In the world of B2B marketing, email messaging serves as both a vital communication vehicle for existing clients as well as an incubator for prospective customers. Creating effective email messages is a mix of science and art that requires discipline and attention to detail that can be challenging to deliver regularly. While your emails must convey a consistent voice and brand image, the messages also need to offer content that is relevant and meaningful to your audience. Effective emails deliver key company messages using a data driven approach to understanding how audiences are reacting to what you have to say.
Below we’ve compiled a list of what six experts say about the art and the science of email marketing. Let’s take a few moments to review their perspectives on email marketing strategy.
Engaging Emails
Titles are “the ‘secret sauce’ that makes email your top conversion channel.” – Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media
Just like the “secret sauce” on your burger, relevant, meaningful and engaging titles make your emails enticing to bite into–I mean, open.
“We all know how easy it is to delete an email on a mobile device, and this ‘read or delete’ mentality means you need to keep your emails short, sweet and to-the-point.” – Stephanie Miller, VP, email and digital Services at Aprimo
Your subscribers are more likely than ever to open your email on their mobile device as opposed to other devices. According to a study by Litmus, 36% of email is now read on a mobile device compared to only 33% on a desktop and 31% via webmail. Additionally, opens on mobile devices have increased a full 80% in the last six months. Today it’s essential to consider mobile traffic when designing and composing your emails, and length is key–no one wants to scroll endlessly through an email on their mobile phone. Put simply “be brief, be brilliant, and be done.”
List Management
“Using your list as only a monthly newsletter is like getting only one color of gummy bear. Theres so much more to it than that, and its best when mixed up.” – Mike Wilt, digital strategist, and Debbie Crawford, associate account manager, at the B2B marketing agency Godfrey
Readers may become conditioned to receiving only newsletters from you and, over time, they may stop paying attention. Test a variety of messages and formats to understand which approaches keep your readers engaged.
Strategic Content
“I don’t decide what content we share. Our website visitors do.” – Ken Barhoover, Marketing Manager at Park Place Technologies
When you take the time to compose an email to your customers or prospects, it’s important to write about topics that appeal to them. This may sound obvious but we often forget to use click-through rates to measure which topics are the biggest hits and thereby define what we should write about. There’s an old saying, “People don’t care what you know till they know that you care.” Make sure your audience knows that you care about their perspectives before you expect them to care what you’re saying.
“Regardless of your starting opening rate, your job is to try to best your own record with each email by trying different things (subject line, send time, content). If the open rate improves, you know youre hitting the right notes. If it declines, keep experimenting.” – Gina Watkins, regional development director at Constant Contact, D.C. Metro Area
Testing is key. Test, rinse, and repeat.
Metrics
“If I could measure only one metric for my email campaigns, this is it: Average Economic Value per Email Sent. It encompasses macro plus micro conversions. It will ensure your job promotion and a happy marriage.” – Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist for Google and author of Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day
Constant analysis of economic value will lead to long-term effective email marketing. Simple as that.
The Gross Strategic Marketing Approach
At GSM Marketing, we understand that email marketing, when done right, can be one of your most valuable communication channels. We have the tools and experience necessary to artistically develop your messages plus we understand the science of measuring success and impact. When you have questions about how to improve or initiate your email marketing please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be happy to work with you.
