2017 is ending, which means reflecting on the past year. For many of us, it means looking back at the wreckage that were our New Year’s resolutions. About 41% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, and only about 9.2% feel that they were successful in keeping those resolutions. Hopefully, you were not in the remaining 31.8 percent.

A common resolution is that of keeping a clean email inbox; a resolution that’s easier to keep than ever. Google Inbox, Edison Mail, and even old stalwarts like Outlook or Gmail have all made archiving unwanted emails and unsubscribing easier than ever. So for the email marketer, standing out and engaging potential customers via email is more difficult, yet more important, than ever. In order to send successful email campaigns, email marketers need to resolve to understand and utilize the unique benefits of email marketing: high engagement (and data on that engagement), targeting capabilities, and high ROI.

Resolve to engage

Email engagement is extremely high in comparison to other channels. When it comes to acquiring new customers, email is 40% more effective than Facebook or Twitter. Email is built to convert and has much less friction in the buying path than other channels. Add that high conversion to the detail you receive about the device used to open the email (which emails are opened and which products are purchased), and you begin to build a full picture of performance for email as a sales channel.

Resolve to target

Arguably the most important capability of email marketing is the targeting capabilities enabled by connection to a CRM, which are found with marketing automation software like Pardot. Developing specific messaging for customer segments based on the last product they purchased, when they last engaged with a salesperson, the size of their business, or a plethora of other factors will increase the campaign’s effectiveness and drive more conversions.

Think back to the last time you received an email for a product or service you had already purchased from that company. That’s a waste of an email when they could’ve been offering you something that could enhance your experience with the product you already have, or possibly offering you something you’re more open to purchasing now that you’ve made the plunge already. In fact, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue.

Resolve to see ROI

As a result of targeting capabilities and engagement, email marketing’s ROI is really quite remarkable, with studies showing around $44 per every dollar spent on email marketing. This return is why email is seen as a very high growth channel, with marketers citing benefits like improved awareness, higher rates of customer engagement, and improved customer acquisition.

Email marketing is a vital piece of any good marketing strategy. As you make resolutions and goals for your sales in 2018, resolve to improve your email marketing efforts through better targeting and engagement tracking. And then you’ll start seeing the high ROI you need for your business to succeed.