deliverability Archives

10 Signs You Should Work with an Email Marketing Agency

November 21, 2023 / Marketing Strategy / By Alex Gallagher

For small businesses, the decision to move from “do it yourself” to “do it for me” email marketing can be a major one. Working with an email marketing expert can help unlock hidden potential in your current audience and grow your business by reaching more contacts. How do you know when you’re ready to make the switch to working with an email marketing agency? Here are 10 signs you may be ready to reach out for a helping hand.

1. You’re Planning a Major Product Launch

Are you gearing up for a big product or service launch? Email marketing can be a powerful tool to create buzz and excitement among your audience. Try building up to the launch with scheduled campaigns that highlight the best features of your new product. Be strategic about your send frequency and be sure to announce the launch on your other marketing channels as well. An email marketing agency, like Pure Firefly, can help you craft product launch campaigns that drive engagement and encourage purchases.

2. Your Small Business is Growing

As small businesses expand, their email marketing strategies often become increasingly complex. To make the most of your growth, work with an email marketing agency to handle the burden of routine sending, automations, and segmentation. An email marketer can also provide the expertise you need to strategically scale your marketing with your growing audience.

3. This Year’s Big Sale is Coming Up

When an important sale or promotion is on the horizon, you want your email marketing efforts to be on point. An agency specializing in email marketing can help you strategize and execute high-impact campaigns that drive traffic and sales during your sales events. Many small businesses will work with an email marketer for their Black Friday promotions in order to maximize sales.

4. Your Campaigns Have Low Engagement

If your email campaigns are consistently met with low open and click rates, it’s time to reevaluate your approach. Email marketing agencies like Pure Firefly can analyze your current strategy, make necessary adjustments, and create content that resonates with your audience. Wondering how to assess your engagement? Check out our blog post on campaign analytics for more info!

5. Email Marketing Efforts are Not Converting to Revenue

It can be frustrating to spend hours on email marketing, only to find that your emails are not improving sales. Even engaging campaigns that generate lots of clicks may fail to lead subscribers to purchase. An email marketing agency can help optimize your strategy with tools like automation, segmentation, and personalized emails. Perfecting your email marketing strategy will give you the best shot at converting subscribers to happy customers.

6. Your Emails are Going to Spam

When your emails end up in the spam folder, you stand little chance of reaching engagement or revenue goals. There are many factors that can land you in spam, including problems with domain authentication, overuse of images, a lack of opt-in, or failure to follow CAN-SPAM & GDPR regulations. Resources online can list the common reasons genuine email marketing ends up in spam, but only an email marketing expert can take a look at your account and determine the individual factors that may impact your sender reputation.

7. You’re Spending Too Much Time on Emails

Many small business owners are surprised to find out how time-consuming email marketing can be. If you find yourself taking time away from critical tasks to focus on email marketing, it may be time to reach out for a helping hand. Email marketing agencies like Pure Firefly can assess your current marketing set-up and step in to strategize, design, and send your campaigns. If you don’t want to hand over the wheel entirely, an email marketer can set up automations to generate sales in the background while you focus on the day-to-day tasks of managing your business.

8. You Haven’t Been Using Automations

Email marketing automation can save you time and increase the relevance of your messages. If you haven’t implemented automation in your email strategy, an agency can help you set up and optimize automated email series. Some of the most popular automations for email marketing include:

Welcome emails
Re-engagement campaigns
Abandoned cart emails
Transactional emails
Review requests
Targeted automations

9. You Aren’t Segmenting Your Audience

Segmenting your email list allows you to send relevant content to different categories of subscribers. Many marketing platforms offer simple tools to make segmentation accessible. Mailchimp, for example, offers tags, groups, segments, and fields for segmentation. If you haven’t been segmenting your audience, you aren’t making the most of your contact list. An email marketing agency can guide you in segmenting your audience and targeting segments with relevant email campaigns.

10. You Haven’t Started Email Marketing Yet

If you’re a small business with any kind of online presence, email marketing should be a tool in your toolbox. According to Campaign Monitor, more than 64% of small businesses are already using email marketing to stay in touch with their consumers and maximize their revenue. There are many platforms offering beginner-friendly email marketing tools. To make sure you get started on the right foot, try booking a one-on-one consultation with a marketing agency like Pure Firefly.

