• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 2 hours ago

Some of what we think we know about email for small businesses is wrong, judging by a new study from Flodesk.

For instance, image-heavy emails do not depress open rates, contrary to the belief that they will end up in the spam folder. 

In fact, emails that “followed the recommended 80/20 rule opened 19% below average and earned 24% fewer clicks,” the study notes. Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook all agree on this.

Then there’s the dreaded spam folder. Flodesk tested more than 70 phrases that are commonly blamed for triggering spam, and found that only seven truly hurt open rates—from five to 20 points: 

• Work from home
• Make money
• Limited time
• Guaranteed
• Hurry
• Don't miss out
• Act now

"Our findings show that so much of what we thought was gospel when it comes to email marketing either makes no difference or actively works against you," said Rebecca Shostak, co-founder and CEO of Flodesk.

Note that this report was written for small businesses. And it is based exclusively on emails sent through the Flodesk platform: the study analyzes over 3 million emails and 14 billion email deliveries sent from Jan. 1, 2025 to the present date.

In other areas, the report confirms to standard wisdom, more or less. For example, segmented lists pull 4x the opens and 3x clicks as blasts across the whole file. 

In addition, weekly cleaning of lists improves click rates up to 41% and reduces unsubscribes by up to 31%. And, cutting unengaged subscribers from campaigns increases opens by 11% and clicks by 30%, while dropping bounce rates by 40%. 

Then there’s timing. The study says that the send day “barely moves the open rate.” Yet it also notes that Tuesday delivers 31% higher click rates, and Friday a 10% hike in opens. 

And the best time of day? From 5 to 8 a.m.—it generates up to 21% more opens than the rest of the day.  

Here are a few more tips:

• Don’t use numbers in subject lines unless there’s a dollar sign or other currency symbol: not using numbers lifts opens by up to 14%, but using them with a symbol raises them by up to 12%. 
• Limit your subject lines to 12 words. 
• Two emojis at the start of the email will produce an 11% boost in opens. Using them elsewhere can hurt response.  
• Use these templates: Lead magnet delivery, plain text purchase follow-up, with deep gratitude and seasonal updates.