Nurturing Your Leads

Tips to improve your email marketing

Most businesses would argue that email marketing is one of the most powerful prospecting tools. In fact, spending on the medium is projected to reach $2 billion by 2014, according to Forrester Research. Not only is opt-in email marketing affordable, it also generates a response rate between 1 percent and 20 percent. To improve the success rate of your emails, we suggest these tips:

• Market to the right person. For example, if you sell children's furniture, who are you marketing to? Bunk beds are made to be slept in and enjoyed by children, but they are ultimately bought by parents. Determine who will be making the final decision on a purchase and reach out to them.
• Offer engaging content. Yes, it's tempting to turn an email into a sales pitch, but to prevent a recipient from hitting the delete button, offer information that's useful and relevant to their needs. For example, if your business is in the b-to-b space, you could offer customers a white paper on industry trends. That's the key to earning customer trust.
• Focus on the subject line. In general, subject lines should run 65 characters or less and entice the recipient to take action — for example, Save 25% on All Pet Food. Also, refrain from using all caps or excessive punctuation so as to avoid spam triggers.
• Encourage pass-alongs. Entice recipients to forward your emails to family and friends by offering them a special discount or gift.