It’s been quite a year, full of challenges and exciting innovations. For email marketing in particular, we’ve seen a lot change in 2017.

While “know your audience” and “be strategic” are always great tips, we wanted to give you some practical, actionable ways to revitalize your email marketing over the coming year.

Here are four ways to boost your email marketing strategy in 2018.

Know the email marketing playing field.

Email marketing is always changing. The inbox grows more crowded and more competitive every year. Maybe you’ve watched your tried-and-true tactics earn less engagement over time. Maybe you’re wondering if email is still worth the effort. We’re here to tell you: It is.

Marketers name email the most effective marketing channel behind having a website. Email boasts the highest ROI. It also saw an 83% growth from 2015 to 2017 (“State of Marketing” report).

Rest assured that email marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Scrub your email lists.

One key to  keeping your email engagement rates up and your sender reputation clean is to scrub your lists periodically. What better time to do this than the start of the new year?

Start by identifying subscribers who haven’t opened your emails recently. Set up a re-engagement campaign to draw them back in like this example from The Honest Company. If they still ignore your messages, remove them from your list. Remember, the quantity of email subscribers doesn’t always equal quality.

You can take this a step further and identify subscribers with spotty engagement. Look for trends in the types of emails they open and content they engage with. Use what you find to ensure you’ve properly segmented your lists and that you’re sending subscribers the content they want.

Finally, remove any hard bounces. These negatively impact your deliverability rate and will ding your sender reputation over time.

Send personalized emails.

As the inbox gets squeezed, it’s going to be a battle for brands to earn that coveted open. According to EmailMonday, 30% of marketers say personalization is the development most likely to impact their email marketing.

The annual State of Marketing report also points out that 52% of consumers are likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t personalize communications to them. This increases to 65% for B2B buyers.

Finally, the Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report has shown that shoppers want more personalized recommendations and offers via email — 79% like product recommendations, and 64% enjoy personalized offers. This falls in line with many email trends we’ll continue to watch in 2018, including incorporating AI and interactivity into email strategies.

Think mobile first.

It might not come as a surprise that more people are opening email on their mobile devices these days. Mobile opens hit 56% in 2016 and have held steady since. If you aren’t thinking mobile first already, 2018 is the year to hop on the bandwagon.

To help you optimize your emails for mobile, check out the helpful tips in the Email Design Toolkit.

Hopefully these essential tips can get you started on your New Year’s Resolution to send better emails in 2018. For more inspiring ways to up your email marketing game, check out these 8 Stories of Email Success.