As such, you need to understand how to make yours stand out among a crowded inbox. First, recognise that using email effectively is more of an art than a science – something that is continuously developed as emails are crafted, tested for effectiveness, and then tweaked.

Make it relevant

That being said, there are a few key points that marketers can use to increase the likelihood that their email will be seen. The first is ensuring you have a compelling subject line from the outset, whether read on a PC or, more likely, a mobile phone.

One way to attract viewers’ attention is by asking a good question, which could be either rhetorical or answered in the email content. This needs to be relevant, whether it is related to the market itself or something happening in the world.

For example, during times of extreme weather, the question could be, 'how protected are you during a storm?' Another example of a powerful question during an economic downturn would be 'how good is your broker?' It should not, however, be along the lines of 'is your insurance premium enough?'

Secondly, there is great value in optimising the email to the variety of email viewing software that is available. The key here is ensuring that the first few lines of the email are punchy and relevant as these show up along with the subject line. Some email systems also display graphics, so sometimes it is valuable to display a call-to-action on the top right.

Thirdly, personalisation is imperative. This goes beyond just knowing the person’s name and addressing it to them. It's about understanding a little bit more about them. For instance, knowing that your target is a particular gender (for example, male) and sending an email of a campaign that would be of interest to men.

A number of companies make the mistake of sending out mass mailers for products that appeal to women – for example, makeup, and then also sending them on to men. These are simply a waste of effort and marketing budget. Understanding something unique about a person and being able to target that will always win the day.

It may sound obvious but still merits saying any email marketing campaign must avoid looking like spam at all costs, which is a definite way of ensuring it will never be read at, never mind opened.

What are the gains?

As for the improvement that using these techniques can produce, it ranges anywhere between a 20% to 50% increase in open rates. If you are sending 100 000 emails, of which 50% are typically opened, even a 10% improvement in open rates equates to an additional 5 000 emails being opened. If your conversion rate is 10% (not a very good rate), producing 500 leads, that is still an additional 50 leads for your efforts.

On the top end of the scale, using the same example of sending 100 000 emails, with half being opened, a 50% improvement in open rates translates into 25 000 emails being opened. Factoring by the same 10% conversion rate still delivers a healthy 250 additional leads for your efforts.

That, in itself, should be enough to justify taking the extra time and making the effort to craft emails that are more likely to be opened, rather than firing blindly.

For more information, visit www.leadify.biz. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook.