How to Engage Your Email Subscribers More Efficiently

How to engage your email subscribers

According to Litmus data, email marketing has the highest ROI of all digital marketing strategies, returning $36 for every $1 spent. It increases brand awareness by keeping your business in front of your target audience. It also promotes your content and generates sales leads.

Consider the following tips for engaging your email subscribers and reaping the benefits of email marketing. 

1. Use a healthy, valid email list.

High subscriber engagement starts with building an email marketing list of quality recipients in your target audience. Here are some crucial considerations when managing a quality email list:

• Don’t buy email subscriber lists: Buying lists is not an option. It’s a waste of time, money and effort, and legally skirts a fine line. Data privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 require proactive opt-ins for email lists. Furthermore, since “bought” recipients didn’t consent to receive your emails in the first place, they are likely to mark you as spam, preventing future emails from getting through and tanking your reputation.
• Maintain your email list: Even high-quality, organically grown lists need maintenance. Remove undeliverable addresses, which may be fake email addresses or once-good addresses that are no longer viable. “Abuse email addresses,” which belong to people who habitually mark emails as spam, are another danger you should remove. Low-quality email addresses will affect your sender reputation ― the scoring system email service providers use to determine spammers vs. legitimate senders. A bad sender reputation will dramatically impact your deliverability. 
• Clean your list: Consider cleaning your email list using a reputable email validation service. Typically, you’ll upload your email list to the platform. Within hours or even minutes, depending on how many contacts you have, you’ll identify problematic addresses. Remove them without hesitation.
• Use email address verification: To keep your list clean longer, set up a real-time email verification application programming interface. Once it’s active on your signup forms, this software checks the validity of every new email address before it goes on your list.

2. Remove inactive subscribers.

Removing subscribers may seem counterintuitive. You want your email list to grow, not shrink. However, unengaged and inactive subscribers don’t help your cause. They skew your email analytics metrics and hurt your email open rate. Emailing inactive subscribers is a waste of time and resources.

“Regularly scrub your list by removing people who are inactive,” advised Sarah Remesch, digital and social media marketing expert and founder of 270M. “This keeps engagement and your sender reputation high.”

Furthermore, inactive subscribers can easily turn into what’s known as “recycled spam traps.” Recycled spam traps are abandoned email addresses ― think your old AOL address from decades ago ― that internet service providers recycle and use to identify and block spammers. If your marketing email inadvertently goes to a spam trap, you could be mistaken for a spammer.  

3. Use double opt-in and make opting out easy.

Another way to boost email engagement is to ensure the people on your list want to be there. The double opt-in email marketing subscription method is an excellent way to ensure your subscribers are genuinely interested in receiving your content. With double opt-in email marketing, every subscriber clicks a confirmation link to allow you to email them.

Being transparent about the opt-out process is also crucial. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM Act, every marketing email or newsletter should have a visible, effective way to unsubscribe. If you make it hard to opt out, someone could mark you as spam out of frustration or because they feel there’s no other option.

4. Get to know your audience.

Connecting with your target audience is one of the biggest email marketing challenges you’ll face. Knowing your audience is critical to effective email marketing. You don’t want to send annoying emails to your recipients ― you want to send content that resonates with them.

There are two elements involved in getting to know your audience:

• Gather as much information about your audience as possible: To make your email marketing more effective, gather as much information as possible about the people who sign up for your list. Build customer personas using surveys with questions that reveal more about them and their preferences. Ask relevant questions about their needs, demographics and interests to create better-targeted campaigns.
• Send personalized emails to your list: Next, start sending personalized emails. Use subscribers’ names in the subject line and email body, and add additional personalization criteria like location, past shopping behavior and other relevant information. Email personalization increases subscriber engagement because people are more likely to respond when they feel like an individual and not just a number.

Andrew Dyuzhov, marketing director at Selzy, emphasized that effective personalization goes beyond just using a subscriber’s name. “It’s about analyzing behavior, preferences and website activity to tailor your emails,” Dyuzhov explained. “For example, if you run an outdoor clothing store, you can suggest related products — like an outdoor jacket after someone buys hiking boots.”

5. Connect with your subscribers by writing conversationally.

Your audience doesn’t want to be talked down to or have to sift through industry jargon or legal disclaimers. Your email newsletters and promotional emails should have a professional, conversational and friendly tone that engages your readers. 

