If you aren’t making use of email marketing, you’re missing out on a huge potential for reaching customers. This method of communication is free or inexpensive, improves relationships with past customers, and will result in sales and increased profits for your company. However, all these benefits are contingent upon effective management of the the email marketing campaign. Make use of several strategies to most effectively utilize email marketing.

Build Segmented Email Lists: You should never have just one email list. Every subscriber is going to be different in terms of how they heard about you, how much they know about your company and what kind of products or services they’re interested in. Therefore, segment your email list into clusters of people who are similar so you can send targeted emails to each of these clusters. As you build your list, you can add people to the cluster that seems most in line with their interests. For example, people who make purchases should go with your highly interested prospects, whereas people who signed up for your mailing list to get a freebie should be on a list with less aggressive tactics.

Assess Customer Needs: Based on the type of people on the list, consider what they are most in need of from you. People who order on a regular basis may need reminders to buy products they’ve purchased several times before, or discounts when they refer others to you. People who have indicated interest in your company but haven’t made any purchases may need information about the value of your products or videos about how they work. Even newer leads may only need general information about your industry in a newsletter format so they build trust in your brand as an industry leader.

Create a Compelling Subject Line: This is the only part of your email that you can guarantee the recipient will see, so make it a good one. Your subject line should indicate what value the person will find in the email, in addition to being written in a style that has a call to action. Rather than describing what is in the email, invite the recipient to do something about it. Avoid using annoying tactics like excessive exclamation marks, words in all capital letters and special symbols to try to make your email stand out.

Write Clear and Simple Emails: People don’t read emails straight through from start to finish. Instead, they skim them. Therefore, your emails should be easy to scan and should be short and sweet. Use headings, bullet points, and short and concise sentences and paragraphs. If people want more information, that’s what the landing page is for. One thing you need to include in your email is a call to action, which lets people know what they’re supposed to do, given the information they have read. Clearly express this call to action at both the beginning and the end of the email.

Every company should use email marketing, and if you aren’t, now is the time to start. As you get your email marketing campaign set up and start sending emails, make sure you have a system in place to assess how effective your campaigns are. Analyzing your open rates, click through rates, and conversion rates for different emails you send can help you determine what specific strategies are best reaching your audience. As you adjust your emails to fit the strategies that work best with your mailing lists, you’ll find email marketing to be a profitable and worthwhile tool for your business!