While there is no shortage of channels for businesses to reach prospects today, email marketing remains arguably the most effective strategy for generating leads. It’s a great way for Business Solutions Providers (BSPs) to achieve great exposure at a low cost. Statistics show email marketing provides an unparalleled ROI of 4400 percent. Of course, all email marketing campaigns are not the same, and some have no chance of reaching these levels of effectiveness because they’re poorly executed. Thankfully, there are a number of best practices you can leverage to help drive more leads via email marketing. Here are some to take advantage of for your email marketing campaigns.
Be judicious about whom you email – Ideally, you should only send marketing emails to those people who granted you permission to do so. Especially since the rollout of GDPR, if you are marketing to anyone residing in an EU country. Never, ever purchase contact lists. Large numbers of recipients marking your emails as spam will hurt the reputation of your IP address, which will hamper deliverability going forward. Periodically clean your lists by removing contacts that don’t open your emails. They’re obviously not interested and are harming your open rates.
Use carefully crafted subject lines – The subject line provides the first impression for recipients and often determines whether or not they go any further and open your email, so its importance cannot be overstated. Create a sense of urgency without coming across as spammy. Avoid spam triggers such as ‘free’, ‘exclusive’, and ‘now, as well as superlatives such as ‘amazing’ or ‘incredible’. In addition, keep subject lines short and sweet to prevent them from being cut off by the program they’re being viewed in.
Personalize your message – A personalized email that includes the recipient’s name is a great way to immediately grab the recipient’s attention. Modern email marketing platforms provide you the ability to automatically pull in the first name of the recipient when sending your messages, provided your lists include this data.
Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) linked to a landing page – Success: you’ve gotten your recipient to open your email…now what do they do? Make it simple for them to take your desired action by adding a crystal clear CTA, preferably ‘above the fold’ so they see it without having to scroll. Linking this CTA to a specifically designed landing page to prevent them from getting overwhelmed with distractions will increase conversions.
Optimize your emails for mobile devices – Most emails are viewed on mobile devices these days. As such, your emails should be optimized for mobile so they fit on and can be read on a smartphone or tablet.
Email marketing has stood the test of time, remaining a powerful yet affordable marketing tool for BSPs. By employing these best practices, you’ll increase the effectiveness of your campaigns and maximize your ROI.