Your social media manager or marketing team should be able to generate engaging copy for your email marketing campaigns. If you’re on your own and new to copywriting, take a class, read articles about copywriting and subscribe to newsletters for writers.

6. Make your subject line and preview text count.

If anything matters when it comes to increasing engagement, it’s the first thing people see: your subject line and the short piece of copy that follows (the preview text). Here are some subject line and preview text tips:

• Don’t be spammy in your subject line: Choosing subject lines that people perceive as spammy can harm engagement and even get you marked as spam. Double-check subject lines to ensure they don’t contain spam trigger words, such as “clearance,” “cheap” and “fast cash,” which will land you in the spam folder. Free online spam trigger-word checkers can be helpful.
• Ensure your subject line is compelling: Does your subject line compel people to open your email? Put yourself in your readers’ shoes and give an honest answer. If you’re unsure, your subject line likely needs more work. While summing up the content of your email, subject lines should also pique curiosity and entice.
• Ensure your preview text is compelling: Your preview text should also be enticing. Those few words that appear after the subject line can make all the difference in your open rates. Does your preview text further

7. Be consistent in your email marketing.

Some email marketers make the mistake of only sending newsletters or messages when they have something to sell or another motive. Your email marketing efforts should be a give-and-take. Some messages may include offers, but others should share helpful information. 

Being consistently present in your recipients’ inboxes is the most crucial factor. Your emails should arrive like clockwork. In doing so, you communicate that your brand is steady and reliable. You’re not a flash in the pan ― you have staying power.

Remesch emphasized the importance of using schedules to ensure consistency. “Sending emails on a schedule conditions the audience to be interested and, in turn, convert,” Remesch said. “Email marketing is an opportunity to connect and develop brand buy-in, in some cases, before a conversion. This strategy shift helps make each campaign purposeful, which should result in stronger engagement.”

Sticking to a schedule also increases your deliverability. By consistently sending your newsletters and messages, you become like a trusted advisor or friend to your readers, controlling spam complaints.

For most businesses, weekly emails are ideal. In certain instances, once a month is OK. Anything less than this risks hurting engagement and getting spam complaints.

8. Segment each email list.

Segmenting your email list is one of the most powerful strategies small businesses can use to engage subscribers more effectively.

“Email segmentation means dividing your list into groups based on shared traits,” Dyuzhov explained. “It improves open rates, click-throughs and conversions.”

Instead of blasting the same message to your entire list, segmentation allows you to tailor content based on customer behavior, purchase history, interests, demographics or engagement level. This personalization increases the chances that your email will feel relevant, timely and valuable to the reader — all of which drive higher open and click-through rates.

“To do this effectively, comply with GDPR and the CAN-SPAM Act — let subscribers know what data you collect and how it will be used,” Dyuzhov added. “Gather data using signup forms, surveys, feedback, website analytics and CRM tools. Most major platforms make segmentation easy.”

Here are some examples of content tailored to specific segments: 

• Send a discount offer to customers who haven’t purchased in a while.
• Send a “thank you” email to your most loyal subscribers with a coupon code or free shipping option.
• Send welcome emails to new subscribers.
• Send tailored offers and messages to people who downloaded a freebie or to those who clicked but didn’t convert. 

By thoughtfully messaging different audience segments, your emails will begin to feel more like one-on-one communication than generic marketing, and that’s what keeps people engaged.

“Businesses of all sizes should segment their lists based on behavior, interests and demographics,” Remesch advised. “Segmented personalized messaging should become part of the strategy. This tends to increase positive metrics from email campaigns.”

9. Use consistent, attractive designs.

Your email design plays a huge role in how professional and trustworthy your business appears. Consistency in layout, color scheme, fonts and branding makes your emails instantly recognizable and boosts credibility with your subscribers over time. 

A polished, well-structured email shows that your business is organized and professional — which can directly influence how subscribers perceive your products or services.

Dyuzhov offered the following essential email design tips:

• Use whitespace to let your layout breathe.
• Place important elements like CTAs at the beginning or end of the email. 
• Show the key message or offer above the fold.
• Create a visual hierarchy with headings, text size and spacing.

However, consistency doesn’t mean sending the exact same design every time. Small modifications — like changing images other than your logo — keep your emails visually interesting. The key is to balance familiarity with freshness, so your audience knows what to expect but still feels curious to click.

