Goal setting is crucial to email marketing success. Defining your email marketing campaign goals helps guide the direction of your campaign, and makes it easier to measure the success of your efforts.

Yes, you’re absolutely right — blindly bombarding your customers with as many emails and offers as you can think of should never be your first instinctual email marketing strategy. But, playing it safe isn’t the way to go, either.

First impression may not be the last impression in the world of emails, but it always matters—mainly because user behavior indicates that the maximum chance of emails being opened is only once. So what is it that ensures maximum open rates?

As innovative technologies transform marketing, don’t let your company get left behind. Columnist Benjamin Spiegel explains why data scientists are a critical component of every marketing team.

Last time in Part 1, we covered the when and the who of a successful email marketing strategy — who should make up your groups and segments, and when they should each receive your expertly curated targeted messages. Now, we fill in the rest of the strategy puzzle and offer some tips on how to create the most engaging content to keep your audience opening, clicking and buying.

Making your email campaigns perform like a rock-star isn’t easy. So many puzzle pieces go together to have a high converting campaign. If you are a small business owner trying to take it to the next level, we have some advice for you.