B2B Email Marketing

All posts tagged B2B Email Marketing

10 Email Copywriting Hacks for Your B2B Business

J.C. Granger July 6, 2021

Email marketing is a highly effective marketing tool for B2B businesses. Despite social media and other channels gaining traction, email is still a quick and effective marketing method for B2B. Email marketing can be highly successful, as long as you develop a strategy that’s tailored to your audience.

The key to successful email marketing campaigns is engaging, purpose-driven copy that resonates with your audience. However, establishing effective email copywriting can be challenging, especially for B2B businesses. The following are the top 10 email copywriting hacks that you should leverage at your B2B business to connect with buyers and boost conversion rates.

1. Fine Tune Your Company’s Buyer Persona

Understanding your target audience is a key aspect to successful email copywriting (and many marketing strategies, in general). Once you’ve fine-tuned your buyer persona, that ensures you can concentrate on your buyers’ needs, which narrows down the type of content you create.

To craft the best copy for your email campaign, you’ll have to understand everything about your B2B business’s ideal prospects. This includes:

Their fears, desires, needs, and aims.
Their pain points, so you can present your business as a solution.
What their decision-making process looks like.
Factors that have an impact on their business purchasing decisions.
What they want and need in the short term, and their long-term goals are.
The motivations that spur them into taking action.
What type of language and colloquialisms they prefer.
What kind of doubts they may have and how those doubts develop.

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can set the tone of your email copy and tailor campaigns to match your buyers’ specific interests. Fine-tuning your buyer persona also sets into motion the rest of the hacks on this list.

Need help with your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in running B2B email campaigns. Using time-tested methods, our team of email experts creates campaigns that grow your email list and increase conversions. Interested in learning more? Check out their Email Marketing Service now.

2. Understand the “Don’ts” of Email Copywriting

Just as there are a lot of things you should do in email copywriting, there are several things you shouldn’t do to be aware of. The hack here is to keep these “don’ts” in mind as you are crafting unique and engaging copy so you don’t overstep and end up losing your target audience. You can do almost anything with your copy, but be sure to understand a few general email copywriting rules:

Don’t use your emails as a chance to attack competitors. Such behavior typically turns customers away and puts your integrity or reputation in question. You can compare your business to the competition, but do so in a way that focuses on the positive aspects of your business, and back up your claims with facts.

Don’t be impolite in your messaging. You may use colloquialisms and an informal tone depending on your target audience, but make sure your copy stays polite, friendly, and professional. Don’t use arrogant or condescending language.

Don’t make promises that seem too good to be true. The more profitable or exclusive your offer is, the more readers may be suspicious of it. Be realistic in your messaging and back things up with examples, proof, and client testimony. Remember you will need to deliver on your promises to retain customers.

Don’t use words that have negative connotations to them. On top of staying polite, make sure your language is positive and upbeat. Avoid words like “wrong” or “expensive.” Focus on the best aspects of the offer you’re making.

Don’t forget how busy your recipients are. People don’t have a ton of time to read emails, so keep your message short and sweet, and try to get your point across as concisely as possible. You can use tried-and-true email formulas such as BBB (brief-blunt-basic).

One of the most important “don’ts”: Don’t use every single tip you see about email copywriting in a single email or campaign (that includes the ones on this list). Carefully select the copywriting tricks you will use in your own copy; what’s successful will depend on your target audience, your products and services, and other factors.

Many copywriting techniques can even be conflicting if they’re used all at once. Take the time to determine which tips are best for your situation.

3. Pay Close Attention to Your Word Choice

As mentioned above, the language you use in your emails doesn’t just help you connect with your audience–it also has the power to turn them away, so choose your words carefully. Remember to keep a positive and peppy tone. Typically email campaigns position themselves as a supportive resource for the buyer, and simply aim to help solve whatever problem the buyer is facing.

Using colloquial language or slang is an easy way to connect with readers. Keep in mind, however, that using slang in your emails can backfire, depending on your industry. Analyze whether colloquial language makes a negative impact on the performance of your email campaigns. If it does work well, use it moderately.

A few other word choice hacks you can use in email copywriting include:

Power words. These words create a strong response from readers, emotionally and/or psychologically. They encourage readers to take action, help build trust that your business is an authority, and more. Enhance your copy with power words like “top secret,” “sneak peek,” “guarantee,” and others.

The “guide” technique. With certain phrases, such as “imagine,” “pay attention,” and “just think,” you’ll keep the reader’s attention more successfully. Unlike power words, these phrases don’t elicit a response but rather prolong attention and engagement.

Using double verbs, such as “sign up and save,” “filter and find,” or “shop and discover”. A double-verb kick helps guide the reader on the direct actions they should take.

4. Use Anchor Technique

With anchor techniques, all you need to do is put an “anchor” within your copy that is a starting point and guides the reader throughout the text, altering their perception along the way. Many email copywriters do this with numbers or prices:

At the beginning of the email, the copy offers a product that has a certain price point and provides a description that justifies the price.
Later in the email, it’s explained that the product is half off but only for a limited time.
The email ends by welcoming the reader to purchase the product before time runs out and the full price returns.

The email recipient may be uninterested in the product at first, but their interest is piqued as they read on. You also don’t have to use numbers for this technique; you can use payment options, plan upgrades, shipping options, or subscription tiers as the anchor. Just make sure you use an anchor more than once in the body of the email.

5. Personalize Your Content

A great hack to boost the success of your email campaigns is to ensure you are personalizing the content you create. Personalization techniques, such as adding the recipient’s name in the subject line or within the text, put a human touch to the copy. You can also create special offers based on the organization’s past engagement habits with you.

Personalization can improve the KPIs of your email campaigns. According to Monetate, sales increased 20% when marketers used personalization techniques in their copy.

If you have the means to do so, personalization is especially successful with important, high-spending customers. The bigger the client is to your business, the more personalized the offer should be. They’ll continue to invest when they receive offers built exclusively on their wishes and needs.

6. Ask Questions to Enhance Engagement

Posing a question engages your readers in a personable, immediate manner. You open up a conversation and connect with them on a much more personal level. This is one of the reasons why surveys and polls continue to be effective methods to engage with buyers.

