Today, email marketing is the digital marketing tactic with the highest ROI for small and medium-sized businesses. The persistence of email marketing is likely due to its simplicity, flexibility, and quick returns. Many businesses have invested in email marketing since the pandemic with hopes of increasing their subscriber list and gaining more potential customers who are spending an increased amount of their time online. However, the only way to run an effective campaign is to adhere to email marketing best practices. Below are the top 7 things you should be doing with email marketing to increase leads:
1. Use Brand Consistent Templates
When it comes to email marketing, brand consistency plays a huge role in the success or failure of a campaign. It is absolutely vital to make sure that your logo, colors, typefaces, and message are all consistent. This is an opportunity to reinforce who you are from a branding standpoint and create a connection with your customers. As human beings, we are hardwired to recognize patterns, shapes, colors, etc. Therefore, when there are branding inconsistencies you could be missing out on a potential customer. Strive for consistency with your email marketing campaigns by adhering to your branding standards.
2. Customize Your Lists
Email marketing campaigns can become quite a hassle if your lists are not customized. Organizing and segmenting your customers will not only make your campaign more efficient but will also increase the likelihood that your campaigns will receive a greater response. You can segment your email lists by date, behavior, industry, etc. There is no wrong or right way to segment your lists. Take whichever method works best for your business and run with it! Customizing your lists will help get your message out to the right group of customers.
3. Subject Line Split Testing
The subject line is arguably the most important part of an email communication. It is the attention grabber that prompts the subscriber to either open the email or delete it. Most people who look through their emails will skim the subject line rather than open every email in their inbox. So, developing a catchy subject line can make all the difference between gaining and losing a potential customer. There are many different ways to change and test your subject line. You can test by length, specificity, or even by asking a question. Get creative with your subject lines to maximize open rates and identify qualified leads.
4. Host Industry Specific Seminars
Another type of email marketing lead generation method, which deserves extra emphasis is hosting niche-specific webinars. Webinars are especially effective because they usually teach a new skill or share important insights in a specific industry. That’s also the reason why webinars attract highly targeted leads. Your webinar attendee has to be particularly interested in the subject to give out their email, show up at a specific time and attend a 1-hour webinar. This investment proves that they’re qualified leads.
Furthermore, webinars are also an excellent way to turn those leads into customers. If the webinar host is an expert in their field, they’re able to establish authority and trust among the audience. The attendees are far more likely to buy something from a person, who they trust.
5. Use Auto-Responders
Autoresponders are used to follow up and reach out to readers automatically. They can also be used to respond to an email that is sent to it. Using auto responders is a great way to make the email marketing process more efficient. An example of a simple autoresponder would be when you set up an automatic email response that lets your clients know you will be out of the office. Autoresponders allow you to create pre-written emails that you want to be sent out to your customers when they purchase a product, there is news about an upcoming product release, etc. Use autoresponders to easily and efficiently get information to your customers.
6. Send Customer Surveys
Customer surveys are a great way to find out what your customers think of their experience with your business. Whether the feedback is negative or positive, this information can be extremely valuable to your company moving forward. Getting to know your audience will also help you to better customize your lists and serve your customers. Don’t be afraid of negative responses….all feedback is valuable feedback!
When used correctly, email marketing can be a valuable tool for boosting leads and generating new business. Consistency and efficiency are key when it comes to running a successful email marketing campaign. Although the list of best practices for email marketing could go on and on, utilizing the five ways described above will put your business well on its way to boosting leads and generating new business.
7. Focus On Your Call-To-Action
A call-to-action in email marketing is a button or a hyperlinked text, which directs the reader to your website or encourages them to make a purchase. The point of a call-to-action is to drive readers to take action. Essentially, a call-to-action is something that distinguishes a good email from a bad one.
Start out by thinking “What do I want the reader to do?”. Craft your messaging and call-to-action accordingly. Here are some examples of good call-to-action texts:
- Curious? Read more
- Read the full story
- Watch now
- Save me a spot
- Start your free trial
- Complete our 5-minute survey
- Yes! I want one
- Buy now. Pay later
Having a high-converting call-to-action is where you’ll start seeing the benefits of your email marketing lead-generation strategies. Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, because a lot of email marketing templates already feature a call-to-action button.
However, keep in mind, your readers are unique. So, what works for someone else, doesn’t necessarily work for your readers. That’s why it’s important to A/B test your call-to-action texts for maximum results.
