Marketing automation is made up of many different elements that span across the entire lead management process. Starting with lead acquisition, communicating and nurturing, and turning them into customers – not to mention keeping track and being able to report on the whole thing.

For simplicity’s sake, I chose to focus on a couple of major principles that apply to just one area: communicating with leads.

My two biggest recommendations are given below. While they may seem obvious and simple, you’d be surprised at how many companies continue to overlook the basics.

Know your audience.

Looking for the quickest route to the Gmail Trash folder? Send someone information that doesn’t apply to them, or that they did not ask about. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Just sit back and watch your open rates sink.

Audience Segmentation is one of the most critical strategies for marketing of all kinds, and email marketing is certainly no exception. It’s critical that you deliver the right messages, to the right people, at the right times. Your open and click-through rates depend on it.

Effective segmentation starts with capturing the right data about your leads. Ensure that the forms on your website are collecting all the information you want or need to know in order to accurately group your leads into the right buckets for communication.

Avoid information overload.

There’s a tendency to want to tell someone “everything they need to know” about whatever it is you are selling or discussing in a single email communication. Do yourselves and your readers a favor – don’t.

It’s 2017 – it is implied that more information about your business can be found on your website and that someone could potentially rely on Google to find even more information from third parties. Your emails should be a place that requires less reading and more action.

Pick a call-to-action (CTA) and focus on it. Make it clear to your readers what you want them to do from the email. Utilize bulleted lists, images, and buttons to draw the eye toward your key CTA.

With an overwhelming number of factors that go into the strategy and execution of marketing automation, it can seem like quite a daunting task. But if you stick to these 2 key principles and keep your eye on the ultimate goal – turning leads into customers – you can simplify the whole process and optimize your lead generation campaigns.