Email Marketing is all about timely, relevant communication with prospects and customers.  Email is a very dynamic and flexible channel – not to mention one of the most cost-effective.

In fact, it’s one of the only types of online marketing that is used to ATTRACT, CONVERT, and KEEP customers.

Some examples:

• Distribute a promotion or eflyer to drive sales on your website (ATTRACT)
• Announce a new product, service, seminar, promo or contest (ATTRACT)
• Trigger automated emails after an abandoned shopping cart to incent
• customer to return to cart and complete purchase (CONVERT)
• Keep your customers informed with the latest news or blogs from your
• company (KEEP)
• Distribute customer surveys for feedback (KEEP)

Here’s 10 Tips for Successful Email Marketing:

1. Make Your Opt-in Obvious

Have your email opt-in above the fold, and include on every single page of your site if possible. Not everyone arrives on your site’s homepage, so this way every visitor has an opportunity to sign-up.

2. Make Your Opt-in Easy

The more information you ask of your customers, the less likely they will be to opt-in. As a rule of thumb, unless you’re going to use the information – phone number, company size, or annual revenues – don’t ask for it.

3. Tell Them What’s In It For Them

Why should people give you access to their inbox? Let your customers know what they’re signing up for, and how often they’ll receive communication from your company, and above all the value they’ll be getting. Include an example of an eflyer or newsletter so they can see what they’re signing up for.

4. Get Social

Have Facebook fans? Create an opt-in on your Facebook page or run a contest that includes collecting email addresses – same goes for Twitter. Have a brick and mortar store? Acquire email addresses with in-store raffles or giveaways.

5. Ensure Deliverability

Avoid language that will get caught by SPAM filters by mentioning topics like medication, mortgages, or making money. Don’t create emails that are too image-heavy, as not all email clients will automatically render images. Don’t get blacklisted by ISPs by ignoring CAN-SPAM (US) or CASL (CAN) rules.

6. Integrate with CRM

Email is most effective when it is personalized. For this you’ll need to integrate your email marketing program with a central database, or CRM platform such as Salesforce or Netsuite.

7. Be Concise, Be Mobile

Your emails should be a “window” to additional offers or content that users have to click-through to get the full-view. Keep content short and focused on a single objective. Don’t forget to design emails with big, clickable (or touchable) images that render properly for those viewing on mobile devices.

8. Segment and Differentiate

Don’t send everyone the same email. Segment your subscribers by geography, business size, purchasing behaviour, or industry. The more personalized, the more relevant. The more relevant, the more likely your subscribers are to open, click, and convert.

9. Create a Lead Gen Drip Campaign

An drip campaign is a series of emails auto-triggered to go out over a set period of time. The content of the emails can include anything from offers, product info, promos, tips, news and contests all the way to whitepapers and resources. When prospects are ready to buy, your business will be top of mind.

10. Always Be Testing

Think of Email Marketing as a science: you’ll only get better by experimenting. Test subject lines, headlines, images, copy, landing pages, and send times. Once you start gathering enough data, you can create benchmarks to measure the success of your campaigns.