Small Businesses Maximize their Marketing with Pure Firefly

As a small business, Pure Firefly understands the unique challenges and opportunities small businesses face. We offer various email marketing services, including template design, campaign strategy, audience clean-up, and Mailchimp audits. Whether you’re a marketing pro looking to reach the next level, or a beginner ready to dip into your customers’ inboxes, we would be delighted to work with you. Contact us today for a free intro call, or book a one-on-one session with our specialists starting at $89.

What is an Email Bounce?

October 23, 2023 / Email Basics / By Alex Gallagher

Newbies to email marketing often wonder what it means when an email bounces. If you’re among these new marketers, don’t worry. Bounces are a common occurrence every email marketer must learn to manage. In this blog post, we’ll explain what a bounce is and delve into the key distinctions between “hard bounces” and “soft bounces.”

What is an Email Bounce?

Emails bounce when they are unable to be delivered to a specific address and are returned to the sender. This can happen for various reasons depending on the situation and type of bounce. Typically, bounces are divided into “soft” and “hard” bounces. Understanding the difference can make a major impact on your email marketing strategy.

What is a Hard Bounce?

A “hard bounce” is a type of email bounce that occurs when an email cannot be delivered to the recipient and is permanently rejected. Hard bounces typically result from issues that are unlikely to be resolved, such as:

Invalid Email Addresses: This is the most common reason for a hard bounce. If the recipient’s email address is incorrect or doesn’t exist (e.g., typos in the domain or username), the email cannot be delivered.
Blocked Emails: Sometimes, an email address may be blocked by the recipient’s email server, often due to spam or security reasons.
Domain Does Not Exist: If the domain part of the email address (e.g. gmal.com) doesn’t exist, it results in a hard bounce.

What is a Soft Bounce?

Unlike hard bounces, soft bounces are the result of a temporary issue that prevents an email’s delivery. Common causes include:

Mailbox Full: Similar to a hard bounce, if a recipient’s mailbox is temporarily over its storage limit, it can result in a soft bounce. This issue can be resolved when the recipient clears space in their mailbox.
Server Is Down: If the recipient’s email server is temporarily unavailable, you may be unable to send to it. This can happen due to server maintenance or technical issues. It typically resolves when the server comes back online.
Message Size Exceeds Limit: If your email message is too large to be delivered to the recipient’s mailbox, it may bounce. Use file-sharing links or optimize your image sizes to resolve this issue.
Recipient Server Timeout: Sometimes, the recipient’s email server may take too long to respond due to server congestion or slow network connections.

Why Email Bounces Matter

Understanding the difference between hard and soft bounces is crucial for several reasons:

List Maintenance: By identifying and removing email addresses that result in hard bounces, you can keep your email list clean and up to date, improving your email deliverability.
Reputation Management: High bounce rates, especially hard bounces, can negatively impact your sender reputation. Maintaining a positive sender reputation is essential for avoiding the spam folder.
Customer Engagement: Bounced emails fail to reach the intended recipient. Over time, this can lead to lower engagement rates and diminished campaign success.

How to Handle Email Bounces

Dealing with email bounces effectively can boost your list health and improve the success of future campaigns. Here are some steps to start with:

Identify Bounced Emails: Use an email marketing platform that tracks bounces and categorizes them as hard or soft bounces. This will help you understand the severity of the issue.
Remove Hard Bounces: For hard bounces, promptly remove the email addresses from your list. Continuing to send emails to addresses that hard bounce can harm your sender reputation. Try using a list cleaner like Zerobounce to root out any additional invalid addresses in your audience.
Retry Soft Bounces: For soft bounces, consider retrying the delivery after some time. Soft bounces may resolve themselves, especially if the issue is temporary.
Update Contact Information: Routinely encourage subscribers to update their contact info. This can help clear out invalid email addresses.
Monitor & Repeat: Keep a close eye on your bounce rates as you continue to email your audience. Promptly addressing any sudden spikes can prevent further deliverability issues.

Bounce Back with Pure Firefly

Email bounces are a common occurrence in digital marketing, and understanding the difference between hard and soft bounces is essential. To take your knowledge to the next level, consider booking a strategy session with the email marketing experts at Pure Firefly. We can take a close look at your campaign analytics and provide you with actionable steps to improve deliverability, maximize engagement, and help you convert subscribers into happy customers.

Mailchimp Campaign Analytics: Matching Metrics to Your Goals

September 21, 2023 / Mailchimp How-To, Marketing Strategy / By Alex Gallagher

Wondering how to measure your Mailchimp campaign performance? Start with analytics! For every email sent, Mailchimp provides in-depth analytics, including open rates, click rates, revenue, and more. This post will help you leverage campaign analytics in order to match Mailchimp’s Metrics with your goals.

