Secrets to Successful Email Marketing
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Email marketing remains a vital communication channel, countering the belief that it is declining. The document provides actionable tips to improve email marketing strategies, such as optimizing subject lines, personalizing content, and understanding customer behavior. Key recommendations include focusing on specific metrics, managing dormant subscribers, and leveraging marketing automation to enhance engagement and effectiveness.
Secrets to Successful Email Marketing
- 1. Secrets to Successful Email Marketing Reports of the decline and pending demise of email have been greatly exaggerated. Sure, Eight Tips For Better our inboxes may be more clogged than ever before. But that only drives us to work harder Email Subject Lines 2 to separate the “spam” from the messages we want. Nine Ways To Make The Case For Marketing Email as a communication and marketing channel is as strong as ever. Our mission—and Automation Software 3 your job as a marketer—is to create and sustain a place in the minds and inboxes of your Scaring Your Prospects Isn’t prospects, customers, partners and other key constituents such that they look forward to, Going To Make Them Buy 4 anticipate, accept and respond to your email marketing. How To Revive Dormant The following pages provide a variety of recommendations to improve your strategy, Newsletter Subscribers 4 approach and tactics for a variety of variables, stages and specifics in your email marketing Marketing Is A campaigns. Game Of Inches 5 Eight Common Mistakes With Transactional Email Matt Heinz (And How To Fix Them) 6 President, Heinz Marketing Inc. Is Context More Important [email protected] Than Permission In Email Marketing? 7 When Are Your Customers Reading Their Email? 7 Doing Business With Your Out-Of-Office Messages 8 Black Friday For B2B? 9 Anatomy Of A Better Pre-Event Email 10 Great Email Response Tactic Or Going Too Far? 11
- 2. Eight Tips For Better Email Subject Lines The job of an envelope in direct mail isn’t to close the sale 5. Use Numbers or generate a call. In most cases, the job of the envelope is If you’re offering advice, tell the reader how many tips the to get you to open the envelope. email includes. Copy such as “Three pitfalls” always drives The subject line of your email is really no different. Add more response than “Common pitfalls”. enough information, context or interest to gain the click. 6. Watch Your Length Here are eight specific tips to make your subject lines better. Try to keep the subject line below 50 characters. Bonus 1. Tease points for 35 or fewer. Please don’t confuse an effective tease with bait and 7. The “From” Line Should Be from A Real Person switch. Whatever you imply in the tease had better be reflected fully in the body of the email. But giving a hint of Please don’t send your emails from the company. Or a what’s to come is a great way to build interest, anticipation generic alias (such as [email protected]). Or, and action. worse, an email address such as “do-not-reply@company- name.com). Emails from people (even if they’re made up) 2. Personalize are 23 percent more likely to get opened than emails from The same subject line for all recipients often fails to engage nonentities. (This isn’t really subject line related per se, and drive the action and response you want. Personaliza- but it’s important) tion also doesn’t only apply to first names and company 8. Test names. Speak to the recipient’s industry, an upcoming event they’re attending, or something else they care about. Whenever possible, test variations of your subject line to get optimal open rates in subsequent sends and campaigns. 3. Be Specific Although emails offer a wide variety of variables to test, A tease that’s too ambiguous can still go well over the subject lines are among the fastest and easiest to test, and recipient’s head. Be specific enough with your copy that also offer the highest potential to increase overall conver- the reader fully understands what you mean, what you’re sion and impact (since they’re near the top of the email- talking about, and what you likely have in store from them specific funnel). after the open. 4. Prioritize Use the most important words or subject matter as close to the front of the subject line as possible. The farther out you go, the less likely the recipient is to read it and the more likely the email client will truncate it (especially if the subject line is being read on a mobile device). 2
- 3. Nine Ways To Make The Case For Marketing Automation Software Let’s face it, nobody likes to buy software. It’s a means to vs. the more intelligent multi-track marketing that auto- an end, and often the path from cost to revenue impact mation software systems enable, you’re putting your entire isn’t always clear. Even with marketing automation soft- company’s reputation at risk with ISPs and email delivery ware, whose inherent intention is to make your market- watch lists. The risk of getting blacklisted is real and get- ing efforts both more streamlined (lower cost) and more ting more likely for companies that aren’t managing pros- effective (higher sales pipeline output), it can be difficult to pect relationships carefully. Make sure the organization carve out the dollars necessary to get rolling. understands this risk (not only to ongoing email market- If others in your group or organization need convincing ing, but to the