3 foolproof ways to improve your email marketing results

I hope you already know that email marketing is THE most cost-effective marketing tool you have access to. If you don't, here's the deal: for 10 years in a row, email marketing has generated the highest ROI for marketers.

For every $1 spent, email marketing generates a return on investment of $38!

If you're not seeing this kind of success, though, I'm willing to bet I already know what you are and aren't doing...

• You ARE sending the same email to everyone on your list – the dreaded email blast.
• You AREN'T segmenting your email lists so you can send personalized, highly relevant emails that people actually look forward to and want to open.

If you begin implementing the following 3 tactics, though, I guarantee you'll begin to see better results from your emails:

1. Segment your lists. There are any number of ways you can segment lists, but at the very least you should segment customers by demographic information and purchase history. Once you've got the basics down, you should also segment them even more based on things like their activity on your website, whether they've downloaded a certain PDF, or whether they've opened a specific email.
2. Personalize emails with dynamic content. Gone are the days of everyone getting the same content in your email. You should be using dynamic content to send each person on your list images and text that relate directly to their interests. For example, if you're in the travel business, you can send each person different content based on the type of trips that they like to take – cruises, snow skiing, romantic getaways, or family adventures.
3. Create automated workflows. Most marketers are used to basic automation like scheduling an email to be sent to your list at a certain time on a certain day. But did you know that you can create rules-based workflows that will automatically send personalized, timely, relevant emails to individual customers? Let's say you're a realtor. Selling a new home to a first-time homeowner could trigger a workflow that sends a series of emails that shares information that many first-timers don't know. Or, listing a home for sale could trigger a series of emails to the listing owner that shares tips to help them be more likely to sell their home faster and at a higher price.

What are you waiting for? Email marketing is easy, can be extremely helpful for people on your list, and has the ability to become your most valuable marketing channel.

ps - don't miss the free resources and tools we offer to help improve your online marketing, or find out more about other ways you can use automation to improve your business.