This Email Marketing and Lead Generation Blueprint provides a general insight on different areas of email marketing and lead generation. This Blueprint is aimed at beginners at email marketing
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Beginners Email Marketing Lead Generation Blueprint from Strategic Marketing Services
1. Email Marketing &
Lead Generation
Blueprint
White Paper
By Strategic Outsourcing Services
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
2. Understanding Email Marketing
Email marketing has been around for as long as email has been around. It has evolved
into a powerful tool which can be utilized for various purposes. Since email is such a
dynamic system which can be molded according to specific needs, it is important to
understand its power, scope and tools. To begin with, email marketing includes sending
across emails, mostly in bulk to targeted demographics. But it is actually a very strong and
powerful medium which can increase profits tremendously if used well and methodically
and can also create havoc if misused or not used properly. It is important to keep the
following points in mind before starting an email marketing campaign:
?
Designing the right email for the right segment
? the right email to the right segment
Sending
?
Following up religiously
? brand awareness
Creating
? away from spam
Staying
?
Generating leads
Users spend 51 seconds reading the average newsletter
The email takes the shape of a business document, a marketing letter, promotional ad
campaign and many other such tools. These messages have evolved over the years into
highly specialized and highly targeted instruments which do their job when they are fully
loaded.
Email marketing is not just about promoting a brand, service or a product. Today, the
internet has reached homes like never before. The number of people using web based
services has ballooned over the years. Hence, email marketing is more about building
relationships with prospective clients. More and more brands are vying for the same
space. Hence to use email marketing wisely is an understatement.
Lead Generation
For an email marketer, sending emails in the thousands does not mean he will get
business immediately. To do this, there are certain practices which he has to adopt. Lead
generation through email marketing can be a potential gold mine only of the hard work is
put in. Of utmost importance are the following factors:
?
Personalization of lists
?
Management and segmentation of lists according to various criteria
? in-house lists to the maximum
Utilizing
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www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
3. An email marketer's weapon is his email list. To generate quality leads is not an easy task.
Using the above mentioned strategies, one is able to bring down bounce rates, increase
visibility, and avoid spam traps and so on. Hence it is vital for any email marketing
campaign to adhere to these.
In a recent survey on email, 74% of survey respondents check their email daily and 22%
check 3-6 days a week. Across all age, gender, education and other demographic groups,
58% believe Spam has increased. When an email is sent to a prospective client, he has
to be interested in reading it. Making an email campaign suitable for easy viewership is
one of the top priorities. After that the next best thing to do is not send bulk mail. It puts off
Effects of Subscriber
Recency on Open/Click Rates
Your newest subscribers are your best. They are most engaged immediately
after sign up and then trail off over time.
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0
0-1
1
2
Open
3
4
5
Months
Subscribed
Click
any client in the long run.
Opt-in leads are those which open the emails, read them, and opt for the offer that you
have put forth. These offers may be different for different clients.
Opt-in leads are very strong means of ensuring that your lead gets converted to business.
When a prospective client wishes to receive further communication from you, he will
subscribe to it. This means that he is giving you explicit consent to email him. This is a
quality lead generated. To reach this level, it is necessary that we use the above
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www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
4. mentioned features. It makes the process easier, economical and more target oriented.
Honoring opt out requests also ensures CAN-SPAM compliance. 73% of retailers sent no
more emails after receiving an opt-out request.
Some of the key pointers to email marketing and how it generates
quality leads
? can be designed to generate interest in product
Emails
?
Email deliverability and open rates can be monitored to a certain extent
? emails can be designed for specific services and offers
Specific
Email lists and their significance
?
Customized email lists can be used to further increase penetration and visibility
Today we have many service providers which provide clients with readymade email lists.
These email lists contain millions of email addresses of prospective clients. Each email
address is a scope for a sale. This multiplies your chances by millions. This immense
opportunity is why email marketing is such a popular tool today.
Email lists can be derived through various means like:
?sourcing
Crowd
?
Purchasing
Spam
?
Leasing
? clean up
Inventory
One of the most common issues which come into the picture when it comes to bulk email
lists is the issue of spam. Spam is the most hated word in the email marketer's world. It
needs to be controlled and eliminated. Being spam listed is death for email marketing.
Hence necessary precautions need to be taken to ensure that spam is not part of the
program. It is essential for a list sourcing company to ensure that they do not provide the
client with emails which can have potential spam traps. Hence research and data
cleansing is of vital importance.
All records in the email list should be valid. They should not be outdated; spam trapped
and should be valid. These are the few basic needs which are essential for better lead
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
5. generation.
Keep Spam at Bay
Today, email marketing has progressed a lot. To generate quality leads, all email listing
sites provide these services as basic features. Some provide certain niche offers which are
attractive. They include the following.
Here are a few tips that will help you keep the
most dreaded SPAM at bay:
Get Whitelisted
Each ISP has different rules in place to detect
SPAM. It is a good idea to get whitelisted with
major ISPs like Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, MSN etc.
Whitelisting will prevent the filters from blocking
any message from your email address. Most of
your emails will get through the inbox and this
will help unnecessary filtering of legitimate
emails.