In your email copy, use open-ended questions that don’t just have “yes” or “no” answers to pull the reader in. Put questions in the subject line of your email so readers see it right away and are tempted to go through the entire email to find the answer or give their input. Asking questions also makes your readers feel as if you care about them, and provides the impression that they are making an individual impact on your business.

7. Leverage Buyer Emotions

Another email copywriting hack is to tap into buyer’s emotions. Many people experience a fear of missing out on a great offer, or will be more likely to take action if they are made to feel special or important.

Take another look at your buyer persona and what type of services your B2B business provides. Not every business can treat buyers like VIPs, but there are certain emotions that are already present in your buyers, and these are the emotions you should tap into.

There are several different tactics to use when it comes to leveraging buyer emotions:

Creating an impression of exclusivity. One of the most useful strategies is to make your reader feel as if you are speaking only to them and providing one-of-a-kind offers that were built specifically for them. Products and services that are presented as exclusive seem generous and reinforce a more personable relationship.

Using fear as a motivator. The fear of missing out is real. Showing customers exactly what they’ll miss out on if they pass up your offer can be a great motivator, as long as you present the idea carefully so that customers convince themselves that the offer is a necessity.

Offering positive incentives. You don’t have to focus on FOMO to encourage action–there are positive emotions to tap into as well. Offer a sneak peek into something that’s up and coming, or a free trial. You can also point out ways that your B2B products and services give buyers a leg up on their competitors.

Catering to your client’s desires, not just their needs. Desires, rather than needs, drive a lot of decision-making. Your buyers need some of your products, but other products, they simply want. In your email copy, cater to both the rational and the emotional decisions that your buyers may make.

8. Skillfully Motivate Your Subscribers to Take Action

Email copywriting often involves subtle motivations and some psychological tricks. Once you understand your buyer persona, you can employ these tricks, which will slowly encourage readers to take action on your offers.

Much like leveraging emotions, it’s essential to understand what most likely will and won’t work with your subscribers. You can run A/B tests to see what kind of motivation your buyers respond to. Some common copywriting tricks you can try include:

Highlighting a key benefit and mentioning this benefit three times within the email copy. Describe the benefit at the beginning of your email, in the middle, and once again at the end.
Using phrases that add an extra aspect. Saying phrases such as “one last thing” and “even more”, then adding a little bit more of an incentive or information, can be the one thing that finally pushes the reader into action. Trying saying “One last thing, this is available for a limited time,” or “On top of all that, we’re offering 10% off.”

Describing small actions the reader can take to experience your products or services. This is especially helpful when your end goal requires a complex set of actions or large financial investment, as you slowly lead the customer to this complicated end goal.

You can also try withholding some information in your emails. This trick works best for up-and-coming announcements or when new products are launched. Tease the reader throughout the email and reveal enough about your product or announcement to pique their interest. At the end, ask them to reply to the email for more details or sign up for a waiting list so they can be notified in the future. You can also include a CTA that says “Find out here!” to boost email click-through rates.

9. Deliver on Your Promises

While this may seem like an obvious hack, it’s important to be mindful about the language you use in your email copy and whether your company can realistically deliver on the promises you are making. Don’t over-promise for the sake of increasing open rates or conversion, otherwise, you may risk the reputation of your business.

Describe the benefits to your products and services in a compelling, believable manner. Providing short-term numbers or advantages is especially helpful here, as people are more likely to buy into something that will boost their business in the next several months or even weeks rather than over the course of a year.

Make sure you can deliver promises on time, as well. Set up email drip campaigns that automatically send content to subscribers at specific times so you can streamline this process. For example, a drip campaign can trigger an email that describes when a free trial will end and a paid subscription will begin. Or, it can provide an update on when the customer can expect their product to be delivered.

In email copywriting, it’s also important to use clear, precise words that don’t leave room for any misunderstanding or doubt. Be exact with your word choice and avoid vaguely describing promises, benefits, or timelines. You want your emails to answer the reader’s questions before they come up–and there are specific questions that should be addressed.

Want to put your email marketing campaigns in the hands of experts? Infinity Marketing Group creates effective purpose-driven email marketing campaigns for B2B tech and software companies. Learn more here.

10. Check Your Email Against These 5 Questions

Before you send your email off, make sure it contains all the information that recipients need to know. Check your email against these questions, and be sure that your subscribers can answer easily:

Who is reaching out to them? Who is selling the product or making an offer?
What exactly is being sold or offered?
Why should they go out of their way to buy a product from you or make an investment in your services?
How will they be able to learn more? A discovery call? A landing page on your website?
Why should they be able to take action now instead of waiting? What kind of benefit or imperative is there to acting quickly?

Even from a brief glance, your subscribers should be able to answer all of the answers above; the main point of email copywriting is to deliver information in a concise way. Readers likely will scroll or skip through the email, so the information you present should be short and clear.

The two hardest questions are why they should go out of their way, and why buy now. These are the biggest pushes your compelling email copy should make–after all, nearly every email is selling something. Describing quickly and concisely why buyers should invest in your business specifically, and as soon as possible, is the key to standing out.

Leverage These Email Copywriting Hacks And More

Establishing successful email marketing campaigns isn’t easy, but it begins with strong and compelling email copywriting. Once you fine-tune your buyer persona, as well as the tone and language that your buyers resonate with, you can move on to incorporating the hacks on this list that are the most fitting for your business.

When you meet buyer needs, provide solutions to their pain points, and skillfully motivate them to take action, your emails connect and engage your target audience. Want to learn more about email copywriting, or how to create a successful email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group can help you personalize your emails and target customers to boost your ROI.

is-cold-email-legal-www.infinitymgroup.com_.jpg

Is Cold Email Legal? The Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing

J.C. Granger June 29, 2021

Let’s talk about what cold email marketing is — it is a resource to use to communicate with a list of prospects. It’s a main way of communication that feels less intrusive than the cold marketing phone call. It’s a powerful marketing service when done correctly.

If you consider email marketing as a public relations tactic, you need to understand the rules and regulations that can turn your innocent approach into a legal nightmare. The CAN – SPAM Act is a law in the United States that regulates commercial e-mail. It does not prohibit anyone from buying or selling your email address, but it does prohibit you from sending out bulk unsolicited e-mail. When done properly, cold emailing is not SPAM.

