We’re a matter of hours away from 2018, but let’s not turn the page on the calendar just yet. The waning days of December are a great time to look back at the previous 12 months and take stock of what truly resonated with our readers. Countless critics and publications have compiled their best-of lists for 2017, and we want to get in on the action. So we took a look at which articles on the VerticalResponse blog were most popular this year. What did we find? Our readers really, really enjoy lists.

Take a look at our 25 most popular articles in 2017:

1. 4 ways to retain customers and keep them coming back — Every business wants to keep customers coming back (yes, that’s even true of airlines and cable companies, believe it or not). No wonder this short and sweet set of tips cracked the top 25.
2. 5 tips for creating a sense of urgency in your writing and emails — Get those customers to click with email marketing that demands attention. Here was our take on how.
3. 5 event ideas that attract customers — Creative event ideas are always welcome. Here, we brainstormed on new and unusual ways to generate foot traffic.
4. 10 questions to ask in your business demographics survey — Looking to learn more about your customers? Here were 10 can’t-miss questions to help you better understand your clientele.
5. 6 free SEO tools to boost your search engine rankings — Everyone likes free tools. Fortunately, the internet abounds with them. Here were six of our favorites.
6. How to create an effective small business advertisement — Delving into the world of advertising can be daunting. Our blog post helped make it easier to navigate. Interestingly, this article was one of only three in the entire top 25 that was not a numbered list.
7. 25 holiday email subject lines that shine — Like a lot of people, we can’t get enough of subject lines, and we can’t get enough of the holidays. Put the two together? Pure magic, as evidenced by the popularity of this entry.
8. 7 golden steps to creating an effective email newsletter — An email newsletter has the potential to be one of the trickiest campaigns to create. We broke it down into seven manageable steps.
9. You’re invited: 6 components of a successful event email — Event invitations can sometimes cause an email marketer as much anxiety as a newsletter. What will entice invitees to come, and what will turn them away? We highlight the six elements that can ensure success.
10. 25 comical subject lines + tips for funny writing — Did you hear the one about the funny email? It got a lot of clicks. That’s not humorous (or even a joke), but here were our tips for crafting comedic gold in your email campaigns.
11. 5 ways to create added value for customers — What do customers want? Value! When do they want it? Now! These tips explained how to put that extra cherry on top of your already stellar customer service.
12. It’s the law: 7 email marketing rules you should know — Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it, which is why we’re glad these tips stayed in our top 25. As an extra measure, be sure to check out our global anti-spam laws infographic, too.
13. 50 unique ideas for your next email — Who doesn’t love ideas? Who doesn’t love more than four dozen of them? Our readers certainly love them.
14. 7 tips to creating a memorable slogan — Need a tagline or slogan? Many readers did; this is where they went for guidance.
15. 75 email newsletter content topics you can use ASAP — You know what’s better than 50 ideas? Seventy-five of them. Here is our exhaustive — but not exhausting — list of topics to use in your email newsletters.
16. 29 ways to collect email addresses for your newsletter — List-building can be difficult at times. We took some of the guesswork out of the process with these 29 tips. (And, of course, we literally wrote the book on email list management.)
17. Oops! What to do when email mistakes happen — Mistakes happen to all of us. That must be why this article, the second of only three in the top 25 that isn’t a list, was so popular.
18. The surprisingly best times to send your email marketing campaigns — Our highest-ranking article that wasn’t a list was this post about the best times to send email campaigns. That it was so popular shows that there may never be one truly satisfactory answer to when “the best” time actually is. But we’ll keep trying to answer it!
19. 10 retail marketing ideas to boost sales — Boosting sales is never a bad idea. Here was our take on how retail businesses could do it.
20. 50 all-time great retail subject lines — Was it the number 50 that made this article so popular? The fact we called these subject lines the “all-time great” ones? Whatever it was, this subject line post had our readers clicking.
21. The 9 emails your business should be sending — For those starting an email marketing program, the questions may seem endless. What should you send? When should you send it? What should you even say? What do your customers want to hear? This post, our fifth most popular in 2017, helped answer many of those questions.
22. The top 20 places your business needs to be listed online — Last year’s champ was still hugely popular in 2017. It dipped slightly to no. 4, but clearly online listings are a perennial favorite.
23. The 30 magic marketing words you should be using — Magic makes everything better. Here were 30 words that seem to have power over customers and readers. No wonder it was so popular in 2017 — or maybe it was the 10 bonus marketing words we snuck in at the end of the post.
24. 10 examples of highly effective welcome emails — Welcome emails are one of the most important tools in your customer outreach kit. Our 2017 runner-up was dedicated to our tips for making those welcome emails successful.
25. 20 powerful marketing words & phrases that sell or repel — No business wants to inadvertently repel its customers. This article highlighted the difference between effective and egregious, with vivid examples. No wonder it was our most trafficked post of 2017.

Those are the top 25! What will 2018 bring? Only time will tell. In the meantime, VerticalResponse will continue to bring you entertaining and educational content about making email marketing work for you — smartly and easily. Happy New Year!

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