Looking to acquire new qualified leads or retain your customers? Email marketing could be the answer. Despite common assumptions, it's still one of the most effective digital acquisition channels for launching communication strategies. In fact, 75% of marketers rate email marketing's return on investment (ROI) as good or excellent. In this article, we share our top tips for running a successful email campaign.
The two types of email campaigns
Email acquisition / prospecting campaign
The main goal of a prospecting email is to acquire new clients or qualified leads. These campaigns are sent to potential customers. 8 out of 10 companies consider email marketing their top customer acquisition channel.
Specifics of an acquisition / prospecting email campaign
It’s the first marketing email sent to a prospect and remains one of the most common methods of active prospecting. Prospecting emails are quick to create, easy to send, and cost-effective. However, to be successful, they must be built around a strong sales argument.
Collecting email addresses
It’s essential to gather emails legally. There are several GDPR-compliant ways to do so: contests, online surveys, landing pages, etc.
You can also rent data from:
- Cardata Group databases, with over 5 million active opt-in profiles
- Dataventure’s 400 partner opt-in databases
Email content
As you're contacting new prospects, avoid overwhelming them with messages. Otherwise, you risk damaging your brand image.
3 tips for writing a strong prospecting email:
- Introduce yourself clearly
- Personalize the content by highlighting your value proposition and competitive advantage
- Schedule follow-ups
Customer retention email campaign
The main goal here is to build loyalty. These emails are sent to subscribers or existing customers already on your mailing list.
Specifics of a retention email campaign
Retention emails strengthen trust after a purchase, account creation, or newsletter signup. They may be informative or commercial, and are sent with a highly personalized approach.
Collecting email addresses
Even though these are existing customers, you still need opt-in consent. Create a signup form and share it via social media, your website, or other email campaigns. The goal is to get customers to explicitly agree to receive retention emails.
Best practice: use double opt-in. This ensures you get high-quality contacts and avoid spam issues. Since 2018, using customer emails without consent is no longer allowed.
What is double opt-in?
Unlike simple opt-in, where a user signs up in one step, double opt-in includes a confirmation email. The contact must validate their subscription by clicking a link. This guarantees the email address is real and active. To further secure your forms, enable Google reCAPTCHA to block fake or malicious signups.
Email content
Your customer already knows your brand, so you need to provide new, relevant content related to what they’ve already engaged with.
Sending a newsletter is a great way to:
- Showcase your expertise
- Build loyalty
- Better understand your audience’s needs
Keep your newsletters fresh and high-quality to maintain subscriber interest.
7 tips for a successful email marketing campaign
1. Define your campaign objective
Before sending any emails, identify the intended action. Is it to:
- Inform: introduce your business, announce a product launch or event
- Sell: promote your products or services
- Retain: build ongoing relationships with current clients
- Acquire: reach new leads and increase brand awareness
- Drive traffic: to your website, social channels, etc.
- Collect feedback: surveys, event follow-ups, post-purchase reviews, etc.
Top-performing email scenarios:
- Abandoned visit follow-ups: 23%
- Abandoned cart emails: 21%
- Product news: 18%
- Cross-sell offers: 13%
- Promotions: 13%
2. Identify your target audience
Relevance is everything. Tailor your content to the right audience for better impact and engagement. Never send the same email to everyone—it leads to:
- Reaching the wrong people
- Higher unsubscribe rates
How to calculate the unsubscribe rate:
Divide the number of unsubscribes by the total emails sent, then multiply by 100.
Example: 5,000 emails sent, 50 unsubscribes → Unsubscribe rate = 1%
A good unsubscribe rate is below 0.5%.
Dataventure offers a performance-driven emailing solution, based on:
- Custom tracking
- Flexible lead delivery formats: CSV, FTP, webservice, etc.
- Multiple economic models: CPC, CPL, CPM, CPV, CPCL, Hybrid—for full control over your acquisition strategy
3. Choose the best send time
Send emails when your audience is most likely to be on their phone or computer. Space your messages by 3–4 days to avoid overloading inboxes.
Test different send times to find the optimal window with the highest open and click rates. You can even let subscribers choose how often they want to receive emails during the signup process.
Best times to send (based on audience):
B2C:
- Highest open rate: Monday & Saturday (49.1%)
- Best CTR: Saturday & Sunday (5.2%)
- Highest conversion rate: Friday & Sunday (18%)
B2B:
- Highest open rate: Wednesday (46%)
- Best CTR: Sunday (5.9%)
- Highest conversion rate: Monday (38%)
4. Craft a compelling subject line
This is the first thing the reader sees—make it count. Keep it between 6–10 words so it displays fully.
Effective subject line formats:
- Deals: highlight a strong offer
- Urgency: push for fast action
- Mystery: pique curiosity
- Personalization: use their name, title, or personal pronouns
- Question: create a relatable, reflective moment
- Newness: use “new,” “updated,” “discover” to build excitement
- Emojis: add them sparingly to boost visibility
Use A/B testing to determine which subject lines work best. Most email tools let you run split tests based on open or click rate—and even define how long to run the test.
5. Prepare engaging content
Create clear, educational content that quickly communicates your message. Align text and visuals to enhance comprehension and appeal. Use a consistent typography and design style to present a clean, professional image.
6. Include a call-to-action (CTA)
Possibly the most important element in prospecting emails. Add a CTA with a relevant lead magnet or conversion offer that aligns with your message. It also helps you collect valuable behavioral data.
Popular lead magnets include:
- Guides, white papers, ebooks
- Checklists
- Templates
- Toolkits
- Reports or case studies
- Quizzes
- Simulators
- Email courses
- Webinars
7. Add an unsubscribe link
This is mandatory. Users must be able to opt out of your emails. Clicking the link should either unsubscribe them immediately or take them to a short form (optional) to explain why they’re unsubscribing.
Common unsubscribe reasons:
- Too many emails
- Irrelevant or boring content
- Poor design or layout
- Loss of interest in your brand
- Emails too sales-focused
- General lack of engagement
Easy-to-spot unsubscribe links (e.g. placed near CTAs, styled prominently)
You can't build email loyalty without first doing acquisition. While their goals may differ, both campaign types ultimately serve the same purpose: growing your customer base.
Want expert support for your email marketing campaigns? Dataventure can help. Our in-house creative studio handles the design, integration, and hosting of all your email campaign visuals.
