IF YOU WANT a quick way to get more leads, then consider a direct email marketing campaign. It works like this: you send an email to an opt-in subscription email list that’s comprised of people in your target audience. You could buy a list from a broker, or you could arrange a deal with a company that sells products or services that are complementary or in some related to your own.
For example, if you sell anti-virus software, you could approach a company that has an opt-in list related to internet security. The new 2018 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) have now made it very restrictive to contact people – be sure to read our article here.
Whether you approach a company owner or a list broker, you need to ensure the list is high quality and responsive. Ask how clean the list is and how often it’s cleaned to remove unsubscribes and bounces. Find out too how often the list is mailed.
Ask for average open and click-through rates too. Find out if they will host images at no cost, if the emails can be personalised and what reporting they will provide.
Your direct email needs to solicit a response from people who are probably unaware of your business or your products or services. That means the success or failure of your email could well be down to its 50-character subject line which is the first thing they’ll see. It should be relevant, provocative and convey a sense of urgency.
The content of the email needs to clearly convey your offer and its benefits as well as CTAs. People should see that information on the first screen of the email no matter what format they’re seeing it in (plain text, HTML, Lotus Notes, etc.).
Do personalise the email because people are far more likely to be engaged if you address them by name and so respond to your offer.
With your CTA, tell your recipients what you want them to do. For example, ‘Download your free guide to ‘Solving Your Cashflow Problems Forever now’.
Repeat your CTA several times through your email. And make sure they have a prominent text link so it’s immediately obvious to your recipients where they should click.
Send recipients to a landing page with an opt-in form so that you can continue to communicate with them.
Use imagery to promote your message and enhance and support your brand but don’t make the file size too big.
To build trust with your recipients, your email should also include:
- A sign off and if possible a scanned image of a signature
- Your return email address
- Your contact information
Check too that the email provider will automatically include an Unsubscribe/ Privacy policy – MailChimp our prefered partner includes this.
Test your email
Test your email before it’s sent to ensure it gets through spam filters, that the links work, that it renders properly in different devices and that clicks show up in your web statistics.
Track your response
You’ll need to keep track of your email response, including:
- Open rates
- Click-throughs by link
- Post-click analysis so you can find out what visitors do on your landing page.
And then send them a second email.
Remove the individuals who’ve responded and then create a slightly different follow-up email to the same database. Research has shown that second campaigns can boost response rates by more than 20%.
At dorweb of Weymouth, we are highly experienced in setting up email marketing campaigns using the popular MailChimp cloud-based solution. Sign-up on their website for a free trail and watch your sales boost.
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