Email marketing is still one of the best ways to connect with your audience, drive engagement, and see some seriously impressive returns. With some strategies, you can get back $42 for every dollar spent—pretty great, right? Let’s break down five effective strategies that’ll help your emails stand out in your audience’s inboxes, build customer loyalty, and grow your business.
First things first, don’t just start firing off emails without a plan. Having a clear email marketing strategy helps you stay focused on your goals. Without it, your emails might not hit home—they could end up unopened, ignored, or even unsubscribed.
How to Get Started: Set specific goals for your email marketing. Are you looking to grow your subscriber list, increase click-throughs, boost sales, or maybe a little of everything? For example, if you’re an online store, maybe your goal is to get people to come back and complete their purchases. If you’re just starting, a simple goal might be to build your list by 10% each month.
➡️ Pro Tip: Segment your audience early on! A great way to get started is by grouping your audience based on factors like purchase history or behaviour on your website. So instead of blasting out the same email to everyone, you could send a “Hey, we miss you!” email to customers who haven’t bought anything in six months, and a “Thanks for being loyal!” discount to your frequent buyers. Personalised emails make a big difference!
Think about your own inbox. Most people scroll through their emails and only open the ones with subject lines that grab their attention. That’s why a great subject line is everything. It’s like the headline of a story or the cover of a book—it needs to make people want to know more.
➡️ Example: A small skincare brand tried two different subject lines for the same email:
If you want to reach customers at the right moment without extra effort, email automation is your best friend. It allows you to set up automatic emails for specific situations—like welcoming new subscribers or reminding customers of items they left in their cart—without needing to send each email manually.
➡️ Example: A small online clothing boutique noticed that adding a “Welcome 10% Off” coupon in their automated welcome series increased their new customer purchases by 25%.
No one wants to feel like they’re getting the same message as thousands of others. The more relevant and personalised your emails, the more people will open, read, and click through them. By using segmentation, you’re tailoring emails for specific groups of people, which helps build stronger connections and better results.
➡️ Example: A pet supply store noticed a higher click-through rate when they segmented their audience by pet type (dog, cat, bird) and sent out tailored emails showcasing specific products for each pet.
After you’ve sent out some campaigns, take the time to analyse what worked and what didn’t. Checking the performance metrics of your emails can provide insights on what to keep doing and what to improve next time.
➡️ Example: A fitness app that sends out regular newsletters noticed low open rates, so they tried adding a subject line that included each subscriber’s name. After making this tweak, they saw a 30% increase in open rates and kept the strategy for future campaigns.