domain itself, corporate email deliverability, to give marketing automation software a go, here are nine customer marketing, etc.) proven ways to get the thumbs-up. 6. More Email (Not Less) 1. Do The Math The most common objection I hear to investing in mar- Demonstrate quantifiably what a lift in some of your key keting automation software is that the company’s existing, response and sales pipeline metrics could do to sales and batch-and-send strategies just need to get smarter. But revenue growth. Don’t just talk about automating market- usually, that just means harder and harder decisions about ing. Doing more with less is interesting, but not nearly as which messages and emails should go out to a prospect list interesting as increased response, higher volumes of that already gets way too much email. The more you send engaged, sales prospects for your sales team, larger quali- in bulk like this, the more your prospects will tune out... fied sales pipelines to work with, and more monthly/ or unsubscribe. With more intelligent, multi-track auto- quarterly closed business. Build a simple model that dem- mated marketing systems, you can actually increase your onstrates the impact of improvement at a handful of key regular email volume while ensuring the right message gets funnel points your organization already has a focus on. to the right prospect at the right time. Higher volume, plus higher response rates, equals happiness for your sales 2. Show The Math From Others team and executive team. Use the marketing automation vendors you’re talking with to gather examples and case studies of how other compa- 7. Long-Term Headcount Reduction nies have already done what you’re modeling. Especially Some organizations have been able to model long-term look for companies that look close to you—online busi- headcount reductions in marketing as well as sales with nesses, B2B businesses, SaaS businesses, etc. successful marketing automation implementations. This doesn’t mean eliminating roles in the organization im- 3. Think About Customer Retention mediately, but does mean that fewer marketing heads may In Addition To Acquisition be needed as the company continues to grow and more of There’s no reason you need to justify marketing automation the marketing execution is automated. Those eliminated purely based on new customer acquisition. Most software future heads are meaningful to your CFO. suites can manage the entire customer lifecycle, including early-customer onboarding, behavior and usage-based com- 8. Impact On Inside Sales Performance munication scenarios and more. The result is higher engage- Your VP of Sales should be your strongest ally in pitching ment, lifetime value and referral potential—all of which can a marketing automation investment, as he or she should also be modeled into your before-and-after ROI. understand quantifiably what the likely impact would be on the team. Inside reps should have more qualified leads, 4. Show Samples of Metrics/Reports Possible leads that are ready to convert into and through the pipe- Get your team excited about the specific metrics they line at a higher rate. Over time, fewer sales reps may be could use on a regular basis to help manage the business. needed with higher individual productivity rates to achieve Marketo, for example, has developed a set of metrics and the same or higher sales outputs. Work with your sales reports in their automation system that looks beyond tra- counterpart to build this model and business case. ditional marketing metrics (clicks, opens, etc.) and instead looks at a set of revenue performance and prediction mea- 9. Don’t Talk About Software sures. These speak directly to current and future revenue As I said at the beginning, nobody likes to buy software. potential within your wider prospect pipeline. I’m guess- And although that’s what this is, it’s not about that. Build ing your boss and executive team would love this kind of your case based first on what it does, not what it is. Paint future sales and revenue visibility. a picture of the success and outcomes you’re trying to achieve, then once you have the entire team head-nodding 5. Outline Domain and Black List Risk in agreement, outline the solution. If you continue to do “batch and send” email marketing, 3
- 4. Scaring Your Prospects Isn’t Going To Make Them Buy There are many ways to watch what your customers and The same company uses other scary sales tactics as well. prospects are doing, without them knowing it. Send an A friend who runs marketing at a start-up got a voicemail email campaign and you know who opened, who clicked, from the vendor’s sales rep. An hour later, the rep called and what they ended up doing after the click. With the the start-up’s CEO to say he couldn’t get ahold of the right software, you can see which companies (and even marketing VP, and wanted to confirm he had the right individuals) were on your site yesterday—including how contact information. long they were there, what they looked at, and so on. I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to use the This is valuable stuff. But too many companies use this “let’s get his boss to pressure him into calling us back” insight to scare their customers. Not intentionally, at least tactic. But I can’t imagine it works very well. not always. But if you tell me you’re watching, that’s just If you’re watching my behavior, act on it. But don’t be so plain creepy. obvious. Next time you send me