I get it: email just seems ... well, kind of boring when you compare it with other channels on the market. Chatbots, automation, dynamic websites, account-based marketing. And then there's email marketing, where you try to stand out among the 100s of other unread, text-heavy annoyances in everyone's inboxes.
But I'd argue this is still a vital bedrock to a winning strategy for any company, no matter if B2C or B2B (though I will focus more on B2B here) - and it's often underutilized by companies both large and small. In fact, I'd even go as far to say that email is even more important as reliance on tech such as cookies fades in reliability.
So, let's dive in and find you some wins for your email marketing strategy and execution:
Click to jump to a section:
Is email still relevant? | Who's the audience? | Tactics | What Good Looks Like | Anatomy Of An Engaging Email | Make Sure They Get Your Email | Test!
Make sure you have the following locked in and ready to go as a foundation prior to creating your email marketing plan. After creating thousands of email campaigns for large-scale clients, I've found you won't go as far as possible without these:
Got those squared away? If not, you should bookmark this page and put a block on your calendar to read in a couple of months.
Go read those instead and get to work
Absolutely! That's the short answer.
A longer answer: One single email campaign won’t get you to where you want to be, but it’s a great start. Becoming a master at email marketing will be an incredibly effective skill to apply to your revenue marketing toolbox.
In fact, shifting from one-touch, batch and blast emails to multi-touch email nurtures can make a big revenue difference. One of our clients saw a BILLION (with a B) dollar impact in switching to segmented, multi-touch nurtures for their risk investment advisors.
We worked with this client to create an 8-month email nurture campaign to reach their target audience. The immediate result was $1.1 billion in asset value contributed to the sales pipeline and help in closing deals representing more than $100 million of net new assets.
Now, let's start with a simple fix that way-too-many companies (even large ones!) still do ... repeat after me:
DO NOT SEND A SINGLE EMAIL TO YOUR ENTIRE DATABASE! (This is often referenced as "batch and blast")
A single email should be a tactic in a multi-channel experience to truly engage your audience. A multi-touch email campaign enriches the customer experience and gets you the results you need:
A series of three emails performs better than a single email: 90% more orders for welcome emails, 63% more for abandoned cart emails, and 75% more for customers reactivation. (Omnisend, 2018)
With this said, there are A LOT of reasons why email marketing has consistently been identified as the most profitable and measurable channel for B2B marketers for the last decade.
Just in case you need to make a business case to your manager, here are a few compelling statistics to show bring to the table:
When you think about it, it makes total sense: It's ingrained in company culture as a primary method of communication, and it's still effective... so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Let me first note that if you don't fully understand privacy laws such as CASL, GDPR, and CCPA, read up on those and avoid potential issues later.
But for this, I want to focus on segmentation and personalization. These aren’t a trend - they're a necessity.
Your audience is smart and expects you to send emails that only pertain to them. If you don’t, studies show 94% of consumers take care of generic emails quick:
Take the time to segment your target audience. Not only will you minimize the above, but you will be ahead of your B2B competitors. Research conducted by Janrain and Blue shows almost all consumers (96%) have received mis-targeted information or promotions.
Go above and beyond for your prospects.
Once upon a time, I was working with a client to create an email nurture targeting an IT persona.
We found out quickly that not all IT professionals need or want the same thing. System admins need the how-to, in-the-weeds details, while IT leaders need to know the business case for why their tool was effective and efficient.
Two completely different messages sent to the “same” persona. We segmented these two audiences and created two completely separate email nurtures fo them with complimentary messages that made sense for each role:
Going further, we decided to personalize the emails such that each email addressed the recipient by name and mentioned their company name based on the data we had in our database.
Here are a few tips to help you create realistic targets:
Now that you have a specific target audience, how are you going to email them?
Okay, let’s get into the details. The following are definitions of different tactics and campaigns that you can deploy leveraging email as a channel.