Sending cold emails can be a very lucrative part of your leads strategy as long as you abide by the rules. It is a very effective sales outreach channel and yes, cold email marketing is legal if you’re reaching out to business contacts.

Unsolicited emails can be sent through corporate subscribers as long as the email content is relevant to their business. Those need to be B2B emails need to meet certain requirements.

What are the requirements?

Be careful targeting your prospects. Your business should be logically connected with the business activity you are reaching out to. Make sure in your email, you contain information that allows for the recipient to unsubscribe or be removed or changed from your send list at any point.

B2B cold email communication is legal as long as you simply opt-out and your personal information is subject to the same privacy laws as your email address and other personal information such as telephone number.

Want to grow your business with cold email marketing campaigns? Reach out to the experts at Infinity Marketing Group. Reach them at info@infinitymgroup.com or by calling (303) 834-7344.

Keys to Cold Email Marketing Success

Segmentation

Carefully segmenting your email lists by creating lists of recipients that have replied, those that have opened your email more than once, and those that have clicked on a link.

It is recommended that you remove your prospects that have not opened your email after 30 days. Segmenting audiences helps you identify those that are interested in your services and allows you to further personalize your message as you move your customers further down the funnel. This leaves a better impression on your recipients and ultimately, protects your domain.

You’re always limited to how many emails your client will allow you to send while taking into consideration that your email could potentially be blocked. The key to sending an email to a list is to make it sound more like a personalized, professional email.

Personalize your messages. The more you can segment your lists, knowing your audience the more you can personalize your messages by business, past behaviors, or a connection you may have to that person or company.

Testing, Testing, Testing

In order to send your emails at their best potential and have peace of mind that your emails are giving you the most out of your return. Make small changes to your email and keep track of those under and over-performing strategies. As you notice trends and responses to various email techniques such as color, verbiage, and tone you will discover better engagement results in your email campaigns.

Experiment with such things as your subject line, length of your email, personalization and your call to action. A/B testing emails helps clearly identify which unique approach works for your prospect base. Make adjustments based on your results and remember, consider small changes to ensure a clear winner in your testing strategy.

Strategy

Consider how many emails will make your campaign, what your emails may look and sound like and always consider personalizing your email. Keep your email engaging. Offer your recipients something of value. Build credibility, identify a reason for emailing, and streamline your emails through a series.

Streamline your cold email process. Rank your leads, send follow-up emails to the top generated leads. Ditch the emails that haven’t responded and follow up with those that have opened or reacted to your email by building your credibility, giving those recipients something of value and delivering a strong call to action.

Personalization

Ensure your signature line is coming from a specific salesperson and an easy way to get in touch with them. Consider eye-catching subject lines, and using first name and company names where applicable. With a name and company name, you’re more likely to end in email inboxes. Do not overcomplicate your message.

How Do You Send A Cold Email?

There are several email service providers that specialize in sending cold email messages. Keep in mind that these messages will need to be scaled down into smaller batches and can potentially send hundreds of emails out per day without spamming anyone.

Infinity Marketing Group offers full-service cold email campaigns to B2B tech companies. Email info@infinitymgroup.com or call (303) 834-7344 for more information.

Email Tips

Tailor your messages to your ideal recipients. Writing an email is a craft, be convincing and interesting. State your purpose with clarity. Write your message in a friendly voice and introduce yourself, be clear and direct. Offer a value-added incentive. Be careful of your verbiage, don’t come off as too sales-y and avoid using common spam words. Treat your first email as an ice breaker. A fantastic cold email is one that creates a connection between the sender (The Company) and the recipient. Concentrate on the key items you can offer the recipient versus what you want them to do for you.

Establish yourself as a credible source of information. Remember, you’re an authority on the matter, so communicate effectively and confidently. Hit quick, key points on your reputation and successes, don’t be afraid to brag. Be confident and proactive. Send a simple invitation to connect, create time on your calendar.

Need a Cold Email Marketing Expert?

Cold email is legal and can be incredibly effective. Remembering to follow the rules is the key to any successful campaign, especially when the consequences can be pricey in the number of fines that can accrue if sending cold emails isn’t executed properly. To successful campaigns, remember to be specific, sincere, and ask them to take an action.

The main benefit of all this is that you can send cold emails. To take advantage of this amazing marketing avenue, be sure you follow the guidelines set out in the bylaws. If you get it right, cold emails can be an effective way to generate warm leads. We always recommend looking for professional help, at Infinity Marketing Group, we can help you develop a successful cold email marketing strategy that will quickly find prospects. For more information, email us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call today at (303) 834-7344.

Create an Email Marketing Calendar to Maximize Conversions

J.C. Granger June 15, 2021

All successful email marketing strategies have three things in common; they are consistent, know their audience, and communicate with them at the right time. To optimize your campaigns and generate the most ROI through email, finding the perfect combination of those three components is critical.

Finding this ideal balance can be difficult, especially when you have other marketing campaigns up and running. To keep your audience engaged, use an email marketing calendar to plan, organize, and schedule your email campaigns. To keep your strategy on track and ROI-focused, our experts have created a quick guide to creating an email marketing calendar. Integrating these elements into your calendar will skyrocket your campaigns!

What is an Email Marketing Calendar?

Before we dive into how you can create a successful email marketing calendar for your business, let’s address the big question: What is an email marketing calendar, and why should my company have one?

First and foremost, it’s worth the investment. Data shows that for every $1 your invest in email marketing, you can expect an average ROI of $42. That’s a statistic no B2B company should ignore.

Need another reason to invest more time and energy into creating an email marketing calendar?

You probably have a social media calendar, which you use to announce new features or product updates. Like social media marketing, email marketing requires planning. Rather than feeling rushed to create email content, why not plan ahead so that all of your marketing campaigns align?

Specifically, planning your email marketing campaigns will help you to:

Plan and execute a comprehensive marketing strategy that works smarter, not harder, across your marketing channels.
Make email marketing more transparent to your team, so planning and any prep can be done seamlessly to get the most from your email sends.
Set clear expectations, objectives, and goals for email marketing.
Track your open rates and other metrics, allowing you to refine and improve your email campaigns over time.

