Email Marketing Best Practices: How to Improve Your Emails

How many emails do you receive every day? How many do you actually open?

Inboxes are overflowing everywhere, and if your emails aren’t crafted with precision, they’ll be lost in the void. But despite the many, many unread emails out there, billions of users are still glued to their inboxes. Email marketing still delivers unmatched ROI when done right. However, the rules of email marketing best practices are evolving, and businesses that fail to adapt will find themselves ignored. If you master the email best practices and create a winning strategy, it can be your most powerful tool for engagement and sales.

Is Email Still Effective?

Absolutely. With nearly 4.5 billion global users in 2025, email offers direct reach at a scale no other channel can even come close to. With email marketing revenue projected to soar to $17.9 billion by 2027, it’s clear that businesses are capitalising on this. Moreover, for every £1 spent, email marketing delivers an average return on investment (ROI) of £36. These figures underscore the incredible potency email has in driving engagement and sales.

But a business can only reap the benefits of this by following the updated best practices for 2025 – what worked in the past may not yield the same results today. Here are some of the absolute needs to set your email campaign up for success.

Craft an Inspiring Campaign

An email campaign is the act of igniting action in your mailing list. To do so, you have to know them inside and out and delve into their behaviours, interests and pain points.

Before you begin, set down the goalposts for success so you know what you’re aiming for – is it more website traffic, a greater level of brand awareness or an uptick in direct sales? This will also define how you set about crafting your campaign. Then, use the data you have collected on your audience and pivot content towards it – this is what will send your emails in a positive direction on a scale in quality that varies wildly from business to business.

Make it easy for the reader to interact based on your email designs. Having an email that responds well on all devices (including mobile, more on that later), uses contrasting colours to highlight calls to action and adds accessibility features such as descriptive alt text on images will take your campaign from utterly mundane to absolutely magnetic.

Captivating Writing Still Matters

Attention spans are lower than ever across the world, but there’s still great power in the images and effects you can conjure with words alone. This won’t be easy, but instead built upon through trial and error. Your subject lines and tone of voice should be monitored for their effectiveness in terms of open rates and click-through rates, respectively, so you can hone in on what works best for connecting with your audience.

Audience Segmentation

It’s a fool’s errand to send out your emails to absolutely everyone on your mailing list every time. You have many customers, each of whom wishes to interact with your brand in varying ways, and sending loads of newsletters to someone who does not want to stay close to your brand will exasperate them. Instead, segmentation allows you to tailor your messages to specific groups, including demographics, behaviour or purchase history. This means you can deliver content that speaks directly to their needs.

Navigate Around Spam Filters

We’ve still got to contend with spam filters in big 2025, and they aren’t perfect all the time. There are certain lines that trip spam filters and send your brilliantly crafted email into the catacombs of phishing messages. Stay in the inbox with these three rules:

• Obtain Explicit Permission: Always ensure recipients have opted in to receive your emails. This not only builds trust but also keeps you compliant with regulations.
• Mind Your Language: Avoid excessive punctuation, all caps, and spam trigger words like “Free” or “Buy now!” Such elements can raise red flags with spam filters.
• Authenticate Your Domain: Implement protocols like SPF, DKIM and DMARC to verify your sender identity, boosting deliverability.

Improve Over Time with A/B Split Testing

Leave the guesswork to the amateurs. Just like how we crafted a tone of voice, A/B testing is the ideal process for experimenting with new designs, visuals and calls to action and honing in on an email design that provably delivers better results. Test one element at a time to pinpoint what truly resonates.

Avoid Using No-Reply Emails

Using a “no-reply” sender address is a bit… impersonal. It’s like selling something to your customers before slamming the door in their faces – it signals that you don’t value their input. Instead, use monitored email addresses that give them the option to offer feedback or a conversation.

Personalise Your Emails

Generic emails are the quickest route to the bin. Rather, utilise features in email clients like Mailchimp and Klaviyo to address recipients by name, recommend products based on past purchases and send content aligned with their interests.

Make Your Emails Mobile-Friendly

We know how integral a mobile-friendly website is to success in eCommerce today, and that applies to emails as well. With 75% of users checking emails on mobile devices regularly, a responsive design is imperative. Ensure that your emails look sharp and easy to read regardless of screen size with a single-column layout, compressed images and enlarged fonts. This is a tricky balance when you cannot have multiple versions for different devices, but nailing it by being, above all, concise will help your emails soar.

How Can We Help?

At Brave, we don’t do fluff, filler or “just because” email blasts for our clients. We craft razor-sharp email marketing strategies that engage, convert, and drive revenue for ambitious eCommerce brands. Our playbook? Proven tactics, bold creativity, and a deep understanding of what makes customers click. From adhering to email best practices to optimising send times and personalising content, we ensure your emails stand out and get opened. Ready to get ahead of the competition? Contact Brave today and let’s upgrade your email marketing for maximum impact.