Sending an email can emit up to 26g of CO2, according to research by Mike Berners-Lee. 

Consider that some 300 billion emails are sent every day, and that soon adds up. The reason emails generate CO2 is that to send an email, it requires energy to process, send, receive and store your message. 

By 2025, the amount of emails sent per day is expected to jump to 376 billion. So unless we all take steps to reduce the carbon footprint of our emails, the impact on the climate will get much worse. 

The good news is that with EcoSend, making your emails sustainable is easier than you think. 

Here are the tools and tricks you need to green up your email marketing campaigns today. 

What Affects Email Carbon Emissions?

• Attachments

• Computer energy source 

• Email list cleanliness 

• Email provider

• Images in email signatures

• Location of email servers 

• Location of recipients 

• Number of recipients

• Size of message thread

Avoid Adding Email Attachments Wherever Possible

Every email we send has a carbon footprint.

But by adding attachments, the amount of carbon generated grows. In a nutshell, attachments require more data to be stored and transmitted to get that email from A to B. 

If you do need to send an attachment, look at ways of reducing the file size such as compressing the file. Likewise, switching up the file formats i.e. jpeg vs png can reduce the size of an email. 

In some cases, you may be able to add a link instead of attaching an image. Beyond image attachments, there are lots of other attachment types such as PDFs which can add weight to your emails.

So think carefully about whether additional files are really necessary to attach to your email or not. 

Use ‘Reply All’ Sparingly

Sending a message to everyone in your contacts or workplace might seem like you’re being efficient. 

In reality, it’s an easy way to generate CO2 from your emails without even realising it. 

Microsoft recently took steps to reduce the maximum number of email recipients to 1,000 down from 5,000. But even sending an email to 10 people means 10x the carbon emissions versus sending an email to one person. 

We get it, sometimes mass email sending within your business is needed.

However, by switching to a sustainable email platform such as EcoSend, plus using a green web hosting provider, any CO2 emissions from your emails will at least be reduced. 

Segment Your Email Campaigns

Outside of internal emails, send-to-all email blasts are just as bad for the planet. 

The irony is as marketers we know that mass email blasts aren’t an effective way of communicating with customers. That’s because your customers are at different points in the sales journey. Plus, each of them have different wants and needs as individuals.

Instead, the key is to segment your campaigns. Not only is segmentation far more effective as a sales tool, it’s also much better for the planet too.

Segmentation means you’re emailing the right customer with the right message, rather than sending the same message to everyone and hoping for the best. 

Really, what could be better than improving your conversions while lowering your carbon emissions? 

Read more: How To Lower The Carbon Footprint Of Your Digital Marketing

Keep Your Email List Clean

When was the last time you removed inactive contacts from your email list?

It might seem counterintuitive to remove users from your email list. But here’s the thing, if users aren’t opening your emails, you’re paying to send campaigns to people who will never give you a return on that investment. 

In terms of the planet, we know that every email sent has a carbon footprint. So by sending emails to users who will never open that email, those emissions have been generated unnecessarily.

The golden rule is to delete anyone on your list who hasn’t opened any of your emails in the last 6 months. By cleaning your list, you also make space for active users who are more likely to be engaged and therefore more likely to convert too. 

EcoSend - Switch To Our Sustainable Email Platform Today ✉️ 🌎

Want all the above tips to have maximum effectiveness when it comes to lowering your email carbon footprint?

Switching to a sustainable email marketing platform will supercharge your efforts to become a greener business. EcoSend is just the ticket, and best of all, you don’t have to compromise on any of the features you need to send amazing email campaigns either.

EcoSend has a free trial, with paid plans starting at just $49 per month.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up to EcoSend today and discover the greener, cleaner way to do all things email marketing.

You can also follow EcoSend over on Linkedin, Twitter or Instagram. We’ll see you there!