Top Five Email Marketing New Years Resolutions

It’s that time of year. Time to make some resolutions and changes in our lives. Resolutions don’t need to just be about losing weight, take some time and reflect on this last year of email marketing and think about making changes in 2014. Here are five things you can do to improve your email marketing in the New Year.

1. Slim Down Your List – cut the fat and get it healthy!
   Every year many people do their best to lose some weight or get in shape. Why not hold our email lists to the same standards? It is becoming more and more important to get rid of email addresses that are no longer taking action (opening or clicking) on your emails. The risks of keeping them include:

   • Hitting potential Spam Traps
   • Disinterested subscribers complaining rather than finding an unsubscribe option
   • Missing the inbox – ISPs like gmail and yahoo are starting to measure your list engagement more to filter to inbox vs junk

   If those reasons aren’t enough, just think about this: You are paying to send to someone who will likely never buy from you, visit your website or be an advocate – get rid of ‘em! I recommend removing six month non openers at least twice every year.

2. Revamp your look – Your template might need a facelift.
   After seeing the same look for all of 2013, why not brighten up your template with a new look? Make changes to the layout, color scheme and maybe add some new Call to Action buttons! Once you’ve created this fancy new template, test it out. Split testing is a great tool to use here if you have access to it.If your new template gives you better opens, clicks or conversions as a result – keep it! If not, you can go back to your old trustworthy look. Your subscribers love you for a reason, right?!
3. Play nice with all devices – Your customers are going mobile and you should too.
   Part of your New Year template make over might include a mobile friendly design. With technology continuing to progress, the majority of your readers may be opening your messages on cell phones, laptops, tablets and more! Why not play nice with these guys and create a design that will render well on all of them.While the set up can be tricky, your pay off will be worth it.
4. Socialize whenever possible – You’re customers want to talk to you!
   Facebook and Twitter are not the only big players anymore when it comes to social media. Make sure your emails are social media friendly. iContact allows you to post your emails to your Facebook page and Twitter feeds and also allows you to add “like” buttons to your emails with one click. However, there are plenty of other things you can incorporate into your emails this year:

   • Run a campaign to your email subscribers asking them to follow your social media outlets
   • Promote a Social Media contest to your email list
   • Include your latest social media interactions from followers as a sort of testimonial in your emails

5. Spend time with those you value – your most engaged customers, of course!
   We all could afford to spend more time with those we love and sometimes the New Year is a perfect reminder to start doing just that. Think of your most engaged subscribers as your closest friends and family. Talk to them more often and maybe give them something special every once in a while. Targeting your best and most engaged subscribers frequently is becoming more and more necessary as many ISPs start placing more importance on your list engagement. Sending to your engaged subscribers more often than those who are less active will strengthen your domain reputation. This is especially true with ISPs like Gmail and Yahoo!. To keep those subscribers active offer them more enticing promotions and specials. Think of it as a “Thank you for being a friend” gift to them.

Your email New Years Resolutions should be easy to attain! Plus, raising your email marketing to the next level will do wonders for your success in 2014. Happy New Year!