There are three (actually four) things that you should keep in mind when writing a marketing email.
#1. Headlines For The Articles / Subject Lines For Your Emails
Make sure that they follow the headline pattern so that people want to open your emails. Ultimately, it has to be able to resonate with their fear or pain or desire, in some way. This works well because they then feel compelled to open your emails.
#2. Offer Incredible Value
You shouldn’t “just” be highlighting a problem. Nor should you be offering a solution that needs them to talk to you. Or talk to any other expert to implement whatever it is that you are suggesting in the email.
The email in and of itself should be enough for them to fix something in their lives, right away.
#3. Implement The Value Ladder
Don’t just end the email with an end solution to their problem. Instead, offer them another lead-magnet, as a freebie, as an extension of the solution to their problem. This is great because when they come near the end of your email, you are offering them MORE. And you’re doing this without asking them for much – they’ve already given you their attention. At this point, you just want to prime them for looking at your emails positively.
So, let’s take an example of this strategy.
We have a 45-point website checklist that is constantly under development. We can implement this checklist across any website and make it super optimized for search engines, performance, etc. In a nutshell, this checklist can help them, significantly.
Now, if the email said – 19 things that you can do today to make your website work as an extra sales person on your team – you will give them 19 of the top items. But then, at the end of the email, you tell them that this is actually a part of a full 45-step website implementation plan, that you will be happy to give them for free. Ask them to either click on a link, or to reply to your email. Or even better, ask them for both. This way, even if some people reply, your own rankings with email services will go up, because your users will be engaged with you.
A segue on the REPLY mechanism – almost in every email, you should ask them to REPLY. Do this regardless of whether your email list is a 1000 or 100,000. Have an automated mailbox function set up so that when you receive a reply, you can redirect it to someone in your team. Actually you can also create an automated delivery of the promise you made to them (like sending them the full 45-point checklist above).
And, Here’s #4 – But This Is Optional And Might Need A Little Bit Of Extra Work At Your End
Ask them to forward the email.
It’s not very hard to implement a referral program and to have a gift associated with every set of points a user accumulates by forwarding the email.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandeep Bansal
Chief Strategy Officer at Marketing Strategy Labs
Email marketing in B2B is simple. Driving sales from it is simpler.But not always easy.
The good news is that it is more of a science now, than an art.
So no matter what industry you are in or how niche you are, email marketing still can be your winning chip in driving ROI.
I know so many businesses and marketers still have way too many questions and uncertainties about it.That’s normal.As I said, email is simple but not easy.