an email, target it with A well-known marketing automation vendor has a par- information specific to what I was looking at on the Web ticularly bad history of this. I’m not the only person who’s site last time. If I was on the pricing page yesterday, maybe visited their Web site, come back a few days later, only to today’s a good day to send me a short-term price-based get a phone call the next day from a sales rep who says incentive to purchase now. “I saw you were looking at our pricing page yesterday and Gathering intelligence about your prospects is important, but wanted to see if you had any questions.” how you use that information is far more important. The set- up is nothing without proper execution and conversion. How To Revive Dormant Newsletter Subscribers With any email, newsletter or nurture campaign, there’s Depending on the nature and objective of your email cam- going to be a sizeable portion of your list that just doesn’t paign, the quantity and quality of impressions you generate respond. They don’t click and they rarely, if ever, open. So by putting another permission-based email in someone’s how do you get them to become more active again? The an- inbox may be enough. At least for now. I assume that you, swer is more complicated than just a set of reactivation tactics. too, get plenty of email newsletters and don’t read them all. Don’t click on them all. Probably don’t even open First off, make sure they’re dormant and not dead. And them all. But you definitely want to keep getting them, make sure you regularly clear out the dead. and there’s a branded, contiguous relationship that still Very few newsletter or nurture marketing managers actively exists there. Healthy portions of your “dormant” subscrib- clean their databases of regular hard-bounce addresses. ers are getting the same value from you today. If an email hasn’t been delivered to a particular address Of course, for those recipients who truly aren’t paying as for several sends in a row (meaning you get a hard-bounce much attention, there are a few tactical things you can try back from the recipient’s server), it’s best to take that as well. email out of future sends. Too many hard bounces will tell Internet service providers that you’re a possible spammer, First, consider changing the domain, IP address or even and can get the rest of your emails blocked. email service provider from which you’re sending. These changes can make the email appear different to the hosting Also, don’t assume that dormant means no value is being server, and can either help with deliverability or get that delivered. Just because I didn’t click doesn’t mean I don’t email out of the spam filter where it’s been languishing for want the next issue. Just because I didn’t engage this time several issues now. doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate a heads-up on whatever the content was. What if I was just too busy today? What if Also play with how the email appears to the recipient I really want that sweater but don’t have any money until when first received in their inbox. Is the “from” name and next payday? address inviting? Are you using the same subject line over and over vs. highlighting some content that drives more opens? 4
- 5. Consider these and other more active/aggressive tactics to email is a follow-up to a recent conversation, reflect that a segment of your list that you think might be dormant. If up front and reiterate the value delivered or promised in active subscribers already have you on their safe sender list, that conversation. there’s no reason to switch up the domain or IP address 4. Tie It To something THEY Did on them. But by testing these and other tactics on a sub- group of potentially dormant subscribers, you may find a Sales prospects are far more likely to respond to something mix of strategies and tactics that increase engagement and they did vs. something you did for them. Their own actions performance of the entire list in short order. and requests will have far more credibility, especially early in the sales process when you’re still creating your Thought this was a good question on Focus.com. Here are own credibility and trust with the prospect. Tying back six tips: to something the prospect did or asked for will increase 1. Define “Engaging” (For You And The Recipient) engagement and response rates. What is a successful outcome of the email? What do you 5. Make A Request, Make It Specific and Urgent want the prospect to do, and what does the prospect need Don’t leave your email open ended. Tell the prospect ex- from you at this moment? Have a specific definition of actly what you want them to do next if they’re interested. success or results, even for something this tactical. Make it something easy, specific and quick to do. Your 2. Focus On The Subject Line email is one of many they’ll receive today, and will quickly get lost in their inbox. How easy are you making it for Subject lines are like envelopes in direct mail. If your pros- them to take action right now? pect doesn’t get past the envelope, it doesn’t matter what’s written or offered inside. Also, the job of the envelope 6. Don’t Make It Look Like A Marketing Email isn’t to close the sale. The job of the envelope is to get Beware of overproduced templates. Don’t let the design you to open the envelope. Don’t use that as an excuse to get in the way of the message. Good design increases read- overpromise or deceive the recipient, but