Understanding Mailchimp Campaign Analytics

Mailchimp is a leader in email marketing analytics. As such, their campaign reports equip marketers with plenty of metrics to guide strategic marketing decisions. Here are some of the most valuable metrics Mailchimp provides to analyze your campaigns:

Open Rate: The % of recipients who opened your email
Click Rate: The % of recipients who clicked on any link in your email
Clicks Per Unique Opens: The % of openers who clicked on any link in your email
Bounces: The number of campaigns that were unable to deliver
Unsubscribers: The number of recipients who unsubscribed
Revenue: The total value of purchases made using links in your campaign

Each of the analytics above can reflect successes and failures in your strategy, leading to smarter marketing decisions.

How to Match Metrics to Campaign Objectives

Different campaigns have distinct objectives and thus require different metrics for evaluation. In order to make the best use of Mailchimp’s campaign analytics, begin by setting a clear goal. For example, you may want to boost sales on a particular product or win back subscribers who have become disengaged.

When you start with a goal in mind, it is easier to see what metric will most clearly reflect your success. Then, you can combine this primary metric with other campaign analytics in order to gain a more well-rounded view of your email’s performance.

Examples of Goal Alignment with Mailchimp Analytics

Wondering where to start with Mailchimp’s analytics? Here are some common campaign types, the goals they tend to target, and the metrics that will be most useful for measuring their success.

Welcome Email: Most welcome emails are intended to build a strong relationship with subscribers, and may direct recipients to an organization’s website. Focus on open rates, click rates, and unsubscribes.
Black Friday Promo: This promotion is aimed at boosting sales, so you can measure success with revenue.
Event Promotions: When your goal is gathering registrations for an event, connecting Mailchimp to your event platform is key. Not sure how to set it up? Consider working with an email marketing agency like Pure Firefly to develop an API integration.
Blog Update/General Newsletters: Many educational emails are intended to drive traffic to a particular website or article. On the Mailchimp side, that means tracking clicks is the way to go!

Maximize Your Metrics with Pure Firefly

Reaching your marketing goals is made even easier when you have a trusted partner in email marketing. Pure Firefly offers 1-on-1 training sessions on the nuances of Mailchimp strategy, template design, and campaign analytics. Or, contact us to kick off ongoing marketing work including account set-up, Mailchimp audits, template creation, and more.

nonprofit volunteer with an email list icon

Nonprofit List Building: Do’s & Dont’s

September 8, 2023 / Mailchimp How-To, Marketing Strategy / By Alex Gallagher

Growing your email list is essential for spreading the word about your mission and connecting with your supporters. We’re here to help you expand your email list while avoiding common pitfalls. Let’s explore the list-building best practices that will help your nonprofit flourish in the email marketing world.

In need of more help? Contact Pure Firefly for training, strategy, and more.

Do Provide an Incentive

Whether you’re building a pop-up or collecting emails in person, providing incentives can significantly boost your opt-in rates. Offering a valuable lead magnet, like a free report or an informative video, encourages visitors to share their email addresses willingly. This tactic not only grows your subscriber list but also creates a positive impression of your brand. As a nonprofit, consider what drives website visitors to be interested in your work, and fuel that interest with a free resource or offer.

Don’t forget to follow up on the incentive with a well-crafted welcome email!

Don’t Spawn Too Many Popups

While popups are one of the most effective ways to get website visitors’ attention, excessive popups can lead to frustration and a negative user experience. At Pure Firefly email marketing, we recommend using only one strategically timed popup that matches your overall website design. Consider using settings to prevent users from seeing the popup after they’ve already subscribed, or after visiting the site more than once.

Do Build Your Nonprofit List with Social Media

Social media platforms are powerful tools for nonprofit list building. Marketing experts agree that multichannel is the future, beginning with email and social media. Promote your email signup through engaging posts, stories, or even contests. Encourage your social media followers to join your email list and highlight all that your newsletter has to offer. This integrated approach not only maximizes your reach but also ensures that your most enthusiastic followers are connected with updates across platforms, fostering a supportive community.

Don’t Gather Emails for No Reason

Collecting email addresses without a clear purpose can lead to disengaged subscribers and even legal issues. Plus, many email marketing platforms will charge based on the number of contacts you store, so there is little benefit to keeping contacts on file without emailing them.

