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There are two types of people: those who chase inbox zero and those who have 45,000 unread emails.
Whether you're constantly sorting your incoming emails into carefully thought-out folders or just letting them go, there's a good chance you have some sort of organizational system in place.
As email geeks, we subscribe to all sorts of random emails in the hope that an inspiring design will appear one day (ask me about the hundreds of emails I get from Cadbury even though I no longer live in England !).
Important emails can easily get lost among all sorts of things in the inbox: seasonal promotions, abandoned cart notifications, calendar reminders, welcome emails, appointment confirmations, and of course offers and discount codes.
Are you trying to find a specific email from a specific sender? Good luck. The inbox search feature isn't from Google, that's for sure.
However, as an email sender, there's a lot you can do to help your subscribers find your emails quickly – by browsing the archives for a discount code, sending it to a friend, or reading it again. SEO: Also for emails.
Why discoverability in emails is important
Email facilitates every touchpoint in the customer experience, from the first impression in a welcome email to the second (or third!) purchase.
As an email marketer, your job is to build your brand while removing as much friction from the customer journey as possible.
Making your emails searchable avoids your subscribers' frustration as they try to find your emails, but it also means:
- Follows accessibility best practices so all your subscribers can access important information, no matter where or how they read your email
- Makes it easier for subscribers to forward your emails to others, enabling word-of-mouth marketing
- Ensures smoother customer interactions and prevents additional customer support requests
To better understand this, I spoke to two of my amazing email geek colleagues here at Litmus: Email and Content Growth Marketing Manager Carin Slater and Email Marketing Manager Tracie Pang. Here's how they suggest optimizing your emails to make them searchable in the inbox:
1. Add alt text to all your images
In order for search engines to work, they need text. An easy way to improve the searchability of your emails is to add alt text to every single image in your emails – which, honestly, you should definitely do to make them accessible – so that when someone searches for a specific product item , discount etc. searches, or your brand, you can find them.
“We talk about alt text all the time because you need text for an image to be accessible. But it has an additional benefit that no one thinks about, which is that the text is searchable,” says Carin Slater, email and content growth marketing manager here at Litmus. “For example, if you're searching for a Target email, you can search for the word 'Bullet,' which is the name of the dog in the logo. It’s a very convenient way to find Target emails without using a word that’s all over my inbox.”
Source: Really good emails
Alt text should describe the image and not just be a keyword. But it's a good way to insert another brand mention or another topic that your subscribers might be looking for the next time they open their inbox.
2. If it's important, use live text
A big annoyance: When brands use image-only emails. Yes, coding can take some time, but with so many free email templates available these days, sending an email with only images, even with alt text, will only exclude your subscribers if there are no images .
This means that the image your designer worked so hard to create won't be seen at all.
There's another secret reason to avoid image-only emails: searchability. If you have important information, don't leave it to chance.
“Even if an image contains information, you should also enter it,” says Slater. “For example, let’s say you add a coupon code that’s random, so it can’t be live text. You can still include the words “coupon code” or “discount code” above or below the image in the email so someone can search for it later.”
Source: Really good emails
Otherwise, your subscriber will never find the dinner reservation, concert ticket, shipping confirmation, or discount code to copy and paste.
3. Use consistent keywords throughout your email
If you regularly send your subscribers thematic emails, e.g. For example, a weekly roundup or newsletter, you can help subscribers find it later by including some consistent keywords or conventions in your subject line, header, or footer.
This can be the case with frequent emails, such as blogger ExtraPetite always adding “New to EP” to her weekly email; Or you can brand an email yourself, like Agents and Books does for Q&A Thursdays.
“It's important to include some sort of master keyword so that when someone looks at your email once, they can reference it,” says Tracie Pang, email marketing manager at Litmus. “For example, if the topic was accessibility, they could simply search for that topic in their inbox. Be as clear as possible in your body copy.”
However, this type of keyword use is not limited to subject lines. Cooler brand YETI sends out weekly “This Week on YETI” emails promoting the latest product offers and news. Although it's not a “newsletter,” using consistent branding makes your emails easier to find in your inbox.
If you're not sure what your email looks like, experiment with your team's inboxes. Every search function is a little different, but try a few different keywords to see where your email lands.
You might be surprised – a quick search in Gmail for “30% off” will show any percentage offer. If we were looking for cute pajamas (Company Store) or a new wreath for a front door (Frontgate), we would have to scroll a bit.
4. Use a memorable sender name
Your from name should always be easy to read, but making it memorable gives subscribers an easy way to search for your brand. This is especially true if you send many different types of emails, such as: E.g. a regular newsletter, sales emails or your transactional emails.
Pang points to this familiar experience: “I notice that most of the time I look for an email when it's a transaction. But when I search, I'm flooded with a ton of marketing emails from the same sender.
“One way to improve searchability is to use a distinguishable name for these types of emails that is still consistent with your brand,” recommends Pang. “For example, at Litmus we send Litmus Weekly and Litmus News, two different newsletters that use two different names.”
Your brand may want to keep the sender name for every email – that's okay too!
The most important thing to keep in mind is whether it is easy to find or not. Whether it’s “NAME from BRAND” or just the brand name, keep your sender’s name short and easy to remember.
5. Double-check email automation
Email is not as much “set it and forget it” as we would like.
For automated emails, especially your transactional messages, make sure you include enough information for subscribers to search for and that you don't send too many messages with the same information.
You don't need multiple emails to confirm an event registration, for example – just send an email with tickets or arrival details.
“When I go to the vet, they send me my bill and vaccination records through an automated system, but the emails themselves do not contain any descriptive information, such as my pet's name! I end up having to call the vet again for more information anyway.
It is important that such an email contains identifying information so that your subscribers can find it later,” says Pang.
In this example, the veterinarian's name is included, but the email contains little text other than the attachment. With multiple pets, it's impossible to know whose records belong to whose.
While some automated providers are difficult to use, adding some information about the visit, such as appointment date, time, or doctor, can help her actually find the bill to pay.
The tricky thing about automated messages is that some ESPs limit what you can and can't include in your email, making it difficult to customize. However, you can (and should) always include alt text and information like your company name in your footer to help subscribers find your email again.
Do you need to make every email searchable?
Improving the searchability of your email is an uphill battle against the search functionality of every email client.
Even Gmail and Yahoo, both search engine-based corporate email clients, leave something to be desired. However, if you want to increase your email engagement, making your emails more searchable can help.
Take, for example, one of the coolest email campaigns we've ever run at Litmus: This New Year's Eve email.
Our goal was to encourage subscribers to register for an event via email. So we created a personalized Swag Drop-themed email contest campaign that was updated over multiple days to achieve this goal.
When you look at your email marketing program, think about your current engagement. Ask yourself:
- What is the average open rate of my emails?
- Are people coming back to them and reopening them? Do I want them to do it?
- Does this upcoming email campaign require someone to go back and read it again? (Such as an event or other transaction information)
- How strong is my brand in the inbox?
“If you write it, make sure people can find it,” says Slater. “Each type of email has a different purpose, but for emails focused on engagement, read rates, or reopens, searchability matters.”
Optimize your email for search and more with Litmus
Are you making your email searchable? Great. Make them accessible? It is a must-have. Let's make email better for everyone. Get our guide.
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
