Email marketing has a two times higher ROI than cold calling, networking or trade shows [MarketingSherpa]. Therefore, emails are an essential part of any marketing strategy. When a business wants to communicate something about its brand or sell its products, email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to do so.

80% of business professionals believe that email marketing increases customer retention [Emarsys]. So, what goes into an effective email marketing campaign? The first thing to note is effort. Without effort, your emails will fall into the bottomless spam folder. With a little effort, you’ll be part of that 80% saying your email marketing helped increase customer retention.

Here are some simple but effective strategies:

A) Catchy subject line

People are bombarded with thousands of emails from everything imaginable. What would make them want to open your email? You must grab their attention and keep it long enough for them to want to go open the message.

B) Be brief and to the point

Cut right to the point. Again, you want your message to catch their attention and lead them to the main message page. Focus on the point of the email and make sure no matter who is viewing the email the message will be understand right away.

C) Send relevant content

If not all your subscribers share the same demographics or interest create groups of recipients to narrow the focus to them. Make the emails personalized, if subscribers are not receiving content they find relevant they will stop engaging.

D) Mix up your content

Don’t send the same type of emails all the time. Highlight what your company offers but also share your expertise, your brand values, tip and insights, trends, share information that lets them know more about your brand and community. Not all information has to be created by you either, find topics relevant to your brand, and share top stories and insights from leading professionals.

E) Follow a Schedule

If you are sending out a newsletter stick to a schedule. Send out emails the same day(s) around the same time each week, this will allow subscribers to learn your schedule and know when to expect your emails. Also, make sure you aren’t overdoing it. Depending on your target audience don’t overwhelm them with the number of emails you send out.

F) Use graphics

Always use engaging content and attractive graphics. These graphics help to attract subscribers’ attention to increase their chances of engagement. Do not, however, rely too much on these graphics to deliver your message. Many emails are set to hide graphics by default.

G) Occasional offers

Offer discounts, bonuses, coupons on special occasions from anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays to national donut day (whatever national day/week/month applies to you). Make offers that will gain conversion rate.

H) Mobile Friendly

With today’s fast-track world, lots of emails are opened on a mobile device. Mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens [Litmus] That means your email needs to be optimized for mobile. Without optimizing for mobile readability, graphics and buttons could come across completely wrong. Make subscribers experience pleasant.

Today, there are 3.9 billion daily email users and that number is only expected to rise [Statista]. Start taking advantage of this large market segment with email marketing.