Although many people feel that email marketing is taking a backseat to other techniques like social media and mobile marketing, email marketing continues to be an effective and low-cost method of acquiring, informing, and keeping customers. Here are six elements for a successful email marketing campaign.

Segment your list and make the content relevant. Collect data about your customers and segment your subscriber list according to areas of interest. Response from customers is greater when they receive content that they can relate to or have shown an interest in. Other ways to segment your list include prospects, prospects that have become clients, donor levels, demographics, geography, and previous purchases.

Integrate your social network profiles. Include social sharing in your emails, and promote your newsletters on your social networking sites. Test different content on your social networking sites, and package the content that receives significant attention in targeted newsletters.

Experiment with subject lines. Half the battle of successful email marketing is getting your subscribers to open the email. Think like your subscribers, and write an interesting and engaging subject line. It’s best to keep the subject line under 35 characters, but if this is not possible, put the most important information first. Readers respond well to lists, so try to title your subject line accordingly. For example, a public relations firm could send an email as part of a series of emails titled “Five Reasons You Need Public Relations: Part 1.” Each subsequent email could detail one of the reasons.

Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. Don’t use false or misleading header information or subject lines. If your message is an ad, identify it as such. Tell recipients where you’re located and how they can opt out of receiving future emails from you. Honor opt-out requests promptly. Also, monitor what others are doing on your behalf. View detailed information on the CAN-SPAM Act at www.ftc.gov/spam.

Always create a plain text version of your HTML email. The plain text version has the same content as the HTML version but does not include graphics and hyperlinked words. Always give subscribers who prefer text the option of viewing the HTML version by ensuring that the “View In Browser” link is at the top of the email.

Respect your subscribers. It’s important to keep your subscribers’ trust. After all, they’re the focus of your campaign. Send emails to them according to their preferences, do not sell or give their email addresses to other companies, and make it easy for them to unsubscribe from one or all of your newsletters.

Send questions to msogunro@uschamber.com