10. Create a reengaging email series, not one-off emails.

When subscribers become inactive, sending just one “We miss you” email often isn’t enough to win them back. Instead, a thoughtful reengagement email strategy gives you multiple chances to reconnect, show value and offer a reason to stay. 

“If part of your list isn’t engaging, run a reengagement campaign — you might win them back and boost revenue,” Dyuzhov advised. “To do this, you should segment your list and find inactive subscribers [and consider offering them] something valuable, like a discount, contest or free trial.”

Each message in the reengagement series should build on the last — perhaps starting with a gentle reminder, then moving to a benefit or update. This can eventually lead to a special offer or a direct question like, “Still interested in hearing from us?”

This strategy increases your chances of reactivation and helps you better understand which messages resonate most with disengaged users. Even if someone doesn’t reengage, a well-structured series gives them a positive last impression of your brand, which could pay off later when they’re ready to return.

11. Test your automation skills.

Marketing automation helps small businesses send smarter, more personalized emails at scale. Automated workflows can include welcome sequences, abandoned cart reminders, birthday greetings or even thank-you notes. Each can be pre-set to trigger based on user behavior, helping you stay connected without manually sending each email.

According to a survey by Ascend, 84 percent of marketing campaigns are automated. Additionally, 31 percent of surveyed businesses said they use automation for 26 to 50 percent of their work, while 23 percent of businesses automate 51 to 75 percent.

But automation isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it tool. To truly engage subscribers, you’ll still need to test and optimize your automated emails regularly. Try A/B testing subject lines, experimenting with send times or adjusting the flow of your campaigns. The goal is to find what resonates best with your audience and make continual improvements.

12. Find joy in your email marketing.

Joy is contagious. People can tell when there’s passion behind something, and it draws them in. If you enjoy creating newsletters and messages, your readers will pick up on it. Enjoy what you write, and it will translate into soaring engagement.

Mistakes to avoid when trying to engage your email subscribers more efficiently

When small businesses aim to improve email engagement, they often fall into some common traps that can hurt more than help. Consider the following:

Mistake #1: Only sending emails when you want to make a sale.

Samantha Fagan, founder of Design It Please, cautioned that small businesses must ensure they don’t only send messages when they’re trying to sell something. “Yes, an email list can help you sell, but it can also do so much more,” Fagan explained. “An email list connects a business to their fans, their skeptics and their might-be fans. Many small businesses fail to think of their email list as a communication tool, first and foremost, and a selling tool, second.”

Fagan encourages businesses to view their email list as a long-term relationship builder rather than a quick conversion channel.

“At the same time, while you don’t want to sell all the time, you do want to make sure there’s a clear call to action for your emails,” Fagan added. “This could be a survey response, an article or a share. The goal is to be helpful and keep the lines of communication open.”

Mistake #2: Neglecting your email list hygiene.

Using outdated or purchased email lists — or failing to maintain organic ones — can lower your open and deliverability rates, increase operational costs and bounce rates, damage your sender reputation and reduce overall campaign effectiveness.

“One of the most frequent mistakes small businesses make is trying to activate outdated or purchased email lists,” Remesch explained. “These lists often contain uninterested or unverified data, which leads to high bounce rates, low conversions and penalties from email providers.”

To avoid these pitfalls, businesses need to take a proactive, long-term approach to list management. “Thoughtful planning and ongoing list management can course-correct these mistakes,” Remesch noted. “To start, businesses should organically build their email lists, ensuring subscribers have opted in. To drive these leads, a small business can use advertising, website signup incentives or exclusive offers.”

Mistake #3: Sending bland, personality-free emails.

Lastly, don’t treat email solely as a sales tool with a robotic tone. Even beyond sales or segmentation, many small businesses miss the opportunity to create a real connection with their subscribers — and that starts with voice and tone.

“Another mistake that small businesses can make is not infusing any personality into their emails,” Fagan said. “Don’t ignore your business’s brand voice. If you’re funny, add humor. If you’re adventurous, add adventure. Your emails should not sound like every other company’s.”

By being intentional about how you build, manage and communicate with your list, you’ll create a more authentic, engaging email experience — one that your subscribers actually look forward to.

Liviu Tanase contributed to this article.