Every smart boss out there has made our new year’s resolution for us: earn more revenue from the digital channels, especially email.   Get more of our customers and prospects on the email file this year.  Use email more and postal/print/advertising/events less.  Oh, and do it with no new budget, too.  And smile while you are at it, will ya?!

Deep breath, oh email marketer!

Let’s break this whole new year resolution thing down into manageable parts.  Every time we go to hit SEND we have an opportunity to wow our subscribers.  And that, truly, is the only way that we will earn more revenue from the channel.  With amazing subject lines.  With clear and precise permission.  With relevant offers and helpful content.  With a few “just because” celebrations in there for building loyalty. With a squeaky clean list.  And a  sender reputation strong enough to qualify for appropriate accreditation (and gain the benefits). And yes, with an easy opt-out.

Here’s a couple of ideas to turn a stagnant email program into the belle of the marketing mix ball.  Steal one or more of these ideas now to ensure your email program is off to the right start in 2009. 

Spend time on subject lines. Subject lines are the cover art of the inbox.  Make sure your cover sings – and is compelling.  Or risk “select all and delete” actions.

Listen. Overlay behavior and demographic data to customize transactional emails, trigger context-specific emails and use micro-sites to capture more prospects when they are “in market.”  Let your subscribers tell you what they need.

Age matters. Watch response by age of the file and determine when subscribers go “inactive” — no open, click or conversion/response in the past three months.  Quickly send out a win-back campaign to those who may be on the verge of going inactive.  Once they start ignoring your emails, it’s difficult to re-engage on email. 

Educate prospects. Many marketers have both prospects and customers on their house list  Sending the same promotions to both and rarely inspiring either segment to action.  Never assume prospects know anything about your products or benefits.  Consider a series of messages or offers that move prospects through the sales pipeline. 

Treat your customers better. Email is a great way to treat your best customers special.  Identify your cusp customers and invite them to participate at higher levels while showing them the benefit of doing so.  Every once in a while, just thank your customers.  You’ll be surprised at the response you get.

All subscribers are not equal.  Not all subscribers have the same value to you.  Consider the segments which are most valuable to you, looking at sales potential, so email can have the most impact. Then develop campaigns around the needs of these segments, or clusters of segments.

Get more data you can use. Survey some long-time prospects to learn why they didn’t buy.  Is your advertising attracting an audience with needs your products can’t solve?  Is your product benefit statement on target but your product experience off?  Perhaps your website is just too hard to navigate.   Survey women to find out if your products meet their need for flexibility.  Survey customers stuck in the product lifecycle to uncover latent needs, and highlight how your products solve them.  This learning will help you up sell and cross-sell, as well.