The design and format of your B2B email campaign can have a big impact on deliverability. Given that you’re targeting cold prospects – the toughest audience there is – it’s worth investing time and money in good design.
Here are a few straightforward guidelines:
Firstly, consider how people receive and view emails. People tend to scan emails and skip over text – just like they do websites. It’s easy for them to miss vital information if the email is text-heavy or cluttered.
You can use links to aid readability, as well as short sentences and small paragraphs. Get straight to the point and grab the reader’s attention immediately. This is particularly important when communicating with cold prospects who have no commitment to your brand. They want to know early on if you can address their business concerns.
Structure the email so that the most important information is at the top. Emails are often opened in a preview screen, so your call to action won’t be seen if it’s down at the bottom. According to Nielsen, web users spend 80% of time above the fold – the same applies with emails so lead with your most important information and include a strong call to action.
Eliminate all obstacles to readability. For example, always send a text version of your email along with the HTML as many corporate firewalls block emails that are heavy on graphics.
Test the format of your emails before you send them out, by sending them to your own or colleagues’ email accounts. Also check how the email looks on a mobile phone. It’s obvious but ensure that your emails can be read on such a smaller screen. You also need to check that your emails are compatible with mobile software. In practical terms try to:
– Design for easy wrap around
– Place the call to action toward the top and in the pre-header
– Use black text apart from the call to action which should be a link in colour
– Don’t slice images: this has unpredictable results and slows down load times
– If you have to include navigation then put it at the bottom of the message
– Prepare a landing page that has been optimised for visitors arriving from your email campaign
– Limit message width to 310 pixels.
It doesn’t matter how good your email looks, if your recipients aren’t interested in what you have to say, your campaign will fail. Content, therefore, is crucial.
There are five aspects to consider in relation to content:
1) Your objectives
Focus on what you want to achieve and make sure this is reflected in the content of the email. If the main objective is to get people to click through to your website or to build your email list, make sure the content works for you.
2) Using rich media
It is becoming increasingly affordable and practical to embed audio and video in emails. This can be more engaging than bland text and allows you to show a product or service in action. Never do this simply because you can, but only if it genuinely adds something to your campaign.
3) Beware the hard sell
When emailing cold prospects it is easy to fall into hard-selling mode. Such emails, especially in the B2B arena, are rapidly consigned to the spam folder. Remember, you are communicating with people who don’t know you, so it pays to take time to build awareness, recognition and trust.
4) Get the subject line spot on
The subject line must make the reader want to open the email. It needs to be clear and consistent with the subject matter, and the length needs to be just right. Not so long that the recipient can’t view it all, but long enough to get your message across clearly. In fact, longer subject lines have been shown to generate more click-throughs .
5) Pay attention to your copywriting
Don’t underestimate the importance of good copy. Even if what you have to say is of interest to your recipients, they will quickly lose interest if you don’t say it well. Remember; keep your copy simple, concise, specific and accurate.
Test and refine to maximise responses
Before sending your email out to your entire list, you should always test it on a small segment first. This is the beauty of email marketing – you can quickly test and refine every aspect of your campaign until you get it just right. When using B2B email marketing for customer acquisition it is often the little tweaks that make all the difference.
Finally, always set up an auto reply. This will ensure that any recipients responding to your email will get a message straight back, thanking them for their interest. Then make sure that emails are answered and followed-up. It’s the first step in turning your cold prospects into loyal customers – with email marketing as the catalyst.
