By now, everyone has heard Marie Kondo’s mantra in one form or another: If something doesn’t spark joy in your life, get rid of it. Whether her method gained popularity due to her books, the Netflix series or the memes that followed, “spark joy” is now synonymous with getting rid of anything unnecessary in our cultural lexicon.

Tidying up extends far beyond cluttered closets and messy desks. Day-to-day business processes get bogged down over time by outdated strategies and policies. In the case of email marketing, this proves harmful, considering changing consumer protection regulations around the world.

Email marketers must review how they reach out to email lists and handle subscribers’ personal data to ensure messages are safe, honest and valuable.

The first step is to leave behind these risky, outdated practices to make room for sparking joy in subscriber inboxes.

Batch-and-blast email

Every marketer should immediately abandon one-size-fits-all messaging in marketing emails. These “batch-and-blast” messages, sent to most or all contacts, will never offer value to every subscriber.

Content will not resonate with most recipients’ needs, preventing them from taking action. Instead, recipients end up frustrated and confused and may either ignore your emails, unsubscribe, or worse, mark the sender as spam.

These “batch-and-blast” email tactics leave audiences feeling less than optimistic about your brand. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to create a positive, engaging interaction with email.

Image 1: Statista.com: Why do consumers break up with brands? Infographic

Demographic and engagement data provides valuable insight into the interests of each recipient, including how they expect to engage with a marketing message.

With proper data segmentation, marketers can create a personalized email experience containing more specific information than just dropping code into an email to include a subscriber’s first name. Tailored content designed to fill the needs of individual subscriber segments creates better engagement, improving the sender’s email reputation. As a result, those messages receive better inbox placement and have a higher rate of delivery.

Sneaky subject lines

Subject lines suggesting a type of message other than what the email contains are not clever or effective; they are dishonest and can damage a company’s reputation and deliverability.

For example, if an email’s subject line reads “RE: Your Purchase,” the message needs to genuinely associate with a customer’s previous purchase. Do not use it as an avenue to generate more sales. Subscribers may feel more inclined to open an email with this subject line the first few times, but if they read the message and it does not directly pertain to a recent purchase, they will lose trust in the sender. Don’t be the boy who cried (email) wolf, you know?

Beyond losing subscribers, deceptive subject lines may violate CAN-SPAM, the United States’ national standard on commercial email, which could result in heavy fines. Send messages with honest, informative subject lines, and subscribers are more likely to engage, as they know the content in their inboxes is trustworthy and doesn’t have any malicious intent.

Image 2: Statista.com: ‘Urgent Invoice’ – How to Spot Malicious Emails Infographic

Playing fast and loose with customer data

Personal data privacy is a major point of conversation around the world, and it impacts every individual and business with an online footprint. Countless data breaches and general misuse of personal data have pushed countries around the world to enact protection laws, and many states are starting to follow suit. Email marketers need to do their part to responsibly gather, store and use customer data.

The data gathering process needs to be secure for new subscribers from the get-go, starting with the opt-in process. A single opt-in isn’t enough to protect both user data and the sender’s reputation. Individuals should receive an email asking them to reconfirm their interest in signing up for the mailing list.

These additional steps provide extra layers of protection for the sender when interacting with subscribers in areas governed by stricter privacy laws such as GDPR or CASL. It may result in fewer sign-ups in the short-term, but those who follow the second step to confirm opt-in are more likely to open and engage with marketing emails in the long-term.

Image 3: 250ok: GDPR/CCPA Infographic

Many marketers get stuck using outdated email practices, making the same mistakes over and over again, which hurts their reputation. By abandoning these damaging practices, marketers can reach more subscribers and spark joy in inboxes by providing content relevant to each individual. Happy recipients open more messages and engage with calls-to-action more often, improving deliverability.

About the Author: Anthony Chiulli is the director of product marketing at 250ok. With more than a decade of email experience, Anthony embraces educating and advising email marketers on the latest trends and insights within the email industry as director of product marketing. Before joining 250ok, Anthony’s prior roles included Marketing Practice Lead, Deliverability Services at Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Senior Account Manager at Return Path.