focus on content ability and engagement, but your sales prospect isn’t going and copy that will drive interest and action. to respond to great email design. And they might in fact 3. Write To Them (Not For You) be turned off by something that looks too polished or like a template. Be clear, be clean, and be efficient (with copy Simple things like not starting sentences like “I” and “we” as well as design). are important, but in a broader sense your content needs to tie directly to a pain or need the prospect has. If your Marketing Is A Game Of Inches It’s not good enough to say “we’ll email our customers in Recently, I tested posting content closer to 8:45 a.m. the morning instead of the afternoon” or “Tuesday is the We’re talking about a mere 20–25 minutes later. best day to send our newsletter.” That’s way too general. This small change lifted my immediate readership (mea- What time, precisely, is the best time to send? What spe- sured by views and clicks within the first 60 minutes) by cific time Tuesday morning (local time for the recipient, 65–90 percent (with the range reflecting a multi-day test). not your time)? When are your customers specifically most One more quick example: receptive to your message? At a past job, while testing dozens of variables to increase Quick example: conversion rate on a two-page registration form, the I had been publishing new blog posts each weekday morn- single-largest variable we discovered to lift conversion was ing between 8:10 and 8:25 a.m. Pacific time. My assump- changing the background color from white to light blue. tion had been that I wanted to reach readers early, when they get into the office, and before they’re consumed by Details matter. What are yours? the morning’s priorities and fire drills. 5
- 6. Eight Common Mistakes With Transactional Email (And How To Fix Them) They’re often the least conspicuous emails we receive, but Not Paying Attention To Timing I’m so surprised when they’re among the most profitable tools smart marketers I receive an email confirmation for something I ordered have in their arsenal. The basic transactional email—or- long ago. And in Internet time, long ago means 20–30 der confirmations, shipping notifications, service updates, minutes or more. If I just placed the order online, I’m etc.—can drive click through rates more than three times still at my computer. I’m still thinking about that order. that of commercial email, according to industry analysts. I might still be thinking about the things I left in the shop- ping cart for later. At this moment, I’m most likely to 1) And yet, in most organizations, transactional emails are an read your email, and 2) take action on something related afterthought. to that purchase that I also need. Recently, I presented a Webinar with WhatCounts, titled Making It A One-Way Street Some companies and service Multiply Your Revenue Returns with Transactional Email, providers apparently don’t want to hear from you. They in which I walked through several best practices and want your order, sure, but the “do not reply” in the email samples of good and bad transactional emails, including address makes it clear they want to talk at you, not with some best practices that can be leveraged immediately to you. Every interaction with your customer is an opportu- improve response and revenue performance. nity to build brand preference, future purchase behavior, In addition to the best practices, there are several common loyalty, and pass-along value. Make that interaction a one- mistakes many companies make with their transactional way communication channel and you’re missing the point, email—many simply because there’s too little focus on let alone the opportunity. leveraging them as proactive, intentional customer com- No Personality You’ve worked hard to create a consistent munication tools. Here are eight common mistakes we brand. Most of your marketing—your Web site, your covered in the Webinar: advertising, your content strategy, your social media chan- Marketing Doesn’t Own The Email According to industry nels—all play a key, integrated role in reinforcing that research, 53 percent of transactional emails are controlled brand. And then you get that transactional email—text- outside of marketing. They’re quickly written by customer based, cold, from a corporate email address (that tells you operations, IT or another department with little thought not to reply, no less). Every touch point with your cus- to the message, intent and desired next action. Rectifying tomer is a chance to reinforce their choice, confirm their this ownership conflict alone (and folding transactional decision to go with you, strengthen the bond you have email into the purview of the core email marketing team) with that customer today and tomorrow. will put most organizations on the right path. Hard To Read It’s so incredibly clear when someone Under Communication There’s a difference between com- who isn’t thinking about the customer experience writes mercial email (often about something we didn’t ask for) transactional emails. They aren’t thinking about what the and a transactional email about something we care about— customer wants to see, and what you want them to do our order, our account, the service levels we receive. As next. If you send me a shipping notification, make sure the consumers, we want this information, and smart compa- details I care most about (when my product will arrive, for nies provide a lot