Email has become a key communication channel for the digital age offering many benefits over-and-above traditional direct marketing, the most obvious of these being the cost of production and the results it delivers. For business-to-business marketers building your own list and sending informative and useful email messages to both existing customers and prospects alike will keep your brand front of mind, which is especially important between purchases.
1. Build your own contact list.
You can rent or buy mailing lists, but if you build your own in-house list you will be targeting warm prospects who want to hear from you, which means better results for a lower cost.
Under the Data Protection Act you need to ensure that all contacts are opt-in. This means that they have explicitly agreed to receive your messages.
Ensure that you clearly communicate the benefits of subscribing, explaining exactly what they will receive and why it will be of value to them.
Twenty two per cent of registrations fail because the user finds the process too difficult or loses interest (source: email usability study by Neilsen Norman Group). In order to ensure that you don’t frustrate subscribers, keep the process simple and fast, ask for a minimal amount of information and ensure the questions are relevant.
2. Support complex purchasing decisions.
Business purchasing is often complex and time consuming. A number of stakeholders may be involved in the process and your marketing needs to persuade each of them.
Email can help educate your audience and communicate complex information over time, which builds trust and preference for your business.
You can also use viral mechanics to encourage the sharing of information with other stakeholders in the decision-making unit and reduce the time it takes to close the deal.
3. Prioritise content.
This will aid skim-reading and drive action. Many people find reading on screen a little uncomfortable; most of us tend to print things out if we want to read them in detail.
On screen we simply skim-read the copy to assess if we think it is interesting or not. It is vital that you or your agency spend time editing and writing fantastic sub headers that help the reader to quickly scan the copy.
It is also essential to prioritise the most important content and position it at the top of the email. This takes advantage of the preview pane used in email applications and means that your message will catch recipients’ attention before they have even opened the email.
4. Maintain interest.
Change themes, designs and content regularly, especially if you are planning a long term email campaign or a newsletter.
A common pitfall is to throw all of your ideas and content into the first few messages and then run out of steam. It is important to pace yourself and always ensure that you set a regular publishing cycle that you can comfortably work to.
A regular design refresh is a good way of maintaining momentum so that at first glance the email feels fresh and exciting. You can also boost interest by breaking out of your usual editorial style from time-to-time, such as featuring a guest writer or editor.
5. Don’t get mistaken for spam.
Spam is especially frustrating for an at-work audience, as they are busy and do not want to be interrupted by inappropriate messages. It is vital to the success of your campaign and the positive image of your business that your messages are recognised as legitimate and valuable.
The ‘sender field’ and ‘subject line’ establish who the message is from and what it is about, so these should be carefully crafted. Strong branding also ensures instant recognition.
If you are incurring any delivery problems you need to monitor blacklists to check that your IP range is not listed. You could be mistakenly listed because of the volume of messages you send. Your audience may be clicking ‘block sender’ because they cannot work out how to unsubscribe or you could get listed by association. It is also wise to be cautious about the use of words such as ‘free’, ‘save’, ‘offer’ and excessive use of capitals.
6. Track results and learn what works.
Your business is unique and one of the greatest advantages offered by email is the ability to track and evaluate your activity to determine exactly what works for you.
Discover when is the best time to deliver your messages. Is your audience most receptive on a Wednesday morning or a Thursday afternoon? What type of content does your audience respond to: news, business benefits, product/service information, industry hot topics? What happens when you change the visual style and layout of your messages?
The advice provided in this short article only really skims the surface of the critical success factors of email marketing. It is important to test, test and test again, monitoring results and cultivating key learnings to improve your email marketing programmes over time.
