You have finally dismissed all of the naysayers who have pontificated that email is dead. For so long they have argued that the 1990s are over, “you’ve got mail” is no longer a thing and that people aren’t checking their email anymore. But you have ignored everything they’ve said.However, after a few months of embracing email marketing without any results, you’re beginning to second guess yourself. If you start doing this, then stop right away.

Email marketing has become one of the most popular tools in the arsenal of digital marketers everywhere. With a return on investment (ROI) of 1,200 percent, everyone checking their email constantly (but on their smartphones) and brands garnering leads through email, you have to be really pessimistic about email marketing to omit it from your overall digital marketing initiative. With that said, if your email marketing campaign seems to be going nowhere then perhaps you should shake things up. Perhaps now would be the opportunity to give your efforts an overhaul.

Here are five tips for writing the best email lead generation campaigns in 2017:

1. Content is King – Even in Email Inboxes

You have likely heard the phrase a hundred times already: content is king. But it’s true.

In your email marketing campaign, have you tailored your content to the needs of your subscribers or customers? Or have you just produced content, blasted it out and expected a high open rate? If this is so then you need to understand a few things first:

• Do not be overpromotional in your emails.
• Make the information valuable – what do readers learn?
• Share a pertinent message with your audience.
• Offer free products: white papers, ebooks, infographics and more.
• Sometimes just say thank you without any ulterior motive.

If your customers are young people then you can’t deceive them with ‘90s slang or measures.

2. Make Your Subject Line Seductive

Studies have repeatedly discovered one fact: a subject line will make or your break you.

Like anything else in writing, creating the right subject line is a science, but you still need to be creative as well. If the subject line is like any of the other 50 emails your subscriber receives then it is highly possible that they will simply send it to the trash bin. You don’t want that.

Here are a few tips to incorporate into your strategies:

• Subject lines should be 50 characters maximum in length.
• Use a sense of urgency in your subject lines.
• Avoid using spammy language and characters.
• Get straight to the point right away.

One slip up could lead to one of two things: sent to spam or sent to the trash.

3. All Emails Must be Readable

As you create your content, you also need to constantly keep in mind that the emails need to be readable, whether it is on a desktop or on a mobile device. Otherwise the reader will be irked.

How do make your content readable? Here are a few tricks that every marketer employs:

• Short but sweet – your emails should be at most 250 words in length.
• Do not insert too much multimedia because it will be slow.
• Be engaging in the email but don’t eat up too much of their time.
• Highlight what exactly you want the reader to do (see below).

These are ways to make all of your emails be readable moving forward.

4. No. You’re. Not. A. Robot.

The best way to turn off your subscribers is to pretend you’re a robot without a personality.

You want your subscribers to be excited when they receive your emails. You want it to be one of the best parts of their day. This can only be achieved if you’re fun and personable.

For instance, rather than just saying “Dear subscriber, we have a new offer on sale. Check it out!” You can instead type, “Hello John Smith, we have a new offer on sale that we thought would be up your alley. Before the sale ends, you should check it out and see if you like it. Of course, you can always peruse our wide selection of goodies that you may enjoy. Thank you!”

What’s the difference between the two? If you don’t know then you might be a robot.

5. Do Subscribers Know What to do with the Emails?

Finally, you need to ask yourself: do subscribers really know what to do with the emails?

Call-to-actions (CTAs) are crucial elements of any email marketing campaign. They are the sole purpose of why you sent the email in the first place. You want to provide discounts, you want to get them to download a free ebook, you want them to join your social network.

In every email, the CTAs should be clear and understandable. If not, they will just hit delete.

Email lead generation is a science these days. Billions of emails are sent out every single day, consumers are flooded daily with emails they may not be interested in and the amount of dollars customers are willing to spend are finite. It can be hard to stand out from the crowd.

With a little bit of personality, some excellent analysis and respecting the customer’s intelligence, you can succeed in generating incredible leads for your business.