One-off tactics are most effective when embedded into a multi-part campaign. The multi-part campaigns might seem complex, but always break down your email campaigns to deploy in smaller pieces… that is the beauty of email!
My rule of thumb is: if it takes you more than 30 days from ideation to launch, you need to break down the campaign into smaller components.
Offer Email: Provides a link to register or content download the offer. Typically, this type of email contains a single call to action (CTA) and can be embedded into a nurture campaign.
Resend Offer Email: Offers the same content but is sent if the recipient did not open first email. Change your subject line and email copy.
Thank You Email: Includes a link to the asset requested from the download. Typically, this is a shorter, simpler email than the offer email. Can include an additional CTA to get the lead to interact more and thus increase lead score.
This email is considered operational in nature.
Re-Engagement Email: An email sent to a portion of your database who has not engaged in any campaigns for a set period of time (such as six months, but yours may be different). Goal is to re-engage the lead with an enticing offer.
System Notification Email: Email sent to customers to notify of any platform down time, notification, etc... This email is considered operational in nature and primarily for any company who has a service or section of the site requiring a user login, such as a health / insurance portal or use of software.
Drip Campaign: A set of multiple offer emails sent to a targeted audience over a period of time. The cadence is set on a schedule and leads may enter and exist based on list criteria. Consider this a static email campaign.
Nurture Campaign: A set of multiple offer emails sent to a targeted audience over a period of time. The nurture campaign can change in frequency or content based on the target’s interaction with the campaign. The goal is to progress the lead to the next stage of the buying process. Consider this a dynamic email campaign.
Newsletter Email: This email is meant to be sent on a regular cadence with multiple articles, links and helpful content to an audience. The newsletters of the past are company centric, while converting newsletters are customer centric.
Welcome Campaign: A set of multiple offer emails sent to a targeted audience over a period of time. The nurture campaign can change in frequency or content based on the target’s interaction with the campaign. The goal is to progress the lead to the next stage of the buying process.
IP Warming Campaign: IP warming is the practice of gradually increasing the volume of email sent with a dedicated IP address according to a predetermined schedule. This gradual process helps to establish a reputation with inbox providers (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) as a legitimate email sender.
There are MANY MORE email campaigns to be listed, but the above covered the basics most marketers need to round out an initial email marketing strategy.
But what do you say in these emails - and how do you make it engaging?
In order to engage your audience, you’ll need a few things:
It's very easy to gloss over the majority of the marketing email that enters your inbox, so getting your marketing email to rise above the rest starts with an engaging subject line. Here are some tips to consider when creating engaging subject lines for your messages.
Do’s:
Don'ts:
Your email copy should stem from your customer journey mapping crossed with your persona messaging. All you are doing here is manipulating those messages as identified for your campaign for this particular channel of distribution.
For email, marketers need to provide concise, personalized content that is easily read at a glance. The following tips will help keep your content stay targeted and engaging to increase your email conversions:
You have precious seconds to grab the attention of your reader... so every piece of your email counts! Make sure to optimize each area of your email for engagement and conversion:
From Label – Prospects should get used to seeing the same name or persona to build trust. Use a lead owner, sales manager, or company “thought leader” name. Do not use your brand name alone. One well-known example – “Ann Handley – Marketing Profs”
From Address – Use a lead owner, sales manager's or company “thought leader’s” actual address. Do not just use a corporate blank email account such as "sales@" or "info@.“
Reply Address – The reply-to can be a generic email address if you want a single point of contact within Marketing to monitor the replies, otherwise, match the from address.
Subject Line – Subject lines should be short and clearly state the CTA value proposition. Get to the point within the first 35 characters and do not exceed 50 characters. This is the first thing most recipients will read, and it often determines if they'll click into the email at all since they see this in th email preview.
Don't forget to provide 3-5 subject line options for testing to find a clear winner!
Pre-Header – This will be the preview text a prospect/customer will see in their inbox – it should not be the same text as your subject line as it is a second chance to capture prospect interest
CTA Header – The CTA should be less than 40 characters if in text - as in a headline or in an email banner graphic.
