After sending over 123 million emails in a single year, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to create an effective email marketing strategy.
As an email marketer for over 20 years, I can tell you that the way we used to do email marketing is completely outdated. The strategies that work today are vastly different than what worked even just a few years ago.
Human attention spans are shorter, competition is fiercer, and deliverability is more complex. You have to stay on top of the latest trends if you want to succeed.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share the seven most effective email marketing strategies I’ve learned after sending so many emails. These tips cover everything from segmentation to subject lines to relationship building.
Implement just a few of these strategies and you’ll see your open rates, click rates, and ultimately sales start to climb. Let’s dive in!
Improve Deliverability by Sending More Emails
Here’s one fact that surprises most people – sending MORE emails can actually improve your deliverability rates when done right.
It seems counterintuitive, but delivering great content that people want to open and click on sends positive signals to email providers. Services like Gmail want their users to have a good experience reading emails from brands.
So if you have stellar open rates and click rates because you’re providing value, email services reward you with better inbox placement. We’ve experienced this firsthand.
Of course, you can’t just send a bunch of irrelevant or low-quality emails. You need to be obsessed with:
- Segmentation: Make sure you’re only emailing engaged subscribers who care about your content. Don’t spam people.
- Engaging Active Leads: Focus on your most engaged users first before trying to re-engage inactive leads. Go where you’re loved.
- Cleaning Inactive Leads: Continuously prune subscribers who never open or click. Don’t waste your time or hurt deliverability.
- Boosting Engagement Metrics: Getting more opens and clicks signals relevancy. Write better content, subject lines, etc.
Do this properly and increased email volume will actually improve your sender reputation and placement in your audience’s inbox.
Stay Consistently Relevant in the Inbox
Human attention spans have shortened drastically in the digital age. Studies show attention spans are under 8 seconds on average.
That means you need to be front of mind constantly so you don’t get forgotten. Look at your own promotions tab – hundreds of emails from brands you’ve probably forgotten about.
Don’t be one of those forgotten brands. Stay relevant by being a consistent presence in your subscriber’s inbox. Send 2-4 emails per week minimum, consistently.
Timely and relevant content demonstrates that you understand your audience’s problems and care about providing solutions. Don’t leave them hanging!
Relationship Building Creates Lifelong Customers
Email marketing isn’t just about blasting promotions. At its core, it’s about building relationships between your brand and subscribers.
In the modern era, people crave connection with brands they know, like, and trust. They want to buy from real people, not faceless corporations.
Leverage your emails to build relationships through:
- Telling Relatable Stories: Share your own experiences that subscribers can relate to. Be transparent and authentic.
- Keeping Your Core Mission Front and Center: Remind subscribers why you do what you do. Rally them behind your purpose.
- Relating to Their Pain Points: Don’t just talk about yourself, talk about their problems and how you can solve them.
- Making Messages Feel Personal: Use first names, write conversationally, ask questions, etc, to connect one-on-one.
Do this successfully and your subscribers will be loyal fans that buy from you again and again.
Change Up Your Timing Once in Awhile
As an email marketer, you tend to get stuck in a cadence of when you send emails. You pick your 1 or 2 days per week and stick to it.
But your subscribers have lives outside of their inbox! They go on vacations, work extra hours, or simply get too busy to check emails.
That’s why varying your timing can be so effective. Send an email on a Wednesday when you normally send Tuesdays. Catch people by surprise when they finally check their inbox.
We’ve also found repeating promotions every few months works incredibly well. Even though some will remember seeing it before, many won’t!
Our stats show that re-promoting high-performing email campaigns 2-3 times per year still converts very well.
So don’t be afraid to change up your timing – it adds an element of surprise and gives previous promotions a fresh start.
Subject Lines Make or Break Open Rates
Your subject line is the very first impression of your email – make it count! We spend an enormous amount of time perfecting email subject lines before hitting send.
Why? Because a subject line can make the difference between someone instantly deleting your email vs. actually opening and reading it.
Too many marketers treat subject lines as an afterthought. They spend forever writing the body copy and then tack on a subject line at the last second.
Flip your workflow upside down. Start with the subject line first! Study other subject lines in your inbox that catch your eye. Learn from them. Apply what works.
Use emotional words in your subject line to increase curiosity and intrigue.
Here are some proven subject line tips:
- Keep it Short: Long subject lines get cut off on mobile. Shoot for under 50 characters.
- Always Use a Preheader: Preview text gives your email another chance to get opened.
- Use Emojis Sparingly: A well-timed emoji works but too many look spammy.
- Avoid Trigger Words: Tigger words like $$$, make money, no cost, URGENT, etc, hurt deliverability.
- Send Test Emails: Check out how your subject lines look in the inbox before sending.
- Use Calls-to-Action: Compel the open by adding urgency and irresistibility.
With a compelling, clickable subject line, your open rates will start to climb.
Click here to check out my top 10 tips for writing a kickass subject line.
Now let’s talk about the email copy itself…
Remember the True Purpose of Your Email
When writing your email copy, it’s easy to get carried away and try to include every little detail. But that’s not the purpose.
The goal of your email is simple:
- Create excitement
- Highlight key information
- Motivate a click
You don’t need to solve world hunger in a single email. Spark their interest, share something meaningful, and drive them to take action.
This is why working in strong copywriting is so important. Write compelling content with clear calls-to-action. Treat it like a mini-sales letter, not just a random update.
Put in that extra time and effort to craft persuasive messages that get clicks. Your metrics will thank you.
Aggressively Segment for Better Engagement
And that leads perfectly into our final tip – aggressive segmentation. This has been one of the biggest breakthrough strategies for us.
Instead of sending the same emails to your entire list, relentlessly split into niche segments who are most likely to find your message relevant.
Some of the segments we target most frequently include:
- Recent 30-day openers
- Clicked a link in the last 90 days
- Opened a specific campaign in the past
- Previous buyers
- Subscribed to a certain list
When you combine aggressive segmentation with attention-grabbing subject lines and compelling email copy, your results will skyrocket.
Segmentation ensures you’re sending the right message to the subscribers who want to hear it. And your list will love you for it.
The Key Takeaway - Email Marketing is Far From Dead
If I had to leave you with one key lesson about email marketing in 2022, it would be this:
Email marketing is far from dead, but the way we used to do it is long gone.
The strategies that work today – segmentation, consistency, relationships, precision subject lines, persuasive copy, etc. – are light years beyond how we used to spam the masses.
Apply the tips in this guide and you’ll see your email program spring back to life. Email marketing is more effective than ever for those willing to put in the work.
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