Every once in awhile you read articles claiming, “Email marketing is dead!” Contrary to this belief, email marketing is alive and well and if you learn how to use it properly it can become a key element of your marketing campaign. Emails can be tracked, which makes calculating ROI easier. Additionally, email marketing is affordable and can easily compliment your SEO strategies and social media efforts. Here are four ways how to make email marketing work for your business:

Subject Lines

Subject lines play a large role in the success of your email marketing campaigns. It’s the first thing people see in their inbox and in the quick-delete world of modern email, it could also be the only thing they see. Getting people to pause and open your email is the greatest battle in email marketing campaigns. We suggest:

• Keep subject lines short and simple. Only so many characters are displayed, so use them wisely
• Avoid USING ALL CAPS in subject headings – Most people perceive this as shouting
• Don’t use words like ‘free’, ‘sale’ and ‘news’, as these words are usually considered spammy (and most often will be filtered directly to the Trash or Spam folders)
• Personalized subject lines increase open and click-through rates

Segment Your Email List

Just like a pair of jeans, one size does not fit all in the world of email marketing. It doesn’t make sense to send identical information to prospects and long-time customers. These different segments of subscribers have different needs. Someone who just signed up to receive information from you may not be ready to buy or commit yet. Someone who has already purchased a product or service from you would probably benefit from different information encouraging brand loyalty. Identify the different segments within your email list and tailor your content for each group. The more targeted your email marketing, the more likely the right prospects will convert.

Optimize for Mobile

Today most emails are opened and read on mobile devices. With the frequency and speed a subscriber can glance at emails and delete anything that doesn’t pique their interest, it’s necessary to optimize your emails for mobile. Once they do open an email, if it’s not mobile-friendly most users will delete the email without actually reading it.
Keep these tips in mind:

• Use shorter paragraphs instead of blocks of text to make content easier to read on smaller screens
• Get to the point fast
• Avoid putting offers or headlines in images
• Reduce the file size of images to speed up load times
• Make links easy to see and click

Unsubscribes

While it may feel defeating to have users unsubscribe from your email marketing list, it shouldn’t. It’s important to realize once people have unsubscribed that your email list now includes the most interested people and the best leads. These are the people you want to target, as they are the most likely to buy your product or service. Save time and effort by only contacting people who are truly interested in what you have to offer.

Additionally, it’s better for people to unsubscribe from your list than for them to mark your emails as spam. When users mark your email as spam it could jeopardize your entire email marketing campaign and your brand credibility. Be glad someone took the time to unsubscribe from your list instead of marking your email as spam. It’ll be more beneficial for your brand in the long run.