With email marketing being seen as a near “free” marketing channel it’s no wonder so many business fire out regular email campaigns to their customer and prospect mailing list.

But do these emails get read and are they engaging or turning off your mailing list? But, with careful planning and quality content you can create impact with email campaigns and generate brand awareness and quality leads.

Here’s what we think matters most:

Clever Targeting

Don’t go too broad brush. Hone into a specific group of people from within your mailing list and develop tailored content for them. Make it relevant to their needs. Ask what motivates them to read on. Is it offers, advice or thought-provoking discussion?

Make it easy

If recipients can’t quickly determine what an email is about then they are likely to hit ‘delete’ pretty sharpish. Your email should be easy to scan so recipients can see what it’s about at a glance. Bear in mind that if they delete one email they are likely to delete future emails from you without a second glance.

Also, make sure it is just as simple to see who the message is from – don’t be tempted to have a cryptic “from” email address.

Catchy headlines

Headlines need to act as a hook – enticing readers to continue through the rest of the content. They must be engaging and straightforward.

You can test your headlines (look at open rate and clicks) by running A/B testing – pretty simple in most email sending software.

What action do you want?

Be clear in your mind what the primary objective of the email is and what action you are looking for from recipients. Make that action really easy and obvious to readers by creating strong calls to action. Make sure links are clear and visible. Consider adding a ‘forward to a friend’ option. Leads based on recommendation are much hotter!

Keep it personal

Use as much personal information about the recipient as possible. Include their names and, wherever possible, tailor the content based on what you know about them and their previous interactions with your business.

Timing is everything

Think carefully about the time and day you send the email. Many email software packages will make recommendations, but these can be quite generic. Ask your customers or consider testing different time slots. Ask yourself how often your customers want to hear from you? Whatever the frequency you decide on, it’s vital to keep in regular contact.

Important GDPR update for 2018

The new European personal data regulations come into force in 2018 and businesses need to consider carefully how this will impact email marketing campaigns.

Among many new conditions, one of the biggest changes businesses will face concerns consent. Under the new regulations, companies must keep a thorough record of how and when an individual gives consent to store and use their personal data.

This may impact how you can use the data you have in your email marketing list. Read our guide to GDPR and how this will affect e-mail marketing.

However you chose to approach email marketing focus on being authentic. Write in the voice of your business and picture who the recipients are – imagine it as a beginning of a conversation and not a lecture series.