Greeting – Make sure to use their name in the greeting, such as "Hey Majda!" for a basic step into personalization. This has become commonplace, and so is nearly expected at this point.
Body Copy – Leverage pain points or needs of the audience and even their personal motivators right upfront – are they ego-driven? Do they want some peace and quiet? Is there a particular problem you can help with? Put them first, so the reader wants to keep reading!
Keep the body short and use bullet points to call out benefits and features of the offer. Finish strong with a sentence or two and consider adding a “contact me” link for those readers who want to speak with someone.
Closing/Signature – Close the email with the signature line of the sender. Include the title so the recipient knows the sender's role and relationship to them.
Right Column CTA - Provide a clear call to action with a sense of urgency such as "Download the White Paper,“ "View the Webinar,“ or "Register Today“ where applicable.
Content Thumbnail - Make sure you include a thumbnail image of the offer. This image should be no wider than 150 pixels and compressed (no large images!).
Company Footer - This can be a shortened version of your corporate PR “about us” copy. This should remain static in all emails.
Unsubscribe Footer - The unsubscribe link within the email is a requirement. Include company address and disclaimers for any promotions. This will not change from email to email and is typically system generated within your email platform.
There are many styles of email templates available to leverage. We’ve found that whatever template you use, the following best practices help keep your design focused on conversion:
Mobile optimization
for mobile templates, simplicity is key. The more columns and content elements in the email wireframe, the more difficult it is to view an email from a mobile device. Keep in mind an optimized window of total email width is 320 to 480 pixels.
According to a study conducted by HubSpot, 35% of business professionals check email on a mobile device and 46% of all email opens occur on mobile devices. (Hubspot, 2019) As with nearly everything digital, design for mobile first and desktop will fall into place!
Two-Column Wireframe
Most outbound B2B emails have singular CTAs, as such to streamline the prospect’s behavior. These email wireframes should incorporate a 2-column design with 2/3 width attributed to a body column and 1/3 width attributed to a secondary column.
This wireframe can also be used for events as the smaller column can highlight event logistics.
Multi-column emails
Multiple columns can be used for newsletters or as a testing ground for more than one CTA. The goal of this busier email template is to give multiple offers to the prospect or customer.
I recommend leveraging this type of wire frame if you have a lot of content you are trying to test within a short period of time. Once you have established the best performing offers and content, leverage a 2-column email wireframe to serve that offer in subsequent campaigns.
Rich-Text Emails
In addition to creating wireframes with multiple columns or graphics, consider the impact of a simple text-based email.
Some verticals and roles prefer a non-HTML email. For example, I had a client whose text-based emails outperformed HTML emails by 40%. We found the main reason was the target audience was an IT vertical and prefers simple emails with little to no graphics.
Graphics, like every other element in an email, serves a purpose.
Use graphics sparingly. Too many graphics in your email could set off a spam or phishing alert. And depending on your audience, you may find that sending an all-text email is much more engaging than an html graphic email - at the worst, it's an easy A/B test worth considering!
When using graphics, consider the following:
With nearly 16% of all emails never making it to the inbox (Email Tool Tester, 2020), you need to make sure you are reviewing these eight components that contribute to good email deliverability:
There are key components that contribute to good email deliverability (and similarly, a good sender score), which is a must for any company looking to regularly send content to current and potential customers!
But, how do you make sure you have a strong sender score and your emails continue hitting people's inboxes - and not the junk folder?
How do you configure things properly to ensure this isn’t your barrier to delivery? If you’re working with a marketing automation platform, you should start there and contact support to get the ball rolling. They will provide you with the necessary documentation to get this configured on your side (Hint: IT will probably need to be involved on your end).
If you are working with a home-grown system, here’s a few resources for the technical configuration aspects:
Now, let's get started on eight items to examine to really boost your email deliverability.