Make it clear to every subscriber what they’re signing up for. Consider working with an email marketing expert like Pure Firefly to develop a welcome email that describes what kind of content subscribers can expect, and how often they will receive it. By setting clear expectations, you attract subscribers who genuinely want to hear from you. This will lead to higher engagement rates, lower unsubscribe rates, and a cleaner email list overall.

Do Import Contacts via API

Using API to import contacts is one of the best ways to keep your email marketing strategy cost-effective. API integrations can connect Mailchimp to your CRM, online store, or other online platforms. Integrations allow you to update your contact list automatically and ensure consistency across all your marketing streams.

Here are some tips to make your next Mailchimp integration a breeze:

Work with an Expert: If you’re not tech-savvy, work with a professional to help you set up your integration. Custom API development can be a complicated process, so don’t be afraid to reach out to an email expert like the ones at Pure Firefly.
Get Permission: When you use integrations to import new contacts, make sure they’ve all opted in to email marketing. Add an opt-out option or disclaimer to any service you’ll integrate with Mailchimp.
Check Your Fields: Make sure the information you’re collecting from your subscribers matches the fields in Mailchimp. For example, if you collect mailing addresses on your website, add an address field in Mailchimp.
Stay Updated: If you ever notice anything strange, like emails not going through or wrong information, reach out to someone who can help you troubleshoot. Keeping things updated and working smoothly is key.

Don’t Buy a List, Build a List

Nonprofits looking to grow their Mailchimp audience should never be tempted by offers to buy an email list. Purchased lists often contain disengaged or uninterested recipients, which can harm your sender reputation and result in low open and click rates. It’s also against the terms of service for most email marketing platforms like Mailchimp. Instead, invest in building a genuine, quality subscriber base that willingly opts in to receive your emails. If you’re having trouble with cultivating organic growth, try booking a strategy call with an email specialist to improve your subscription flow.

Build Your Nonprofit Email List with Pure Firefly

Pure Firefly is a full-service email marketing agency with years of experience in IT & design. Our dedicated specialists can help you develop your first lead magnet, welcome automation, or next year’s email program. Try a one-on-one strategy call to get familiar with Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or email marketing in general. Plus, we are one of the only Mailchimp Pro Partners who offer API development. Don’t wait – Contact us to start building your list like a pro!

How to Create a New Mailchimp Account (2023)

August 31, 2023 / Email Basics, Mailchimp How-To / By Alex Gallagher

Creating a new Mailchimp account is the first step toward effective email marketing. As one of the most user-friendly email marketing platforms, Mailchimp makes it easy to connect with your audience and grow your business. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the process of creating a new Mailchimp account in order to set up a strong foundation.

Let’s dive into our 6 steps for success!

Want Someone to Do It for You?

If setting up your Mailchimp account makes you want to snap your laptop in half, consider working with a Mailchimp Pro Partner. Pure Firefly offers new account setup as one of our most popular services. We’ll import an audience, add your logo, design a basic signup form, and even create a one-email welcome series. Contact us to learn more!

1. Set Your Defaults & Required Footer Content

To begin, let’s set up your account defaults and configure the required footer content. This information is used on every campaign and is especially important because non-compliant footer content can lead to account suspension. If you noticed a dip in your deliverability after you start sending, consider taking a look at your campaign defaults and footer content. Just follow these steps:

Login to your Mailchimp account or create a new account if you haven’t done so already.
Once logged in, click on “All contacts” in the left side menu and navigate to “Settings” > “Audience name & defaults”
From here, you can customize your default subject line, from name, and reply-to email address. Take the time to ensure these defaults align with your brand and campaign goals.
Next, navigate to “Settings” > “Required email footer content.”
Here, you can add the necessary information for your footer, including your physical mailing address. This info is legally required in most countries, so ensure that it’s accurate.
Ensure that your opt-in explanation accurately describes how contacts have joined your list. This is one of the most common ways new accounts receive a red flag from Mailchimp’s compliance team.
Once you have filled in the required information, click “Save” to apply the changes.

2. Create A Signup Form

Building an engaged subscriber base is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaigns, and can have an impact on deliverability. Mailchimp offers a variety of signup form options to grow your audience, including landing pages and pop-ups, but the basic form builder is one of the most important to understand.

Let’s walk through the process:

From the Mailchimp dashboard, click on “Audience” and select “Signup forms.”
Select “Form Builder” to preview your basic signup form. This design is the backbone for your signup, manage preferences and unsubscribe forms.
Customize the design and fields of your signup form to align with your branding and capture the necessary subscriber information. (Quick tip: Keep the number of fields below 5 to maximize your odds that someone will complete it).
Once you’re satisfied with the form’s appearance and settings, click “Save.”

