Dos and Don’ts of Email Marketing in India

Email marketing has seen rapid growth in India over the past few years. With over 500 million internet users and 300 million using email, brands have realized the huge potential of connecting with customers via email.

However, the Indian market has its own unique characteristics. What works for email marketing in the US or Europe may not necessarily work in India. Understanding the mindset and behaviors of Indian consumers is crucial to creating effective email marketing campaigns. Missteps can damage your deliverability, increase unsubscribes, and hurt your brand image.

This article outlines the main dos and don’ts you must keep in mind when doing email marketing in India. By following these tips, you can avoid common mistakes and make sure your emails hit the mark with your Indian subscribers.

Personalize for the Indian Audience

One of the biggest opportunities in Indian email marketing is to personalize content for the audience. Sending generalized emails will see poor engagement. As per our team at digital marketing India, you need to segment your lists and customize emails for the unique needs of each subgroup.

Here are some personalization tips for India:

• Use merge tags to include the subscriber’s name, location or other details in the email copy. This makes it more relevant.
• Create separate lists and campaigns for subscribers in different Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil etc. Send them emails in their preferred language.
• Personalize subject lines with location, occasions like festivals, or other details that resonate.
• Segment and send tailored content for different buyer personas, consumer groups, demographics etc.

Personalization shows subscribers that you understand and care for them. It piques interest, builds loyalty and improves click-through rates.

Keep Copy Concise in Simple English

Many Indian email subscribers may not be very fluent in English. Long blocks of complex English copy will not work.

Here are some tips on using simple English:

• Keep sentences short and straightforward. Avoid complex grammar structures.
• Use simple, popular English words. Stay away from jargon or less commonly used words.
• Break up long paragraphs into smaller 2-3 line paras for better readability.
• Use active voice and conversational style instead of passive, formal tone.
• Add relevant images, stats, videos and other visual elements to complement text.
• List out benefits in bullet points instead of long paragraphs.

Your emails should come across as simple, clear and easy to understand. This will ensure higher open and click-through rates.

Make Emails Visually Appealing

Emails with plain text often don’t excite Indian subscribers. Adding visual elements can make your emails more engaging:

• Use high-quality images of products, people, infographics etc. But don’t overload with too many images.
• Insert videos to demonstrate products or tell a brand story.
• Use graphics like banners, logos, illustrations to make key points prominent.
• Break up text with subheads, lists, quotes, stats and other text elements.
• Leave ample white space instead of cramming copy together.
• Use simple backgrounds, colors or textures to accentuate content.
• Optimize images for fast loading on mobile. Heavy files can frustrate readers.

Visual content helps communicate your message better. But focus on relevance rather than embellishing emails with random stock images.

Focus on Mobile Responsiveness

With a majority of Indian emails being opened on mobile, responsive design is a must.

Some tips for mobile optimization:

• Use a mobile-first approach to layout out emails. Test on mobile before finalizing designs.
• Ensure buttons, links and touch points are large enough for tapping on mobiles.
• Avoid complicated table-based layouts. Stick to simple CSS for flexible resizing.
• Large images must scale down well on mobile screens.
• Font size should be readable on smartphones without zooming.
• Focus on a single column layout. Stack content elements vertically.
• Minimize need to scroll horizontally or zoom in to read.

If your emails are not easily readable on mobiles, many subscribers will ignore them. Responsive design ensures your message gets conveyed effectively across devices.

Offer Exclusive Discounts and Sales

Indian consumers love bargains and sales. Use this to your advantage in your email marketing:

• Offer email subscribers early access to sales, flash sales or other promotions.
• Provide exclusive coupon codes and discounts only through email.
• Highlight discounted bundles, buy-one-get-one deals, free shipping etc.
• Promote limited period deals to create urgency like 50% offvalid for 2 days only.
• Partner with popular Indian e-commerce platforms for co-promotions.
• Share top deals from your online store or website through emails.

Savvy Indian shoppers lookout for price benefits and bargains in every communication. Emails with attractive sales or coupons will get higher conversions.

Send Emails at Optimal Times

When you send emails plays a big role in whether subscribers open and read them.

Here are some best practices on email timing and frequency for India:

• Test different days and times to identify when your subscribers are most active.
• Early mornings around 7 AM – 9 AM tend to have higher open rates.
• Scheduling for early weekdays works better than late week.
• Avoid sending non-critical emails on Indian public holidays.
• Limit your frequency to 2-3 emails per week max. More will cause fatigue.
• Important emails are best sent Tuesday to Thursday. Avoid slow performing Mondays.
• Batch and sequence your emails instead of sending everything together.

Take the time to discover the optimal email cadence for your subscribers. This will substantially boost open and click rates over random blasts.

Comply with Anti-Spam Regulations

India has strict regulations against spam and unsolicited emails. Ignoring these can lead to blacklisting, blocking and other issues.

Some tips to stay compliant:

• Never buy or send to purchased lists. Build your own opt-in subscriber lists.
• Clearly indicate subscription sign-up and unsubscribe options.
• Include postal address in every email as required by law.
• Honor unsubscribe requests promptly. Remove them from your lists.
• Add required headers like identifiers, timestamps etc.
• Avoid making misleading subject lines or false claims.
• Don’t send marketing emails disguised as notifications, alerts etc.
• Use double opt-in and confirmed subscriptions to ensure valid leads.
• Monitor and improve spam complaints and blocked email rates.

