In a recent LinkedIn post, Gary Illyes, Analyst at Google, highlights lesser-known aspects of the robots.txt file as it marks its 30th year.

The robots.txt file, a web crawling and indexing component, has been a mainstay of SEO practices since its inception.

Here’s one of the reasons why it remains useful.

Robust Error Handling

Illyes emphasized the file’s resilience to errors.

“robots.txt is virtually error free,” Illyes stated.

In his post, he explained that robots.txt parsers are designed to ignore most mistakes without compromising functionality.

This means the file will continue operating even if you accidentally include unrelated content or misspell directives.

He elaborated that parsers typically recognize and process key directives such as user-agent, allow, and disallow while overlooking unrecognized content.

Unexpected Feature: Line Commands

Illyes pointed out the presence of line comments in robots.txt files, a feature he found puzzling given the file’s error-tolerant nature.

He invited the SEO community to speculate on the reasons behind this inclusion.

Responses To Illyes’ Post

The SEO community’s response to Illyes’ post provides additional context on the practical implications of robots.txt’s error tolerance and the use of line comments.

Andrew C., Founder of Optimisey, highlighted the utility of line comments for internal communication, stating:

“When working on websites you can see a line comment as a note from the Dev about what they want that ‘disallow’ line in the file to do.”

Nima Jafari, an SEO Consultant, emphasized the value of comments in large-scale implementations.

He noted that for extensive robots.txt files, comments can “help developers and the SEO team by providing clues about other lines.”

Providing historical context, Lyndon NA, a digital marketer, compared robots.txt to HTML specifications and browsers.

He suggested that the file’s error tolerance was likely an intentional design choice, stating:

“Robots.txt parsers were made lax so that content might still be accessed (imagine if G had to ditch a site, because someone borked 1 bit of robots.txt?).”

Why SEJ Cares

Understanding the nuances of the robots.txt file can help you optimize sites better.

While the file’s error-tolerant nature is generally beneficial, it could potentially lead to overlooked issues if not managed carefully.

Read also: 8 Common Robots.txt Issues And How To Fix Them

What To Do With This Information

Review your robots.txt file: Ensure it contains only necessary directives and is free from potential errors or misconfigurations.
Be cautious with spelling: While parsers may ignore misspellings, this could result in unintended crawling behaviors.
Leverage line comments: Comments can be used to document your robots.txt file for future reference.

Featured Image: sutadism/Shutterstock

By Sean Tinney June 19, 2024

One of the most effective emails you can send to your audience is the abandoned cart email. When sent at the right time, an abandoned cart email serves as a helpful reminder to encourage your customers to complete their purchase. Many people put together a cart but get distracted before checking out. In fact, on average, 70.2% of online carts are abandoned.

That is a lot of lost sales. 

But you can recover many of these sales with an automated abandoned cart email campaign designed to increase conversion rates. 

What is an abandoned cart email?

An abandoned cart email is a reminder sent to visitors who added items to their shopping cart but didn’t complete the purchase. This automated email prompts the visitor to finish their transaction. The best reminder emails are creative and timely, aiming to encourage the completion of the sale. 

Supportive calls to actions (CTAs) included in this email can guide the potential buyers to spend more on upgrades or related products or services. Some abandoned cart emails include special deals or free shipping, but most simply serve as a timely reminder to spark action.

Why abandoned cart emails matter

Shopify found that retargeting a customer with an abandoned cart email increases sales by more than 20% and reduces abandoned cart rates by 6.5%. When customers receive a reminder about their left-behind shopping cart, many return to complete their purchase. The best part? You can automate these reminders!

Why do people abandon online shopping carts?

Understanding why shoppers abandon their carts is crucial for creating a more effective sales funnel. According to Statista, the most common reasons for cart abandonment in the US for 2024 included:

Unexpected costs (shipping costs, taxes, or other charges)

Account setup required

Didn’t trust the site with credit card information

Delivery time was too slow 

Complicated checkout process

Inability to see the total cost upfront

To improve conversion rates, it’s important to be clear about costs throughout the process and reduce the number of steps required to complete a purchase. 

How do you determine your cart abandonment rate?

To determine if your rates improve after implementing an abandoned cart email campaign, you’ll need to calculate your cart abandonment rate. This calculation will serve as your baseline.

The cart abandonment rate is calculated by dividing the number of purchases by the number of shopping carts created during a determined amount of time. Then, subtract this value from 1 and multiply by 100 to determine your cart abandonment rate. 

This is the percentage of interest that didn’t end in a sale. Regardless of your current rate, send out reminders to reduce it as much as possible. 

What happens after cart abandonment?

Since there are many different reasons a shopper may leave the website without completing the purchase, there are also several things likely to happen after the abandonment. According to Statista, UK shoppers who abandoned their carts were most likely to:

Purchase the item from the site at a later date (31%)

Purchase the item from an online competitor (26%)

Changed their mind or weren’t looking to buy (23%)

Went to a physical store to make their purchase (8%)

Abandoned cart emails can potentially prompt a purchase from 80% of those shoppers who are still interested in buying. 

15 Abandoned cart email best practices

Writing a powerful reminder email means following best practices for abandoned cart emails. Here are crucial steps you should follow to get the most out of your reminder emails:

1 – Use attention-grabbing abandoned cart email subject lines

Getting your email opened is a huge step with a cart abandonment email since many shoppers are used to seeing them. The best email subject lines stand out from the rest of the inbox but still make it clear what the email is about. Good abandoned cart subject line examples include ”You forgot something” or “Oops, Did Something Go Wrong?”

2 – Trigger the email within 24 hours 

Statistics show that sooner is more effective than later when it comes to reminder emails. Conversion rates for neglected carts are highest when the email is sent out 30-60 minutes after inactivity. However, those rates plummeted after 24 hours when the lead had grown cold.

3 – Copy should be short & direct

Remind people what they left behind with copy that inspires them to take action. Get to the point quickly with creative and succinct copy by trimming out all the excess. Simply highlighting a key benefit or two could help them finalize their purchase.

Speaking of being direct, check out this example from Nike:

4 – Use images to highlight what they are missing

The brain processes images about 60,000 times faster than text. Images will spark instant reminders of what drew them to your items in the first place. Always include pictures or GIFs of the items they’ve left behind to help provoke a response.

Here’s a great example from Hydrow:

5 – Reinforce the product or service benefits

Retargeting with a reminder email is the perfect time to highlight the product they are considering. Offer your most influential reasons for why they should finish the checkout process on the items in their cart.

6 – Consider a discount or value

If you plan to offer a great deal, the cart abandonment email is a good time to offer it. Even a small discount, like $5 or 10%, can make it more appealing to finish the purchase. People love to find deals, which could be the perfect way to help them decide to buy.

Saatchi Art does just that, plus they add a FOMO (fear of missing out) headline:

7 – Offer social proof with reviews

Providing reviews or testimonials can help motivate your leads to take the leap and make a purchase decision. Word-of-mouth marketing is highly influential, and a genuine customer review has a similar appeal.

8 – Include a call to action (CTA) that fits your goals

The primary goal of an abandoned cart email is to prompt a return and complete the sale. Your CTA should be positioned to drive that action. Use FOMO to encourage urgency, such as “Get it before it’s gone” or “Limited availability.”

9 – Set up an automated feature

You shouldn’t have to manually send out your reminder emails. Set automated emails for cart abandonment to go out after a certain lapse of inactivity.

10 – Segment your audience

Tailor your abandoned cart emails to different audiences by segmenting them into groups based on things like purchase history, browsing behavior, and demographics. Personalization makes your abandoned cart emails more relevant and, therefore, more effective.

11 – Include dynamic content

Dynamic content in your emails displaying real-time product availability, offers and discounts, or product recommendations keeps your emails feeling fresh.

12 – Highlight limited-time offers:

Draw attention to limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency and to nudge recipients toward a purchase. One way to do this is with a countdown timer. These motivational additions to your email are a great way to get your shoppers to act quickly.

13 – Provide clear contact information

When you simply include your customer service phone number, email, and chat, it gives confidence to your potential customers that you are readily available to answer their problems or questions.

14 – Incorporate additional triggers

Use other behavioral triggers alongside your abandoned cart emails to help keep your brand top of mind. Set up triggers when customers revisit your site or add more items to that old cart. 

15 – Test different send times

We already mentioned that it’s important to send abandoned cart emails within 24 hours. But when exactly should you send your abandoned cart email? Every business is different, and that’s why we encourage you to test different send times to find out what works best for your audience.

Abandoned cart email examples

There are all kinds of abandoned cart emails you can consider when creating your own. Here are some of our favorite examples from real brands, showcasing variations of value promise, humor, imagery, and more.

1 – LEGO

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Fun and engaging graphics

Easy purchase process with “Make it yours in a snap”

Strong positioning of CTAs

Enticing, supportive, and amusing for someone previously browsing LEGO sets

2 – NOMAD

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Adds a touch of humor with “What Happened? Did your Wi-Fi Crash?”) 