3. Import Your Audience

If you already have a list of subscribers from another marketing platform, Mailchimp allows you to easily import them into your new account via copy-paste or with a .CSV file. Follow these steps to import your audience:

In the left side menu, click on “All contacts” and select “Add contacts > Import contacts.”
Choose the method you prefer to import your contacts. You can import from a .CSV file, copy-paste from a spreadsheet, or import using an integrated service.
Either upload your file or copy-paste contacts into the appropriate window
Next, select which audience you’d like to import into and mark the contacts as subscribed (be sure you have opt-in first!).
Add a tag to the full import if you’d like, then proceed to assign each column in your import to a field in your Mailchimp audience.

Mailchimp enforces strict compliance with GDPR & CAN-SPAM regulations, so be sure your audience is clean and opted-in before you begin sending!

4. Set Your Logo & Brand

Adding your logo to your Mailchimp account helps to reinforce your brand identity and create a consistent visual experience for your subscribers. Plus, the default logo and brand kit can be used in Mailchimp’s Creative Assistant. Let’s set a default logo:

On the left side menu, select “Creative Assistant”
Paste your URL into the field to automate the brand kit creation OR
Click on Upload My Logo
Import your logo as a .png or .jpg
On the next pages, add your brand colors & fonts to establish a consistent look

5. Authenticate Your Domain

Domain authentication is essential for improving email deliverability and reducing the chances of your emails ending up in spam folders. Essentially, authentication creates a record that travels with every email you send. This record shows that Mailchimp has been approved to send emails on your behalf. This may seem complicated, but the process is actually fairly simple:

On the side menu, click on “Domains,” and scroll down to “Email Domains”
Click “Add & Verify a Domain” and paste an email address into the field
Wait for an email from Mailchimp, and follow the steps to Verify.
Your new domain should show up under “Custom Email Domains” with the label “Verified”
Click on “Start Authentication” and follow the prompts
Mailchimp will provide records tailored to your domain registrar (Bluehost, GoDaddy, Google Domains, etc.)
Once you add Mailchimp to your DNS records, you’ll have improved deliverability for all emails sent via your custom domain

6. Create Your First Campaign

With your account settings in place, it’s time to create your first email campaign. Mailchimp offers a variety of campaign types, including regular campaigns, automated workflows, and SMS coming soon. Let’s start with a regular email:

Click on “Create” and type an internal email name into the field
Select “Add Recipients” and choose the audience you’d like to send to
Customize the from name, address, subject line, and preview text as needed
Click “Design Email” and build an email from scratch or use a template
Finally, schedule your campaign in advance or send it out immediately.

Work with an Expert

If you’re looking to take your email marketing to the next level, working with an expert can provide valuable insights and guidance. Pure Firefly offers expert Mailchimp training to help you optimize your email marketing strategies. We can also set up your account for you, or perform an in-depth audit to ensure your Mailchimp account is set up for success. To see if Pure Firefly is a good fit for you, check out our services or contact us any time.

how to use zerobounce over an image of a man with a long paper list

How to Use Zerobounce for Email List Cleaning

July 21, 2023 / Marketing Strategy, Product Reviews / By Alex Gallagher

Maintaining a clean contact list is crucial for email marketers. Thankfully, several tools and services offer you a clean list in an instant. Zerobounce is one of the most reliable among these options. In this blog post, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide to using Zerobounce, from uploading your audience file to interpreting the results. For more list-cleaning tips, book a training with one of Pure Firefly’s email experts!

What is Zerobounce?

Zerobounce is an email validation platform designed to improve the quality of your email lists. Basically, you upload the email addresses, and Zerobounce tells you which are worth contacting! Their software uses advanced algorithms and an extensive database to root out invalid email addresses, spam traps, and other low-quality contacts. After getting a full analysis of your list from Zerobounce, you can remove risky contacts in order to boost both engagement and deliverability.

Why is List Cleaning Important?

List cleaning is vital for maintaining a healthy sender reputation. Sender reputation is based on a variety of factors, including spam reports, active opt-in, and the presence of spam traps in your audience. By maintaining a healthy sender reputation, you can maximize overall deliverability. This means more contacts will actually receive your emails in their inbox.

By regularly cleaning your email list with a service like Zerobounce, you can continuously remove invalid and inactive contacts, which reduces your bounce rates, and minimizes the risk of being flagged as spam.

