Sending email to your current or potential customers is one of the oldest forms of online marketing. It has survived this long because it has a proven track record; well-crafted marketing emails definitely get results. If you want to capture some of those results for your own business, you need to develop the necessary crafting skills. Here are five questions you need to answer before putting together an email campaign:

1. The subject: hard or soft sell? The subject line is critical in any marketing email. Your recipients will decide whether or not to open the email based on its subject. What you have to decide is how much pressure to apply when you craft your subject line. A hard sell (a direct appeal for customers to buy from you) can put some readers off, but it also gives others a sense of urgency. The soft sell (the more informative, general subject line) is less intrusive and friendlier and also easier to ignore.

2. Plain text or rich formatting? Modern email clients make it very easy to jazz up your messages with images, HTML and even advanced coding features. So, the question is, do you really want to? Richly-formatted emails have a lot of drawbacks. They take longer to load, they may not display properly, and they may set off some email programs’ virus or spam alerts. However, there are some things that are simply impossible to do in plain text emails. As a general rule of thumb, you should be sparing with richly-formatted messages. Don’t send them out often, and confirm (more than once, if possible) that the recipients want to receive them.

3. Call to action – at the start or the end? The core of a tightly-focused, well-targeted marketing email is the “call to action.” This is the next step you want your reader to take. In an email, the call to action often takes the form of a button or link that you’re encouraging your recipient to click on. This should be placed at the beginning of your message or at the end. You’ll find that your audience’s taste is the biggest factor in which placement is more effective. Try out both the determine which one gets more clicks, and then stick with it.

4. Broad strokes or deep detail? How much information you provide your readers about your offer is a significant choice in your email strategy. Minimal info and copious detail both have their merits; the most important thing is to develop consistency. Pick the level of detail that suits your audience. Keep in mind that you can always reverse the trend to point out a particularly important email.

5. When to send? Emails can go out at all hours of the day, of course. You want to pick a consistent time for your marketing messages and stick with it, though. Your choice will depend on what action you’re encouraging your readers to take. If your business is entirely online and customers can purchase from their homes, sending out afternoon emails to catch them at the end of the day is good. If you’re using email to advertise your physical business, you want to send messages in the early morning so that customers have time to read them and fit a visit into their schedule.

Getting good results out of an email marketing campaign is all about organization and efficiency. You can provide a big boost to both of these qualities by sitting down and taking the time to answer these five questions. Once you have your answers, you’ll be a lot clearer on your overall marketing strategy.