I wake up every morning with typically around 30 new emails that are mostly organizations urging me to open and click to read their stories, purchase their products, donate, or sign up for their events. As a consumer, if you combine that with the digital chaos on social media, I’m officially overwhelmed. As a marketer, I think about how to create emails for my clients that stand out in the crowded inbox.
Email Marketing is Still a Good Bet
While it may feel like newer technologies like AI are where you should focus your marketing efforts, the data shows that email marketing is still where you are going to get the biggest bang for your buck. A recent analysis from Litmus showed:
- Email marketing return on investment (ROI) is between 10:1 and 36:1 for most companies
- Customer engagement emails, promotional emails, and newsletters drive the highest ROI
In your email marketing, there are some tried and true rules you should always follow:
- Have a clear goal. Whether it’s awareness, event signups, or sales conversions, this should be your north star before crafting the email.
- Know your audience. You have to keep this in mind to ensure your content is right for them.
- Incorporate visuals. Depending on your platform capabilities, use images, videos, or GIFs to help your content stand out.
- Have a strong call to action. Decide what step you want your recipients to take and make it as clear and easy as possible using larger, bold fonts, buttons, and other tactics.
- Write a strong subject line and preview text. I put this last on the list not because it is the least important, but because it’s what I always do last. After you’ve set your goal, crafted your content, and included a strong call to action, decide what would jump out at you in your own inbox.
Many organizations are already sending regular emails and following the steps above, and their analytics are holding steady. So, why rock the boat?
Because smart, strategic adjustments in your email approach can take those “steady” results and elevate them to truly impactful outcomes. Email is one of the most cost-effective ways to nurture relationships, convert leads, and strengthen your brand voice — all working together to help you reach your business goals.
There are a number of strategies you can deploy to drive an even higher return on your investment. And, the good news is that many email platforms make this very easy!
Personalization
Personalization is the best way to increase your opens and clicks and help you reach your business goals. It is now much more than adding “Dear [FIRST NAME],” to your emails or including their name in the subject line. Dynamic content is the wave of the future. Depending on the platform you’re using, you can add elements like live polls and countdown timers that are up to date for each user when they open that email.
You can even use dynamic images that change based on the audience member’s location or use demographic data to deliver a specific sales offer to certain groups, as Campaign Monitor explains in this article.
The key to personalization is to ensure you have good data on your audience. You shouldn’t merely upload their name and email address; add fields or tags that are relevant to your organization and their behavior.
Audience Targeting
You will always get higher opens and click-through-rates (CTRs) if the person reading your email feels like it was written just for them. Rather than a mass email to your entire list, think about your audience segments and how to personalize the content just for them.
We have a client in the home building industry that sends a quarterly email newsletter to their entire list that has an average open rate of 48.12% and a click rate of just under 2%, which is fantastic. However, when they sent an email targeted at just their vendors on a topic of much interest to them, their click rate doubles!
Just like with personalization, it is essential to have a well-developed audience list that includes data that will allow you to segment your lists.
A/B Testing
Conducting your own scientific test through A/B testing is a must and is now easier than ever. A/B testing in email marketing is when you use two versions of your email to determine which performs better. You can test everything from the email subject line, email format, and even the time of day you send the email and then compare the two versions to determine which email performed better.
Many email platforms like Campaign Monitor and MailChimp help you do A/B testing by walking you through the steps in identifying your goal (e.g. increase your click rate), creating the second version of the email with the variation, and analyzing the results.
If you’re using a system that doesn’t have that support, you can still A/B test! We worked with a client recently who uses a CRM system to send their emails, which doesn’t include A/B testing support. They have two very distinct audience segments – physicians and non-physicians. To understand what was important to the individual audiences, we created two separate distribution lists and sent the same email to both groups. The results were fascinating and extremely helpful for future email campaign planning.
With A/B testing, you should change only one thing in your second email. If you change too much, you really can’t infer which change made a difference.
Conclusion
Email is far from dead. In fact, it’s thriving. But “set it and forget it” email strategies won’t maximize your results. By focusing on personalization, segmenting your audience for relevance, and regularly A/B testing, you can transform your email program from routine communication into a measurable driver of engagement, loyalty, and revenue.
In an era where consumers are bombarded by digital noise, the brands that stand out are the ones that deliver value and relevance right to the inbox. If you’re willing to make smart adjustments and experiment, email marketing can continue to be one of the strongest, most reliable tools in your marketing toolkit.