Upload Your File to Zerobounce

To clean your email list with Zerobounce, you’ll first need to upload your audience file. The process is simple:

Create an account or log in
Click on “Validate New List”
Drag and drop your file, or import from cloud storage
Match the columns in your file to the labels in Zerobounce
Mark whether or not the first row contains column headers
Confirm if Zerobounce can remove duplicate emails
Hit Validate!

Once you’ve uploaded your file, Zerobounce may take up to an hour or more to complete the validation process. Zerobounce list cleaning supports CSV, XLS, XLSX, and TXT files of any size.

How to Interpret Your Zerobounce Results

After the validation process is complete, Zerobounce will provide you with a detailed report on the quality of your email list. Emails will be divided into the following statuses:

Valid: These contacts have a bounce rate under 2% and are the safest to email.
Invalid: Invalid emails either do not exist, contain a syntax error, or have a full inbox. As a general rule, these contacts should be deleted.
Catch-All: These addresses are set up on a unique kind of domain that always returns a valid response – even if there’s no one on the other end. If you want to keep these addresses, try making a segment of catch-all contacts and observing their response to a campaign.
Spamtrap: These emails are fake addresses set up by ISPs & blacklist providers in order to catch spammers. Sending to a spam trap can have an immense impact on your sender reputation, so definitely delete any that Zerobounce finds! Check out Mailchimp’s article on spam traps to understand how these addresses work.
Abuse: These contacts are typically real people that are known to report even innocent emails as spam. Avoid sending to these contacts, as even an inaccurate spam report can damage your deliverability.
Do Not Mail: These are most often role-based or company emails (like “sales@purefirefly.com”). While these addresses are valid, they’re typically poor contacts for most email marketing. Take a closer look at these addresses to determine whether or not you’d like to continue sending to them.
Unknown: As you might predict, Zerobounce can’t determine the validity of unknown contacts. Try re-importing them at no cost, or remove them from your audience. 80% of unknowns are invalid addresses.

Along with these statuses, Zerobounce also provides sub-statuses explaining why a contact may have landed in a particular status. They also provide additional predicted information about your contacts, including name, gender, and general location.

What’s Next?

After you’ve cleaned your list using Zerobounce, you can choose how to make the most of the information provided! One great option is to archive any of the invalid, spam trap, and abuse contacts in your audience. You can even archive your full contact list and re-import the valid addresses.

You may also use your Zerobounce list cleaning results for segmentation. For example, you can use Zerobounce’s gender predictions to send targeted marketing based on gender. Or, you can create a tag for catch-all addresses and send a targeted campaign requesting that they re-confirm their subscription.

However you choose to use your Zerobounce results, make sure you clear out those spam traps and send to your most valid addresses!

Get a Cleaner List with Pure Firefly

Ready to put your cleaner list into action? Pure Firefly, a trusted partner in email marketing, offers list cleaning services and comprehensive training to help you optimize your campaigns. Our team of email specialists have over 10 years of experience in marketing, design, and IT.

*Note: This post may include affiliate links. If you sign up for Zerobounce list cleaning using links in this post, Pure Firefly will receive a small commission. We never promote services we do not use ourselves, and all opinions expressed are our own.

Optimizing Image Size for Email

May 30, 2023 / Email Basics / By Alex Gallagher

Many email designers start out with questions about image size: What size should email images be? Is landscape or portrait better for emails? How can I ensure my email’s use of images doesn’t land me in the spam folder? These questions are great to consider when creating a new email template.

What Size Should Email Images Be?

In email design, images should ideally be as small as possible without sacrificing image quality. This is because large images can lead to slower load times, which may also negatively impact engagement rates.

For emails with multiple images, aim to keep each image at or below 250 kb. Emails with one large image (such as a header image) and some text may include an image up to 450 kb in size. Any image over 1MB urgently needs to be reduced in size.

Image Dimensions vs. File Size

While image files should be kept at or below 250 kb in size, the ideal image dimensions may vary depending on an email’s design. 600px has commonly been regarded as the ideal width for email banners. However, newer devices can process larger image dimensions. This is why the Mailchimp template builder caps image width at 1200px.

Even though 600px is no longer a strict rule, keeping images under 900px in either direction is still ideal to ensure fast load times. If your organization includes a signature or logo in every email, aim to keep this image below 250px in either direction.

Deliverability & Images in Email

Deliverability has a critical influence on any email’s success. To maximize deliverability and engagement, design your emails with only relevant images which add value to your content.

