Improve Your Email Marketing in 2014 With These 5 Resolutions

A lot of people still make New Year's resolutions and don't see them through. Are you one of those people? Less then 10% of people actually carry out their resolutions. Wouldn't you like to be one of them? Making a resolution to strengthen your email marketing for 2014 should be one that you stick with, year after year.

These 5 resolutions below to improve your email marketing are ones that you should commit to now:

1. Get your contact list in shape

Hopefully you’ve done some work to grow your email list in 2013. But have you also taken the time to review your email list? A healthy email list is the most important part of any successful email marketing strategy.

2. Eliminate harmful bad habits

Like in life, there are some bad habits that we are aware of and some that we need others to point out before we can make a change. For example, if you’re constantly waiting to the last minute to think about what you’re going to write in your emails or are going months without contacting your list, you probably already know that these are habits you need to change.

But there are also habits you may not be aware of.

For example, did you know that it’s important to ask for permission before adding someone to your email list?

3. Reduce your content-related stress

Few email marketing tasks can cause a small business owner’s stress level to go up faster than creating email content. This is especially true if you consider yourself to be a less-than-perfect writer.

Create a content template: This doesn’t have to be anything high tech. A simple sheet of paper that you use to outline the different articles you want to include could be all you really need.

Focus on answering simple questions: Writing a blog post or article can be stressful. Answering customer questions is not. And, by simply answering these questions you’ll make your emails that much more relevant to your readers.

Find the right tools: There are plenty of tools out there to help you find, create, and share better content. They will also help you save time and reduce your stress in the process.

4. Travel outside your comfort zone

Don’t make the mistake of getting stuck in your email marketing comfort zone in 2014. The inbox has changed, and in just the last two years, the number of people reading emails on mobile has increased by 330 percent. In that same time period, opens on desktops have decreased by 44 percent.

5. Learn something new

Developing a new skill or talent is a great goal for 2014. It will not only help keep you focused, but will also have a positive impact on all of the email marketing resolutions you have set for yourself in the New Year.