By creating an outlined long-term strategy, you’re enabling your teams to test, refine, and truly harness the potential of email marketing.

Need help creating an email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in running B2B email campaigns. Using time-tested methods, our team of email experts creates campaigns that grow your email list and increase conversions. Interested in learning more? Check out their Email Marketing Service now.

Elements of Your Email Marketing Calendar To Consider

Consider all of the following aspects of each campaign to ensure the quality and efficiency of your email marketing calendar. The more details you include, the easier it will be for your team to execute a successful email marketing strategy.

1.) Who On Your Team is Responsible for Each Email?

Assigning responsibility is key when it comes to building out your email marketing calendar. Be sure to consider your team member’s areas of expertise, their other duties, and how they can best contribute to the content you want to share with your email list.

Having each email assigned to the proper person also creates accountability, which, at its root, drives successful and consistent email campaigns.

2.) Know Your Audience

When it comes to email marketing, many companies don’t fully consider who their email subscribers are. The fact is, your audience on Facebook MAY NOT be the same audience who has subscribed to your email list.

Consider creating a customer persona based on the email marketing campaigns you’ve run in the past. What was and was not successful with your subscribers? What email subject lines did they respond most to? Which Calls-to-Action received the most clicks?

Based on past behavior, you can plan which types of campaigns you should include in your email marketing calendar.

Tip: If you don’t have much email data, A/B test messaging for a few weeks. Learn what works and what doesn’t. Then, modify your email calendar from there.

3.) Establish an Email Sending Frequency

When creating your email marketing calendar, be sure to consider the frequency of your email campaigns.

Questions to consider:

How many emails are too many?
How do you plan to engage your audience in different ways?
Which days and times best fit your audience and their schedules?

Emails typically perform best when sent between Tuesday – Thursday. Now, based on your audience and product, determine what email frequency will maximize conversions.

5.) Identify The Creative Assets You Need for Each Campaign

Often, email campaigns require creatives to enhance their look-and-feel and support the Call-to-Action. This usually comes in the form of an edited graphic, or a branded video that’s embedded into the email.

Rather than having to compile these creatives at the last minute, use your email calendar to plan ahead. This way, your creative team knows what assets you need ahead of time.

We’ve all felt rushed in the past when it comes to email marketing – using your calendar to plan for creatives is a great way to streamline the email marketing process.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to repurpose graphics you’ve used on social media for email campaigns and vice-versa.

6.) Set Deadlines

What does every strategic calendar need? Deadlines.

After creating your monthly email marketing calendar, set deadlines for the copywriting, any HTML design that’s required, and for the final delivery of email creatives that are needed.

These deadlines ensure that the email schedule you’ve created will stay on track.

7.) Record Your Campaign Results Within the Calendar

It’s critical to record the metrics for all of your email campaigns.

Be sure to record the:

Open Rate
Any A/B Testing You’ve Conducted & The Result
The Click-Through-Rate
ROI You Can Attribute to The Campaign

Put these metrics within the calendar as well. This will help you and your team determine which emails campaigns were the most successful, informing the next monthly calendar you create.

Ready to Maximize Conversions with Your Email Marketing Calendar?

By creating an email marketing calendar, your B2B business is setting itself up for measurable success. Not only will you see higher performance from your team, but increased engagement across the board from your email list.

Infinity Marketing Group manages email marketing campaigns for B2B tech companies. If you want to get the most out of your campaigns, Infinity’s team has the experience and knowledge to leverage your email list and help you increase ROI. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call today at (303) 834-7344

email-drip-campaign-series-www.infinitymgroup.com_.png

How to Create an Effective Email Drip Campaign

J.C. Granger June 8, 2021

The main point of email marketing is to engage with customers and encourage them to take action, whether that’s buying a product from you or signing up for your company’s monthly newsletter. However, many customers feel overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive every day. Companies need to execute a successful email marketing strategy in order to constantly stay in their customers’ thoughts.

To grow your business, you must strike a balance between finding new customers and maintaining a positive relationship with the ones you already have. An email drip campaign is one of the most effective marketing tools to accomplish this. These campaigns are sent out automatically with targeted messaging that is designed to consistently engage your customers so they keep interacting with your business.

Definition of an Email Drip Campaign

Email drip campaigns are automated emails that are sent because of an established timeline or a specific trigger–a customer’s action or inaction. For example, these emails are triggered when someone signs up for a newsletter or are sent when someone puts items in their online cart but doesn’t follow through. Overall, the initial trigger action dictates which drip series is initiated.

Drip campaigns focus on delivering customers the exact information they need at a specific time. Each message pushes them further down your sales funnel. You’re growing and nurturing your leads–the same way that a garden is grown and nurtured through a drip water system, hence the “drip” name. This is a good opportunity to do some A/B testing on subject lines and other minor details to determine what performs best to your potential customers.

The term “email drip campaign” is also known as:

Drip campaigns
Drip marketing
Email drip series
Automated email marketing campaigns
Email drips

In the end, these are all the same thing. They essentially are pre-written, automatic marketing emails that keep customers engaged with your product or services. They move your customers toward a final point in the sales funnel such as a purchase.

Drip Campaigns and Lead Nurturing

Email drip campaigns are especially helpful when it comes to nurturing leads. These campaigns can help you convert warm leads into loyal, long-term customers as you cultivate relationships every step of the way throughout the customer journey.

According to Marketo, lead nurturing is reacting to buyer behavior in real-time as you listen to their needs, adapt to those needs, and deliver personalized messaging that addresses the needs. If you stay in constant contact with your customers and provide them valuable content over time, you begin to build trust and become their “go-to.”

Typically, people are interested but are not ready to make a purchase right away; as many as 50% of potential customers feel this way. Drip campaigns are all about nurturing those warm leads so that they are led completely through your sales funnel and eventually complete a purchase.

Want to turn email subscribers into clients? Infinity Market Group specializes in email marketing for SaaS companies. To learn more, contact their team today.

How Email Drip Campaigns Make an Impact

What sets email drips apart from other email marketing strategies is that they use triggers and timing to send automated messages. They also present a lower risk of customers unsubscribing or disengaging. The emails that are sent are ones that customers not only signed up for in the first place, but ones that they may even be expecting, such as a confirmation email after a purchase.

