Next time you feel the need to tear your hair out over a complicated email campaign send, just remember how hard it must have been in 1984. Yes, email has been around for that long. And yet, email marketing is still more relevant than ever.

Right now, you might think that creating fresh new, relevant and performing email marketing campaigns is too hard. How do you format them? How do you know what to say? What will make them engage with your email? We’re here to tell you, it’s all pretty simple really.

Setting up your campaign trail

Just as we used to set up our internet connection (remember the dial up tone?), we must establish our email marketing connection. This begins in the initial stage of your email campaigns. What have they done recently that will make them want to open your email? Have they searched for the solution to the problem you are talking about? Expressed an interest in a product similar to yours?

Define your unique selling points and killer values in a prospect and set up multiple campaigns that reflect each of these as buyer journeys. Create your email campaign based on the points of the journey. That way, no matter what a prospect is searching for, they can be fed into the right campaign for their needs.

Making the call – direct address

Back in the day, we didn’t have the capability to personalise emails. Now with dynamic email content, we can become more personal than ever before. The opening of your email is key, so it’s essential to make sure it’s personal and gets to the point in the first line. Rather than starting with “Dear customer”, use specific names in every email. Contacts can smell a mass email from miles away. If you can’t take the time to check them out, they won’t take the time to do the same for you.

“Things are starting to happen”

We’ve come full circle since 1984. Originally created to send electronic messages to each other, emails were simply about the context of the message. Then, as marketers, we got fancier with our graphics and our ability to make emails enticing in a visual sense. And now we’re back to promoting plain text templates in a bid to get your audience to actually listen to what you have to say.

The content of your email is the most important part. Usually, this will be some kind of landing page link or blog post, but whatever it is, make sure it’s relevant. Don’t spend too long explaining yourself, keep your email neat and to the point without giving much away – you want them to follow your link after all.

Automating your email processes

Thank god the days of manual email marketing are behind us. Automation is here in its glory, but with that comes new challenges of its own. Just because your email campaigns are automated doesn’t mean they should come from a company or ‘Do not reply’ email address. They should still come from an individual to show a personalised approach. After all, personalised emails are now showing a higher engagement and click-through rate.

Just remember – complex, individualised email campaigns might feel like a hassle, but they are worth it. Back in the day, emails used to take much longer to prepare and a lot of people didn’t even know what they were. Now you can reach millions of people with the click of a button. Taking your time and preparing well thought-out campaigns will pay you back in no time.