Despite the popularity of social media marketing, email marketing is one of the most widely used ways to get in touch with customers. While there are a lot of things to remember when creating an effective email marketing campaign, here's a short list of points to consider.

• Keep it personal. Although you may think that email marketing is strictly a one-way form of communication, it's actually one of the best communication tools out there. Therefore, it's important that you send your customers emails that match up with their interests.
• Timing is everything, especially when it comes to email marketing. For instance, it may not be the best idea to send out your weekly email at 5 pm on a Friday afternoon. Test different mailing times during a week, to see what works best for you and your business.
• The subject line is important too. A good subject line can get people to read the entire message, while a boring, "cookie-cutter" subject line can make people toss your message right into the trash.
• Keep in mind that most people use the "preview" function on their chosen email program. When creating an email campaign, design your message to convey the main idea within the first couple of sentences.
• There's no point in taking the time to create and perform an email marketing campaign if you do not stop to see how it's going occasionally. Perform frequent testing to find the right mixture of calls to action, messages and email design.
• DON'T SPAM! Only send your emails to people that have followed the opt-in procedure for your email list.
• Expanding on the last tip- before you send your targeted emails, you'll need an email list. Be careful when you're building it- there's no sense in having a list with 100,000 people on it if only 20% are qualified to get your offer. Take a little time to clean up your list, removing invalid leads.
• Use the online presence you already have, and combine it with Twitter links, your website's link, and the URL to your company's Facebook page in all emails so that prospective customers know how to find you. Don't forget to use this tip with direct mailings as well.
• Don't be too aggressive or pushy. Email marketing is meant to create sales, but a pushy sales email campaign will cause more of your leads to opt out. There's a fine line between information and excessive promotion, and you must try not to cross it.
• In the subject line, avoid the use of certain words, such as "trial" or "free" that usually cause people to immediately trash the message. However, targeting your subject line according to the time of year (such as back-to-school or Black Friday).

To succeed in business, you not only have to plan for the worst, you have to hope for the best. There's nothing that's worse than sending out a great email marketing campaign, only to not be able to fulfill the promises you made in the email. Plan for a huge response, that way you won't be overwhelmed when it comes time to deliver.