If you asked a hundred people “What are the most important email marketing strategies that drive results?” you'd probably get a hundred different answers. What we can all agree upon, though, is that email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to generate revenue, drive customer interest and build trust with potential customers and collectors.

You’re probably already using an email marketing service in your business as a way to share your new work, upcoming events and launch special promotions with your subscribers. However, you may not be taking advantage of some of the lesser known and newer features that are available to make your newsletter the best it can be — both in presentation and in performance.

Here is a roundup of my favorite email marketing features that will help you power up your newsletter. My favorite email marketing platform is Flodesk, a woman-owned and woman-run business, so what you’ll find in this post is based on my experience with this platform, but you can certainly look for these same features in your preferred email marketing platforms (A heads up, though - most of these features are available via a paid subscription, regardless of the platform).

Feature #1: “Resend to Unopens” Feature

This may not sound like a particularly ‘sexy’ feature, until you see how it impacts your overall email open rates! This lesser-known feature can make a big difference in your email’s performance. The ‘resend to unopens’ feature allows you to resend an email automatically to subscribers who didn't open it after a period of 24 hours has passed since the initial send.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• This feature requires that you wait 24 hours after you’ve sent out your email, in order to resend the same email to people on your list who did not open it the first time. I usually wait 48 hours, because not everyone opens their email immediately, and you don’t want to come off as spammy!

• I also modify the subject line slightly, so it looks like a different email altogether.

• You may only resend an email once after the initial send to keep your unsubscribe and spam rates healthy, but it’s really more than enough!

• As always, in Flodesk, you can schedule your resend ahead of time, and let Flodesk select the best time to send it out, based on their algorithm, to make sure you can achieve the most email opens.

If you’re not sure how effective this strategy is, make a note of your first email’s open and click rates, and then check those numbers again 24 hours after the resend email goes out. I can almost guarantee you’re going to be doing this consistently once you see the kind of impact this one feature can have!

Feature #2: Beautifully-Designed Templates Specifically Tailored to Your Marketing Objective

Because you’re active in a visual-first industry, it goes without saying that your readers and subscribers likely place a high value on the way things look, so your newsletter and emails need to rise to the occasion and meet that challenge. Most professional email marketing platforms offer templates and layouts that you can adapt for your own use, but one of the reasons I love Flodesk is that each layout is carefully designed to help users achieve specific business-related outcomes.

In Flodesk, you’ll have multiple options based on your newsletter objective. For example, consider this list of newsletter objectives:

1. Welcome email newsletter

2. Sales welcome newsletter

3. Sale announcement newsletter

4. Editorial newsletter

5. Update newsletter

6. Multi-part newsletter

7. Roundup newsletter

8. Dear subscriber newsletter

9. Personal note newsletter

10. Freebie delivery newsletter 

11. Engagement newsletter

12. Re-engagement newsletter

13. Reminder newsletter

14. Thank you newsletter

15. Inspiration newsletter

When you log in to create a new email newsletter, the first thing you’ll see is a question: “What’s your goal?” Based on your goal, you’ll be presented with several layout designs. Overall, across Flodesk, I counted over 50 layouts, each optimized to help you crush your marketing goals. Oh, and if you want to create your own template, and start from scratch, you can also do that.

Feature #3: Eye-Catching Site Pop-Ups to Grow Your List

Wouldn't it be nice to see an increase in your email list every month? If you haven’t tried using a pop-up on your website yet, don’t delay! A pop-up allows you to promote your newsletter sign-up (or a freebie) in return for your visitor’s email address. Flodesk makes it super easy to get your email signups integrated into your website; in most cases, you’ll be able to set that up yourself.

Pop-ups are both visually strong and interactive, so site visitors will need to read the messaging, and take action to make them go away. Which means visitors will definitely be paying attention.

A pop-up is perfect for capturing email addresses; and if you’re wondering if the benefits (increasing your number of email subscribers) outweigh any drawbacks (the momentary interruption), the answer, both from marketing research and in my own experience, is a resounding YES.

• Before you can add (or embed) a form on your website, you’ll first need to create the form inside Flodesk.

• Once you’ve selected a template you like, and have customized the form, Flodesk generates a custom code snippet.

• You’ll need to copy this and paste it into your website’s HTML in order for the form to show up correctly.

• The directions to embed the form code differ based on the website platform you’re using, but directions are available, and you’ll find it’s easy to install.

A Tip: Pop-ups can be customized to appear by either choosing for it to happen immediately, after 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, or when the user has scrolled 30% down the page, so you can easily extend the duration of the delay to minimize the amount of ‘friction’ visitors may experience.

Tell me, have you tried these features yet? What’s stopping you, if not? Comment below!

We already know email marketing has a greater ROI than other communication channels, generating $42 for every $1 spent. Give these features a try, and let me know how well you're engaging with your customers through your newsletter as a whole.

If you’d like to try Flodesk, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial (or simply click the image below). I am an affiliate, so if you decide to upgrade after your trial, I get a small commission, which helps me continue to create free content for my readers. Thanks for supporting my business, and let me know if you need help, or have questions along the way!