Many newbie digital marketers claim that email marketing is a thing of the past. But that’s not true! Whether you run a small business or a large corporate, email marketing is a viable tool to connect with new customers and retain existing ones.

Since email marketing has been around for a long time, it has drastically changed over the years. Therefore, some past strategies may not be as effective as before. It’s important to improve your email marketing campaigns to ensure all your hard work isn’t flagged as spam.

In this post, we’re summarizing effective email marketing strategies you can implement in the new year. Take a look.

1. Find Your Target Audience

Sending a general email to the entirety of your email list is pointless. The consumer’s profile should match the product or service you’re trying to sell. You should divide your email list into targeted groups based on their interests, purchasing history, age, location, and other relevant factors. Segmentation is a reliable way to make sure you’re sending corresponding emails.

2. Don’t Lean on Self-Promotion

Extra-promotional emails, displaying your products or services directly don’t work anymore. In fact, blatant self-promotion can increase your unsubscribe rates. If you want to truly connect with your customers, share interesting and valuable information in your emails. You can use various digital marketing tools to discover what your customers are interested in.

3. Customize Your Content

A general email is not going to catch a customer’s eye. If you want your audience to open and read your emails, make sure you’re customizing the content. From addressing a customer by their name instead of a generic greeting to talking about the specific products they’re interested in, a personalized approach is essential for a successful email marketing campaign.

4. Make Subscribing Easy

The process of subscribing to your email list or newsletter should be easy. Keep it simple by only asking for a customer's name and email address. No one wants to go through the trouble of filling a detailed form just to become a part of your email list. You should consider including an email pop up on your website to encourage visitors to subscribe.

5. Interesting Subject Line

People struggle every day due to an overflowing inbox, which drastically reduces the chances of your emails being opened. If you want your email to be noticed, then come up with an eye-catching and interesting subject line. Use witty and funny headlines, but refrain from click bait that can make your reader feel annoyed or disappointed.

6. Clear CTA

What do you want your audience to do after they’ve read your email? A clear call to action is a must if you want to generate leads and boost your conversions. You can ask customers to complete their purchase or join your Facebook community.

7. Offer Incentives

As previously mentioned, most of us receive several emails every day. Then why would people subscribe to your email list? You can deal with this hesitation by offering your visitors an incentive for joining your email list. You can provide them with a discount on their first purchase or VIP access to new products.

8. Grow Your Contacts

Emails are far more effective than social media for connecting with customers. That’s why you need to constantly work on building your email list. LinkedIn is a powerful tool you can use to grow your email list. Learn how to export LinkedIn contacts and reuse them for your email marketing campaign.  

9. Plan Your Outreach

You cannot create much impact if you’re drafting emails the very last minute. An effective email marketing strategy needs to be planned months in advance. Every aspect of your email marketing, from the time to the content, should be planned down to a tee.

10. Make it Mobile-Friendly

The more and more people are using their smartphones to access the internet. Your email marketing strategy should account for the growing number of mobile users. Ensure that your emails and newsletters are mobile-friendly.

11. Avoid Spamming

Email marketing is different from social media marketing. Unlike Instagram posts, you shouldn’t send emails every day. Try to limit your emails to once a week. Also, make sure you are consistent with your emails. Sending three emails in a row and then staying silent for several months isn’t helpful.

12. Include Social Media

Include links to your social media profiles in your emails so that your readers can easily connect with you on other platforms. This gives you an opportunity to continue the conversation.

Final Words

When you’re just starting out, managing email marketing manually may be a feasible option. However, as your business and email list grow, it would be better to automate the process. Using email automation software will allow you to schedule emails, send personalized content, find the relevant demographic along with other benefits. If you want to send the right message to the right audiences, email marketing automation is the way to go.