Email marketing is a great way to nurture your relationships with your customers and reach out to brand new ones. However it is essential to get your message right, otherwise you might simply end up irritating your readers or putting them off.

To help you improve your emails and maximise your marketing efforts, try following these 7 ideas.

1. Make the purpose of your email clear

Before you create an email, think about what you want it to do. Are you trying to get your clients to visit a certain page on your site? Or benefit from an offer you’re running?

Whatever it is, you need this message to shine through to your readers. Employ clear call-to-actions and utilise strong action words to tell your customers exactly what you want them to do and the best ways to do it. Avoid using multiple or conflicting CTAs – these will only confuse your reader and make them uncertain of exactly what to do.

2. Give your customers a need to subscribe

It can often be challenging to persuade people to offer their email addresses, even if they have an interest in the product or services you provide. To get around this, offer consumers an incentive to opt-in to your marketing emails. This might be a deal or a discount rate or coupon for one of your products or services.

3. Prioritise consistency

Using a consistent format and schedule for your marketing emails is really crucial. This will help your customers to see your emails and know when to expect to hear from you. Find a template that matches your company and use it every time. You should also send emails routinely and at a similar time.

4. Be considerate

If you’re going to use email to ask your consumers to do something, make it as simple for them as possible. Schedule your emails for a practical time when they can act on the deals you’re offering quickly. If they cannot then they’re more likely to unsubscribe or stop opening your emails.

5. Don’t disregard your subject lines

When you’re composing your e-mails, don’t focus all your attention on the primary text and forget the subject line. Your subject line will be the first part of your email that your customers see and it has to attract their attention and encourage them to open it.

Email marketing research suggests that the very best subject lines are brief and punchy. Be innovative, include a call-to-action and avoid exceeding 50 characters.

6. Get the best tone

Try to strike the best tone when you’re writing your emails. A personal approach is typically the most effective – use the recipient’s first name and be friendly and familiar. Make sure you keep your professionalism though and be respectful.

7. Consider how your email marketing messages look

While it is very important to invest lots of time in crafting your content, always remember to make your emails aesthetically appealing too. Use fonts and colours that reflect your branding and are easy to see. Likewise, it’s essential to ensure that your emails are responsive and look good on a series of screen sizes. Emails that are difficult to read or aren’t aesthetically pleasing are often irritating and will not get you the results you’re trying to find.

Think about the composed content and appearance of your emails, plus the value you’re offering, and you’ll be well on your way to providing your customers with a fantastic email marketing message.