of it. Yes, you can over communicate example) are the most prominent thing on the page. Cross via email with your customers. But when it comes to the selling is fine, but if you bury the primary message, your core of your relationship, and purchase behavior that the response-driven transactional email might have the oppo- customer initiates, most companies aren’t communicating site impact you’re looking for. enough. Not Enough Resources Let’s say the marketing department Focusing Only On The Transaction Your customer bought in fact owns your transactional emails. I bet they get far something, and you send them a receipt. That’s appro- less attention than your commercial emails. Few companies priate, but it’s also too linear. What did they need it for? think about how to optimize transactional emails—A/B What else might they need? If they bought an appliance, testing, trying different offers, and segmenting messages would they like it delivered? If they bought a new HDTV, by different customer segments. If transactional emails are would they like to purchase installation and set-up servic- proven to drive significantly higher response rates than es? Transactional emails are a great place to do contextual our other email campaigns, shouldn’t the resources we put upselling at the point of purchase. behind them be somewhat commensurate with that? 6
- 7. Is Context More Important Than Permission In Email Marketing? I get a lot of junk mail at home. Some of it, though targeted. Something meaningful. Something you know I’ll unsolicited, is actually valuable. If an advertiser was smart look twice at before it’s deleted. Heck, I might even open, enough to map my interests with their products or servic- click and engage. es, I’m more likely to take a quick look. I didn’t ask ESPN Permission in marketing is still an important and coveted to send me that baseball-themed catalog, for example. But asset. It’s the foundation of long-term relationships. But I still read through it and picked up a new t-shirt for the what about context? What about exploring the potential of season ahead. a relationship with a customer who doesn’t yet know you, Email’s not really that different. A clogged inbox is an- but that you still treat with respect? noying, sure. I didn’t give everybody a double opt-in. But If I have a targeted email list, and a targeted and relevant if you’re dumb enough to spam me about stuff I have no offer, is that still spam? Or is it opportunity knocking? demonstrated interest in, you probably don’t care about your relationship with me (or your reputation) anyway. I know my perspective, from the marketer’s side, is biased. But I’m a consumer, too. And I read some of my spam. If you do care about both our relationship and your repu- tation, you learn enough about me to send me something When Are Your Customers Reading Their Email? I’m writing this on a Sunday night. It’s not yet the work- Want to reach pastors? Avoid Fridays and Mondays, the week, but I’m catching up on a few things and getting typical days they take off after working on Sunday. organized for my Monday nonetheless. Want to reach executives during the workweek? Try hitting Do you do this? Do your customers and prospects do this? them at 5:10 p.m. They’re likely done with their meet- If they do, would tonight be a great time to hit them with ing schedule, and back at their office catching up. At their an email? desk, watching their screen, looking directly at the email notification with your name on it that just popped up in It’s not Monday morning yet; they’re not being bom- the corner. barded by fire drills and urgent requests. They’re probably catching up on a few things with a glass of wine close-by. Of course, that assumes you hit them at 5:10 p.m. local time, which requires splitting your list by time zone. The magical “Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.” email marketing day and time isn’t what it used to be. But if it was ever More work to email this way? Yes. More likely to increase really effective, it was still a lazy way of emailing all your readership and response? Absolutely. prospects at the same time. The better you understand Take another look at how effective the timing of your the rhythm of their week, the more likely you are to reach email marketing is. Because how many emails are you them at the right time to improve your response rates. really reading on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.? Want to reach real estate agents? Email them Sunday after- noon. Many are working, sitting at open houses, bored. 7
- 8. Doing Business With Your Out-Of-Office Emails A client told me yesterday that they save my out-of-office Because that out-of-office message comes back right away, auto-reply email messages. That’s just cool. If you haven’t and you know they’re at their desks, reading email, be- yet emailed me when I’m traveling, my out-of-office cause they just sent you one. How will you leverage that (OOF) message includes the obligatory “where I am, opportunity? when I’ll be back” stuff but also has a set of 5–7 interest- Here’s a recent sample: ing sales, marketing or productivity articles I recommend reading in the meantime. Thanks very much for your email. I’m traveling to the Holiday Bowl (Go Dawgs!) and back on New Years Eve. I’ve essentially turned my OOF messages into mini-news- Response to email and voicemail may be slower than usual. letters, another way to create an impression