Email marketing has become a powerful tool for growing and developing businesses. Still, many industries are still unaware of the potential an email has. Many manufacturers are still stuck in the one-off “batch and blast” model of email marketing. However, that strategy is not effective in industrial marketing, where purchases involve expensive and complex products with long sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and high-risk decisions. With a potential return on investment of up to 4,400%, email marketing remains the most effective way to captivate and retain customers.
Keep It Relevant
Before starting any email marketing campaign, it is important to consider what value your email is bringing to recipients. Your company has a unique sales proposition (USP), and that should be shown through all outbound communications. Simply put: what content do your customers want? Understanding this question from a customer’s perspective allows you to tailor your content to address those needs.
Avoid SPAM
The last thing your company wants is for your emails to end up in a recipient’s spam folder. To determine if your email is spam, email providers like Yahoo or Gmail look at the recipient’s past engagement with your campaigns and user engagement with your company.
Good Signals to Email Providers
- Open: If your emails are frequently opened, that is seen as a signal your campaign is not spam.
- Reply: If people reply to your email campaigns, email providers view that as high engagement with your brand and do not signal it as spam.
- Not junk: If your email is moved out of the junk folder, this is recognized as a very strong, positive signal that your campaigns are relevant.
- Add to address book: If your recipients add your email address to their address book, the email providers take this as a sign that they want to receive messages from you.
Bad Signals to Email Providers
- Move to junk: If people move your email to the Junk folder, this is recognized as a sign that recipients do not want to see your message.
- Delete without open: If your recipients delete your message without opening it, this is seen as a sign they do not want to engage with your brand.
How to Avoid Spam
Create your subscriber list
The most important tip to avoid SPAM filters is to contact only the customers who gave you permission. It is critical to avoid emailing consumers off a purchased email list without any prior contact. Still, it is desirable to grow your in-house subscriber list and get to know your customers and their needs first. A great way to collect as many email addresses you can is at manufacturing events or via your website.
Use a familiar ‘From’ name
According to research, 68% of Americans base their decision to open an email campaign on the From line. If a name is recognizable, consumers are more likely to engage with your content because they do not consider you as spam.
Use a real reply-to address in your campaigns
As mentioned, one of the biggest key signals email providers use to mark your content as spam or not is how a respondent engages to your email. When creating email campaigns, avoid using emails like noreply@yourcompany.com as the reply-to address. Email addresses structured this way tell respondents that you are not interested in hearing from them, and reduces the number of opens you get. Instead, increase engagement with reply emails that follow a personal structure.
Examples include:
- hello@yourcompany.com
- support@yourcompany.com
- yourname@yourcompany.com
These types of email addresses signal to respondents that you would like to hear from them. Additionally, opening up communication helps your company seem trustworthy and approachable to leads.
Buyer Personas
Using a CRM is a great way to set up personalized contact with your contacts. CRMs provide a database of information that can be used to create buyer personas. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be able to craft emails for each of the buyer personas you wish to attract. This will not only increase your engagement and help you stay off SPAM lists, it will also help increase your sales.
Personalization
It’s best to avoid sending the same generic email to every contact in your database. Every contact is unique and often has different industry information and products of service. Segmenting individuals in your database into appropriate marketing campaign lists allows you to reach them more effectively. Additionally, it is useful to segment customers based on their stage in the buyer’s journey. For example, you wouldn’t send the same email to a returning customer as you would a potential one because they are at different stages in the buyer’s journey.
How To Segment
- Segment by industry
- Segment by company size
- Segment by sales cycle
Effective Email Structure
There are many different types of emails you can send based on your end goal. Mass emailing allows you to reach many different segments at once, or gives you the ability to automate your communication based on prior engagement.
Example Email Structure Types
Newsletters
Newsletters give general information about new advancements or news in your company or industry. They provide insights and guides that are equally beneficial to anyone who is subscribed to you. While creating a newsletter is a great way to develop leads, newsletters do not contain sales pitches. The ultimate goal of a newsletter is to deliver consistent value thus building trust and mindshare.
Promotional emails
Promotional emails contain special offers, deals, and appealing calls to action. Sales pitches are sent to either pre-existing customers or customers early along the buyer's journey.
Acquisitions emails
Acquisition emails are sent to leads who are in the middle of the sales funnel to convert them into prospects. These emails often contain samples, case studies, invitations to the webinars, and free health checks. Using these various tools helps leads understand your product or a service more effectively.
Retention emails
Retention emails are used to increase customer engagement and loyalty. These emails are uniquely set up to nurture existing clients after closing a deal. The goal of a retention email is to continue to delight customers, so they create new customers and you are able to retain their business. Additionally, retention emails are useful in gaining feedback or recommendations and upselling clients in their next sale.
Use Calls To Actions
By adding a call to action in your email you are able to prompt action instead of passive reading.
It is important to include links to relevant pages on your website or places that will guide the recipient along the buyer's journey. Email CTAs can come in many formats, including:
- A how-to video
- An app download link
- “Shop Now” text
- “Read More” text
- Poll Questions
- “Reveal my mystery coupon” buttons
- “Reserve your seat” button
- “Book a free consultation” button
- “Stay connected on social” prompt
Switch to Marketing Automation
Marketing automation helps in making your email marketing strategy efficient by automating your communication and analyzing the campaigns’ performance. Your CRM’s software dashboard allows you to view your campaign data and compiled reports. Because of continuous monitoring, you are able to check and optimize your open rate, traffic, and sales.
Email marketing is a great tool to connect with clients throughout various stages of the buyer’s journey. Thanks to technological advancements you are able to personalize all communications while still automating them. By using a CRM, your company is able to closely monitor data in real time and make decisions based on content performance.
Partnering with a strong channel partner is a great way to ensure your company maximizes their potential through email marketing. ManoByte has perfected the CRM implementation process and are experts at leveraging technology to ensure your businesses growth. Contact one of our business growth consultants today to see how we can help you maximize your business.