Research has shown that email drip campaigns can provide as much as 18x more revenue for companies. Leads that are nurtured over a long time make almost twice as many purchases. On top of this, drip emails provide an increase in click rate.

Examples of Email Drip Campaigns

There are different types of emails you can integrate into your drip series. Take some time to experiment to discover which ones help you convert leads. Whether you’re introducing customers to your brand or keeping them engaged, always aim to provide targeted and relevant information.

Welcome Emails

Welcome drips are your first introduction to brand-new subscribers, typically after creating an account or completing their first purchase. The first welcome letter has the highest open rate in any drip campaign, so make sure the first email makes an impact educating your customers about your brand and letting them know what to expect from your newsletters moving forward.

Your welcome email can:

Be simple sentences such as “Welcome to our community” or “Nice to meet you.”
Promote content such as evergreen content or recent posts from your blog.
Explain how people will benefit from your product.
Give a more in-depth explanation about what you have to offer.

A study by Experian showed that autoresponders such as welcome emails have an average open rate of 58.7%. If that welcome email is sent as soon as the customer signs up, that open rate increases to 88.3%.

Onboarding Emails

Onboarding drip emails are typically used when customers sign up for a free trial. This type of email nurtures leads over time with what’s known as “targeted sells” to turn them into paying customers; they took that first big step and signed up, now it’s time to showcase how your services or product will continue to solve their problems.

Use onboarding emails to highlight how you are different from your competitors or how paying for a premium subscription will unlock key features. Put one CTA in the email to drive readers toward completing a single action, which is to become a paying customer. At some point, you do need your users to make a purchase or sign up for the next level of services.

Confirmation Emails

Even after a sale is closed, an email drip campaign is still useful. Many companies set up an automatic “thank you” response that is sent out immediately after a customer completes a purchase. Not only does this reassure the customer that their payment did go through, but it aids in keeping them engaged with your brand.

Use your confirmation drips to ask customers to provide a review for your services or product. It’s also a good time to get more information about the customer’s satisfaction or promote further features that you offer. If you want to try upselling, confirmation emails are an excellent place to do so.

Abandoned Cart Emails

Drip campaigns are highly effective when someone puts items in their online shopping cart but doesn’t follow through with the purchase. A simple “Still thinking things over?” autoresponder can prompt people to return and complete their purchase. Compelling abandoned cart emails remind people what they left behind and confirm that they’re still able to get the items. Some retailers even go so far as to offer a discount code.

Abandoning online carts is more common than it may seem. An average rate of 74% of online shopping carts are abandoned. Your drip emails can compel people to return and make a purchase; abandoned cart emails have an average of a 46.1% open rate, and 72% of people who return do so within 24 hours.

Re-Engagement Emails

You may see that some people have signed up for your emails, but they’re deleting them without even opening them, or they open them but don’t click on anything. These people were once interested, and for one reason or another, that interest has dropped off. This is when you use re-engagement emails to reignite interest in your brand and pull inactive prospects back in.

There are several strategies you can use to re-engage with customers:

Recommendations. Many online retailers use recommendation drips to constantly engage with their audience. Whether it’s Netflix, Spotify, or Amazon, customers continually see “you might also like” or “similar products” suggestions that get them back on the website or app.

Renewals that automatically alert people when their subscription is about to expire. Drip campaigns can be especially beneficial during the renewal process.

Activity-based triggers. Some engagement emails can be sent based on either a lack of activity or increased on-site activity. For example, fitness apps send an automatic “We miss you!” email if someone hasn’t used the app in a while. Twitter sends an email if you are mentioned in a tweet to encourage you to log into the platform and respond.

The point is to establish a basis of continuous engagement so you’re always in contact with your readers and at the forefront of their thoughts.

The experts at Infinity Marketing Group create customized email drip campaigns which target your ideal client? Ready to increase conversions through email? Contact them today at info@infinitymgroup.com or by phone at (303) 834-7344.

Advantages to Using an Email Drip Campaign

Why use an email drip series over other types of email marketing? There are a few big advantages to using an email drip campaign for your business that may help you not only nurture leads, but also boost your overall revenue.

Automation

One of the great things about email drip campaigns is that they’re set up to be sent out automatically. You don’t need to spend hours and hours creating, then sending, emails; the automation of drip campaigns does it all for you. This saves time that your team can spend on other creative tasks.

Although you still need to test and monitor your drip campaigns, you don’t have to pay constant attention to them. You’ll be nurturing leads, educating your readers, and rewarding your loyal customers, all within a single email campaign.

Segmentation

Segmenting your emails means that you send certain emails to a select group of customers. Different people will see different messaging based on their wants and needs. Tailoring your messaging in this way (either manually or through an algorithm) allows you to deliver personalized content that increases engagement.

An email drip series will be set up to automatically send specific messages out to specific people. You’ll be able to separate your subscriber list into different funnels and give each one an appropriate approach that feels more personalized. Ultimately, this leads to a higher rate of conversion and less unsubscribes.

More Engagement

Another main benefit to email drip campaigns is that they aid in boosting engagement with your customers. You consistently stay in contact with customers by providing relevant material, which keeps them interested–all with less legwork on your end. Through a drip campaign, you move leads through your funnel much more quickly and can shorten the sales cycle. Drip emails, versus regular email campaigns, can result in a 119% increase in click rate.

This also helps to weed out the people who are simply unresponsive to your content. Over time, you’ll pinpoint which customers are worth the time and energy to contact, and which aren’t. On top of this, you’ll build trust and rapport with your audience because you’re giving them the information they need rather than a general email that was clearly for your entire subscriber list.

Infinity Marketing Group offers SaaS companies email marketing services that increase engagement and ROI. Hire a trusted industry-expert today by calling (303) 834-7344 or emailing info@infinitymgroup.com.

Strategies to Keep Users Engaged with Your Brand

When you’re ready to implement an email drip series, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. These will help to ensure that your drip campaign successfully connects with customers.

