"Delight" may be the most important word in all of inbound marketing.

So how can you use email to continually delight your customers? Email isn't exactly an inbound marketing tactic, is it? And we get enough email as it is, right?

Not so fast. Read these email marketing tips and discover how to use email to delight prospects and customers alike. 

Permission Based Email is Key

Buying or renting an email list is an example of outbound marketing. But if people give permission to be in your email database, that changes things. These people are essentially saying, "Hey, it's OK if you want to reach out to me," provided what you send it relevant.

Read that last line again. The "relevant" part is key. 

You do NOT have permission to email them "just because."

Emailing with Purpose is Essential

Every email you send should have a specific purpose. The higher level purpose should be to delight the recipient. So let's say your specific purpose is to inform people that you have a new free guide available on your site--a guide about a topic these people care about. That's the specific purpose. The delight part comes in the guide itself: it should be well-written, nicely designed, and chock-full of useful information, as promised.

Emailing with Mobile in Mind is Important

And not just "in mind," but top of mind. More and more people are reading their emails on mobile devices, so it's essential that you test how the text looks. You want short, pithy, scannable text. Lose the complex designs. 

Lead Nurturing Emails Should Be Well Thought Out

Lead nurturing is exactly as it sounds--you're nurturing a lead through the sales funnel in the hopes they will become a customer. Nurturing leads through email is a popular strategy, but it's one that can quickly get out of hand if it hasn't been thought through.

For example, let's say you have ten offers on your site and each one is connected to its own lead nurturing campaign. If someone downloads five pieces of content at once (this could very well happen), will they suddenly be entered into five separate lead nurturing workflows (which means they'd be receiving fives sets of email messages, most likely over a short period of time)?

Lead nurturing is GREAT, but you must always consider the big picture first. (And it's smart to consider implementing lead nurturing software to help manage this process.)

Treat Prospects and Customers Differently

Why? Because they ARE different. Messages will be different. How often you email them will (and should be) different, too. 

What email marketing tips do you follow to delight your prospects and customers alike? Share in the comments below.