Email marketing is still one of the most popular and effective marketing methods, but the success of your campaigns depends on how well you execute. Forrester estimated that over 838 billion marketing messages are sent in one year. That’s a LOT of emails…and a lot of noise to cut through. However, successful email marketers see an average return of $44.25 for every dollar spent [Source]. Worth it!

If your emails aren’t inspiring your prospects and customers to engage with your business, here’s what you might be doing wrong.

1. Your email list is cluttered.
Poor list hygiene is at the top of our list because it’s both common and destructive. If your emails aren’t targeted, you might as well be emailing in a foreign language—you’re certainly not sending what your recipients want to see. A bad list turns destructive when people who no longer want to receive your emails mark you as spam. That’s why it’s vital to use email marketing best practices and always include an opt-out option. It’s much better to have a short but interested list than a long list of people who are regularly annoyed by your emails.

2. Your pipeline is clogged.
To keep the sales flowing freely, you need to nurture your old customers while also courting the new. If you’re not paying attention at every stage of the customer life cycle, you risk clogging up your pipeline with prospects and customers who’ve lost interest because your emails no longer speak to them. Instead of sending general emails to all customers, segment your lists and send highly targeted emails to small groups.

3. You’re sending the wrong message.
If you promised a newsletter and you’re delivering only advertisements, that’s a no-no…and a surprisingly common one. If you want to direct recipients to a specific landing page, try a teaser with a “read more” link.

4. Your subject line is weak.
If this were a romance novel, your subject line would be the come-hither look. It’s your invitation to open; your promise of juicy content within. Be flirtatious (not literally), but also straightforward and professional, and be sure your customer knows that email is coming from you.

5. Your design is not responsive.
People using PCs are far more likely to click links than people using mobile devices and tablets, but you can increase your mobile click-through rate by 15% by redesigning your emails to fit properly on any kind of device. Contemplating how your emails perform on mobile devices is critical, especially considering there are more mobile devices in use than there are people on the planet as of last year. (Really! It was predicted that by 2014, 7.7 billion mobile devices would be in use, serving a global population of 7.1 billion.)

6. Your call-to-action is lost.
The purpose of your email is to spur your clients to action, right? So why would you bury your call to action (CTA) in a mountain of text? Keep it short and put your CTA near the top of the email. Front and center. Not over on the side, buried in a text link, or linked to a gigantic graphic that might not show up. Make your message clear and isolate your CTA in the body of the message so it’s easy to see and click.

These email marketing tips should help you improve your email response rates, but before you send that first email, make sure you have a rock-solid content strategy to back it up. If you send enticing emails and don’t deliver the content you promised, you’ll just alienate your recipients…and they will never become your customers.

We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

More repeat customers? Yes, please. Better brand reach and recognition? Oh yeah! Through–the–roof marketing ROI? You bet your boots. Email marketing is incredibly effective, but you have to do it right and follow the rules.

You’ll learn:

• Why email marketing works
• The best tools of the trade
• New trends in email marketing
• 4 killer components to an irresistible email
• How to avoid paying $1000s in fines
• How 3 companies reached more customers with rockin’ email marketing