Understand What Content Is Relevant

Drip emails work when the content is relevant to recipients. Relevancy depends on where the customer is within the sales funnel. If they have just become aware of your brand, they won’t like re-engagement emails with recommendations or upsells. Instead, they need basic introductory information that builds a foundation of loyalty and trust.

Similarly, someone who has been using your brand for a while will engage more with drip emails that offer discounts or coupons. Or, they may click through emails that link to your blog or provide a comparison between you and a competitor.

Take the time to understand your customer’s pain points and what they need. Then, adjust your messaging so that valuable content is sent at the right time. This will help strengthen your relationship with a customer and provide more successful conversions.

Pay Attention to Email Frequency

A rule of thumb in email marketing is that you don’t want to overdo it and end up annoying your customers by sending them too many emails. If your customers get annoyed, they’ll unsubscribe or otherwise disengage.

1-2 emails per week has been found to be optimal for most businesses. Aim to find that sweet spot for your own company, that perfect amount of emails per week that bring you high open and click-through rates without causing people to unsubscribe. This will take some time, but email drip campaigns make it easy for you to determine this number since you send drip emails automatically.

Remember, successful drip series depend on giving customers the information they need at the right time. It’s a delicate balance: you want to be there for your customer, but not be too overbearing. Give them space and make sure you’re at the top of their minds without putting too much pressure on them.

Create Quality Email Content

Successful drip campaigns do rely on quality email writing. Even though your drip emails will be automated, you should still put a lot of effort into crafting them. Some basic email writing tips include:

Using compelling email subject lines. Even though your content is relevant, a compelling subject line can make or break your campaign’s success. After all, your drip won’t work if your emails aren’t opened in the first place.
Including a call to action. A call to action (CTA) is a concise and direct message that encourages the customer to complete a specific action. Within your emails, include messages such as “Download now” or “Get your free trial today.” Your customer is directly led to the action you ultimately want them to complete.
Personalize emails as much as possible. Address the customer by their first name, provide suggestions based on their past purchases, and focus on where they are in the sales funnel. Drip campaigns provide tailored messages so the receiver feels as if you have a solution made specifically for them.

Utilize Other Marketing Channels

Drip campaigns are the most successful when you use them in tandem with other marketing strategies. Pair your drip series with social media, blog posts, and paid ads to generate the most engagement possible with your customer across multiple channels.

For example, add buttons to your social media channels at the bottom of your drip emails and ask your readers to follow you on Instagram. Or, set up a drip email that sends certain subscribers a link to your bi-monthly blog posts. When it all works together in tandem, you’re providing multiple opportunities for customers to easily engage with your brand.

Test Your Campaigns

Although you do not need to constantly monitor email drip campaigns and they do free up your time to focus on other tasks, you shouldn’t neglect them. Monitor your campaigns and optimize them so you connect with customers as much as possible. Even a simple change can boost open rates or sales conversions.

If your engagement is less than ideal, you can pinpoint what you need to change in your strategy through A/B testing. A/B testing allows you to segment emails with small differences to see which email performs the best. For example, send one email with a specific subject line and another that’s exactly the same except it has a different subject line, then see which one provides the metrics you’re seeking.

A/B testing shows that changing something as simple as your call to action, the timing of when your emails are sent out, or the subject line can make all the difference. Not only will you get the performance you’re searching for, but you’ll also fine-tune your understanding of what your customers respond to.

Creating an Effective Email Drip Campaign for Your Business

An email drip series can improve your business’s success and provide the conversions you need as you nurture leads and deliver messaging at the perfect timing. To set up an email drip campaign:

1. Determine your target audience. What is their pain point, and what’s the solution you’re providing? Understanding your customers is the first step to establishing an email drip series.
2. Segment your email list. In order to be effective, your drip campaign should be linked to specific behaviors, or triggers. Certain emails should only go to certain customers when they complete a certain action, such as making a purchase or abandoning their cart. Other emails should be sent to long-term customers who have made multiple purchases or signed up for premium subscriptions. By segmenting, you’re able to personalize the customers’ experience leading to a more one-on-one engagement from customers.
3. Plan your messaging and frequency. Which emails are you going to send, and when? Make sure your message lines up with the triggers that enact those emails. You also don’t want to annoy your customers by sending too many emails. It may take some trial and error to determine your successful frequency.

Evaluate your campaign’s performance and make adjustments for improvement. You can send out drip campaigns through drip software products such as apps, or create your own custom software. Monitor the results and readjust your strategy accordingly to achieve even more success in the future.

Over time, you can establish an effective email drip campaign that connects with your customers and boosts sales. Have more questions about email drip campaigns or email marketing in general? Infinity Marketing Group can help you target your emails so you nurture more leads and increase your ROI. Contact us today at info@infinitymgroup.com or by phone at (303) 834-7344.

email-subject-lines-to-increase-open-rates-www.infinitymgroup.com_.jpg

Email Subject Lines: 10 Best Practices to Increase Open Rates

J.C. Granger March 16, 2021

In email marketing, a crafty, engaging subject line is your key to catching people’s attention. This line is the first impression you’ll make on readers; in many cases, it’s more important than the actual body of your email, because all the effort you put into creating an excellent email doesn’t matter if it goes unopened in the first place.

The goal is to hook readers so they click on the subject line and open the email. The more times your email is opened, the better the open rate–which is the number of people who actually opened your email out of the total number of subscribers you sent it to.

How can you create eye-catching, successful subject lines and avoid coming across as potential spam? Incorporate these best practices into your subject lines to make them stand out and ultimately increase your open rates.

Email Subject Line Best Practices

1.) Understand Your Audience

Like many other aspects of digital marketing, it’s essential to be familiar with your audience as you create email subject lines. This familiarity will set your tone and help you cater to specific interests. It’s possible to use funny or shocking email subject lines (ones that use puns or make a jolting statement), but these run a lot of risks and you have to know whether your audience will be receptive to them.

You can also personalize subject lines by using an individual’s first name. Or, utilize retargeting to provide a specialized offer on items that a customer may have looked at or purchased previously. Take time to understand what style, language, and offers your audience will find attractive.

Examples:

Mary, thanks for participating
More art classes offered in your area

Infinity Marketing Group creates high-coverting email marketing campaigns for B2B tech and software companies. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call (303) 834-7344 to learn more!

