Regular communication with your subscribers is crucial to building an engaged and loyal audience. But that doesn’t mean your brand should be hitting the send button willy-nilly. Intentional content is at the heart of effective email. Here are some ideas for arriving at the right content that resonates with your subscribers. Look at your data. See what users have been gravitating toward lately. Mine your website, blog and social analytics for inspiration. If you have seen a spike in traffic to a specific page on your website, write a blog expanding on the topic and feature it in your next email. For example, three out of the four most trafficked blogs this year for us are all about brand—from brand voice to logo design. It only took a quick few clicks in Google Analytics to find that out. Scour your social media content, too. Do you have series of infographics or videos that have been doing well on social? Consider giving your email subscribers a sneak peek at what’s coming next. Put yourself in your subscribers’ shoes. As marketers, we sometimes forget that we’re also customers. If you look through your content and know that you wouldn’t find it engaging, your customers likely won’t either. When in doubt, test it out. If you’re still trying to figure out what content your audience wants in their inboxes, test different topics and see which get the most engagement. Almost all commercial email platforms allow you to set up A/B testing scenarios; make sure you’re taking advantage of the valuable insights testing offers. Keep it brief. There’s no hard and fast rule for email length, but emails with word counts between 50 and 125 words have shown the highest engagement rates most consistently, according to a study conducted by Boomerang. The same study found that content written at a third grade level garnered the most responses, so avoid the superfluous lexiconical show-er off-ery, please and thank you. Microsoft Word has a tool you can use to check the reading level of your content. The basic rule of thumb is: shorter words + shorter sentences = lower reading level. This is a great way to enhance email accessibility and readability without digging into changes in the code. Keep content sections blocked, and keep blocks brief. In other words, make your email content easy for readers to scan quickly. Show your personality. Chances are, your users signed up to hear from you not just because they like what you say, but also how you say it. Let your brand’s personality shine through. Your email subscribers are your most loyal brand fans. Have some fun with them. Even if your brand is straight-laced or deals with difficult subject matter, look for opportunities to include upbeat messaging. Get interactive. Sometimes, the difference between “okay” content and content that compels readers to act is simply the packaging. Interactive capabilities within email today are light years ahead of those from five years ago, with brands looking to create app-like experiences right inside the inbox. Keeping your email marketing efforts fresh and creative can be as challenging as getting them off the ground to begin with. Knowing where to look for inspiration can make it a little bit easier. Inspired to go create some killer email content? Learn more about using personalization to create captivating email experiences from our most recent Studio Session.