Light-hearted but effective

Relevant CTA –  “Seal the Deal.” 

Clever reinforcement of their 30-day return policy

3 – Dote

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Another joke reminder — “Your shopping bag has abandonment issues.”

The light-hearted theme continues with “Save these items hours of therapy and give them a loving home.” 

Clean, simplistic, clutter-free design 

4 – Dollar Shave Club

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Reinforces brand positioning

Offers a bold promise

Highlights several benefits for signing up at the beginning of the email

Large product shot with a natural flow leading the reader to the CTA for more information.

5 – Pepper

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Offers a small discount to spark a purchase

Features the customer’s most recent cart additions to appeal to potential buyers

6 – Peel

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Simple and straightforward design

Creates a sense of urgency with “We’re holding the items in your cart for you, but don’t wait too long!”

Clear call to action in a standout color

7 – Gilt

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Uses the expiring cart threat to spark immediate action

Shows alternative colors of the items in their cart to motivate a purchase

8 – Google Express

Image from ReallyGoodEmails

What I love about this example:

Simple and direct design

Clearly lists items and pricing from the abandoned cart

Positions the CTA right below the headline for prime visibility

9 – Doggyloot

What I love about this example:

Creates urgency with “Items you added to your cart are almost sold out”

Clear and prominent “RESTORE MY CART” CTA

Friendly and warm sign-off

10 – J. Crew

What I love about this example:

Direct and engaging headline

High-quality image of the abandoned product

Clear CTA with “GO TO YOUR BAG NOW”

Additional CTAs

11 – Whiskey Me

What I love about this example:

Personalized touch with the order number

Simple layout focused on action

Friendly reminder of the item’s details

12 – Huckberry

What I love about this example:

Displays the abandoned item with details.

Provides easy access to assistance from customer support.

Creates urgency by mentioning limited sales and inventory.

13 – 23andMe

Image from Really Good Emails

What I love about this example:

Emphasizes the value of the product with a personal benefit statement.

Clean and simple design, focusing on the message.

Clear and direct headline: “Don’t forget to order your kit.”

14 – Le Puzz

What I love about this example:

Friendly and welcoming headline: “Hello again!”

Bright and eye-catching design that stands out.

Creative and engaging copy: “We found a lost puzzle. Could it be yours?”

15 – Stetson

What I love about this example:

Clean and elegant design.

High-quality product image to remind customers of the item.

Free shipping offer prominently displayed to add extra incentive.

Win back more lost sales with the perfect cart abandonment email

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to target a warm lead and recover lost sales. Set up your abandoned cart email in AWeber for an easy solution with powerful results. If you need help getting started, we have a pre-built campaign.

“Apple Intelligence,” the company’s answer to the likes of Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, didn’t exhibit many tricks not already seen on those other platforms, but it did excel in two areas: integration and privacy.

The technology, announced in a prerecorded presentation Monday at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference, largely taps into a user’s personal information to perform its AI functions and does much of it on the devices where the data is stored to ensure privacy.

“There are already some really impressive chat tools out there that perform a vast array of tasks using world knowledge, but these tools know very little about you or your needs,” Apple Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said in the presentation. “With iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, we are embarking on a new journey to bring you intelligence that understands you.”

He noted that Apple Intelligence can be used to understand and create language, as well as images, and take action to simplify interactions across devices and apps. It can do things like prioritize notifications and provide writing tools to rewrite, summarize, and proofread text.

“They’re deeply integrating AI into your personal data and enhancing that data using artificial intelligence to make your apps smarter, integrate features, and expand capabilities,” explained Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm, in San Jose, Calif.

“It’s a unique approach,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Apple is the only one who can do it because they control the hardware, software and semiconductors in their system.”

A Personal Kind of AI

Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas, added that Apple’s vision of Apple Intelligence is based on personalized experience.

“People have been focusing on ChatGPT and other AI applications for publicly available content,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Apple’s view is that the real value of Apple Intelligence is how users will use it in a very personalized and customized way.”

“Apple Intelligence will offer a number of interesting applications that the average person will be able to leverage and see the value of,” he said.

“They’ve thrown the gauntlet down,” he declared. “They’re saying that if you really want to drive AI for the common person, it has to be personalized, it has to be customizable, it has to have meaningful applications, and it has to have a privacy component built into it.”

Private Cloud Compute

The cornerstone of Apple’s personal intelligence system is on-device processing, Federighi explained. It allows Apple Intelligence to be aware of personal data without collecting it.

Not all processing can be performed locally, however. Some tasks may need to be performed in the cloud. For those tasks, Apple has created “Private Cloud Compute,” which allows Apple devices to connect to specialized servers running on Apple silicon for enhanced processing.

“These Apple silicon servers offer the privacy and security of your iPhone from the silicon on up, draw on the security properties of the Swift programming language, and run software with transparency built in,” Federighi elaborated.

“When you make a request, Apple Intelligence analyzes whether it can be processed on device,” he continued. “If it needs greater computational capacity, it can draw on Private Cloud Compute and send only the data that’s relevant to your task to be processed on Apple silicon servers. Your data is never stored or made accessible to Apple.”

“And, just like your iPhone, independent experts can inspect the code that runs on these servers to verify this privacy promise,” he said.

“If Private Cloud Compute is true to its word, it’s a nice effort and one that differentiates Apple pretty well,” Eric Abbruzzese, a research director at ABI Research, a technology advisory company headquartered in Oyster Bay, N.Y., told TechNewsWorld.

Vena was impressed with Apple’s care in building the privacy foundation for Apple Intelligence during the presentation. “If you look at all the usage models that they demonstrated, they have to have access to emails and text messages, so it was important to convince people that privacy is at the core of the way they’re approaching AI,” he said.

However, not all AI requests go to Apple servers. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is also in the mix. Siri might determine that a query might be best answered by ChatGPT rather than personal sources. In that case, Siri would ask permission to send the query to the OpenAI chatbot.

“Apple got OpenAI to agree to not log users’ requests, and no personal data can be given to ChatGPT unless you give it permission,” Bajarin explained. “It’s a great approach and extremely secure.”

AI on Apple’s Terms

Ross Rubin, the principal analyst with Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City, noted that Apple Intelligence offers the company an opportunity to leverage the power of its processors to do something besides rendering video or playing a game faster.

“It allows them to bring more of these AI models onto the device, which helps their privacy stance,” he told TechNewsWorld. “While Apple Intelligence is interacting with a lot of personal information, none of that information is going anywhere.”

“This is AI on Apple’s terms,” he said.

“No one is going to say we’ve never seen AI do this before,” he added. “It’s the way they’ve integrated it into their apps that represents a more comprehensive approach that we’ve seen thus far.”

Anshel Sag, a senior analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology analyst and advisory firm based in Austin, Texas, agreed.

“They’re not doing anything particularly novel, but their integration at the platform level is good and compelling,” he told TechNewsWorld. “And they’re telling a strong privacy and computer story, which is in line with everything expected from Apple.”

“What they announced is similar to what we’re seeing from other companies, just not at this scale,” he said. “What you’re seeing with Apple Intelligence is a tighter, cleaner integration of what everyone else has already done with a slight Apple twist to it. It’s not particularly groundbreaking.”

More Than Just a Value-Add

Abbruzzese noted that Apple has approached AI as it has approached other products.

“They’re never first to market. They try to be the best,” he said. “It’s too early to know if they’re the best, but I was struck by how cohesive the announcement was. Everything fit together nicely.”

“I haven’t felt the same way for other players,” he continued. “AI always felt like a value-add to something else. It was not as well-integrated.”

“Every AI feature Apple announced works across the ecosystem,” he added. “We haven’t seen as broad-reaching synergy as that before. Microsoft Copilot is powerful, but it doesn’t feel as well integrated into the Windows ecosystem as Apple Intelligence.”

A new study by search industry expert Rand Fishkin has revealed that Google’s rollout of AI overviews in May led to a noticeable decrease in search volume, particularly on mobile devices.

The study, which analyzed millions of Google searches in the United States and European Union, sheds light on the unexpected consequences of AI integration.

AI Overviews Rollout & Reversal

In May 2024, Google rolled out AI overviews in the United States, which generate summaries for many search queries.

However, the feature was met with mixed reactions and was quickly dialed back by the end of the month.

In a blog post published on May 30, Google admitted to inaccurate or unhelpful AI overviews, particularly for unusual queries.

Google says it implemented over a dozen technical improvements to its systems in response.

A subsequent study by SE Ranking found the frequency of these summaries decreased, with only 8% of searches now triggering an AI Overview. However, when shown, these overviews are now longer and more detailed, averaging 25% more content.

SE Ranking also noted that after expansion, AI overviews typically link to fewer sources, usually around four.

Decline In Mobile Searches

Fishkin’s analysis reveals that the introduction of AI Overviews coincided with a marked decline in mobile searches in May.

While desktop searches saw a slight increase, the drop in mobile searches was significant, considering that mobile accounts for nearly two-thirds of all Google queries.

