Successful email marketing incorporates a combination of strategies.  I’ve condensed a long list to what I would consider the top five best practices

Compelling content
Effective email strategy starts with intriguing content.  Don’t just send emails preaching about how great your company is. In order to captivate the attention of your readers, you first need to fully understand your audience.  It’s a good idea to do some research and identify topics that will be of particular interest and timely.  Share your knowledge of the industry or a unique perspective on an important subject.  Continually mix up your creative messages and styles.  Feel free to use a rotation of different templates to give your newsletter a fresh look.

Segment your audience
It takes a lot more time and preparation, but segmenting your list of recipients allows you to speak directly to your customers and prospects.  You’ll be able to clearly identify common business problems and cover topics that truly captivate you audience.  The key is planning, organization, and testing.

Delivery dates
You can significantly increase the effectiveness of your newsletter by determining the best day of the week and time to send.  Know your audience.  For many businesses, Tuesday or Wednesday are the best days to deliver.  Mondays can be hectic and Fridays can be busy or people may be rushing to cut out early.  Know your audience and more importantly know their schedules.  This will help you to determine which day they will be most inclined to open and read your e-newsletters.

Maintain lists and keep them updated
e-Newsletters can only be effective if your customers and prospects actually receive them.  In today’s economy, turnover rates can be high.  Periodically confirm that you have the correct information – more importantly, make sure you have the most appropriate contact person on your list.  If an assistant is receiving the information, there’s a good chance, it’s getting filtered into the trash bin.  Also, clean out undeliverable addresses and respect those who unsubscribe.

Optimize landing pages
As your email links back to your website, take the time to optimize the landing pages and highlight the information that you want them to see.  Take full advantage of the qualified traffic you are generating.  Highlight upcoming events, new product releases, and other relevant announcements.

While there are many strategies which can improve the effectiveness of email newsletter campaigns, I have taken excerpts from our white paper which discusses in-depth best practices to boost revenue.   We encourage you to share your success stories or challenges with email marketing.