with the people If this is urgent or an emergency, try my cell phone. around me. (I stole this idea from Andy Sernovitz. Can’t Otherwise, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. remember the specific context, but he was the inspiration. In the meantime, some light reading: I bet you could do the same for your business. At mini- mum, when you’re traveling, put something a little more Ten productive ways to work in the last days of the year interesting into your out-of-office messages. It will take http://bit.ly/eB1g2w you less than a minute, and it’ll stand out. Six things to do instead of working today Better yet, think about how you might use this functional- http://bit.ly/eD5uKr ity in Outlook on a more regular basis. Eight cocktails to try in the New Year For example, why wouldn’t your customer service team http://bit.ly/fHYKQU have this feature on all the time? It could remind custom- ers where they might be able to get an answer more quick- How to talk about your competitors ly, point out new ways of getting their questions answered, http://bit.ly/gWatVB even announce new features or upsell opportunities. Hot stove baseball marketing ideas PR and investor relations folks could have something http://bit.ly/ec9lKt similar on anytime they’re away from their desks for an Seven bad habits of highly unsuccessful sales people extended period of time. http://bit.ly/emSIvK Think about your role, the people who contact you most Thanks, often, and what you want them to know about you. What Matt you want to say to them, if you knew they were listening right now. 8
- 9. Black Friday For B2B I’m not going to begrudge anybody for taking the four- Subject Line: I’m afraid you don’t qualify day weekend off. But this weekend likely represents a Matt, significant sales and marketing opportunity in some B2B segments. I noticed that you signed up for Eloqua’s webinar on target- ing and segmentation back in mid-March. Time flies, huh? A report by Mashable showed that the majority of us are checking work email during holidays. I’d imagine that vol- I’m following up to ask what prompted you to register for this ume is significantly higher on a day like Black Friday, with event? Is Heinz Marketing LLC considering marketing au- overall inbound email significantly lower than the average tomation to help solve the challenges discussed in the webinar? workday. Would your message have a better likelihood of getting read this weekend? Here’s why I ask: I run marketing programs for Eloqua and I see that our lead scoring system didn’t pass you on to You might not have any luck closing business or getting our sales team for a follow-up call. It may have been your contracts signed the day after Thanksgiving, but what title (General Management—Chairman, CEO, President, about getting commitment to attend a Webinar? What Partner, Owner) or industry (Business Services), or because about finally getting that appointment scheduled? of non-activity. So, I thought I’d reach out and just ask. The better you understand your customer, the more likely If you or your colleagues are considering marketing automa- you’ll be able to identify whether and how they’ll be inter- tion, let me know and I’ll connect you with a salesperson to ested in speaking with you this weekend. If your customer better understand your challenges and map out some poten- or prospect works in retail or e-commerce, you better tial solutions. If not, no harm done—please continue to enjoy believe they’re working (if from home) over the busy our free resources and toolkits! In fact, here is some addi- shopping weekend. Real estate agents and brokers will be tional information on targeting and segmentation that you back at it this weekend as well (and likely sitting in empty might find helpful. open houses on Sunday, bored, and willing to take a call). Thanks, In many cases, expecting prospects to take your call on a holiday weekend might not be realistic. But weekends like Jim this might be your most productive with some well-placed, well-intentioned email. Got this recently from Eloqua.Was very impressed with the whole approach, the copy, the respect built in, and the value-add at the end. Take a look and let me know what you think (reprinted with permission). 9
- 10. Anatomy Of A Better Pre-Event Email I’m recently attended Dreamforce, and apparently a whole hoping passers-by are the people you want to meet, and lot of companies knew that. who want to meet you too. Two weeks prior to the event, I received literally dozens But Don’t Force Me To Commit As much as I prefer the of emails from companies targeting Dreamforce attendees. pre-registration option above, I also don’t want to com- It was an interesting study in different strategies, objec- mit. I have enough meetings planned for this week already, tives and perspectives in engaging an audience before you I don’t necessarily want or need to schedule something (potentially) see them live at an event. when I can stop by anytime during open show floor hours. I may not want to commit, but that doesn’t mean I’m less It’s also helped me hone some specific best practices that interested or less qualified. could help each of these companies (and yours as well) drive greater response and performance from pre-event A different tactic to engage prospects like this could be to emails. Done right, these emails can increase success at simply have them pre-register for a visit without a specific the event as well