When it comes to permission-based email marketing, offering content of value can significantly boost your open rate. “You will show your value and earn the trust of potential customers,” says Jill Tanenbaum, president of Jill Tanenbaum Graphic Design & Advertising Inc. Although it’s tempting to tout your company’s offerings, emails that provide relevant, useful advice keep recipients yearning for more. Here are five more tips to help your opt-in email marketing strategy make an impact:

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1. Feature only one conversion item. Emails that contain several calls to action typically lead to one result: inaction. “People are going to perform one action as a result of your email,” says David Dylan Jessurun, an email marketing expert based in Amsterdam. “If you have several promotions, spread them out over several weeks.”

2. Make it socially shareworthy. Silverpop, a provider of direct email marketing solutions located in Atlanta, offers a Share-to-Social feature that allows email recipients to share their communications with their circle of social network users. By adding social sharing links to its emails, the Sarasota, Fla.–based publishing company Miles Media increased organic opt-ins by as much as 61 percent.

3. Think outside the email. When an email marketing recipient clicks on a link, it should send them to an optimized landing page. “That page should have a single message and a clear desired action — to fill out a lead generation form, for example,” says Marc Blumer, a Chicago-based business-to-business consultant and copy writer. “It will dramatically increase results and your return on investment.”

4. Segment and personalize. According to Dave Lee, vice president of marketing at Infusionsoft, a developer of automatic follow-up software in Gilbert, Ariz., the most successful email marketing programs feature personalized subject lines, as well as relevant offers and articles based on recipient activity. Another option is to customize emails to different market segments on your list.

5. Get testy. An email strategy that worked wonders in the past may fall flat today, says Infusionsoft’s Lee. He recommends continuously testing variables such as format, design, copy style, calls to action, subject lines, and content. “Start with simple A/B split tests, and repeat it a few times to verify results,” he suggests.

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