This finding suggests that users may have been less inclined to search on their mobile devices when confronted with AI-generated summaries.

Fishkin commented:

“The most visible changes in May were shared by both the EU and US, notably… Mobile searches fell a considerable amount (if anything spooked Google into rolling back this feature, I’d put my money on this being it).”

He adds:

“If I were running Google, that dip in mobile searches (remember, mobile accounts for almost 2/3rds of all Google queries) would scare the stock-price-worshiping-crap outta me.”

Impact On Overall Search Behavior

Despite the dip in mobile searches, the study found that search behavior remained relatively stable during the AI overviews rollout.

The number of clicks per search on mobile devices increased slightly, while desktop clicks per search remained flat.

This indicates that while some users may have been deterred from initiating searches, those who did engage with the AI Overviews still clicked on results at a similar or slightly higher rate than the previous months.

Implications For Google & the Search Industry

The study highlights the challenges Google faces in integrating AI-generated content into its search results.

Additionally, the research found other concerning trends in Google search behavior:

Low Click-through Rates: Only 360 out of every 1,000 Google searches in the US result in clicks to non-Google websites. The EU fares slightly better with 374 clicks per 1,000 searches.
Zero-click Searches Dominate: Nearly 60% of searches in both regions end without any clicks, classified as “zero-click searches.”
Google’s Self-referral Traffic: About 30% of clicks from US searches go to Google-owned properties, with a somewhat lower percentage in the EU.

Why SEJ Cares

This study underscores the need for adaptable SEO strategies.

As an industry, we may need to shift focus towards optimizing for zero-click searches and diversifying traffic sources beyond Google.

The findings also raise questions about the future of AI in search.

While major tech companies continue to invest in AI technologies, this study suggests that implementation may not always yield the expected results.

Featured Image: Marco Lazzarini/Shutterstock

By Jesse Kennedy June 20, 2024

Rather listen or watch? You’ve got it! 

Email design is critical to an effective email marketing strategy. While the actual information you communicate is important, design elements are just as crucial.

After all, studies show that 90% of the information transmitted to our brains is visual.

So, by incorporating email design best practices, you can leave a lasting impression on subscribers, help them remember and trust your brand, and drive more conversions.

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a professional designer to create beautiful emails!

In fact, in this article, we’ll cover all the most important email marketing design best practices that anyone can apply, regardless of skill level. 

At the end, we’ll show you a few email design tools to help you start sending gorgeous emails in no time.

Why is email marketing design important?

Email marketing design goes beyond the mere aesthetics of your messages. In fact, design plays a crucial role in how recipients perceive your brand identity.

By giving your email design the attention it deserves, you can help build trust with recipients, get them to engage more, and even drive more conversions.

So, let’s take a look at some of the key reasons you should incorporate email design best practices into your marketing strategy.

1. Create a good first impression

If you’ve put in the effort to get users to sign up for your email list, then it’s key to make a good first impression!

WIth good email design, you can capture recipient’s attention and set a positive tone for their interaction with your brand.

A professional-looking design establishes trust from the outset, ensuring recipients feel like they’re getting the value you promised when they signed up for your list.

2. Drive more conversions

By establishing trust with effective email design, recipients will also be more likely to convert into customers.

So, with the right email design, you can help guide your audience towards the action you want them to take, whether that be making a purchase or downloading a resource.

3. Improve readability and engagement

Incorporating email design best practices is also key for improving the readability of your messages. 

For example, the use of subheadings and bullet points, along with visual elements, like images, can help make your emails more engaging.

A report by Litmus found that people spent an average of just nine seconds looking at an email. So, it’s key that those who open your emails are able to understand the information quickly and easily.

Remember, the easier your emails are to read, the more recipients will be engaged. When recipients are more engaged, they’ll be more likely to convert. 

4. Build recognition with a consistent brand image

One more key reason email marketing design is important is that it can help you build a consistent brand identity.

This is crucial to developing both trust and recognition amongst your recipients.

According to an Edelman report, 59% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand they trust, regardless of the price. Likewise, 67% are more likely to advocate and stay loyal to a brand they trust.

So, to create loyal customers, it’s critical to build a recognizable and reliable brand image. By incorporating email design best practices into your marketing, you can achieve this.

11 Email marketing design best practices

Now that you have a better understanding of why design is so important, let’s look at some email marketing design best practices.

By incorporating these tips into your emails, you’ll be able to send emails that create a recognizable brand identity, build trust with recipients, and improve engagement.

1. Pick the right email design layout

The right email layout can make the difference between a subscriber who takes an action and one who unsubscribes. 

Attention spans are getting shorter, so understanding how people read your emails will help you craft more effective messages.

Knowing where their eyes are likely to go can make your email more readable. Better yet, it can help the reader navigate towards your call to action. 

So, let’s explore a few types of email design layouts to help you do that.

Z-Pattern

The Z-Pattern traces the path of your eyes when reading: left to right; top to bottom.

People will read the first line across, then down and to the left, and back across the right again. When reading in this pattern, it forms a Z-shape.

This email design layout works best when you have a lot of information to communicate. The structure will help your subscribers consume all the information in an easy and logical way.

You’ll often see this type of email follow a pattern where you start with a headline and text on the top left, with an image to the right. Then, the lower left corner will have another image, and across from that will be text. 

This works because:

1. Readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to images. By having the images diagonal from each other, you help subscribers follow an easy-to-read path.

2. It creates a cleaner layout by not having all your text on one side of the email.

Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is a format used for news stories, but it also works well for emails. This structure grabs attention and focuses on the most important parts of your message. 

It’s good for when you have one thing to tell your readers, and a specific call to action you want them to click on. 

You can use this layout for:

Driving subscribers to your website to read an article

Collecting sign-ups for an event

Encouraging subscribes to purchase a product or service

F-Pattern

Finally, the Nielsen Norman Group first identified the F-Pattern after studying how people’s eyes read a website.

Similar to the Z-Pattern, a reader consumes content from left to right, and then back to the left. However, instead of reading across the second line, they read less. This pattern continues as readers make their way down the email.

This means you should put your most important, attention-grabbing information at the top of your email. 

Then, assume your subscriber is going to skim the rest of your email. Use less text further down in the email, and balance the copy with images on the right.

This email design layout works well when you have a lot of information to communicate. 

You should structure your email with the most important information at the top, and then use bullet points and shorter content further down the email. 

Finally, close with a call to action.

2. Choose the right colors

Select colors that reflect your logo and brand. However, be sure there’s enough contrast for easy reading. Remember, clarity is key!

Text that doesn’t have enough contrast against its background is hard to read.

It’s also a best email marketing design practice to incorporate color psychology. To choose complementary colors, check out this chart about the emotional impacts of different colors.

Free color palette tools like Coolors can also help you create a professional-grade palette in minutes.

Ultimately, this will ensure your emails are better aligned with your brand identity.

3. Leave some breathing room

Densely packed emails may be hard to read. This is especially true on mobile devices, where 49.7 percent of all email opens occur.

Most people scan emails rather than reading them word by word. So, having ample white space between elements makes your emails easier to scan. Essentially, it keeps them from looking visually overwhelming. 

Leaving extra white space has an additional benefit as well: it challenges you to keep your message brief and to only include the relevant details. 

Remember, brevity and clarity are critical to effective email design.

Here’s a great example from TrueCar.

4. Use text as a design element 

Formatting your emails for skimmers and scanners also helps. The most common formatting elements are: 

Subheadings

Short paragraphs

Bullet points

Bolded phrases 

Using visual cues like these will make the most important points of your email easy to find.

Look at this example from Jon Persson of CultMethod. He bolds important elements within the body of his email, while breaking up the copy with bullet points and perfectly-placed headlines. 

Most importantly, each paragraph is short and easy to read.

5. Balance text with images

You should also consider breaking up large chunks of text with visual images. Readers prefer short blurbs of information. So, try incorporating images and lines when possible.

Images help tell the story of what you want to communicate to your subscribers

Just be sure not to overdo it! Instead, follow the 60/40 rule: images should take up no more than 40% of your email.

6. Plan for missing images

Nearly all email services give subscribers the option to hide images. In fact, some even disable images automatically, forcing the user to click a link or press a button to “turn on” images. 

For example, here is how an email with a large hero image appears in Outlook:

Since many popular email platforms block images, you should make sure your email is still readable—and your call-to-action is still clickable—when images are turned off.

Rather than using image-based buttons that hide your CTA when images are turned off, try using a “bulletproof button” instead. This technique combines a background color with a regular text link, providing the illusion of a button that users can see when images are on or off.

Most email marketing services, like AWeber, allow you to easily create bulletproof buttons within your email design layout. 

If the images you’re using are an important part of your emails, make sure you add alt text to the image. This is text that describes what the image is about. 

If you’ve ever laid out webpages or worked with WordPress, you may have added alt text to images before.

When you include alt text, subscribers can still understand what you intended to show them, even if they block images.

7. Pick the right typography

As we’ve mentioned already, making your email easy to read is critical, and your typography is a huge part of this.