as drive additional revenue opportunities time. Tell prospects you’ll have a special gift reserved for before, during and after. them when they come, whenever that is. Then, have that list at the booth so you can fulfill that offer. This tactic gives Here are four things I’ve specifically noticed and/or would you a registered list of more interested prospects, gives me recommend to drive greater performance. (the attendee) more flexibility, but puts you at the top of Send Email from A Person, Not A Company I’m much my “need to visit” priority list for the show floor. more likely to open an email from a person (whose name Don’t Be So Short Sighted You can get really clever with is in the “from” line, whose email address shows up there, your email subject line to increase open rates, but if the and who signed the email too) than an email from a com- body copy and topic is inconsistent (or makes the subject pany with an “info@” email address. I’m also much more line feel misleading), your click through rate and long- likely to respond directly to an email from a person vs. a term reputation will suffer. company (and would expect a reply from that person too, which hasn’t happened consistently either). Treating every lead as if they’re ready to buy might help you squeeze some additional sales out of the current Put Some News In The Subject Line I know you want me month or quarter, but that will be at the expense of help- to meet with you. But that in the subject line isn’t going ing those customers buy down the road. Push them too to get me to engage. I’ve even seen subject lines in the hard now and they might not trust you later. past week that literally give the dates and location of the event. How is that driving open rates? Instead, use some- You can convince a wary prospect to sign up with a really thing to entice me. Tease a giveaway; give me a benefit low barrier to entry offer, but if they weren’t a good match worth stopping by to learn more about. You can’t make a for your product or service to begin with they’re going to subject line communicate everything, and its main goal is waste a lot of your time, never be happy, and hurt your to get the email opened, but start with something that gets reputation with others who might have been happy, long- my attention and piques my interest. term customers. Get Me To Pre-Register For Something I really like the pre- You can cut a lot of corners and do a lot of interesting event emails that allow me to self-select greater interest. things to make your numbers look better today, this week, They either invite me to a private briefing or to schedule this month. But if you plan to be in business well beyond when I’ll stop by the booth. The majority of email recipi- that short period of time, be sure you’re not doing harm ents won’t respond to this, but that’s not the point. If you to your long-term reputation, response rates and sales op- can get a handful of attendees committed to stopping by, portunities in the process. your booth performance immediately is better than just 10
- 11. Great Email Response Tactic Or Going Too Far? I received an email from Eloqua recently (click to enlarge like the barrage of spam and one-to-many emails we all for a closer look). I say “great” because I liked the creativ- get. I’m guessing they got a high open rate on this. ity surrounding the way they got me to open and read it. That’s why I like it. But I also wonder if, once people real- But I’m wondering how effective it would ultimately be at ize it’s actually part of a mass campaign, if they’d be upset scale, and whether it would do more harm than good. that it looked like something more personal. Would recipi- The concept is essentially a forwarded email that looks like ents think this is deceiving? Would they think this tactic is it is coming straight from one person to me. It’s simple disingenuous? and brilliant. Adding a “FW:” at the beginning of the Maybe I’m overthinking it. I’d love to test this. What do usual subject line, then actually forwarding an original you think? email to me with a quick introduction, made the email look personal, and ensured that it explicitly did NOT look 11
- 12. More Information About Us About Matt Heinz 8201 164th Ave. NE, Suite 200 Matt Heinz is the Founder and President of Heinz Marketing Inc. Matt brings more Redmond WA 98052 Ph. 877.291.0006 than 12 years of marketing, business development and sales experience from a variety of www.heinzmarketing.com organizations, vertical industries and company sizes. His career has focused on deliver- ing measurable results for his employers and clients in the way of greater sales, revenue growth, product success and customer loyalty. About Heinz Marketing Heinz Marketing is a Seattle marketing agency focused on sales acceleration. Heinz Marketing helps clients achieve sustained sales success by growing revenue from existing customers and cost effectively identifying and winning new customers. Contact Heinz Marketing Heinz Marketing Inc. 8201 164th Ave NE, Suite 200 Redmond, WA 98052 877.291.0006 www.heinzmarketing.com [email protected] Learn More About Heinz Marketing Interested in learning more creative ways to make the most of your marketing?: Request your FREE 10-minute brainstorm at www.10minutebrainstorm.com Join our newsletter: www.heinzmarketinginsights.com Check out our blog: www.mattonmarketingblog.com Follow Matt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/heinzmarketing