Did you know that email marketing has the highest return on investment (ROI) of all marketing, at $36 for every $1 spent (via Constant Contact)? But sending an email campaign isn’t as simple as hitting send. It takes strategy, creativity, and knowledge of your audience. We’ve helped many businesses achieve their goals through email marketing campaigns at Fasturtle, and in this guide, we’ll show you how to do the same.

How to Create Your First Email Marketing Campaign

The first step to a great email marketing campaign is to make sure your emails look professional and reflect your brand. Your from address, business logo, brand colors and fonts should all be up to date and consistent across all your communications. These design elements help the recipient instantly recognize your emails and feel they are from a trusted source.

Also always include your contact information in each email. This adds credibility and gives your readers a quick and easy way to get in touch if they have questions or need help. Consistent branding across all your emails means customers remember your business and trust you over time.

Subject Lines Are Crucial

Your email content may be great but if your subject line doesn’t grab attention, all that hard work will go to waste. Subject lines are what get your emails opened and read. Without a compelling or relevant subject line your audience will scroll past your message and miss out on important information, offers and promotions.

Here are several proven ways to create subject lines that capture your audience:

Make it personal. Use “You” and “Your” so that the reader knows you are speaking directly to them.
Create a sense of urgency (e.g. “Limited Time Offer” or “Last Chance!”). Give the reader a reason to act now, instead of adding it to the bottom of their to-do list.
Intrigue them. Asking a question or using a surprising quote or analogy is the perfect way to stand out from the rest of their email inbox.
Use numbers for list-style content, e.g. “5 Tips for Better Email Campaigns.”

But be careful and avoid all caps, excessive punctuation or misleading subjects like “RE:” to trick your audience into thinking it’s a personal reply. These tactics may increase your open rates but often lead to low conversions and high unsubscribe rates. Once the email is opened you want to deliver on the promise of the subject line with great and valuable content.

Create Content for Targeted Audiences

Targeted email marketing can increase engagement and conversions. Instead of sending one email to all your subscribers, segment your email list by customer interests, demographics or past behavior. When you send relevant content to specific groups the likelihood of readers interacting with your emails goes through the roof.

For example, if you know certain customers prefer a particular product line, send them updates and offers related to that product. Or if certain subscribers haven’t engaged with your emails in a while, send them a re-engagement campaign with a special offer to get them interested again. Segmenting your audience and sending targeted messages will get you higher open and response rates and make your campaigns more effective.

Ready to Started with Your Own Email Marketing Campaign?

Email marketing doesn’t have to be hard. When you’re ready to get started, Fasturtle is here to help. When you use our partnered link to create a Constant Contact account, we will give you 5 weeks of email templates to send to your contact list, for FREE! When paired with our WebID program, you can automate your email marketing and send great and timely emails to your website visitors with ease. Contact our team today to get started.