So, be sure the font you use in your subheadings and body copy are comfortably readable. Common email fonts include Arial or Helvetica, but you’re not limited to these.

Additionally, ensure you’re using a large enough font size. After all, you don’t want your recipients squinting to try to read your email. For example:

This font size is a 12px, and it can be difficult for people to read

This font size is 16px, which is large enough for most of your subscribers to read without zooming in.

8. Use clear links and buttons

You’ll likely include at least one or two links and buttons in your email marketing design. However, it’s important to make sure it’s clear where all of your links lead to.

For example, instead of writing phrases like “click here”, try using more specific labels.

Something like “buy now” or “get your demo” tell the reader exactly what will happen when they click on your link or button.

For example, in this email from Capital One, their button clearly communicates that when you click it, you’ll be able to view the details of their checking account offer.

9. Attract readers’ eyes

We already mentioned that you’ll want to include some visual elements, like images, in your email design. 

However, it can also be a good idea to add in some creative elements, like a GIF, to really grab your readers’ attention.

If you do opt to include a GIF, just be sure it enhances your message and doesn’t distract from what you want to communicate.

Ultimately, though, small creative touches like this can be a great way to grab attention and engage recipients.

10. Include a call to action

If you’re taking the time to build and send an email to your list, it’s key that you direct your subscribers to take some sort of action when they read it.

Calls to action can include anything from:

Encouraging subscribers to buy your product or service

Directing recipients to download a free resource

Getting recipients to sign up for an event or webinar

Ultimately, you want to engage your subscribers so they take the action you want them to take.

So, be sure to include a CTA that clearly communicates the value it can provide recipients, and make sure it stands out.

11. Send a test email

One more critical email marketing design best practice is to test your email before sending it out to your entire list. This will help you ensure there are no formatting errors in your design.

After all, you don’t want to put in all the effort to design your email only to realize it doesn’t look right in subscribers’ email inboxes.

So, be sure to send a test email to your own inbox first. 

Once you’re positive that it looks the way you want it to, then you can send it out to your entire list.

Email design tools to create beautiful emails

You don’t need to start from scratch to create beautiful emails. In fact, there are tons of email marketing tools that make design a breeze.

So, here are several email marketing design tools to help you get started.

1. Canva

Canva is a free graphic design tool that allows you to create and edit any kind of image. 

Better yet, AWeber has a fully-integrated Canva drag-and-drop button. This means you can create your images in Canva and drag them directly into your AWeber email.

2. Email templates

Sometimes simply getting started is the hardest part of sending an email. This is where an email template can come in handy. 

When you find the right template, most of the work is done for you. All you need to do is customize it to fit your brand by adding your logo and updating the colors. Then you’re ready to go!

AWeber has hundreds of email marketing and newsletter templates ready for you to customize for your messages. These can save you hours of time every week and let you skip most of the heavy lifting of designing your own emails. 

Here are just a few of the templates available. Each template also has at least three color palettes to choose from.

3. Try an email builder

Finally, online tools like Stripo, BeeFree, and Dyspatch also have templates and drag and drop email design editors. They’re similar to what you’ll find in your email marketing provider’s account, but some email designers prefer these tools. 

You can design an email in any of these tools and then import it into your email provider. 

Engage your subscribers with email marketing design best practices

If you’re not a pro designer, building a professional-looking email may seem a bit intimidating. 

However, by incorporating the email marketing design best practices above, you can start creating beautiful emails in no time.

Remember, good email design is critical to building trust, driving conversions, and establishing your brand identity. So, it’s key that you give your design the attention it needs to be effective.

Of course, if you want a custom-designed email or newsletter, we can help with that, too! AWeber offers both custom email templates and landing page designs. 

Full custom designs are $229, or a modification of an existing template is $29. Click here to learn more about our custom design services.

Before this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference, which Apple conducted earlier this week, AI meant artificial intelligence to most consumers. In classic Apple-esque fashion, we now know the Cupertino-based company wants to redefine AI as “Apple Intelligence.”

Apple has consistently demonstrated its prowess in effectively communicating complex technologies to laypeople. At WWDC, the company clearly articulated how it will incorporate these latest developments in artificial intelligence into its software on a platform-wide basis.

Some consumers have been skeptical about using artificial intelligence beyond the much-hyped tasks of creating a dinner party menu, for example. For those users, and it’s not a trivial audience from a size standpoint, those use cases are not innovations that will change the world.

Now, things get a lot more interesting when an Apple Intelligence-infused Siri can search across apps, emails, and text messages to retrieve information saved somewhere you can’t remember or to check the status of a flight. For instance, Siri will cross-reference flight details from an email with real-time updates from the web, highlighting a practical application of artificial intelligence.

More Steak, Less Sizzle

Competitors had already revealed a few new features; during its developer conference last month, Google debuted a photo search functionality strikingly similar to what Apple unveiled at its keynote. Nevertheless, the show served as a helpful reminder of the iPhone maker’s significant advantage over rival tech firms when showcasing cutting-edge technology on its own gear.

Viewed through this prism, Apple Intelligence suddenly materializes in a way it hasn’t until now. In stark contrast, Sundar Pichai’s recent Google I/O presentation came across as dramatically more technical than intended for the general audience.

The big question is how much of what Apple showed will result in increased consumer spending, and we won’t get an answer until the iPhone 16 expected announcement in September. Legacy iPhone users must upgrade to an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max to use its new AI-powered capabilities. However, AI will also be available on newer Macs and iPads that utilize Apple Silicon.

AI Boost to Soft iPhone Sales?

Given that iPhone sales decreased in the previous fiscal year and the first half of this one, any influence on those sales would be significant. However, there’s no guarantee that these enhancements will convince the typical consumer, who may not want to spend over $1,000 for the newest premium phone — either in full upfront or over three years, as most mobile plans currently permit — and may not pay attention to tech news.

More importantly, it’s still an open question whether these features function as well in real life as they did in the demos at WWDC. To Apple’s credit, the online demos given during the WWDC keynote were compelling and intuitive, an Apple trademark. Still, consumers are notoriously finicky, and this remains an open question.

Moreover, as I’ve suggested during my podcasts, Apple has all the resources necessary to swiftly replicate a Microsoft Copilot-like framework across all its device operating systems. Sequoia (the forthcoming upgrade to macOS), iOS 18, and iPadOS 18 will perfectly position Apple to amplify the benefits of its vaunted ecosystem.

It’s also notable that Apple’s ability to offer a large selection of developer tools that utilize Apple Intelligence capabilities will add a powerful AI dimension to the Apple App Store.

App Intents is an intriguing addition to Shortcuts, which enables AI agent capabilities so developers may provide their consumers with generative AI-based automation. Along with the Matter initiative, this capability will turbocharge smart home applications, which have been a morass of multiple applications and tedious setups.

Privacy, Privacy, More Privacy

As anticipated, Apple prioritized privacy as the bedrock of Apple Intelligence. The additional functions and features appear to operate on-device (iPhone 15 and Apple Silicon iPads and Macs).

On the other hand, the company unveiled “Private Cloud Compute,” which enables Apple Intelligence to be “scaled” to servers using Apple Silicon. Apple proudly talked about how Apple Intelligence gets smarter by understanding user habits and preferences, but it keeps this information private. Most of the intelligence happens right on your device.

Still, Apple will use a unique cloud system that protects your privacy even when using extra processing power for super complex tasks. That’s a big commitment, and Apple didn’t provide specific details.

Though some publications claim that OpenAI’s generative toolkit is the basis of Apple Intelligence, whether gen AI models or services underpin the system is still unclear. Since OpenAI is mentioned as a partner on the “world model” rather than as a primary “supplier” of Apple Intelligence (much to Elon Musk’s chagrin), it appears that these models may be Apple-only.

Demos indicate that ChatGPT will be available for free and most likely under the same conditions of use, with roomier integration in Apple operating systems and apps. Apple appears to be approaching this like a plug-in version, similar to GPT-4o’s introduction of a macOS application.

The company’s refreshing emphasis on privacy appears to confirm that the incremental cost of supporting these features of Apple Intelligence is more important than profitability. Apple did not mention whether Apple Intelligence fees were covered by iCloud membership income or transferred to individual devices. If this is true, it’s a new business model issue that will impact many third-party AI providers outside of Apple.

Final Thoughts

It is unclear how the Apple Intelligence architecture maintains privacy and security while enabling contextual continuity across devices. However, this goes directly to Apple’s bifurcated strategy for executing a personalized and external AI experience.

We need to know more about how Apple will manage all of this, but it’s unquestionably a strategy that will differentiate Apple from the likes of Microsoft and Google.

Apple’s substantial smartphone market share significantly bolsters its ability to execute its Apple Intelligence capability. With a vast and loyal user base, Apple can gather extensive data to refine and enhance its AI algorithms, ensuring more personalized and efficient user experiences.

