Email is an online marketing tool that has the potential to reach a huge number of people who are interested in your products or services. And while it is possibly one of the oldest (well, let’s call it: “most well established”) methods of outreach, research continues to show that it can be very effective when it’s used properly. Of course, blasting out emails to anyone and everyone can’t exactly be referred to as “effective.” That kind of behavior is the kind of thing that gave email marketing a bad name in the first place. There are, however, some simple principles you can use to reach more people, increase the open rate, and find more success.

Make a Specific Offer

“Specificity converts. In marketing, there should be no such thing as a general message. The marketer communicates with an aim. This aim should dictate everything else we say. This aim should influence, even constrain, every word we say.” If your email is just a generic reminder that you exist, chances are it will be 100% successful… at reminding people that you exist… and also that you like to send them useless emails. You can improve your conversion rates with specificity. Your subject line should be specific about what they will get for opening the email, then the content should be specific about what you are offering. Just remember that you’re not trying to sell the product or service with this email. You need to let your website do that. Your offer, then, simply needs to be specific enough to give them a reason to click over to your website.

Make a Specific Offer in the Right Way to the Right Audience

You’re clear and specific about what you offer, but that alone doesn’t mean people are going to rush to click your call to action. Especially if what you offer has no connection to the person receiving the email. You can be completely specific, you can have the greatest offer, but it won’t have much impact with the wrong audience. Or if you present it in the wrong way. A real estate marketing campaign, for example, will have to consider both buyers and sellers. It should be able to provide information at the right time about the right neighborhoods and homes in the right places. Weekly emails would likely be overkill and would have a better chance of annoying, rather than enticing, potential customers. On the other hand, if you’re running an email campaign for an ecommerce store, you may want to up the number of emails because your customers will want to have the insider information on the best deals or new projects. You can instantly reach a huge audience through an email campaign, you just have to clearly define that audience and determine what approach will give the recipients a reason to click.