It’s no secret that the popularity of email marketing continues to surge. Email remains the number one channel of choice for marketers worldwide, with a recent survey reporting that 60% of executives say it’s their leading ROI generator hands down.

But to get the results you want, you’ve got to get it right. So what are the top things to keep in mind as you rely upon your go-to lead generation tool once again in 2015?

First off, it’s important to understand that even though a host of shiny new objects have made their way into the workplace, email stands out as the most critical productivity tool in business today.  In fact, a Pew Research study indicates that 61% of workers say email is “very important” to their jobs, while the Internet ranks at 54%, landlines at 35%, mobile devices/smartphones at 24% and social networking at only 4%.

So if you’re targeting businesses and executives, you want to get their attention by way of the channel that matters to them most, and that is indisputably email. The next step is making sure your messages rise above the clutter in the email inboxes you’re going after…and here are three key ways you can accomplish that.

1. Be Smart About Your Subject Line: Your subject line is the first and most lasting impression you can make on your audience. So what sells today? Everything from flattery, to controversy, simplicity, humor, personalization and metrics, according to this post by WordStream. Keep your subject lines brief, too. About 50 characters is ideal. Also, avoid splashy promotional phrases – they can be a turn off. And it’s common knowledge that the use of the word “free” might set off a spam filter, so avoid that at all costs. Lastly, always be true to your headline. Don’t draw a reader into your message only to disappoint them with content that doesn’t jibe with the subject line.
2. Start Clean: The quality of your email list – not the length of the list – is the biggest factor in generating the best lead gen results, experts say. Content may be king, but it’s not going to drive ROI if it’s not reaching the inboxes you’re targeting. So make every effort to ensure quality email data to prevent bounces, blocks and more. If you’re using an outside service, be sure to ask them about their specific methods for cleansing and enriching their email data. The most reputable data acquisition firms will even offer a data quality guarantee with credit back for email data that doesn’t deliver as promised.
3. Make Mobile Work for You: Your targets are relying on mobile devices more than ever, so as a marketer, it’s incumbent upon you to engage with them in a way that suits them while they’re on the go. So make sure your email message is designed to be easily viewable in a mobile format. You’ll see open rates rise as a result. And while mobile design is essential, it may also result in fewer click-throughs, which means marketers need to work harder than ever to ensure their communications have the stickiness that drives results. Using personalization and new strategies such as a trigger-based approach to email marketing, your messages are more assured of getting noticed.

These tips are only the beginning when it comes to effective lead-generation results with your email marketing. What strategies have you found to have the most profound impact on ROI in your organization?

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