It’s important to remember that some email clients may block images by default, which can impact the overall user experience. An email that includes only images is also likely to land in the spam folder. In addition, sending images which are too large can have a negative impact on deliverability.

At Pure Firefly, our template design services consider deliverability by following best practices to ensure that your emails reach the inbox and are likely to encourage engagement. Our experienced team is here to help individuals and organizations of any size create visually appealing and effective email templates. Contact us to learn more.

What Makes an Effective Email Image?

Ultimately, the right images for your emails will vary depending on your industry. However, some key trends and tips apply no matter your audience:

Build on your brand: Whether you use photos, icons, or illustrations, ensure that any email image is consistent with your overall brand.
Guide the eye: Images immediately attract attention, so place them near the most important parts of an email.
Always add alt text: Some subscribers can’t view images in emails. They may have images deactivated in their inbox, while others use screen readers. Add alt text to every image to maintain accessibility for all subscribers.
Don’t forget to smile: Images with faces can convey emotion and cultivate feelings of connection with your brand. Don’t be afraid to include a headshot in your email signature or add a candid image to your latest weekly update

Pure Firefly is Here to Help!

If you need a helping hand with your email images, don’t hesitate to contact an email expert. Pure Firefly’s team is experienced with template design across various industries, and specializes in Mailchimp’s new template builder. Schedule a one-on-one training for quick questions, or contact us for a free quote on email design.

How a Mailchimp Audit Can Enhance Email Marketing

May 23, 2023 / Marketing Strategy / By Alex Gallagher

Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses looking to connect with their audience and drive conversions. However, not all email marketing campaigns are created equal. In order to truly optimize your email marketing efforts, it’s important to start with a comprehensive review of your Mailchimp account. That’s where Pure Firefly’s Mailchimp Audits come in.

What is a Mailchimp Audit?

A Mailchimp Audit is an in-depth review of a client’s Mailchimp account, including everything from deliverability to campaign strategy. At Pure Firefly, we take a holistic approach to our audits. We begin with high-level concerns, including audience organization, deliverability, and legal compliance. A holistic Mailchimp audit also addresses more detail-oriented concerns, including template design, individual campaign setup, and automations strategy. Pure Firefly’s audits even include suggestions that can help save money on your monthly Mailchimp bill.

Mailchimp Audits Can Improve Deliverability

One of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign is deliverability. Even the most well-designed campaign will have limited reach if your emails aren’t making it to your subscribers’ inboxes.

Pure Firefly’s Mailchimp audit closely examines domain authentication and list hygiene. For every report, we also run one campaign through a spam checker which tests a client’s email content & preheader text against 19 of the most common B2B & B2C spam filters.

Optimize Your Audience Organization

A well-organized audience is essential to successful email marketing. In an audit, Pure Firefly’s team analyzes all the segmentation options used on any Mailchimp account. This may include audience lists as well as tags, groups, and fields.

We also study the ways contacts flow into your account in order to ensure data collection is streamlined and compliant with Mailchimp’s regulations.

Get Your Design on Track with Template Recommendations

Regardless of your industry, email template design can have a big impact on engagement and conversions. In the design section of an audit, Pure Firefly’s team closely analyzes the template for one recent campaign. We then make recommendations to help optimize typography, CTAs, accessibility, and overall visual appeal. Our design comments focus on one specific template, but include guidance that can be applied more broadly to any client’s email marketing design.

If design is your major concern, Pure Firefly also offers template design as a standalone service, or on a retainer basis. Contact us to learn more.

Comply with Email Laws & Regulations

Email marketing is subject to a number of laws and regulations, such as CAN-SPAM and GDPR. Our audit’s legal compliance section ensures your email marketing is following these laws and helps you avoid a permanent block on your account. Pure Firefly’s holistic audit checks for the following elements to help ensure your emails are above board:

CAN-SPAM-compliant footers
GDPR-compliant sign-up forms
Accurate campaign defaults
Legitimate opt-ins

Audits Help You Strategize

The campaign strategy section of our audit looks at how you’re using Mailchimp to achieve your marketing goals. The days of email blasts to a whole audience at once are behind us, so we dig into the details of email frequency, segmentation, and automation. Our campaign recommendations can ensure your campaigns are effective and efficient. Following an audit, Pure Firefly is also available to create unique journeys and campaigns for your organization.

Why Start with a Mailchimp Audit?

Starting your email marketing project with a Mailchimp audit has a number of benefits. First and foremost, it ensures that all your email marketing is built on a solid foundation. By addressing any issues with deliverability, audience organization, and legal compliance, you can improve the likelihood that contacts will receive and open your emails.