The widespread adoption of iPhones provides a robust platform for seamlessly integrating AI features across devices, fostering a cohesive ecosystem. This market dominance also attracts top talent and encourages substantial investment in AI research and development, further propelling Apple’s advancements in artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence has promised magic; instead, it is frequently imperfect and primarily valuable for a small number of tasks. It’s hard to blame most consumers for being skeptical. A recent study indicates that less than 10% of Americans use ChatGPT daily.

OpenAI announced a chattier version of its chatbot earlier in the year, but it didn’t have most of the features the company discussed. In addition, Google scaled back its AI image generator and the AI-powered search results after high-profile flubs this year. Amazon showed an error-prone AI-upgraded Alexa last year that is yet to be released. Those miscues aren’t Apple’s fault, and the company is usually wary of releasing products before they’re polished.

However, Apple and other companies are under tremendous pressure to show their AI expertise to investors, employees, and business partners. Skeptics might question whether AI is really targeted at consumers or if it’s mostly a corporate self-interest play.

Putting all this aside, I tend to be an optimist, and I eagerly await how this pans out. I will be an early beta tester of everything announced at WWDC24 and will focus on assessing its usefulness, intuitiveness, and privacy protections. Stay tuned.

By Pam Neely June 21, 2024

Have you noticed a significant number of your email list subscribers are no longer interacting with your content or following your calls to action? Then it may be time to start a re-engagement email campaign!

This can be a super effective email marketing strategy for winning back inactive subscribers. 

After all, one study indicates that the average email list decay rate, which is the percentage of subscribers who become inactive, is between 22% and 30% per year.

This means that, unless you’re cleaning your email list regularly, you’re likely sending a lot of messages into the void, never to be seen again.

However, with re-engagement emails, you can start winning back some of those inactive subscribers. To be successful, though, you’ll need to keep some best practices in mind.

So, in this article, we’ll explore how to write win-back emails. We’ll also provide examples of some effective re-engagement email campaign strategies, from one-off surveys and free resources to entire email sequences.

What is a re-engagement email?

A re-engagement email, also called a “win-back email”, is a message you send to subscribers who have become inactive. 

These emails aim to rekindle the interest of people who have not made a purchase or interacted with your brand for a while.

Re-engagement email campaigns are a great strategy for sparking the interest of inactive subscribers before removing them from your mailing list. After all, emailing unresponsive subscribers with messages isn’t helping them or your business.

Before saying goodbye, however, a win-back email offers one final opportunity to reconnect and rebuild your customer relationship.

Ultimately, your goal is to re-establish a connection with those who seem to have lost interest in your products, services, or content.

Here is an example re-engagement email from the newsletter pros at Marketing Brew. While the three-week inactivity timeline is pretty tight by most industry standards, they do a great job of ensuring their list is truly engaged with their content.

This way, they keep their email list clean, and ensure most of their messages aren’t getting lost in recipients’ spam folders.

How effective are re-engagement emails?

While re-engagement email campaigns are a great way to win back subscribers, you can’t expect every inactive subscriber to become active again.

Most email win-back campaigns have a success rate of 14% up to 29% in the best-case scenario. 

Several email marketing studies have found that sending a series of emails may be more effective than sending just a single email. A re-engagement sequence of three emails appears to be the sweet spot. 

One recent study found that several different tactics will work, but no one tactic significantly outperformed the others.

Later on, we’ll discuss how each of the methods below work, as well as provide a few additional examples. We’ll also tell you how to set up an effective re-engagement email sequence.

Remember though, the method that works best for your business depends on the needs and interests of your unique audience.

How create a re-engagement email

The goal of your re-engagement email campaign is to get people interested in your emails again. 

So, every element of your email – the subject line, the content, and the call-to-action – needs to support that goal.

Re-Engagement email subject lines

For re-engagement email subject lines, the best ones specifically reference your goal: to win back your subscribers!

Here is an example of an email from Tomasz Borys at Kissmetrics:

You can also take a more personal approach, like this email from Threadless:

Both subject lines work well. However, they each grab the reader’s attention in different ways.

A simple “We miss you!” lets the subscriber know that you appreciate their readership. It also feels more conversational. 

On the flip side, “Do you still want updates from us?” is direct and inquisitive. It tells the subscriber that you care about their time and want to make sure they get something out of the relationship.

For more inspiration, consider reviewing your past emails to see what’s working for your specific audience. Look for common themes like subject line length and tone to see what tends to work best for your target audience.

You can also try using personalization, like including your subscribers’ first names in the subject line. It’s no secret that personalization helps you connect with your subscribers and stand out a little more in the inbox. 

For example, the email from Threadless could have gone one step further by saying, “We miss you, Sam!”

Since these details depend on what your audience responds to, try testing different variations and find that sweet spot.

Re-engagement email content

Most re-engagement emails’ content is short – generally just two or three paragraphs. All you need to do is to make the purpose of your email clear: “Do you still want to get emails from us?”

Then, you might consider explaining the value your emails provide. 

Remember, these are people who signed up to receive messages from you but at some point stopped reading. 

They wanted to hear from you before, so how can you get them re-interested in what you have to say? 

Ask yourself a few questions:

What did my subscribers sign up to receive originally?

Am I continuing to send them content based on their original expectations?

Did I change anything in my email strategy that might have caused them to stop engaging with my content?

What can I offer to pique their interest again?

Once you have those answers in mind, it’s time to start writing your email.

Here’s an example of a re-engagement email we sent to our inactive blog newsletter subscribers:

The format is simple, and it makes a good template for any re-engagement email:

You haven’t opened any emails from us in a while

We want to make sure you’re still interested

Click this button to stay on the list

Here’s what you can expect if you remain on the list

That’s all you have to say in a re-engagement email–just one sentence and a few bullet points. After all, the shorter your email is, the more likely people are to read it and click the button.

Getting inactive subscribers up to speed might also help get them re-interested in your content. So, consider adding a short bulleted list of your recent “greatest hits,” such as:

Products

Content

Promotions

Re-engagement email incentives

Speaking of promotions, offering an incentive, like a white paper or coupon code, might also help you re-engage subscribers. 

If you hooked them onto your list with a piece of content in the past, consider how you might be able to repeat that success during your re-engagement email campaign.

Check out this example from Paperworks, a stationary and premium paper provider:

Offering a special discount is a great way to get subscribers interested in your emails again. 

Not only are you giving your subscribers something in exchange for their time and attention, but you might even get another sale out of it as well.

Re-engagement email feedback

To help you learn more about why subscribers grew disinterested in your content, asking them for specific feedback could help fill in the gaps. For example:

Was there something you could have done better for these subscribers? 

What made them stop engaging in the first place?

Asking these questions directly can help you figure out exactly where you can improve your email marketing strategy.

Additionally, if you make a subscriber feel like their opinion is truly valued, they may want to stick around. Plus, this will give you valuable insight into their needs that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.

As you get feedback and notice common themes, you can implement their suggestions in the future.

Re-engagement email call to action

The whole point of your email is to prompt subscribers to take an action, so make sure your emails have a call to action that is bold and clear.

Generally, you’ll want to limit yourself to one call to action in order to increase your click-through rate. However, there are exceptions to this rule.

Ultimately, your CTA should make it easy for recipients to:

Stay on or opt out of your list

Learn more about a product or service

Download an incentive

For example, check out this email and CTA from Grammarly:

While having one call to action is the classic approach, some re-engagement emails examples also include an unsubscribe link. 

For instance, take a look at this email from a PEW, a non-profit organization:

Finally, some re-engagement emails even let subscribers choose to get emails less often, like the example below.

7 Re-engagement email examples

Now that you’ve got a good idea of what goes into an effective win-back email, let’s look at some re-engagement email examples.

The following ideas are great ways to get customers interested in your brand again.

1. Surveys

If your subscribers aren’t responding to what you’ve been sending, try asking them what they would like to get from you. After all, this can help you better understand your audience’s interests and preferences. 

For example, you might send a re-engagement email with the subject line “We miss you! Tell us how we can improve.” Then, for your call to action, include a link to a brief survey. Consider asking questions about:

Their favorite types of content

Products they’re interested in

How often they’d like to hear from you

Ultimately, this feedback can help guide your future email marketing campaigns, as well as show subscribers you value their opinions.

2. Coupons and discounts

If you’re in ecommerce, the classic way to win back inactive customers is to send them a juicy discount coupon. 

Consider making this a dollar off discount rather than a percent off discount. One study of win-back campaigns found that dollar off discounts activated more subscribers.

For instance, you could send an email with the subject line “We miss you! Here’s $10 off your next purchase.” 

Then, in the content of your email, be sure to include your discount code and a call to action directing subscribers to your store.

You might also think about highlighting new or popular products to entice them even more.

3. New products and services announcements

Announcements are ideal emails to send out if you haven’t mailed to your list in a few months. They’re a great opportunity to let recipients know about new products or services you’re offering.

For example, consider sending a re-engagement email with the subject line “Check out our new arrivals!” 

Then, in your email content, be sure to showcase your latest and greatest products with high-quality images, and include a CTA to your online store.

