Email marketing is more than simply blasting off a quick sales message to a list of 10,000 prospective customers. Doing that is akin to cranking out spam on a daily basis – and it certainly won’t help your emails stand out from the sea of sameness. Effective email marketing is the strategic use of email as a marketing channel to deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment. Email marketing builds brand awareness, nurtures your sales leads, and helps you upsell to existing clients.

When done correctly, email marketing works. In fact, according to the Direct Market Association, the average ROI for every dollar invested in email marketing yielded $40.56 in 2011. It’s no surprise that two out of three marketers say that email marketing is the core of their business. And 81% of B2Bs cite email as their most effective lead generation tactic. Are you reaping the benefits of great email marketing – or are your messages stuck in the spam filter? Follow these three tips to get your email marketing program back on track.

1. Build a better opt-in list.

Your email marketing is only as strong as your opt-in list. Building a list of quality, engaged clients and prospective clients is the first step to separating your email marketing from a sea of sameness – and this starts with better list segmentation. Segmentation improves click-thru-rates by delivering a targeted call-to-action that is specific to your client’s needs. Segmenting lists increase open rates by 39%, according to research conducted by Prestige Marketing.

How you choose to segment your list depends on how you want to interact with and engage with potential customers. You may choose to segment based on purchase history, where you customer is the sales cycle (prospect vs. current), geographic region, or even customer value (e.g., segmenting based on current order spend or order size).

2. Write better subject lines.

A compelling, creative subject line is the best way to connect with target audience and get your emails opened. If you’re new to writing subject lines, take heart: great subject lines require tweaking and polishing. You may not be an email subject line genius overnight, but with a little practice, you’ll start crafting great lines that connect with your audience. As a rule of thumb:

• Keep subject lines between 35 to 50 characters (MailChimp suggests 50 characters max)
• Depending on your content and audience, opt for either (1) direct and descriptive or (2) creative and compelling – don’t try to accomplish both.
• Personalize your message with the recipient’s name, whenever possible, or the name of a group (e.g., “NOVA Doctors”)

3.  Use responsive design.

Let’s face it: there’s a good chance your prospective client is scanning your email while waiting in line for his morning java fix. If you are not using responsive design, this means it will be difficult to impossible for him to read it on his mobile phone or tablet. One out of every two Americans checks email using a smartphone, making email the top activity on smartphones, ahead of both web browsing and Facebook.

Current email marketing tactics, however, have yet to catch up with the smartphone revolution, and the majority of emails are still not optimized for smartphone viewing. Optimizing your emails for smartphone viewing is not only an easy way to separate your messages from the sea of sameness, but also to ensure that your messages are actually read.

Consider the following:

• Keep it short: Get straight to the point with concise language and no more than three paragraphs with two to three sentences each.
• Don’t hide the call to action at the end: If no one scrolls to the bottom of your email, they’ll miss it. Include your call to action towards the beginning of your message.
• Watch your message size: While a 400KB message may seem to load at the same speed as a 60KB one when you’re loading messages on your desktop, that 400KB versus 60KB could make a real difference over a mobile network, especially in major cities where load speeds can be notoriously slow due to high network traffic.

Summary

Everyone hates spam. When you're on the sending end, however, it can be difficult sometimes to tell the difference between a great sales email that cultivates client relationships, and a spammy sales message that screams in your client's faces and sends them running in the opposite direction.

List segmentation will ensure your email gets to the right people, a great subject line will ensure your email gets opened, and responsive design will ensure it gets read. It's up to you, however, to ensure your email program is fully integrated within the marketing department and that every email seamlessly underscores your brand's message. That's the beauty of truly effective email marketing.