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…maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement, but it’s certainly becoming the online marketing tool of choice and overtaking its analog counterpart direct mail. According to a study released from Borrel Associates, annual spending on printed direct mail will decline from $49.7 billion in 2008 to $29.8 billion by the end of 2013, forcing companies that rely on direct mail campaigns to reevaluate their strategies. As virtually every other kind of traditional media is replaced by a digital counterpart, it’s no surprise that e-mail marketing is where the market seems to be moving.

As advertisers turn away from print and focus their attention and their budgets on interactive advertising, email marketing is where they’re spending the bulk of their money. Only problem – as easy as it is for consumers to take their “junk mail” from the mailbox and drop it in the recycling bin, it’s just as easy for people to delete an email without opening it. As a result, busineses need to ensure that that their email marketing campaigns are actually reaching their target audiences, and the way to accomplish that might be easier than most people think.

Having an interesting subject line that is clear and straight to the point are imperetive to ensuring the successful performance of an email marketing campaign. Something that screams “spam” is not going to get opened. All too often companies send emails that don’t have their name in the “from” or the “subject” line and email recipients don’t recognize who the email is a from. Overlooking this step is the perfect way to make sure your emails go straight from recipients’ inboxes to their garbage cans. Creating content full of useful links and content that people will find worthwhile are two obvious things that also get overlooked but make all the difference when measuring the performance of an email marketing campaign.

In the end, it all comes down to making sure that you’re doing all you can to pull internet users in and avoiding the pitfalls that are sure to push them away. Check out this BrandWeek article on the shift from direct mail to email marketing.