By showing off your most recent arrivals, you can recapture the interest of customers who’ve grown tired of your old line of products.

4. Free resources

Free resources are also excellent to send if you haven’t emailed your list in awhile. 

A high-value digital resource, like an ebook or a course, can be a great way to demonstrate that it’s worth their time to be on your list. 

For instance, consider using the re-engagement email subject line “Exclusive free ebook just for you!” and provide a link to the download.

You should also be sure to highlight the value recipients will gain from the resource, reinforcing the value they’ll get if they remain active subscribers.

5. Customer testimonials

You can use customer testimonials with other types of content mentioned above. For instance, share a few testimonials about a new service you have.

Think about using a subject line like “See what others are saying about our new service!” and include direct quotes from customers.

This strategy can be especially effective in combination with some of the others listed above. 

For example, including testimonials with a new service announcement or special discount can build trust and credibility while encouraging inactive subscribers to re-engage.

6. Limited time offers

Another great way to win back subscribers is by inducing a sense of urgency in your emails. 

For instance, you might offer a limited-time discount or promotion to encourage recipients to take action quickly.

Consider using a subject line like “Limited time offer! $10 off just for you,” and include a countdown timer or specific end-date.

By inducing a sense of urgency, you can get customers to take action quickly.

7. Resubscription Offers

 Re-subscription offers can be a great incentive to get subscribers interested in your product or service again.

For instance, you might use the re-engagement email subject line, “We want you back! Enjoy 30 days of free premium access.” 

Then, include a CTA to your sign-up page where customers can try out your platform again for a limited time for free.

If your product or service is delivering the value the customer desires, there’s a good chance they’ll stick around after the free trial is over.

Re-engagement email campaign sequences

All email lists are different, so what works best in one situation may not work so well in another. One message might do the trick, but you could be more effective by sending two or three emails to warm people up and get them re-activated.

Since these subscribers are already less engaged, aim to keep your campaign short. Send an email, wait a few days, and see who’s interacted with your content.

If they’ve clicked through to your content or stated they want to remain on your email list, then great! They can stay on your list and continue to get your awesome emails.

Here are two re-engagement email examples that were sent a few days apart.

This is the first one. Notice how short it is?

 And here’s the next one, sent two days later:

The sequence of emails above is concise, and also respectful. Ultimately, even if subscribers opt not to re-engage, it’s important to consider what they want.

This way, if they develop interest in your products or services at a later date, you haven’t burned any bridges.

Start winning back subscribers with a re-engagement email campaign

If you take the time to craft a re-engagement email campaign, there’s a good chance you can win back some subscribers.

However, if some recipients haven’t responded, it may be time to say goodbye. And that’s perfectly ok!

You’ve done what you can to win them back, but if they don’t want to receive your emails, it’s better to let them go. Not only will they appreciate a cleaner inbox, but it’ll also help boost your email deliverability. 

Ultimately, this will improve your email marketing in the long run.

Now, we know that sometimes it can be really hard to write your emails. That’s why we created our What to Write in Your Emails guide and course, complete with 45+ email templates. It will save you hours of work every month.

How do you plan on running a re-engagement campaign of your own? Leave a comment below to share your ideas. 

Or, if you already have an AWeber account, watch this video to see exactly how to create and send your own re-engagement emails!

Re-engagement email FAQs

When should you send a re-engagement email?

Many marketing experts recommend that you wait at least three to six months after a subscriber becomes inactive to send a re-engagement email.

However, the proper amount of time can depend on your specific audience.

For example, if your content is time-sensitive or encourages frequent interaction, one to two months may be a better timeline.

You may even consider starting a win-back email campaign during other times. 

For example, if you’re planning a major list cleanup, updating your product or service offerings, or notice declining engagement rates, you might want to consider sending re-engagement emails.

Ultimately, it’s key to think about the behavior and preferences of your unique subscribers, and align them with your business goals.

How many emails should you send in a re-engagement campaign?

As we mentioned earlier, there’s no perfect number of messages to send in a re-engagement email campaign. 

What works best for your business depends on the preferences of your specific audience.

While sending just one email may be best for some brands, other brands may want to design a sequence of two, three, or even four emails.

So, be sure to test out some different strategies with different segments of your audience. This will help you understand how you can best win back your subscribers.

Google’s Gary Illyes shares an unconventional but valid method for centralizing robots.txt rules on CDNs.

Robots.txt files can be centralized on CDNs, not just root domains.

Websites can redirect robots.txt from main domain to CDN.

This unorthodox approach complies with updated standards.

This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Nicolò, who asks:

“What are the best resources to learn SEO and who are the best people to follow online for good advice?”

This is a great question that goes to the heart of what a lot of people struggle with when learning SEO. There is a lot of information online.

There are a lot of SEO “experts.”

Often, there is a lot of contradictory advice.

So, how do you sort the truth from the fiction – the opinionated from the experienced?

People To Follow

The issue in the SEO industry is that we are often left in the dark. Google and the other search engines offer us morsels of information, and we run wild with speculation.

Unfortunately, this can then become “fact.”

The rumor spreads. Pretty soon, you’ll hear it discussed in agency pitches and incorporated into brand strategies, all without it being properly questioned.

Finding the truth amid all of this noise can be tricky. Essentially, you are asking me, “Who and what can I trust?”

Really, the answer is to find SEO pros to learn from who are constantly testing their own assumptions.

I’m not going to list names here. I don’t want to risk putting you off following an SEO on social media purely because I haven’t included them in my list.

There are a lot of highly accomplished SEO pros who I don’t know.

Instead, I’ll suggest some ways of identifying those people who are digging into SEO and drawing conclusions from data.

Conferences And Publications

Start by attending SEO conferences and taking note of the speakers who are bringing something new to the table.

These are the people who are conducting experiments or backing up their claims with their own case studies.

Similarly, look for authors writing in reputable SEO publications – like Search Engine Journal – read their work and follow those constantly looking to question conventional wisdom and prove or disprove it with data.

Conference organizers and publication owners perform a certain level of due diligence, which means you are a little bit safer following the people they have chosen to showcase than following strangers on the internet.

Follow Who They Follow

A good next step to expand your list is to look at who the people you identified above follow.

If the same names pop up on the social media profiles of these conference speakers and article writers, you can be reassured that they are bringing useful insight to the platform.

Try to identify who they are discussing SEO with on social media. Snoop on those conversations and see who your trusted list of people to follow are also having informed discourse with.

It’s okay, too, if the SEO professionals you follow do not necessarily agree with what’s being said by the other people, as long as those other people are bringing rational, data-backed opinions. Sometimes, we learn best through hearing both sides of an argument!

Ask For Recommendations

It’s also perfectly acceptable to ask for recommendations of who to follow online like this Reddit user did.

To avoid getting back the same small list of famous SEO professionals each time, consider reaching out to some of your “trusted” SEO pros from the list above and ask them who they would recommend for specific areas of SEO.

For example, are you looking to learn more about local SEO or ecommerce SEO?

Ask for recommendations of who they would turn to if they had a question in that field.

Be Part Of The Discussion

SEO is constantly evolving, and no single SEO expert has all the answers. We learn from each other and from discussing ideas and opinions.

It’s never too early in your career to take part in those discussions.

Join In The Conversation

Look for conversations that are happening on SEO topics and join in the discussions. For example, @MordyOberstein’s #SEOChat over on X or the Google Search Central Help Community 

Try some of the Reddit subreddits about SEO, like r/TechSEO and r/bigseo. There will be a lot of discussions (I mean arguments, really) that will give you some quick insight into what practicing SEO pros make of particular ideas or approaches.

You can simply read through questions and replies, or you can take part. Give your own thoughts and ask for critiques and opinions. Engaging in discourse and learning from others can help you to sharpen your knowledge.

Start A Conversation

Perhaps, if you’re feeling brave, you can start your own conversations in these forums.

There is always the risk that you might be met with answers by people who haven’t really practiced SEO that much. The great/awful thing about the internet, however, is there are always people waiting in the wings to argue and say an opinion isn’t valid!

Ask a specific question and crowd-source the answer. Wait for the arguments to be presented and countered, then use it as an opportunity to learn how to validate others’ SEO opinions.

Conferences And Meet-ups

As already mentioned above, seeing who is speaking at events can give you an idea of some reputable people to follow, but let’s explore that a bit more.

Learn Something New

Something I recommend to SEO pros, both experienced and new, is to attend SEO talks that don’t interest them. That might seem counterintuitive, but it can actually be extremely eye-opening.

The chances are that the aspects of SEO you find exciting are the ones you will actively seek to learn more about.

If you are interested in the technical side of SEO, you will likely look for talks on cutting-edge experiments, advances in load speed and rendering, or case studies about complicated migrations.

But you possibly already know a lot about that as you are already interested in it. Every once in a while, set out to attend the talk you are least interested in.

If you are a digital PR at heart, attend a tech talk or two. If you are an in-house SEO, attend a talk about client management.

