Email marketing is NOT dead. As marketers we just have to be smarter about reaching our audience. You are obviously reading this for a reason. Maybe you have seen a decline in response rates and are questioning the effectiveness of email marketing altogether. Well, I’m going to explore a few ways to jumpstart your email marketing campaign and prove that email marketing lives in 2012.

Let’s start with your marketing database. In order for any direct marketing campaign to be successful you must have updated contact details for your clients and prospects. Be sure to properly segment your data for your email campaign. If you send coupons for diapers to someone with no kids, they won’t be interested and will not open your emails. Also, Email addresses should be for individual people, not info@ or webmaster@. These emails will be lost in the www. Be sure to clean your data often. If emails are undeliverable to certain addresses, remove them from your email list. Be sure your customers and prospects receive two different emails.

Once you have segmented your data you are ready to craft a great email design. Your email should be easy to read on mobile devices and have a link for doing so. Keep all call-to-actions (CTAs) above the fold and provide interesting content. Get straight to the point. Immediately tell the reader why you contacted them or else you will lose their attention. Evaluate your opens vs. your clicks. How many recipients open the email, but don’t go any further? Your problem may be with your email design.

Congratulations, your clients and prospects have received your impeccably designed email, but will they open it? That depends on a number of factors. Do they have a relationship with you? Is your name in the “from” line? Does the subject line leave them curious? Use these tips and techniques to improve open and click rates. Make sure your email client provides crucial stats and use them to improve your email marketing campaigns. Don’t be afraid to test your subject lines and follow these subject line do’s and don’ts.

Once your customer or prospect opens the email and clicks through, the rest is up to you. 

Are you convinced that email marketing is still effective? Tell us your biggest email marketing challenge in the comments section below. Or submit a brief to get your email marketing off the ground!

Be sure to share this article if you found it useful. 

Tonya