Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Wondering if you should invest in email to market your business? Wonder no more: 93% of people check email daily, and 35% spend up to five hours a day in their inboxes, ZeroBounce found in its latest Email Marketing Statistics Report. What’s more, 41% of consumers check their email intently, hunting for brand discounts.
That makes email one of your biggest opportunities to drive sales and build loyalty – if you show up with the right message. Here’s how to stand out in your prospects’ inboxes and make email work for you.
1. First, keep your emails out of spam
If you want people to see your emails, keeping them out of the spam folder is the first step. It doesn’t matter how good your offer is; if your message lands in junk, it’s game over.
To get your emails in the inbox, use this short checklist of best practices:
- Maintain your database up-to-date. Remove obsolete contacts regularly and weed out dormant subscribers if they don’t open your emails for more than six months.
- Make sure your emails are authenticated properly (think SPF, DKIM and DMARC). These protocols tell mailbox providers that you are, in fact, you, not a scammer pretending to be you.
- Remove people who unsubscribe within two days to avoid being penalized by large email providers like Google, Yahoo and Outlook.
Your goal is to become a sender people trust and mailbox providers recognize as legitimate. That’s how you earn a spot in the inbox — and stay there.
Related: More Than a Quarter of Your Email List May Be Bad – Here Are 5 Ways to Clean It
2. Work on building trust
Email is a powerful way to grow your business, but many people associate it with spam and an overload of marketing offers. If you want to stand out, first you have to earn your audience’s trust.
Instead of constantly pushing for the sale, focus on making your emails helpful. Share useful articles, expert tips and other resources – even if your call to action (CTA) still leads to a product or service. This approach draws people in rather than overwhelming them, and it builds long-term loyalty and engagement along the way.
3. Make your emails feel personal
Once you’re in the inbox and building trust, the next step is to make your emails feel like they’re meant for each of your subscribers, not for your whole list. Here are three simple ways to achieve that:
- Segment your audience into smaller groups so you can make your emails hyper-relevant. Your prospects will be much more likely to open, click and convert.
- Even simple personalization – like using your customers’ first names — can improve engagement.
- Experiment with text-only emails. No fancy images, no pushy messaging — just an email that looks like it could be from a friend or colleague. Just make sure it feels natural, not forced.
Being relevant and human earns your audience’s trust and respect. And when people feel seen, they’re far more likely to stick around and buy.
Related: 5 Ways to Delight Your Customers With Email
4. Write subject lines that earn the click
You made it to the inbox, now you need to win the open. Your subject line is your first (and often only) shot to grab attention.
Avoid clichés like “Hurry!” or “Don’t miss out,” which scream spam and often trigger filters. Instead, focus on clarity, curiosity or value. What’s in it for the reader? Why should they care right now?
Here are a few quick pointers:
• Keep it short and scannable — under 50 characters works best on mobile.
• Use action-oriented language, but skip the hype.
• Test subject lines regularly to see what resonates (even small tweaks can make a difference).
Think of your subject line like a headline. If it doesn’t make you want to click, rewrite it.
5. Design for fast reading
No one’s settling in with a cup of tea to savor your email. People skim. They scroll. They’re checking on the go. So if your email looks like a wall of text, it’s probably going straight to the trash folder.
To make your emails easy to scan, use short paragraphs and bullet points to highlight key takeaways. You can also break things up with subheadings and bold text. And keep mobile in mind — most people check email on their phones. If your layout’s clunky or the CTA button is buried, you’ll lose the click.
Related: 3 Tricks for Getting More Email Clicks
6. Make your offer crystal clear
If your prospects have to reread your email to figure out what you want them to do, they won’t do it. So make your offer pop. Whether it’s 20% off, early access, or a free resource, spell it out and make the CTA unmistakable.
When writing your next email, remember to:
• Stick to one main call-to-action per email.
• Use clear, specific CTA buttons like “Get My Discount” or “Download the Guide.”
• Place your CTA early and repeat it at the end for the skimmers.
When people instantly understand what you’re offering and why it matters, they’re more likely to take action.
Wondering if you should invest in email to market your business? Wonder no more: 93% of people check email daily, and 35% spend up to five hours a day in their inboxes, ZeroBounce found in its latest Email Marketing Statistics Report. What’s more, 41% of consumers check their email intently, hunting for brand discounts.
That makes email one of your biggest opportunities to drive sales and build loyalty – if you show up with the right message. Here’s how to stand out in your prospects’ inboxes and make email work for you.
1. First, keep your emails out of spam
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