Keeping your list clear of bounces and regularly removing inactive subscribers reduces the appearance of being a spammer. A clean list is comprised of regularly emailed, active subscribers who have not bounced, unsubscribed and are routinely engaging in your marketing emails. ISPs look suspiciously on email senders who have a high volume of unknown recipients, inactive recipients and regularly send to bounced email addresses.
Bounces fall into two categories: soft bounces and hard bounces.
Soft bounces are more nuanced than hard bounces, the data returned to the sender contains reason codes, which should be mined for information and processed accordingly. A full list of server reason codes can be found here, although not all codes listed are applicable to email directly but email bounce codes can be found in the list starting with 5xx.
It is highly recommended that senders build a programmatic approach to handling soft bounces. This should include logic that parses the bounce codes differently based on what the status code is relaying.
List quality also helps avoid the pitfalls of spam traps and blacklists. While no list is immune to these it is a significantly smaller risk when you maintain a fully permissioned opt-in list that is regularly purged of inactive and invalid data.
A spam trap is an email address that was typically not ever intended for communication but purely intended to lure spam. In order to prevent legitimate email from being overwhelmed, the trap email address is typically only published in a location hidden from view but visible to email address harvesters (which are illegal under CAN-SPAM).
Since no email is solicited by the owner of this address any messages are considered to be unsolicited and therefore spam.
There are five major types of blacklists and filters.
Deliverability testing through tools provided by your marketing automation platform or third-party services such as Litmus offer the opportunity to test emails for filtering prior to sending, thus giving a sender the opportunity to make changes before their message gets sent to the junk folder or not delivered at all.
Even with a fully opted-in list and a very clean database complaints happen, recipients may hit the spam button when fatigued with your message (instead of unsubscribing) or might accidentally hit it. Regardless of the way it happens, the email provider will still count this as a complaint.
It's generally accepted that anything greater than 1-3 complaints per thousand (0.1%-0.3%) emails sent is enough to revoke whitelisting status on an IP address. Complaint rates beyond these are likely to result in negative hits to your sender reputation and deliverability.
As a rule of thumb, your complaints should never exceed your unsubscribes for a campaign, if it does, it should provoke research into the campaign and what might have caused the problem. Typically high complaint rates can be attributed to changes in your email programs, such as:
The technical configuration of your IP addresses and various domain and sender records are crucial to establishing your sender reputation. The infrastructure component of your sender reputation is measured by two key items: reverse DNS and host type. These items in conjunction with confirmed identity via SPF (Sender Policy Framework), SID (Sender ID), and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) ensure your email is properly configured to show your identity as a sender.
Here is a baseline of the items to pay attention to when configuring your IP addresses for deliverability:
In addition to the technical setup, consistency in your identity, from address, reply-to address and records (listed above) are critical to identifying yourself as a legitimate email sender and not a spammer.
The rate at which you send emails out is important to ISPs. Spammers often send email without regard to volume, speed of send, or list cleanliness. To combat this, your ISP may sometimes perform a “volume block” (blocking transmission of massive amounts from one sender to many of their account holders) if they feel the volume of emails coming to them in the timeframe is excessive or potentially spammy.
It's recommended that larger batches of emails be released in groups instead of a single "blast" - a good rule of thumb is to not force more than 40k emails per hour in any given send.
Frequency of sends is important in that you should keep a consistent frequency. If you have dips and spikes in your sending that are without pattern it is likely that you will appear to be a spammer to more stringent filters.
Everything from the HTML coding and design of your email to the actual copy of the offer contribute to the content and are evaluated by filtering mechanisms (previously discussed under Blacklists and Filters and in Appendix: Spam Filters). Everything from broken or mis-coded HTML to lack of a text-only version of your email, lack of alt-text for images or code embedded scripts in your HTML can cause a filter to block your messages.
Typically when discussing content, marketers associate using words like “FREE” or “ADVERTISING” to instantly doom their message to the spam filter. Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple as filters are much more nuanced and use a variety of methods to determine if a message is spam or legitimate.
