Some email best practices need rethinking

Beware of best practices. Sometimes they aren't all that great. There's a good post at the Smart Insights Digital Marketing blog: Email marketing -- debunking the "best practices."

There's a lot of stuff in the post, but three not-so-great practices stand out:

1. Long subject lines are bad. (shorter subject lines are better at driving opens; longer subject lines are better at driving clicks because they deliver a more qualified audience)
2. There is a best time of day or day of week to send your email.
   
3. You should remove inactive subscribers from your list. (Inactives may not be dead or annoyed; don't remove them for inactivity alone)

Don't believe everything you hear. Sometimes a "best practice" is more like an unsubstantiated rumor.

Thanks to Be Relevant! Email Marketing Blog for the tip.