For many brands, email marketing  isn’t the priority that it should be.

In actuality, email marketing is one of the strongest tactics a marketer has in their toolbox. When executed strategically, it brings in $42 for every $1 spent. If your email marketing efforts aren’t bringing in these results, there are actually some easy things you can do to increase profitability from this strategy. 

In this post, we aren’t going to focus on email marketing strategies that are hard to implement. Instead, we’ve got 17 tips for you that are quickly going to get your email marketing program to where it needs to be.

Segmentation is Key

Your email contacts are at different stages in the buyer’s journey and they won’t all resonate with the same products or services. Therefore, your audience needs to be segmented.

There are many ways to segment your email list so that you can offer them specific messaging. Just a few ways include:

• Location
• Stage in the buyer’s journey
• Lead source
• Interests
• Engagement

Bottom line is that you want to tailor your emails to different audiences to increase email marketing success.

Mobile isn’t Optional

Today’s consumer reads emails on their phones more than they do on their computers.

Optimizing your emails for mobile is crucial. Luckily email marketing platforms automatically optimize your messages for mobile. Just be sure to preview it on your phone before hitting the send button because it’s not a perfect science.

Test Plain Text Emails

Sometimes email filters send emails from an unknown sender to SPAM if they contain images.

Don’t get hung up on pretty emails and try sending plain text emails.

Since email marketing is different for every industry, try a few plain text emails and compare the open rates to emails containing images to identify what works best for your brand.

Prioritize Thought Leadership 

Of course the ultimate goal from email marketing is to generate sales. However, sales-heavy emails can be a turn-off to your audience.

Lead with a blog post, helpful tips, resources, etc. that convey thought leadership.

Your email may be about something cool in your industry that entices your audience to read your email but you should still always add a CTA at the end of your email to purchase.

Use the Right Marketing Automation Platform

Email marketing doesn’t work without a good automation platform to power your efforts. The good news is that there are a ton of platforms to choose from. Most of them offer free trials so we encourage you to try a few until you find the right one for your brand.

A few of our favorite email marketing platforms are Klaviyo, HubSpot and Active Campaign.

A good marketing automation platform is key because it will automate your efforts, allow you to segment your lists, offer audience insights, monitor email performance, and track sales.

Be Strategic With Your CTAs

We already mentioned to lead with thought leadership but not to neglect a CTA that encourages your audience to take a certain action.

Include a button at the end of your email so that it’s obvious to readers. Some effective CTAs include:

• Read the blog post
• Buy now
• Sign up here
• Register now
• Claim your free gift

Consider Your Preview Text

The preview text should support your subject line and explain why your readers should read your email.

If you don’t set a preview text, in most email automation platforms, it will just display the beginning of the text of your email in the preview text.

Don’t Be Tempted to Purchase an Email List

Who doesn’t want to have a big email list!?

There are a lot of services out there that sell targeted email lists and they’re so tempting to buy. But, we are here to tell you it’s a waste of money. Not to mention, you should only email people who have opted into communication from your brand.

We’ve talked to tons of brands that were disappointed with the results from purchased lists so we recommend growing your list organically and here is a post to get you started. 

Know When to Personalize

We talked about segmentation which helps with personalization.

But always personalize as much as you can. Little things like including your audience’s first name or company name can go a long way.

Have a Dedicated Email Address for Your Efforts

Too many businesses use a no-reply email address. Don’t they want to interact with their audiences!?

We will say, email marketing can clog up your inbox. So, we recommend creating an email address that is dedicated to your email marketing efforts. 

Be Thoughtful With Your Subject Lines

The subject line is so important because it is your audience’s first impression of your email. The subject line, if it’s good, will increase your open rate.

Your subject line should be 30-50 characters.

A good subject line makes your audience want to open your email and it should concisely say what your email is about.

Keep Your Emails Concise 

Make your emails easy to skim.

Don’t create text-heavy emails. Break them up with images and dividers. We are all busy people and long emails don’t get read very often. 

Write Like a Human

Sometimes brands make the mistake of sounding too technical and strive too hard to be professional.

In reality, your audience wants to hear from another human. So, write conversationally to better engage your readers.

Offer Social Proof

Consumers get sick of hearing from brands and want to see what their peers think of your business. So give it to them!

With UGC and influencer-generated content, you can incorporate these into your emails and your audience can see how people like them are using your products or services.

Know When the Best Sending Times Are

The best time to send an email is different for each industry. Experiment with different days and times to learn what resonates best with your audience.

To start, emails on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after 10 am are the best times in general to send emails so start there and see what works best for your brand.

Track Your Efforts

With an email automation platform, you’re going to have access to a lot of analytics. Take advantage of this!

Knowing things like what subject lines are getting the most opens, which CTAs work the best, how your email list is growing, how many conversions you achieve, etc. are crucial to a well-functioning email marketing strategy.

We recommend creating a spread sheet with your target metrics and update it once a week so you can see the growth of your efforts.

Be Consistent

If you follow all the tips we outlined, your audience is going to be excited for your emails. Craft and send out your messages on a schedule.

We recommend 2 emails per week.

Do you have any email marketing tips that we didn’t include? We’d love to read your insights in the comments below!