2.) Keep It Short and Direct

People are busy. Your message should be short and sweet, providing as much information as possible. Keep in mind that most subject lines need to be 50 characters or less, and ones that have 4-7 words have a higher open rate. Even subject lines with just a few words can attract readers.

Examples:

How are things going?
Top suggestions for this week

3.) Use Punctuation and Emojis Sparingly

Punctuation and emojis are great tools to make your subject line stand out and break up the normal text. However, use them sparingly; excessive emojis may alienate some readers, and make sure the ones you use truly are relevant to your subject or sale. Exclamation points can help you emphasize your message, but more than one or two can also be off-putting.

In fact, MailChimp conducted a study that found 3 punctuation marks and 1 emoji is the general limit for a subject line.

Examples:

Remember–sale ends today!!
Reasons we 💚 St. Patrick’s Day

4.) Include Numbers and Lists

There is a reason why “Top 10” blogs are so popular. Listing content helps break it into smaller and more readable chunks, promising an easy and quick read. It also generates curiosity, as people want to see what the #1 thing is. This trick can work in your subject line.

Another way to include numbers in your subject line is to use a statistic. This additionally provides insight and straightforward information.

Examples:

The easiest 7 dinners that kids love
70% of people buy their gifts last minute
Our top 10 lipsticks for fall

5.) Take Advantage of FOMO

The fear of missing out is very common. A great marketing strategy is to tap into this fear and other scarcity tactics such as putting a time limit on a sale; this provides incentive and a sense of urgency. Emphasize this urgency in your subject line with numbers and exclamation points.

Examples:

50% off jeans. Today only!
10 spots left, reserve your place now.
Free shipping! (48-hour offer)

6.) Tap Into Positive Emotions

You don’t have to necessarily make your readers fearful in order to get them to open your email–there are plenty of positive incentives to tap into as well. For example, people enjoy being on top of the latest fashions and trends. An email promising a sneak-peek into something that’s up and coming can get a high open-rate.

Or, offer great incentives that subscribers can’t pass up. This might be exclusive content, the chance to win something, or a free trial. People are likely to open the email just to get more information on the offer.

Examples:

An exclusive look at our new features
Our predictions for trends in 2021

7.) Ask A Question

Posing a question immediately engages your subscribers. Rather than simply stating something, you open the opportunity for conversation. Open-ended questions that don’t simply have yes-or-no answers pique a customer’s curiosity.

Examples:

How’s your new laptop?
How much chocolate is too much?
What’s next for remote workers?

8.) Include a CTA

A CTA (call to action) is another marketing strategy you can use in your email subject line. These are quick, simple phrases that tell the reader the action they should take. They express urgency and are very direct. Following with exclamation points enhances the impact (but remember to use only one or two).

Examples:

New expert webinar. Reserve your spot now!
Subscribe now for daily beauty tips

9.) Go Local

By using location-specific language, you show subscribers that you’ve done your research; you’re familiar with their vicinity and have information or offers that apply to their unique circumstances. It’s an extra step to personalization that can do the trick–many people open emails like this just because they are interested in seeing what’s happening in their local area.

Examples:

The best new restaurants in Los Angeles
Join us at Millennium Park in Chicago

Want to put your email marketing into the hands of trusted experts? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in helping B2B companies leverage their email lists so they can increase their audience and ROI. Learn more here.

10.) Test Your Subject Lines

One of the best ways to learn if your subject line is successful is to run an A/B testing campaign. A/B testing is a simple experiment that compares two versions of one variable and determines which version is more effective, depending on a subject’s response.

In this case, your experiment will involve creating two emails that are similar in every way except for the subject line. Send them to randomly selected subscribers, then observe which email gets opened the most. This tells you what subject line appeals to your readers and how even a small difference can make a big impact on open rates.

The more you run A/B testing on your subject lines, the more you’ll begin to understand your audience and their interests or preferences. It’s a simple yet effective way to familiarize yourself with subscribers and create successful email campaigns.

How Increasing Open Rates Helps Your Business

Generally, the higher your open rate, the bigger your outreach. In combination with other marketing strategies and metrics, this helps to enhance sales. Open rates are an essential metric because they are a good indication of your engagement with your subscribers. If your open rates are very low, you may be sending too many emails or not doing enough to encourage readers to open them.

A great technique to boost open rates is to create great email subject lines that connect with your subscribers’ interests and hook them into finding out more. Create a few experimental subject lines by incorporating the best practices listed above. Run A/B testing to see which ones get the most open rates, then base your email subject lines on what’s successful.

Need to further develop your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group can help you target your emails to boost your ROI. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com today or call us at (303) 834-7344

Email-Marketing-Frequency-www.infinitymgroup.com_.png

Email Marketing Frequency: How, When, and Best Practices

J.C. Granger February 16, 2021

A common problem that many businesses, big and small, grapple with is how often they should be emailing their customers. When does it become one too many emails?

You don’t want to annoy customers and unwittingly make them unsubscribe from your email list. On the other hand, you don’t want to let your customers disengage or go so long without communication that they end up forgetting about your products or brand.

The key to email marketing that every business needs to evaluate for itself is its successful email cadence (another term for email frequency). You can find the “sweet spot” for your business by using metrics to judge how your email marketing campaigns perform, basing frequency on customer lifecycle, and segmenting your subscriber list.

This all helps you determine the perfect number of emails you can send per week on average to maximize conversions without losing subscribers.

Common Metrics for Email Marketing

Email marketing involves campaigns that are sent out in bulk to your subscribers. These are different from the automated emails that customers receive when they make a purchase, such as order confirmation or notifications about an abandoned cart.

Email marketing is tailored, triggered messaging that is sent to specific subscribers on your email list—not everyone. The content that goes into your campaigns will be carefully selected or even personalized.

A successful email marketing campaign involves more than simply preventing customers from unsubscribing. You can measure the performance of your campaign using two common metrics:

Open rate, which is essentially the number of people who opened a specific email, out of the total number of subscribers who received that email.
Click rate, also known as click-through rate. This measures how many people clicked on the links within your email—through an image, hyperlink, or call to action (CTA). To calculate your click rate, divide the total number of clicks a specific email gets by the total number of subscribers who received that email.

