Over 90% of businesses say email marketing is critical to their success. Since everyone uses email, it’s a critical tool for lead generation, lead nurturing, sales, customer retention, and brand building. Since it’s largely automatable and relatively low-cost, its benefits scale with the size of your business.

A significant amount of email campaigns are unsuccessful, which underscores the importance of getting it right. No matter which email marketing services you use, this article is here to help you use them better.

1. Craft compelling subject lines

Your subject line is the first thing people see and use to decide whether or not they’ll open your email. Nearly 70% of your recipients will report it as spam after reading it if it comes off as too salesy or it isn’t relevant to them. Here are a few ways you could personalize your email subject line to seem human and connect with your readers:

• Use emojis, puns, and questions to pique their curiosity.
• Include a benefit that the recipient will get from reading your email.
• Keep it short (maximum of five words).
• Include a keyword or phrase that explains exactly why you want them to open your message.

Put yourself in your recipient’s shoes. Think of all the “spammy” emails you receive and what they say. Typically, they ask a generic question or seem to be trying to sell you something. Avoid these words and phrases in your subject line instead.

2. Segment your email list

Segmenting your email list is one of the best ways to optimize your email marketing strategy. It makes it easier to identify who you should target with specific mailers, as well as what content is most effective for different types of people within that segment. This makes it easier to focus on what each segment cares about and deliver personalized messaging. If you’re a retailer, this means you could segment your list by:

• Location
• Customer type (new, frequent, VIP)
• Product categories
• Purchase history
• Demographics

The email marketing software you already use (Mailchimp, Constant Contact) will already have segmentation built in, so you can create, test, and run campaigns on different segments with just a few clicks.

3. Use free tools to your advantage

There are plenty of tools available that help you streamline your workflow and design better campaigns and landing pages. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Image conversion: A PDF to JPG converter makes it easier for you to take design examples and implement them in your visual email builder.
• Template management: A template manager allows you to create custom templates that can be reused for email campaigns, making maintaining consistency and brand recognition easier.
• Email campaign visualizer: If you run sales email campaigns, a visualization tool like Lavender can help you see what your email will look like to the recipient. That way, you can optimize your subject line and body text for readability and appearance.

4. Optimize for mobile

Today, over 80% of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your emails are too long, complicated, or have images that don’t fit properly on mobile, they’ll be hard to read and won’t perform as well. To make sure your messages look great no matter what device your recipients are using, follow these tips:

• Keep it short: Write concise subject lines and limit the length of your emails to three or four sentences.
• Make it scannable: If you’re designing a visual campaign, take web design principles (e.g., using a grid system) and run with them.
• Have one clear message: Having multiple CTAs in your email can be confusing, especially for mobile users who won’t read through your entire message. Use eye-catching text to convey this message.
• Keep your CTA button above the scroll: This way, people can take immediate action without reading the rest of your message (if they don’t want to).
• Optimize your website for mobile: Your site will likely be the next stage in the conversion funnel, since it is where they will eventually make a purchase. In that case, you’ll want to make sure it loads fast and is accessible to mobile users.

5. Personalize email content with dynamic variables

Dynamic content is the easiest way to personalize, and it lets you create contingencies within your email marketing platform, then send one email to multiple segments with a personalized message to each recipient.

Let’s say you want to blast an email about a new product launch. Instead of sending the same email to everyone on your list, you could use dynamic variables to include their first name in the greeting and offer them specific discounts based on their purchase history or interests. If they’ve purchased from you before, you could even add a few sentences about their last purchase to make it more relevant.

6. Leverage email automation sequences 

Email automation lets you send automated emails at specific times or when certain conditions are met, such as after a customer signs up for your newsletter or a shopper leaves something in their cart. This allows you to nurture leads, deliver product updates, drive sales, and optimize your campaigns without manually sending emails every time.

You’ll have to test the right amount and frequency of emails for your individual campaigns, but most email automation services have reporting features to help you analyze your performance and adjust things accordingly.

7. Write conversational copy.

The best way to sell is to write how you talk. Casual but relevant language is the way to go when you’re trying to connect with your audience. Anything too rigid or formal will immediately throw them off. Here are a few tips:

• Use contractions to sound less robotic.
• Address your buyer as “you.”
• Don’t be afraid of acronyms, abbreviations, filler words, and slang (if your target audience also uses them).
• Tell stories, make references, and use analogies (pop culture references, sports metaphors).

At the very least, your emails will make your customer smile or connect with your content, which could lead to a purchase later on.

Endnote

Optimizing your email marketing strategy takes time and effort, and there are seemingly endless ways to do it. Ultimately, you’ll have to figure out which tactics work best for you, but the tips above are a great place to get started. There isn’t any universal approach, so don’t be afraid to experiment and test what works best for your audience.