How to Maintain a Strong Email Marketing Campaign

Dozens of emails flow into the average consumer's email inbox every day, and most of those get quickly scanned, ignored, or trashed. Most, if not every, business owner participates in some form of email marketing campaign to announce company and industry news and highlight new products or services, so it can be quite difficult to get your audience's attention -- even if they've opted in to receive your emails.

You already know how important the subject line is and you do everything you can to make it as compelling as possible. Your content is well-written and designed to appeal to your target audience, but your goal is to get more customers to open and read your messages. So, what can you do to attract more attention?

• Send when your audience is reading

  More emails are opened and actually read, on Saturdays than any other day. That's when the majority of your subscribers have the most free time to peruse their inbox instead of just glancing over most of the messages they receive. Additionally, fewer businesses send messages on Saturdays, so there's a higher likelihood of your message standing out. If you must send during the week, Tuesdays come in second. However, you may need to do some testing if you have a very specific audience. Your industry may have more downtime on a different day of the week.

• Make it personal

  Your subject line and content are written well, but are you appealing to each individual reader? You should refrain from addressing your audience by the masses. Do not refer to them as "subscribers" or your "list" — instead, use the word "you," or perhaps consider investing in software that autofills each individual recipient's name. Whatever you decide, make sure you include personal references. You want to give your readers a sense of being communicated with one-on-one rather than being just a number. Some business owners even close using their own name instead of their business's name to make it seem even more personal.

• Go by the numbers

  A person's eyes gravitate toward numbers, so use them to your advantage. To your brain, a number represents a fact, and facts are desirable. In other words, the presence of numbers makes it less likely that your content will be filled with "marketing speak" and will have value for the reader. Put numerals in your subject line and main content.

Above all, email marketing requires some willingness to experiment. Try different days and times to send emails; write simple but interesting subject lines. If you come up with an idea that doesn't perform well, shake it off and try something new next time. Once you find what your audience responds well to, dial it up -- try the same thing with refinements to make it even more interesting and compelling to your readers.