By doing this, you have a high chance of learning something completely new that will enhance or complement your existing skill set. For example, the in-house SEO will be able to apply skills discussed in the agency talk to their own stakeholder management issues.

Some good conferences to start with include BrightonSEO (Brighton, UK, and San Diego), WTSFest (Philadelphia, London, Berlin), MnSearch Summit.

Read more: The Best SEO Conferences For 2024-2025

Look Outside Of SEO

A good way to expand your knowledge of SEO is to not just attend SEO conferences. Go to events where a more holistic digital marketing approach is spoken about.

Or, if you are feeling really inclined, go to one that discusses adjacent disciplines like PPC and email marketing. This way, you may well learn more about the context of SEO in the digital landscape and how to better implement it within a complicated marketing system.

There are several specialist conferences that cover marketing subjects like paid media, social media and content marketing available, including ADWorld Experience, Hero Conf, and Content Marketing World.

There are also large multi-discipline conferences that cover a wide range of digital marketing topics, including Moz Con, State of Search, INBOUND, and the Growth Marketing Summit.

Go To Panels

A conference talk is, by design, very one-sided (heckling aside!). The speaker presents the material how they want to and goes into as much depth as they feel appropriate.

Due to this, you don’t have any opportunity to hear other peoples’ views on the subject or even their challenges to the assertions made.

Panels, however, are more collaborative and discussion-focused. Many events that have traditional workshop or presentation formats will also have the occasional panel or fireside chat.

These are your opportunities to hear the views of multiple SEO pros, perhaps even disagreements on a subject.

Listening to more than one view of a topic will help you discern what you agree or disagree with and ultimately form your own opinion. It is a good way of preventing yourself from just agreeing with whoever you have heard speak on the subject most recently.

Participate In Webinar Q&As

Webinar question and answer sessions are another way to hear multiple SEO pros give their opinions on a topic. They will also allow you to ask your own questions to the participants.

For example, the Good Signals “SEO Office Hours” webinar hosted by Michael Chidzey and Jo Juliana Turnbull is a weekly webinar that allows viewers to submit their questions in advance or ask questions during the event itself.

Then, a panel of SEO practitioners will discuss their thoughts on the questions.

Similarly, if you want to hear directly from the horse’s mouth, you can participate in Google’s “SEO Office Hours” asking your questions directly to Googlers from the Search Quality team.

Read more: Top 17 SEO Podcasts For 2024

Communities

Many communities have been set up to help with learning SEO. Some are region – or demographic-specific to help with more nuanced questions or support those traditionally less supported in the industry.

These communities are designed to facilitate a safe space to ask questions and get answers from others in the industry.

This sort of networking isn’t just useful for increasing your practical knowledge of SEO, they can also help with job opportunities. There are a lot available but here is a selection:

Location-specific Meetups include:

Create Your Own

If there isn’t a community that serves your specific need, or you’d prefer something smaller, consider creating your own.

It could start off as regular meet-ups at local cafés where you get to know other SEO pros in your area.

Or perhaps, an online call once a month where you can just bring questions to each other.

Maybe you have met some other SEO pros you feel you could learn from. You might be able to invite them to participate in a Slack or WhatsApp group.

Create A Forum

Another way to create a community that uses existing infrastructure and is, therefore, much easier to create is through Reddit or other forums.

You could set up a “subreddit” for a particular aspect of SEO and share it on other SEO subreddits. That way, you can encourage a much wider range of people to participate without you needing to know and invite them all personally.

Resources

To finish, let’s return to the question I discerned at the beginning: “Who and what can I trust?” There are already a lot of resources online about SEO, some less helpful than others!

Newsletters

Other than online blogs like Search Engine Journal, there are newsletters that can round up breaking industry news and case studies.

For example, Aleyda Solis’s “SEOFOMO Newsletter” sends a weekly summary of interesting articles and webinars from the SEO industry.

Nikki Halliwell’s “Tech SEO Tips newsletter” offers news and tips designed to help solidify your tech SEO knowledge.

Tom Critchlow’s “SEO MBA” newsletter focuses on the career and management side of SEO.

Women in Tech SEO also has a newsletter for everyone in the industry to learn SEO from, summarising interesting articles that have been recently released.

Training Courses

There are a lot of SEO training courses out there, paid and free.

Some that have been highly recommended to me in the past are the Hubspot Academy, Semrush Academy, BrightLocal Academy, Blue Array Academy, and the BrightonSEO short courses.

Sometimes, though, you may want to go more in-depth into new areas of SEO. Perhaps you don’t really know where your skills gaps lie. For this, I would strongly recommend looking at Aleyda Solis’s LearningSEO.io.

It is a free and highly comprehensive roadmap of SEO concepts. It runs from beginner to advanced, with reliable free resources accompanying each.

Summary

There is a lot of information about SEO online. It’s an ever-evolving subject and that means more content will be produced on it all the time.

With that amount of information available, it can be overwhelming to know who or what to trust.

Use the suggestions and resources above to start to curate your own list of trustworthy material and people to learn from. That way, you can keep expanding your knowledge in a safe and helpful way.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Successful ecommerce websites remove as many obstacles as possible between users and the products they’re looking for.

This list of features and policies was chosen based on their impact on user experience. Each removes friction from purchasing journeys to keep users engaged on your website.

29 Essential Ecommerce Website Features1. User-Friendly Navigation With Breadcrumbs2. Internal Site Search3. Product Filters4. 5. Product Videos6. Product Comparisons7. Product Reviews8. Generous Return Policy9. FAQ For Products10. Simple Checkout11. Multiple Payment Options12. SSO Integration13. Support/Help Center14. Order Tracking15. Mobile App16. Email & SMS Opt-In17. Push Notifications18. Chatbots19. Coupon Codes20. Special Offer Programs21. Wishlists22. Gift Registries23. Multilingual Support24. Loyalty Program25. Carousels26. Local Store Information27. Personal Data Policy28. An Affiliate Program29. A TikTok Shop30. Conclusion

1. User-Friendly Navigation With Breadcrumbs

The key to helping customers find the products they need quickly is to offer a user-friendly navigation system. Products should be logically categorized, with the most popular categories listed first.

Sephora knows how customers like to shop.

Some specifically seek out products by brand, while others shop by category. The navigation bar reflects this organization, along with quick links to value sets and current sales.

To help the user get back to the main page or product categories, Sephora also implements breadcrumb navigation throughout its site.

Navigation features should be tested rigorously on mobile devices to ensure that customers used to the desktop website can just as easily find what they want to purchase.

2. Internal Site Search

In addition to user-friendly navigation, site search is a feature found on most of the top ecommerce sites.

It allows customers to bypass the navigation and search for exactly what they want.

Nordstrom offers a site search with suggestions for popular brands and products matching your entry.

This site search even includes popular searches and trending searches near the customer.

3. Product Filters

For stores with a large selection of products, product filters can help customers quickly find the product needed based on features, size, availability, and other pertinent information.

Walgreens offers customers an item availability filter to sort products based on pickup, same-day delivery, shipping, or in-stock availability.

In addition, many product categories have filters related to specific types of items, separating medicines from cosmetics.

Have you considered the best way to utilize your website’s footer to help customers find your top products?

Try a list of links to the top products, services, and information that customers want to find.

T-Mobile uses its footer to direct customers to its social media profiles, English and Spanish sites, featured phones and plans, support, and company information.

The footer effectively includes links to everything the company wants customers and search crawlers to discover from any page on its website.

5. Product Videos

Adding video to your product pages can increase conversions.

Most ecommerce platforms allow retailers to add videos and images to their product pages.

Apple uses video to highlight features of its latest iPhone on its sales page. The high-quality product images and videos help sell its products online and in-store.

6. Product Comparisons

If you have a large selection of products to choose from in any category, let customers quickly compare the main features of each.

REI allows customers to do this with products like hiking bags.

When customers go to the comparison screen, they receive a detailed description of each product, ratings, reviews, and pricing.

7. Product Reviews

Product reviews and ratings are the most popular form of user-generated content on ecommerce sites.

This section of an ecommerce product page is crucial to providing social proof to shoppers that a product will fit their needs.

Amazon allows customers to add photos and videos to reviews, marking relevant reviews as verified.

Amazon has also experimented with AI-generated customer review summaries on some products.

While generative AI features are increasingly present in the ecommerce landscape, retailers should proceed cautiously, as AI content can be inaccurate.

8. Generous Return Policy

Want to increase consumer confidence in the products you sell? Offer a generous return policy and include it on your product page.

Better yet, make your return options as easy as possible.

Zappos does both by giving customers 365 days to return or exchange products and an additional way to return items with minimal hassle.

9. FAQ For Products

Another way to incorporate user-generated content into your ecommerce store is by adding a section of customers’ most frequently asked questions.

This section can help your store in some ways.

Increase the number of sales by answering your customer’s top pre-sales questions about your products.
Reduce the time your customer service has to answer product questions before and after the purchase.

Magic Spoon offers an FAQ section after customer reviews of its cereal.

