SMS is perfect for short, urgent messages. WhatsApp is ideal for conversation. Email is where you have room to explain, show and persuade: newsletters, product launches, detailed offers, reports and stories.
Used alongside your other channels, email builds a deeper relationship with customers who want more than 160 characters. Here is how to get started properly.
Build a list worth sending to
The quality of your list matters more than its size.
- Collect addresses with permission, through your website, at checkout, at events or in your branches, and say clearly what people will receive.
- Never buy lists. Purchased addresses hurt your sender reputation and break the trust that makes email work.
- Remove addresses that bounce, and stop sending to people who haven't opened anything in a long time.
Write subject lines that earn the open
The subject line decides whether your email gets read. Good ones are:
- specific: "Your March statement is ready" beats "Important update";
- short: under about 50 characters so they don't get cut off on phones;
- honest: a subject that over-promises damages trust and gets you reported as spam.
Use the preview text, the line shown after the subject in most inboxes, to add context rather than repeating the subject.
Design for the phone first
Most of your readers will open your email on a phone. Design for that:
- a single column layout;
- large, readable text and generous spacing;
- one main call-to-action button that is easy to tap;
- images that support the message, with the key information also written in text, since some inboxes block images by default.
One goal per email
As with SMS, decide what you want the reader to do. A newsletter can contain several stories, but it should still lead with one main thing. When everything is highlighted, nothing stands out.
Stay out of the spam folder
Deliverability is about trust between your sending domain and inbox providers. To keep it high:
- send from a verified domain you own, not a free webmail address;
- keep your sending consistent rather than sending a huge volume once a quarter;
- include a clear unsubscribe link and honour it promptly;
- avoid spammy patterns: ALL CAPS, lots of exclamation marks, and image-only emails.
Measure what matters
Track:
- Opens: a guide to how well your subject lines work, though privacy features in some email apps make this number less exact.
- Clicks: the strongest sign of real interest.
- Unsubscribes and complaints: early warnings that your content or frequency needs to change.
- Conversions: what people did after clicking.
Email in BalloAds
BalloAds includes a visual email builder for creating on-brand, mobile-friendly campaigns without code. You can send from your own verified sender address, target the same audiences you use for SMS and WhatsApp, and track opens, clicks and conversions in one report.
