No one likes to be called lazy, but we’ve all had at least a few times when motivation is lacking. By focusing your efforts on the most important aspects of email marketing you’ll be pressing the “send campaign” button without ever having to leave your recliner. Here’s your guide to doing the bare minimum.

Some tasks don’t always inspire a fantastical level of effort, especially when they are repetitive. While sending email campaigns can truly be quite exhilarating (Yes! Another open! Another click!) it can also be repetitive. If you’ve been working consistently to create new content, manage your lists and launch your messages on a reliable schedule then you might be finding yourself feeling a bit lethargic now and then in regards to your email marketing.

Not to worry, despite your temporary sluggishness you can still make a big impact with your email marketing campaigns. Your minimal viable email marketing plan involves only three things:

Send to your best contacts

No spamming! Your best contacts are always the ones that are the most engaged and they come from a double opt-in list that you have gathered organically (no purchased lists ever!). Your engaged contacts open and click your mail consistently and they are the most likely to make a purchase from you. Sending your campaign to just this portion of your audience is going to give you the best return for your efforts.

Choose a single goal for your message

A way to simplify your content is to ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish with your email campaign. At any given time, a contact can be defined by what stage of the customer journey they are in. This means that your email can be created with the most relevant goal for the subscriber in mind. For example, you might be sending a follow-up email after a purchase, a simple email designed to create product or service awareness or a request for feedback. Keep the focus clear to save time and energy while keeping your campaign relevant.

No sleepy subject lines

You need to muster up a bit of energy when you write up your subject line. Ideally, you want to create one that clearly defines what the email is about so your recipients know what to expect in the body of the message. A little creativity and cleverness can also go a long way to getting your emails opened. Learn more about crafting subject lines here.

Now go get some rest

Maybe you’re not so lazy after all! There it is, just three simple things to focus your efforts on when you design your next email marketing campaign. So the next time you feel weary, embrace it knowing that you’ve got a plan to work through it and still get the email marketing results you want.