Email marketing has gone through an evolution of sorts over the last 10 years, as evidenced by the strength it offers when it comes to your arsenal of marketing tools. Check out this recent survey by iContact that illustrates how much of the small business budget is spent on email. As such, email marketing stands head and shoulders above other forms of marketing thanks to its unique personalization of content that can be directed right to the inbox of the consumer. When you know how to craft compelling emails, you can make even more of an impact and ensure your email is not only opened but read as well. The downside is that email marketing is not always executed well and thus remains one of the most under-optimized marketing channels around. Ensure a max investment in your email marketing campaign by employing the use of these top eight email marketing best practices.

1. Make sure your content offers a value to the recipient.
To develop trust and make it known that you are at the forefront of subject matter expertise in your industry, you must make sure your email offers value. It’s simple, really: your customers are short on time — if you send them a sub-par email that does not address their needs, you risk them deleting your email the next time something from you pops up.

2. Keep the reader’s interest going.
You can achieve this through writing an email to your customers that encourages them to visit your website for further information. Email content is good, but if you can actually get readers to click on your site to learn more, you have a better chance of making the sale. Always remember: sales and marketing work together.

3. Conduct a review each month.
This is the time to take a look at your open and click-through data utilizing your findings to determine the areas in which you excel and areas in which you stand to improve.

4. Cool it with the calls to action.
Sure, you want to encourage your visitors to contact you for more information, but if you give them too many options, they may take their time in their decision making.

5. Be discriminating when adding recipients to your email base.
Send emails to those consumers who have already expressed interest in what you have to offer. Respect your consumers’ needs and never send them email when it’s not wanted.

6. Craft compelling subject lines.
That old saying “you never have a second chance to make a first impression” is never truer than in the development of subject lines. The subject line is the single most determining factor in whether the reader will open or simply delete the email, so make it count. Remember: iPhones will shorten messages automatically to 32 characters.

7. Create appealing content.
When creating content, be sure to customize it to your readers’ interests. To do this, compile their purchase history and previous inquiries to come up with content that makes them more likely to read what you have to say.

8. Limit the number of emails.
Sending too many emails will overwhelm your readers and turn them off, resulting in lots of deleted mail and a waste of time on both sides. However, if you don’t send enough, readers may move on to other companies for their needs. Find that delicate balance by testing frequencies and results.

You may think the reasons why email remains at the core of small business marketing are obvious, but perhaps you didn’t realize just how important this is. As a cost-effective resource, email marketing can bring in lots of positives for your business — provided you execute it well. Share your email marketing best practices with us now!