Email marketing is not a new marketing tactic for lead generation and capturing new business. It has, however, changed. Some of the old laws of email marketing no longer apply.

Here is a list of the new secrets to a successful email marketing campaign:

1. 80.8% of users are accessing their email on mobile devices. Does your email program have the ability to convert your formatted email campaign to mobile?
2. “Secrets” is the most clicked on lead nurturing subject line word (see title of this post).
3. “Posts” and “Jobs” are the most clicked subject line words.
4. Click-through rate (CTR) is higher when you use the recipients’s first name in the subject line over using no name at all.
5. CTR is higher when using the recipient’s company name in the subject line over no company name at all.
6. 88% prefer to use receive HTML formatted emails, while only 12% prefer plain text emails.
7. 65% prefer emails that contain mostly images, while only 35% prefer text only.
8. Your most recent subscribers are the most likely to click through (so give them a reason to subscribe wherever possible)!
9. Saturday has the highest CTR at 9% – that’s right, Saturday!
10. Sunday is the second highest CTR at just under 9%. Shocking!
11. Most unsubscriptions, 0.52%, happen on a Tuesday.
12. “Click Here” buttons see the most action over clicks on “Go” or “Submit” buttons.
13. The metric to follow is your click-through rate (CTR), not your email open rate.
14. On average, the CTR is 2.1% according to MailChimp.

Bottom line: Refrain yourself from sending spam. I know you do not think of your company’s message as spam – but if I didn’t opt-in to receive your ‘company news’, it may present as spam to me.

So, how do you build quality lists of contacts who actually want to receive your information?

You do this by creating content of value to your prospects and providing several ways for them to sign-up – or opt-in – to receive your information. If a prospect is opting-in to receive your email marketing, that means they are really interested in your product or services and are much more likely to value, open, read and respond.

Further, by segmenting your email list and sending relevant, customized information to as many different targeted permission-based groups, you again up the odds in your favor for a successful campaign. The more targeted and customized your approach, the more chances for success.

It must be well designed. You won’t get further than a glance if your email looks poorly organized and unattractive. Equally important is to remember to use a catchy copy in the subject line (action words work best), well written body text (don’t forget to proof it for spelling mistakes), compelling images, videos, infographics, or other ideas to create an enticing email.

Be original and get creative. Email marketing is still a very powerful tool for capturing new business leads and measurable ROI.

~Amy

*statistic from socialmediatoday.com