When potential customers click on view more FAQs, they discover an organized section of answers for shipping, orders, and other inquiries.

10. Simple Checkout

The last thing you want to do before a customer is about to enter their credit card information is frustrate them.

Make sure that customers can easily find the shopping cart to check out. Urban Outfitters does a great job by adding a little checkout popup each time you add a new item to the shopping cart.

On the checkout page, you can see details about the items in your cart and can checkout quickly using PayPal or continue for more options.

You are also reminded of items you’ve saved for later and items that complement what you are about to purchase.

You can sign in or checkout as a guest on the following page.

11. Multiple Payment Options

Another way to make the checkout process easier is to offer customers multiple payment options instead of an account sign-up.

Online retailers like Xena Workwear let customers checkout using Shop Pay from Shopify, PayPal, and Venmo.

Customers using these payment methods on other sites will automatically be comfortable with the process.

12. SSO Integration

To help users create new accounts and sign in faster, integrate single-sign-on for your customers.

This allows customers to create an account and sign in quickly with their Google, Microsoft, Apple, LinkedIn, or another often-used account.

eBay is one of many major shopping destinations that offer this option.

Reducing friction during the signup and sign-in could improve your store’s sales volume.

13. Support/Help Center

In addition to the FAQ for your product pages and store, consider adding a help center.

This should cover any general questions people may ask about online privacy, security, payments, shipping, returns, and other shopping concerns.

Etsy offers help for many of the top support issues customers face in its help center, as well as help for sellers on the network.

This saves the Etsy support team from having to answer general questions and gives them more time to solve complex issues.

14. Order Tracking

Once your customer places an order, the top question on their mind is: When will my order arrive?

Make it simple for customers to check their current order status on your website.

AutoZone has an order tracking page that doesn’t require customers to log in.

Customers simply enter their email address and the order number they received in their order confirmation email.

The page is easily discoverable throughout the website in the footer.

Ecommerce brands on Shopify can also encourage customers to use the Shop App for easy order tracking, social posts, and review reminders.

15. Mobile App

In addition to having a mobile-friendly website that shoppers can access from any device, consider having a mobile app for your store.

Mobile apps allow you to keep your brand in customers’ minds by placing your app icon/logo on their smart devices.

You don’t have to wait for customers to open up a browser or another app for social media or email to get your latest sales messages.

You can push those promotional updates through your app to any customers with notifications as Home Depot does with its app.

16. Email & SMS Opt-In

Having a revenue-generating email list is a must-have for retailers.

If you can’t get visitors to purchase on your website, one of the next best conversions for your store would be to attain the visitor as a subscriber on your email list.

This would allow you to reach them with future sales and email promotions.

Another way ecommerce retailers can capture email addresses is by adding an opt-in form with a special promotion in the header and footer of their website.

Betabrand uses an introductory offer popup for new customer discounts via email and SMS.

A regular reminder for others is included in the website’s footer, product review highlights, and an order status page.

17. Push Notifications

If you want to bypass spam filters and social media algorithms, push notifications will be the next best way to capture your ecommerce store visitors as subscribers.

Push notification services allow visitors to subscribe to your latest updates in their browser.

When you have a promotion you want to notify subscribers of, you can send a message that will be delivered to their notification center via their browser.

Shein is one of many ecommerce brands that allows visitors to subscribe to push notifications.

Once subscribed, visitors will see the latest messages from the brand in their desktop notifications.

18. Chatbots

One of the benefits of running an ecommerce website is its ability to generate revenue 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the year. That also means providing support to your customers during those hours as well.

Many ecommerce stores use chatbots to assist online shoppers with basic questions and navigate them to a specific product or support page.

Lowes uses “Leo,” an automated assistant with specific prompts for visitors to choose from when looking for a specific answer, finding a specific product, or solving a basic customer service inquiry.

Note that the chatbots for ecommerce stores are not necessarily the same as AI chatbots, like ChatGPT.

It’s important to research chat features before implementing them into an ecommerce store.

Even if the chatbot offers inaccurate information, your company may have to honor the information it provides customers, as Air Canada found out in a recent case where it had to pay a refund that its chatbot initiated.

19. Coupon Codes

We know that consumers often search for coupon codes on Google when presented with a coupon or discount box on a checkout page.

In the United States, 88% of consumers use coupons when shopping, using coupon sites like slickdeals.com, groupon.com, and retailmenot.com.

If you want to keep customers on your website throughout the checkout process, give them great deals via your own coupon codes.

Victoria’s Secret has an offer codes page to compete with coupon sites and publishers with coupon sections that double as affiliate revenue generators.

20. Special Offer Programs

Does your ecommerce store have special discounts for students, military, first responders, and others?

Ensure your product pages highlight those offers – especially for high-ticket items.

Samsung does a great job of doing this for new website visitors.

21. Wishlists

Add wishlist functionality to help customers find the items they wanted during previous visits.

The Nintendo Store makes it easy for logged-in users to save an item to their wishlist – they just click or tap the heart.

This will ensure they know exactly what they want the next time someone needs a birthday present idea or wants something for themselves.

22. Gift Registries

If you search gift registries on Google, you will find dozens of well-known brand retailers.

Target, Amazon, Walmart, Crate & Barrel, and Bed, Bath, & Beyond are just a few that appear on the first page of SERPs.

Why are gift registries important to driving sales? Let’s just look at wedding registries for a moment.

CNBC reported findings from Baird’s 2022 survey that Amazon leads as the top wedding registry provider with 45% listing penetration.

Walmart offers gift registries for babies, weddings, and classrooms. You can also create a custom registry to celebrate any occasion you choose.

23. Multilingual Support

If your ecommerce store caters to customers in a specific region, you have two options to support the top languages spoken in their region:

Depend on Google Translate to help customers translate your website into their language.
Create multiple versions of your website for specific languages.

Xfinity uses English on the www subdomain and Spanish on the es subdomain.

24. Loyalty Program

Do you want to increase customer retention? Offering a loyalty program is one way to encourage people to shop from your e-commerce store again.

These are typically free or paid programs where customers get private or early access to the best deals.

Many allow customers to accrue points per purchase, leading to rewards such as a specific dollar amount off your next purchase or a free product.

Ulta is one of many brands offering a free rewards program for loyal customers.

Customers can join for free and earn points redeemable for products and services online and in-store.

25. Carousels

While marketers may disagree on the value of homepage image and video carousels, many ecommerce brands use them.

Major retailers such as Walmart, eBay, Home Depot, Samsung, Wayfair, Lowes, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Kohls have carousels with their latest promotions and sales.

Chewy is another ecommerce brand that features a carousel on the homepage. This carousel promotes discounts for auto-ship orders, healthy pet food, flea & tick medications, pet bedding, and more.

26. Local Store Information

If your ecommerce brand also has physical store locations, you can boost offline sales by adding details for the nearest store to your website’s header.

This would allow customers to shop online, reserve for in-store pickup, or browse their local store inventory before making an in-store purchase.

Brands like Hobby Lobby ask about website visitors’ location to bring them more from their nearest store.

27. Personal Data Policy

Depending on where your ecommerce store is based and the customers it serves, your site may need a policy that notifies visitors of the data collected about them on your website using cookies from the website and other analytics tools.

Michael’s ecommerce store displays a popup advising visitors about cookie usage to enhance user experience and analyze website traffic.

Visitors then have the option to accept the policy, learn more about it, and adjust cookie preferences.

28. An Affiliate Program

Offer an affiliate program to get more content creators talking about your product.

This lets your top customers monetize their content by promoting their favorite products.

Major retailers like Target offer an affiliate program and creator network to create more brand ambassadors.

29. A TikTok Shop

Having an established presence on social media is a given. However, some brands have extended their ecommerce selection to TikTok Shop.

TikTok offers Shop products in a dedicated feed, allowing brands to partner with content creators on the platform for influencer marketing content.

Brands like OtterBox have even added vertical videos and branded hashtags to their websites to promote social commerce further.

Conclusion

Building a successful ecommerce website requires focusing on what you know about your customers, their journeys, and their needs. Then, you need to make those journeys as easy as possible to follow on your website.

The following principles apply as you build ecommerce shopping experiences:

Prioritize a seamless user experience for all devices and platforms.
Make navigation intuitive, search functions intelligent, and information readily accessible across all site sections.
Product descriptions should be detailed and immersive, featuring user-generated content like reviews and customer photos. In the near future, expect technologies like augmented reality (AR) to revolutionize how customers interact with products online.
Blend your online presence with brick-and-mortar locations, allowing for convenient options like buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) or in-store returns for online purchases.
With growing concerns about data privacy, clearly outline your personal data policy and emphasize secure payment options.
Make a strong commitment to transparent customer service and simple return procedures. This fosters a sense of confidence crucial for long-term brand loyalty.

The success of any ecommerce website ultimately depends on exceeding customer expectations.

Stay current on the latest trends with new technologies, and strive to deliver an exceptional online shopping experience.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock