The Top 3 Strategies to Make Your Email Stand Out From the Rest

Do you ever feel like you're six feet under — six feet under a pile of email, that is? It's time-consuming and tedious to slog your way through a packed inbox. Recipients of your emails feel the same way, so here are three strategies to make your email stand out from the rest.

3. Use an Appealing Subject

According to Pardot.com, "the average email user received 5,579 emails in 2012." The number isn't likely to decrease in 2013, so make the effort to make sure what you send will be among the few privileged emails that actually get to communicate with recipients.

Both the name of the sender and the subject line carry a heavy load. They are the two factors that determine if the recipient will even open an email. If the recipient doesn't know your name, the subject line becomes that much more vital. Say no to laziness.

Subject lines that simply say "hello" give the impression that an email isn't really important (or worse, that they're spam). Resist the urge to ignore the subject line altogether. Write a subject that's specific to the content of the message, and use proper capitalization. If you must use capital letters, use it only for the words that you really want to have stand out.

2. Make the Message Personal

If you have a large list of people to reach with your emails, you'll likely alienate individuals if they feel like the exact email they received is going to hundreds or even thousands of other people. Luckily there are some quick, simple ways to personalize emails. 

Go deeper than just using names. Craft the message itself to make John feel like real thought and effort went into it—just for him. Most professional email marketing services, for example, leverage segmentation to really accomplish this. Segmentation is a useful tool that sends emails to specific sets of people based on certain demographic or other factors. Treat your recipients like people, and they become more likely to respond to you.

1. Write a Message Worth Reading 

Your email has conquered the first hurdle. That is, the recipient has decided to open it. This doesn't mean, however, that the email will actually get a thorough perusal. The delete button is still just micro-seconds away. You want your recipients to read your email, and you want them to feel like it was worth the small amount of time they spent reading it.

Don't make the message too long. Everyone is always in a hurry. Your recipients don't have time to read a novel-length email. Get to the point quickly. If necessity dictates that the email be a little on the long side, format it in a way that makes it easy to scan. The recipient wants to pinpoint the most relevant information without wading through a mire of words. This means short paragraphs and proper mechanics. Also, be thorough. Don't leave the recipient in a state confusion.

Use the above strategies to make your email stand out like a beautiful flower in a field full of weeds. All it takes is a little thought, a little time, and the right approach.