In addition, a Mailchimp audit can help you save time and money in the long run. By identifying and addressing issues early on, you can avoid costly mistakes and ensure your campaigns are running smoothly from the start. Plus, an audit may uncover issues with audience organization that have inflated a client’s Mailchimp bill.

Finally, a Mailchimp audit can help you achieve your marketing goals. By optimizing your audience organization, template design, and campaign strategy, you can improve engagement and drive conversions. Guidance from Pure Firefly’s audit can help advise ongoing decision-making about your email marketing strategy. It’s the next best thing to having an email expert on your team!

Audit with Pure Firefly to Maximize Your Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, but it’s important to start with a solid foundation. By reviewing your Mailchimp account in detail, Pure Firefly can help you ensure that your campaigns are set up for success. We’re here to help you achieve your marketing goals – Contact us today to learn more about our Mailchimp Audits.

Does Mailchimp Go to Spam? 5 Deliverability FAQs

May 2, 2023 / Mailchimp How-To / By Alex Gallagher

New Mailchimp users often ask: Does Mailchimp go to spam? The answer is, it depends. Who a user sends to, what they send, and how they send it all factor into their email deliverability. The good news is that Mailchimp takes several steps to help its users’ emails stay out of the spam folder.

When Does Mailchimp Go to Spam?

There are many reasons why a sender might find their emails are ending up in the spam folder. Believe it or not, the exact requirements inbox service providers check for spam are kept secret. This helps to prevent spammers from gaming the system. However, there are some guidelines which can help you make progress towards better deliverability.

If you’re wondering why your Mailchimp emails are going to spam, try the following steps:

Use a balance of images and text
Remove any all-caps from your subject line & email body
Watch out for common spam-triggering words and phrases
Check any custom HTML for errors
Ensure your DNS records are configured correctly

One major benefit of using a platform like Mailchimp is that deliverability guidance is built in. Mailchimp offers helpful tips, and will alert you if it detects a red flag on your account.

Why Does Abuse Prevention Matter for Deliverability?

Abuse prevention does more than keep Mailchimp’s public image strong. Deliverability and abuse prevention go hand in hand. By preventing abuse, Mailchimp keeps its users’ sender reputations high. This improves the likelihood that all Mailchimp emails will land in the inbox instead of the spam folder.

Did Mailchimp Put a Block on My Account?

If Mailchimp’s Compliance Team finds a red flag in your account, you’ll find a warning under your account settings. Typically, Mailchimp will also provide you with steps to resolve the issue. Be forewarned: multiple red flags can lead to permanent suspension.

Common red flags include:

Fake or anonymous account information
Using a free email service like gmail
Importing subscribers who haven’t opted in
Noncompliance with Mailchimp terms of use
Spikes in bounced emails, unsubscribes, or abuse reports

How Can I Monitor My Mailchimp Deliverability?

While Mailchimp takes several steps to help its users’ emails stay out of the spam folder, there are still some actions that you can take to monitor and improve your deliverability. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Monitor your email campaign statistics: Pay attention to your email campaign statistics, including open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaint rates. These metrics can help you identify any issues and adjust your email content and send frequency accordingly. If subscribers find your content valuable, they are less likely to report it as spam.
Keep your email list clean: Regularly remove inactive or disengaged subscribers from your email list to improve your deliverability. Mailchimp offers a variety of segmentation tools to help you manage your audiences and clean the old emails out. Plus, a list cleaning software like ZeroBounce can provide added insights on your audience.
Authenticate your domain: Authentication methods, such as DKIM and SPF, verify that your emails are coming from a trusted source and can improve your deliverability. Authenticating your domain with Mailchimp is one important step in this process. Consider a Mailchimp training if you need authentication support.
Test your emails before sending: Use Mailchimp’s preview and test tools to ensure your emails look and function as intended across different devices and email clients. Testing your emails can also help you identify issues in the code, which can have an impact on deliverability.

Where Can I Find More Deliverability Help?

For deliverability assistance, including domain authentication and audience analysis, consider working with a Mailchimp Pro Partner like Pure Firefly. Our email experts are trained in the most up-to-date deliverability guidelines. We can also help you identify why your emails are going to spam. Mailchimp & WordPress are our specialties, and we have familiarity with several popular domain registrars.

Our Mailchimp audit is one of the most valuable services to ensure your account is optimized for deliverability. Reach out for a free quote any time!