Owning and operating a business is hard work. If you're a small business owner, you're probably the CEO, recruiter, sales and operations manager, accountant, marketer, and who knows what else. That's a lot of hats to wear. Not that we don't like hats, but with your marketing functions alone, you have: Content Marketing SEO Advertising by e-mail Social Media Marketing Search Engine Marketing Creative design And the list goes on and on… There is a lot to do, but someone has to do it. Since email offers the highest return on investment of all marketing channels (averaging $42 for every dollar invested), we decided to focus on improving your email marketing program. e-mail (plus, e-mail is kind of our thing). We want to help you get your money's worth. To help you streamline your small business email marketing, we've compiled 6 quick and easy tips. Use these tips and you'll reduce the time spent on email marketing while maximizing your return on investment. Win-win. 1. Find the right email marketing service Finding an email marketing service for your needs is easy. Choosing from the wide variety of solutions is not. At the heart of it, most email marketing software solutions perform the same function: sending emails to your recipients. But there's more you need to consider: deliverability, reliability, job title email list scalability, pricing, analytics, integrations, list management, ease of use, automation, segmentation, A/B testing, and more. Some of these factors (like deliverability, reliability, and usability) are non-negotiable, but you'll have to decide for yourself which other features are must-haves and nice-to-haves. The best email marketing tools offer free plans or trials, so experiment with the different platforms. Some email marketing platforms require basic coding, and others use drag-and-drop editors. At Twilio SendGrid, we allow you to use both. If you need help navigating the crazy landscape of email service providers (ESPs), take a look at 250ok's email service provider buyer's journey. 2. Get started with email automation Building relationships with your email recipients is essential, but it's hard work. Email marketing automation lets you drive conversions at scale without wasting too much time. With email automation, you can set up workflows that automatically send emails to your recipients based on their behavior. For example, when a new user buys your product, you can send an automated series of emails over the next few weeks or months to onboard or sell them.