(By Elizabeth Tuico) More brands are executing drip email campaigns to promote sales and awareness. Email marketing is a popular tool because it forces the user to act; an email will remain in an inbox until it’s read, deleted or archived. With emails, a business builds a relationship with an audience. It’s also an extremely cost effective marketing strategy.

Twenty years ago, I managed four print newsletters and direct mail communication at a large company. I wrote articles and corporate messaging. Print requires InDesign layouts, pre press activities with a commercial printer and maintaining address lists for the mail house. All of this took time and gobs of money. As technology advanced, more companies switched to email, which eliminated costly production steps and trips to the U.S. post office.

Drip email campaigns are easier (and cheaper) than print. To be successful, email marketing requires planning and adjustments along the way. Below are six tips to improve your email strategy:

Determine a schedule

Finding the right cadence for your business is tough. Open rates can be affected by sending too many or too few emails. Depending on your business, you may want to consider segmenting your email audience and creating specific content for each sector.

Write a catchy subject line

Keep your subject line short, be specific and limit punctuation. Try personalizing the subject line with a first name or location (if this is an option with your provider). Inserting words with a sense of urgency can increase your open rate, but use them wisely. More companies are using emojis in their subject lines. Do tests to make sure the emojis populate correctly; use the icons sparingly.

Create text and layout for the scanning eye

Experiment with different layouts that best fit your brand. Readability is very important. Use headers, colored text and images to break up your content.

Get to the point quickly

You have five seconds to capture the attention of your reader. In most instances, less is more. It’s important not to drag it out, but be concise. Your audience will appreciate brevity.

Include a call to action

Why are you sending this email? Make your intention very clear to the reader. A call for action includes signing up for a workshop, buying a product, improving brand awareness or education. Whatever your motivation, make sure to clearly define it.

Use data to guide you

Analyze open rates. If more than 20% of the audience opens your communication, you’re doing great. If not, reevaluate the factors above. Small tweaks to the schedule, text, layout, subject line and call to action will improve open rates. (Mailchimp determined the average email open rate for their customers is 21.33%.)

Look at your click rates and make necessary changes. Be more descriptive than the simple “click here.” Concisely directing your audience to click on a link with a brief description works well. Embedding links will help too. (The average click rate for all industries Mailchimp examined is 2.62%.)

You understand your audience better than anyone else. Take the time to analyze all the data your email service provider collects, and make adjustments.

Remember that email marketing is a long game, that’s why developing a strategy is so important.

Do you need help with the messaging in your email campaign? Get in touch at elizabeth@rebelroadcreative.com or here.