1
out of 3 ISPs
consider
SPAM
complaints as the #1
factor in
determining if an
email should be
blocked.
Follow The Laws
Make sure your campaigns are fully CANSPAM compliant. If you send to other countries,
comply with their SPAM rules, too. Keep yourself abreast with the latest regulations and
laws.
Hire A Vendor
This will make your task several times easier. Most email campaign vendors have
deliverability specialists that are capable of taking care of SPAM and deliverability issues.
Even if you carry out a campaign yourself, consult the experts when you encounter
deliverability issues. The service providers are technically equipped to identify
deliverability issues and fixing them.
Implement authentication methodologies while executing a campaign. Also, meet your
ESP's deliverability team regularly to discuss data and metrics.
Adjust To SPAM Filtering Rules
Mark your email campaigns against the filtering rules. This process will show you where
exactly you need to tweak your campaign. Seek good relationships with the ISPs to
understand their filtering policies better.
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
6. Use Double Opt-in Lists
Also, known as confirmation opt-ins, double opt-in lists are a safe way to execute an email
campaign. Here the recipients receive an automated response from the list service
prompting them to click on a given URL to confirm their subscriptions. They will be
considered opt-ins only when they click on that link.
Pay Heed To Spam Complaints
List Services
Pay utmost importance to the spam complaints received by you. Firstly, delete the email
addresses that have reported spam against you. You can also create an exclusion list and
put such addresses into them for future reference.
These services are usually an add-on to the basic list services that they provide. List
appending is a very essential tool. This feature is utilized well by email marketers. The
company providing the email list ensures that all the contacts in a database are verified
and accurate. This enhances your chances of being noticed a lot more. Having a precise
and up to date list ensures high email deliverability rates.
In-house lists are also beneficial. You are one step closer to having a qualified lead when it
is an in house lead. This is because when a company has its own email list; it is highly
specific to its business. This is a very strong asset. Combining it with a strong email
marketing tool, can create magic. All the email marketer has to do is design the right
pitches, and sends it to the right client at the right time.
Spam free lists are highly cleansed lists which do not contain any sort of spam traps. This
ensures that there are no issues with email deliverability, open rates and click through
rates.
Prepackaged lists are tailor made customized lists which are made according to
specifications. This can be used immediately without any sort of editing or testing.
Custom list is another type of prepackaged list which is delivered to a certain client
specification.
Geographically segmented lists are important when the brands are not global. If they have
a strong local presence, it makes sense to send emails to local emails, rather than to a
global list.
Lists which are restricted to certain professions are also available. This is a sure shot
means of reaching the segmented demographic. It saves time and does wonder when it
comes to click-through rates.
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
7. Specific Landing Pages
These features are assured means of achieving higher click through rates. It has been
tried and tested and results have been achieved across the board. The more segmented
and more specific the list is, the more it gets opened and more traffic goes to the website.
A recent study of major B2B marketing companies and their strategies have thrown some
light on landing pages and their significance. 44% of landing pages are home pages and
not specifically designed pages. What this does is increases the amount of effort that the
visitor has to put in order to navigate through the home page and then address the call to
action.
In layman's terms it is lost business. The visitor will lose interest rapidly if he is made to
search for matter. Hence designing specific landing pages which back up a very strong call
to action, placed at prominent places in the email is a serious task. A lead will remember
you for the ease with which he could find his way through the website and not how
attractive the home page is.
When a doctor receives a marketing email from a company which specializes in hospital
diagnostic equipment, the chances of click through and open rates are surely high. If this
same mail reaches a restaurant owner, it is almost nil. Hence the more the personalization
of the list, the more the client will click through and have a look at the services on offer.
Through personalization, it is possible to send across specific deals and offers to
customers who will actually use them. This decreases the amount of emails sent, increase
the click through rate, decrease the time spent on avoiding spam traps and increase the
ROI.
By segmenting the list, we are able to keep a keen eye out for the performance of the
email campaign. This is because there is lesser number of mails sent. It becomes easier to
track the response, hence making it easier to see what the results of the campaign are.
Measurability is a very important tool here. If we are able to quantify the amount of traffic
that the email campaign has brought to the website, then half the work is done. This is
possible only through a systematic approach to list building and segmentation.
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610
8. About Strategic Outsourcing Services
Strategic Outsourcing Services, a division of Champions Group was established in the
year 1999 in US, and 2003 in India. It was founded with the aim of helping companies do
marketing in an organized and innovative manner. Since its inception, Strategic has not
only worked towards helping clients achieve their business goals, but also surpassed them
through Responsible Marketing.
With over 1800 employees spread across India and US; Strategic has catered to over 30%
of Fortune 500 companies. The company and all its employees believe in 4Ps; namely,
Personal Integrity, Prompt Fulfillment, Professional Development and Positive Energy. For
more information, visit our website at http://strategicservices.com
www.strategicservices.com
marketing@strategicservices.com
Website:
www.strategicservices.com
Email:
marketing@strategicservices.com
Call Us:
+1(888)-828-8052, +91 80 4115 2610