Email marketing. It doesn’t sound very modern or high tech. But connecting with your customers through email is one of the most effective marketing strategies for startups and small businesses. And this article will show you some expert tips and tricks to market your startup with emails.

Most businesses who use email marketing see a high return on investment; for every $1.00 spent on an email campaign, a small business earns $39.40 in sales.

Email is effective because it keeps your brand in front of your customers more than social media or other forms of online marketing. 61% of US consumers check their email on a daily basis, and you run a much smaller risk of your message getting buried in the inbox than disappearing in a Facebook or Twitter feed after an hour or two.

But there are a few tricks to running an effective email campaign. Here are some things to think about with examples from two popular startups – Evernote and Spotify.

Automate Your Campaign to Save Time

When you’re launching a new business, you probably feel like you don’t have enough time to dedicate to a whole new marketing campaign, too. That’s where automation comes in.

Write a whole series of emails ahead of time and set them to automatically send to new subscribers who join your list. Use evergreen content that will stay relevant to new readers for months and years to come.

Creating one or two months’ worth of weekly emails means you won’t have to worry about piecing together a new newsletter as frequently.

Consistency is Important to Market Your Startup with Emails

That said, it’s still important to send your emails on a consistent schedule. If you don’t send regularly enough, subscribers could forget who you are the next time you email them and accidentally report you as spam.

Automating parts of your campaign can help keep your schedule consistent in the beginning. Set a schedule that works for you, let your subscribers know how often you plan to send, and stick to the schedule you promised to keep your campaign consistent.

Keep Your Message Timely

Timely content resonates with readers. Tying your email campaign in with current events, holidays, or major happenings in your industry can help readers connect with your content.

Spotify’s newsletter features popular playlists for their listeners to check out. Their February issue tied in playlists with trending news topics their customers would care about:

Include Quality Content

A great email campaign needs great content to keep your readers interested and wanting to open your emails. An effective email is both useful and entertaining for your audience.

Take a look at how Evernote approaches content in their monthly newsletter:

Evernote includes what’s important to their audience: updates on features, tips on ways to use the app that users may not have discovered yet and case studies of how users in different industries make the most of the app and all its features.

Think about what your audience really needs to know and would be interested to learn and frame your email content around that.

Give Your Email Subscribers Exclusive Treatment

Signing up for emails from your startup costs your customers something – namely, their time, space in the inbox and to a small extent, their privacy (they’re sharing some of their contact information with you, after all).

It helps to reward your customers for allowing you into their inbox. Offer them access to special announcements, sales, or new features before you make the announcement in your other marketing channels. This sense of exclusiveness will keep your current subscribers sticking around and attract new ones to your list.

Spotify gave their email subscribers a first listen at a special playlist of artists featured at this year’s Bonnaroo festival:

Connect With Subscribers Outside the Inbox

Mixing email marketing in with other channels makes your overall marketing more effective. Give your email subscribers a way to connect with you outside of the inbox by linking to your Facebook, Twitter, and other social network profiles somewhere in your message.

Successful email marketing boils down to respecting your subscribers and providing them with content they want on a regular basis. The more you consider your subscribers’ needs, the more responsive they’ll be to your campaign.

Rebekah Henson blogs about building an online following through email marketing at AWeber, the leading email service provider for small-to-medium businesses. You can find more tips on marketing with email at the AWeber blog, or see how you can grow your own business with email at aweber.com.