B2B Email Marketing Tips That Work
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing techniques around, but it does have some unique caveats. It can be really effective in increasing awareness, sales, and engagement, but it can actually repel people if it is done the wrong way. It takes a certain amount of finesse to find the right people and send them the right content at the right time. Here are some tips about how to create a B2B email marketing campaign that really works.
Focus on creating valuable content
The most effective thing you can do for your email list is focus on creating valuable content. The content in your emails needs to provide your subscribers with information or resources that are not only relevant, but useful. For example, an article in your email newsletter could provide information about how to use a particular product or list other similar resources or recommendations that may be useful to your customers. While it is alright to have some promotional messages in your email campaign, being too promotional will definitely turn off subscribers.
It is vital to continue to test out content and techniques on a regular basis. So you can send certain email messages to certain marketing segments and leave the rest the same as the control for the experiment. If you want to figure out what is going to be the most effective content, leave the control group the same and then create variations and test with the remaining group. Use the metrics in your email marketing program to see if there are changes in the number of subscribers or the amount of opens and clickthroughs. The next step is to use this information to set measurable goals to increase engagement in your upcoming email campaign messages. It is also very easy to simply ask your subscribers for feedback about what they would like to see in the future.
Pay attention to peak usage times
The success of an email marketing campaign can be dependent upon when it is sent. The truth is that people tend to be more receptive during certain days of the week and times of the day. It may not be the same for everybody, but it is something that you can learn through testing. As a general rule of thumb, it seems that Friday has the lowest rate of opens while Tuesday has a significantly higher open rate. Obviously, emailing people on a major holiday will probably not work so well because people are not checking their emails on those days.
Find the right frequency
Sometimes email campaigns are not as successful as they should or could be because of the frequency. Some campaigns send emails too often and alienate their subscribers, while some do not send enough emails and cause their subscribers to forget about them. There is no correct answer in terms of frequency, because it depends on your audience and how often they want to hear from you. A good place to start is sending once a month, and then work from there to see if people are interested in hearing more from you.
Place an emphasis on landing pages
Landing pages are just as important as the actual email messages themselves. The main goal in terms of sending emails is to get your prospects to take action in some way, shape, or form. Perhaps you want them to sign up for a free trial, attend a webinar, or become a follower of your social media account. In any case, you need to make sure that the landing page is functional, attractive, and enticing. Above all else, it should fulfill its function of capturing their information, and have visual appeal as well as persuasive writing.
Email marketing requires a certain amount of testing and development to create a successful campaign. It will be a product of some trial and error, but as long as you keep track of results, what tends to be more effective will become apparent. Take some time to really get to know your audience and use the metrics to guide you along the way.
