Enjoying a high email marketing ROI is not a mission impossible. It really comes down to building a quality list and tracking results to improve your emails.
Do those two things, along with sharing valuable information that your ideal prospects and clients care about. That’s how you build relationships and trust so when a prospect is ready to buy, they turn to you first.
Why does email marketing have such high ROI?
For years and years, the statistic hasn’t changed: Email marketing has an ROI of more than 3,600%.
The reason is simple: Email marketing is cost effective. It doesn’t take a lot of time to create a beautiful email with valuable information in it.
Emails need to be short. Sure, you could put an entire (or half of) a blog post in your email, but headlines, intro blurbs, and call-to-action buttons are all you need.
You don’t need to create new content for each email; just use existing content. In my newsletter, I introduce recent blog posts, pop in a Five Business Rules video, and add a funny meme.
Finally, you don’t need to send out a weekly email to see results. One email a month is fine. Value is more important than frequency.
What to include in your newsletter if you don’t blog
I’ve got five ideas for you:
- A proven tip that you use (or you use for your clients)
- A simple exercise to try (like a formula for writing a better email subject line)
- A case study from a recent client project
- A customer story/testimonial
- A new offering you just launched (emphasize why it’s beneficial to your target prospect)
How to achieve a high email marketing ROI
The keys to achieve a high email marketing ROI are building a quality list and then tracking your results. A great list ensures you only reach people who want to hear from you, while results tell you how to improve what you’re doing.
First, build an email marketing list the right way
The first rule of building an email marketing list not buying lists or adding everyone you come into contact with.
The best way to build a list is by:
- Adding clients, prospects, vendors, and partners.
- Asking people to share your newsletter with whoever needs to read it.
- Providing free resources (aka, lead generation tools) on your website
- Offering discount codes for a first purchase (a common B2C tactic)
- Adding people who register for an online event – a demo, workshop, etc.
Most companies – my agency included – have an email subscribe button on their websites. Most website visitors ignore them. So, if that’s the only way you are building a list, see the three tips above.
Never sent a marketing email? Start with the emails of people you know AND who you think would find your emails valuable.
Write a short note for the top of the newsletter – something like this:
Welcome to our newsletter! Every month, we’ll be sending you valuable tips and insights on [your area of expertise].
If you choose to unsubscribe, no hard feelings! Simply click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the newsletter.
What are the best days and times to send an email newsletter?
Obviously, you want to send marketing emails when they’re most likely to be read. Some email marketing platforms will suggest the optimal send time based on past performance.
If your email marketing platform doesn’t, here’s my general rule of thumb:
A/B test for B2C! Emails to a B2C audience might do better on weekends or evenings versus weekdays or mornings.
For B2B, it is proven that mid-week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays) during the mornings and early afternoons (after lunch) perform best.
Second, track your results to continually improve your ROI
Your open and click-through rates alone reveal how interested people are in what you have to say.
Open rates tell you how good your subject line and preview text are and whether or not your audience is interested in the topics you are covering.
Click-through rates tell you how valuable the content or offer is in the email. (Speaking of which, only one call-to-action per email, or you will confuse people and they don’t take any action.)
2 ways to improve your open rate
A/B test email subject lines
It’s easy to do: Write two subject lines for your email newsletter. When you set up your email, don’t choose a “regular” email – choose an “A/B email” (the nomenclature may be different from one email marketing platform to another).
Your email newsletter will then go to two small groups of subscribers. Some will get subject line A, and some will get B. Whichever subject line gets the most opens is named the winner, and everyone else on your list gets the email with that subject line.
I remember when we started doing this for one client a few years ago. His open rates improved a lot, while his click-through rates skyrocketed. It was awesome to watch.
(You can also A/B test other elements of your email, but the subject line is the most common.)
Write better subject lines
Great email subject lines do one of four things:
- Tells you what’s in the email and who should read it
- Includes a sense of urgency or FOMO
- Asks a question you want the answer to
- Uses numbers and statistics to pique your curiosity
If you A/B test, you’ll quickly learn what your audience prefers.
5 ways to improve your click-through rate
To understand why your click-through rate is high or low, look at:
What type of content are you sharing?
What did people click on – or NOT click on? A video, podcast, blog post, quiz, free ebook, etc.? If you consistently get lots of click-throughs to your latest podcast episode but few to your blog, make sure your podcast episodes appear more prominently.
Can you re-arrange the order in which your content appears?
Order matters. When I started putting the article I mentioned in the subject line at the bottom of my newsletter (rather than first), clicks went up for all the content. Play around with the order and see what happens.
What topics are you covering?
What you want to write about versus what your audience wants to read are two different things. Make sure you track the topics that garner the most click-throughs. Your email marketing ROI depends on it.
Are you using images?
What happens when you add or remove images? Do clicks go up, down or stay the same? You won’t know til you A/B test it.
Can you improve your calls to action?
Always use a button in a contrasting color for your calls to action; do not use hyperlinked text.
When you’re writing a call to action, use short commands, like “read more” or “register now.” You can try tapping into FOMO (fear of missing out) with a more urgent call to action, like “Hurry – buy now!”
People read email newsletters – and they want to read yours
If you choose not to send a regular email newsletter, two things will happen:
- They will forget about you.
- When it comes time to buy what you offer, they will turn to your competitor who sends a regular newsletter.
How do I know your competitor sends a newsletter? Because of the ROI email marketing delivers (see above).
Related: Blogging in 2026 Requires This Approach To Drive Traffic and Leads