Colleen Kennedy

This week we’re going to chat about the always feared and commonly dreaded: email marketing. Here at GreenBook, we send A LOT of emails. From 10 annual IIeX events, to GreenBook Marketing Services, to content like GRIT and Insights That Work, there’s never a dull moment. Sometimes I feel like I spend half my days on our email marketing campaigns. And, there’s a great reason…

The reality is, email marketing works!

Think about it. How many hours per day do you spend attending to your email? Recent studies tell us that for the average working American, it’s a solid 2.5 hours per day. So while we’re all constantly attached to handfuls of communications streams (LinkedIn, Facebook, online news sources, etc.) email really is the one to beat. And, it’s the most important channel (with the highest ROI) for B2B marketing.

But what if I don’t have time for email marketing?

Especially if you’re a small shop with a limited marketing team (or no marketing team at all), email marketing can seem daunting, time-consuming, and difficult. So whether you’re sending 5 or 500 marketing or sales emails per year, here are a few tips to help make your email marketing the best that it can be:

1. Step #1: Subject line

To be at all effective, your email first has to be opened. One of the best ways to achieve a higher open rate is to test your subject lines.