The best possible results for avoiding content-based filtering is to test using a tool such as the deliverability tools in your marketing automation platform or a highly-regarded third-party source.
Your audience falls into three buckets: new recipients, active recipients and inactive recipients, for each of these buckets you should have slightly different approaches.
New Recipients
For this you will want to look at the specific legislation for the Regions/Countries you mail in, this is not always legal (ex: Canada).
Active Recipients
Inactive Recipients
Last, but certainly not least, let’s talk about metrics. When looking at email performance, you need to take into account a number of metrics and measure against your company’s benchmarks AND industry benchmarks.
Here is a table of standard metrics used in email marketing:
| Terms | Definition |
| Sent | Number of emails that actually moved through the sending mail server (your ESP). This may or may not be the same as addresses on your sending list; it depends upon how your ESP tracks what’s been sent (whether or not it includes “bad” email addresses in the final count). |
| Delivered | Number of emails that were sent and not rejected by a receiving server. It’s important to understand that Delivered does not mean it landed in the recipient’s inbox. |
| Delivered Rate | Number of delivered/ number of sent |
| Opens | Number of contacts who opened the email at least once |
| Open Rate | the number of opens / number of leads delivered |
| Clicks | number of people (contacts) who click at least one link in the email. |
| Click Rate | Total number of Clicks divided by the total number of emails delivered |
| Click to open rate | total number of Clicks (per subscriber) divided by the total number of Opens. |
| Hard Bounced | Email was rejected because of a permanent condition, such as nonexistent email address. |
| Soft Bounced | Email was rejected because of a temporary condition, such as a server being down or a full inbox. |
| Pending | Email is still in the process of being delivered. |
| Clicked Link | Number of email recipients who clicked a link in the email. |
| Unsubscribed | Number of email recipients who unsubscribed from your email. |
Please note that the definitions of your metrics can differ from platform to platform, so please review the definition of your metrics in your ESP or Marketing Automation Platform. For example, Eloqua and Marketo have slightly differing ways of calculating metrics and that can also differ slightly from MailChimp or Constant Contact.
For metrics to matter, not only do you need to know how they are defined, you need to know what TO DO with them. A/B testing is a perfect way to take action to improve your email marketing performance, so let’s dive into that subject.
A/B split testing is the comparison of two components with a single variation in a digital campaign to improve conversion rates. Companies that A/B test every email see email marketing returns that are 37% higher than those of brands that never include A/B tests. (Litmus, 2019)
Most email marketing and marketing automation tools have A/B testing capabilities built into their platforms. What you need to know is how to take action on those results. The following chart is a guideline to help you understand what actions to take based on your email metrics:
| Key Metrics | Unsubscribe Rates | Open Rates | Click Throughs |
| What influences effectiveness | Perceived value, recognition | This is about trust in the sender, reputation and how interesting/relevant your subject lines are | This is about how effective your messaging, offers and channels are. |
| What low numbers could mean | If high numbers: Emailing too frequentlySending cold emails to unknown, un-opted in recipients | If low numbers: From name is not optimizedSubject line is too vague or not actionable NOTE: email opens are tricky to track, due to diverse email clients and technical tracking. It’s not a great metric to base success on | If low numbers: Prospect is not active in that channelBanners were not offer drivenCopy wasn’t compelling enoughToo vagueOffer format is not appropriateEmail/banner/post layout is not optimized |
Audit your existing email marketing programs, whether its in something like Constant Contact or Mailchimp or a more robust marketing automation platform such as Pardot, Marketo, or Eloqua.
Really dig into why each email is currently being sent. What is its purpose, and what should the user do? Then, check your metrics to see if it's driving the action(s) you're hoping for.
Have questions? You can always reach out to me directly on LinkedIn, or send us any marketing question you have!
And if you want to have an expert on call to help with your email marketing or campaign execution, check out our Experts on Demand service!