When done correctly, email marketing can be an insanely valuable tool for delivering messages directly to your leads and customers. Running a successful email campaign keeps your brand name fresh in your leads’ minds, and strengthens the line of communication between your business and its customers. There’s a lot you can do to optimize your email marketing efforts, and implementing some of these tips is a great start.

First things first– you may be creating some killer content for emails, but do you have an updated and extensive list of recipients? It’s in your best interest to treat bulking up that list of addresses as a recurring task, so make sure your site provides plenty of opportunities for subscriptions.

If you’re running out of new people to throw emails at, turning to your SEO, and paid search in particular, is the perfect way to refill your funnel with brand new, qualified prospects. Using PPC, you can display your ads to searchers who are already actively looking for your products/services. If they click through to your website, you can get their email address a few different ways; during purchase, for free downloads, or through offering to keep them in the loop for upcoming sales and promotions.

Did you know that segmented emails have a 15% higher open rate? Even if you’re feeling good about the number of people receiving your emails, there’s still more you can do to really target specific audiences and personalize your message. Your buyer personas can really help you create personalized email campaigns that convert, so if you haven’t already made them, now’s the time.

You can target/segment your email audiences with demographics, but you can also use Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSP’s) to target prospective clients based on their Gmail account activity. Basically, if the keywords you’re bidding on exist in their inboxes, your ad will be eligible to appear in their Gmail account as well. These are some solid ways to segment your address list, but deciding who to send which messages to is only a piece of the personalization puzzle.

Now, let’s talk about the details. Addressing people by name and signing your note with a real human name, for example, “John at Wordstream,” can go a long way. Keeping your message short and sweet is generally the best call, and that starts with the subject line. Try to be as clear, concise (six to ten words is a good rule of thumb), honest, and enticing as possible. Make sure your emails include a strong call-to-action and include other links to your site/relevant offers in the footing! People are always checking their emails on the go, so ensuring yours are mobile friendly is an absolute must.  

To figure out the best strategy for your business, it’s a good idea to run some A/B testing across your email campaigns. You can test specific aspects of your email marketing campaigns to find out what kinds of messaging and tones have the maximum impact. For example, MailChimp offered results of tons of A/B tests from successful campaigns to show the amount of improvement those tests can facilitate.

For more marketing email tips, tricks, and trends, check out the WordStream blog.