I am the email marketing manager for S&S Worldwide, a large retailer of crafts and school supplies. Over the years, I have encountered many "email best practices." But like Snap Bracelets, Cabbage Patch Kids and Atari, trends change. And email best practices, I've learned, do not apply to every company or every situation. What's important for my company is to always test, to ensure that what works for others also works best for us.

I've listed, below, three commonly-held email "best practices" that were not effective for my email marketing programs.

1. Don’t Use Images to Convey Your Main Email Message

Many marketers will tell you to place your primary email message and call-to-action in HTML text, and not in an image. This is ...