Staying compliant builds your reputation and ensures emails reach inboxes consistently without disruptions.

Don’t Purchase Low Quality Email Lists

One shortcut commonly used is purchasing readymade email lists and sending to them. This is a big mistake and will likely damage your sender reputation.

Here’s why you should avoid bought email lists:

• They often contain invalid, inactive or misspelled email addresses. This causes high bounce rates and blacklist risks.
• The people never intentionally opted in to receive your emails. It will be marked as unsolicited spam.
• Zero existing relationship or relevance to these unknown subscribers. They are unlikely to engage with random emails.
• You don’t know details like demographics, interests, product needs etc. of list members. Makes personalization impossible.
• Opens the door for complaints, abuse reports andsuppressing your domain as suspected spam.

Invest the time to build your email list organically. Though slower, these will be qualified leads interested in your offers.

Don’t Send Too Many Emails

More is not always better in email marketing. Sending too many emails will cause subscriber fatigue.

Here are some negative effects of over emailing:

• Irrelevant or unnecessary emails are quickly ignored or unsubscribed from.
• Subscribers can mark your emails as spam or promotional if sent excessively.
• High frequency = easy to ignore. Important messages get lost in the noise.
• Makes unsubscribes more likely as people feel overwhelmed.
• Declining open and click rates as subscribers are put off by frequency.
• Misses the opportunity to properly space out and sequence your messages.

Focus on sending worthwhile emails on a set optimal schedule. Remove inactive subscribers and avoid mass blasting daily emails. Send only your best content at the ideal frequency.

Don’t Use Complex English Jargon

Using complex English is a common email marketing mistake in India. Flowery language might work for native speakers. But it will hamper response from many Indian subscribers.

Follow these tips to use simple and clear English:

• Limit jargon, technical terms or advanced vocabulary. Spell out acronyms instead of using them.
• Substitute complicated words with simpler synonyms. Review Microsoft Word’s Flesch Reading Ease score.
• Use active conversational voice. It is warmer than passive formal tone.
• Chop up large, dense paragraphs into bite sized sentences.
• Add relevant visuals and graphics to explain concepts. Don’t make it text-heavy.
• If needed, create separate email campaigns in Hindi or other regional languages.
• Read your email out loud. If it sounds complex, edit to simplify.
• Ask a friend unfamiliar with the topic to review for clarity.

Understandable emails lead to higher engagement. Never confuse or overwhelm readers with overly complex copy.

Drive Action with Calls-to-Action

Many brands make the mistake of not explicitly asking subscribers to take action in emails. You need prominent calls-to-action (CTAs) to drive desired behavior.

Some tips on using CTAs effectively:

• Clearly tell subscribers the action you want them to take like Buy Now, Register, Download etc.
• Use action-oriented verbs that create urgency like Shop, Act, Reserve etc.
• Make CTAs prominent with contrasting colors, large buttons and plenty white space.
• Place CTAs strategically near the beginning and end of emails.
• Avoid vague CTAs like Learn More or Get Started that sound generic.
• Test different CTA wording, placement, colors and sizes for optimization.
• Link CTAs directly to relevant landing pages for easy conversions.

Without clear CTAs, subscribers won’t know what you want them to do. Add them on buttons, images, text links and throughout the email.

Include Opt-Out in Every Email

Every commercial email in India must include an unsubscribe link by law. But it also helps with deliverability.

Some tips on adding opt-out options:

• Place visible unsubscribe links in the header, footer and body of the email.
• Use polite wording like “Click here to unsubscribe from emails”.
• Opt-out links should stand out but not distract from key content.
• Honor unsubscribe requests immediately by removing them from your lists.
• Allow subscribers to select frequency options like daily, weekly or monthly emails.
• Remind subscribers about exclusives, discounts or offers they will miss by unsubscribing.
• Thank those who unsubscribe for their time and leave door open for re-engagement.

Easy opt-outs reassure subscribers they can control frequency. Don’t force people to receive emails they don’t want.

Don’t Ignore Timing and Days

Finding the best days and times to send emails is crucial. But many overlook this optimization.

Follow these tips to pick optimal timing:

• Test sending emails on different weekdays and times to detect patterns.
• Analyze your data to identify when your audience is most responsive.
• Schedule emails for early mornings and early weekdays for higher open potential.
• Avoid holidays, weekends and dates when your subscribers are likely busy.
• Important announcements fare better Tuesday to Thursday while promos do well on Fridays.
• Balance useful content with promotional emails instead of blasting sales back-to-back.
• Set a consistent schedule so subscribers know when to expect your emails.

Put in the effort to discover your audience’s preferences. Match your email cadence to their habits for substantially higher response.

Conclusion

Email marketing offers a cost-effective way to engage with your Indian audience. But you need to avoid common mistakes to succeed.

Personalize for the local audience, use simple language, make emails visually appealing and highlight value in every message. Focus on mobile responsiveness, list quality and relevant timing.

Following the dos and don’ts outlined in this post will help you create more impactful email campaigns. Avoid assumptions based on other markets. Craft a strategic approach tailored specifically to connect with Indian subscribers.

With high open rates, click through rates, conversions and ultimately ROI, effective email marketing drives big benefits for brands targeting Indian consumers. What other tips do you recommend for success? Let me know in the comments!