A report from MarketingProfs suggests that some businesses are forgetting basic principles, such as personalization, timing and relevance, as their email marketing campaigns evolve.

A report from MarketingProfs suggests that some businesses must remember some of the most critical elements of email marketing campaigns even as the channel evolves.

Relevancy, personalization, timing and cross-channel strategy are all fundamental elements of email marketing. As emails becomes more interactive, featuring different forms of custom content, it’s important that these messages are formulated with these core principles in mind.

The growth of new metrics used to assess email marketing campaigns has enabled businesses to fine tune these four principles more effectively. For example, website analytics programs allow businesses to monitor site activity so intently that they can segment their audiences better than ever.

Using this information to make email content relevant and timely for specific audiences will likely improve click-through rates and conversions. Moreover, the ability to include Twitter, Facebook and Google+ sharing buttons on these messages and the website content they link to promotes a cross-channel campaign. Should a recipient share the content with their own friends or followers, it can generate more leads and conversions for businesses.

Brafton recently reported that email marketing will likely see increased use in 2012, with 63 percent of businesses using the channel say they plan to increase their investment this year.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.