 55% of Baby Boomers according to Hubspot, so it’s worth considering. 

Leverage small business telephone services from Vonage to access call center capabilities like virtual receptionists and CRM integrations, streamlining processes.

Also consider directing customers to leave reviews on popular review sites, such as Google and Amazon.

Optimize email timings

If you send product review requests too early, there’s a chance your customers won’t have tried your product yet. But if you send them too late, your customer might have forgotten their experience. 

So, when’s the best time to request reviews? 

Aim to send review requests within 7-14 days post-purchase. This gives customers a chance to try the product a few times, leading to more sincere, meaningful reviews. Plan for seasonal surges such as Black Friday and incorporate them into your schedules.

Key takeaways

Do email campaigns work for gathering valuable product reviews that drive improvements, boost trust, and increase sales and loyalty? 

Absolutely — but they need to be strategic.

To generate sincere reviews and valuable data, ensure your marketing emails are personalized, engaging, and optimized for convenience. And, use email list segmentation and marketing automation to ensure they’re sent to the right customers at the right time.

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