Other important metrics include how many sales your email campaign generates and your unsubscribe rate. Keep in mind that typically your email marketing strategy won’t be determined by one metric alone, but rather by several of them.

How Often to Send Emails

A good rule of thumb for email cadence, in any industry, is that as you increase email frequency you’ll begin to follow a curve of diminishing returns—studies have shown that a high number of emails is the #1 reason why people unsubscribe.

What this means is that at some point, you’ll send too many emails and your customers will disengage. The key is to figure out what that point is for your business.

Generally, people do not like daily emails. But how many messages per week is too much? According to Smart Insights, the average sweet spot for companies tends to be 1-2 emails per week.

To determine your business’s optimal frequency, you can run tests to find the best number. Split your email list into three groups:

One is a control that will receive two emails per week.
One is a test group that gets one email per week.
The last is a test group that gets three or more.

Send emails over several weeks and analyze which number tends to generate the metrics you need.

A great way to get started is to identify the specific goals you are aiming for. Are you trying to boost your open rate? Do you need to enhance traffic to your website? Your goals will determine the specific metrics you use and how you’ll consider an email campaign to be successful.

What’s considered a “good” open rate or click-through rate, anyway? According to Mailchimp, the average open rate for all industries is 21.33% and the average click rate for all industries is 2.62%.

You can also find the averages for your specific industry. These averages provide a helpful baseline for you to aim for.

Need help refining your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in running B2B email campaigns. Our team of email experts creates campaigns that grow your email list and increase conversions. Interested in learning more? Check out their Email Marketing Service now.

Basing Email Marketing Frequency on Customer Lifecycle

An important factor to consider when adjusting your email cadence is the typical lifecycle, or purchase cycle, of your customers. If your customers don’t make purchases that often, inundating them with constant emails will likely cause them to unsubscribe. If your customers make frequent purchases, you can send more emails to retain their attention and engagement, without as much risk.

For example, fashion brands have a quick customer lifecycle because clothing is very frequently purchased. Clothing companies can get away with sending emails several times a week.

Other industries, such as technology, have a much shorter customer lifecycle. Tech companies need less email frequency and should try not to inundate their subscribers with emails.

Generally, the customer lifecycle goes through five stages, from before to after someone completes a final purchase:

Reach; during the first phase, you develop an awareness of your brand with potential consumers.
Acquisition; you contact customers directly with relevant messaging so they fully understand your brand and what you have to offer.
Develop; after the first purchase is completed, you develop a relationship with the customer by keeping in constant contact.
Retention; customers return and purchase again as you satisfy their needs and continually send relevant messaging.
Advocacy and loyalty; over time your customers will tell their network, friends, and family about your services or products. They become brand advocates as they continue to make their own purchases.

Segmenting Your Subscribers

Once you’ve identified your customers’ lifecycle, the next step is to segment your subscribers.

Not every customer is the same—people will respond to email campaigns for different reasons, so tapping into these reasons can help your campaigns be successful. Give customers a personalized experience of your brand by delivering emails that are tailored to their needs and interests, or even their engagement level.

For example, most subscribers won’t open every single email you send—but that doesn’t mean they’re not interested in your brand. They may have less time to read emails, prefer top offers, or only purchased something from your website as a gift. They’ll still engage, just not as often. Unfortunately, if you don’t segment your email list, these types of subscribers will bring down your overall rates.

It’s possible to tailor your marketing campaigns so you can send different emails to different customers. Many email platforms make it easy to manually segment customers based on certain factors. Or, you can use an algorithm to complete this for you.

By segmenting your list, you’ll be able to send those top offers to targeted customers or slow the email frequency down specifically for the subscribers who don’t look at your emails very often. All of this depends on the collection of data and careful analysis, so be sure to monitor your campaigns.

Tips to Boost Engagement with Emails

As you adjust your email marketing frequency and figure out what’s right for your business, there are more things you can do to help ensure its success. It’s important to maintain your relationship with your subscribers, and aim to turn them into long-term, loyal customers.

Increasing engagement with the emails you send can make all the difference and bring those open and click-through rates you’re looking for. In this case, it’s all about quality content.

Email Subject Lines

An attention-grabbing subject line increases the chances of your email being opened in the first place. For your subject lines, create a sense of urgency, ask your subscribers a question, or give them a special offer. In the content of your email, include a strong CTA to follow up on your subject line and further motivate customers to take action by clicking on the email.

Personalized Promotions

You can also personalize promotions and offer content based on a customer’s previous purchases. Depending on your industry, this may not simply be a suggestion to buy a product again. You might offer helpful hints for getting the most out of the software they purchased, or highlight an important upgrade so your customers have the best and newest versions of their tech.

If it’s their very first purchase from you, start by sending an engaging welcoming email. This establishes a good relationship right off the bat and gives you an opportunity to introduce what type of emails they can expect, increasing chances of engagement in the future.

Email Marketing Best Practices

As you get started with email marketing or adjust the email cadence you have already established, here are some things to keep in mind:

Remember that the number one reason customers unsubscribe is because they’ve received too many emails.
For most businesses, sending 1-2 emails a week is ideal. This is an especially helpful baseline if you are just getting started.
Communicate your intentions with customers as early as possible. They should know what they’re signing up for—are you going to send monthly newsletters? Do you host weekly webinars? If this is clear from the beginning, the number of emails won’t be as surprising—or annoying—to your subscribers.
Personalization is often the key to engagement. Even addressing the subscriber by name can make a huge difference in whether your emails are opened or clicked through.
Since the best average number of emails per week for your business depends on a number of factors, make peace with the fact that it may take a while for you to find that successful email marketing frequency.

Ready to Improve your Email Strategy?

It is possible for every business to find its sweet spot when it comes to email marketing frequency. Once you’ve analyzed the performances of your email marketing campaigns and settled on your perfect number, stay up to date not only with changing technologies but also with your customers and their needs.

Your email cadence may need to change over time—or you may be able to hone the exact number down further with new analytics. What works once may not work forever, so keep monitoring your campaigns and their results, and keep collecting data so you can improve your email marketing in the future.

Need help developing your company’s email marketing strategy? Contact us today at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us at (303) 834-7344