How to Turn Your Email Marketing Strategy into Leads

Social media, mobile messengers, chat apps – the number of ways people can communicate with each other has certainly gone well beyond landlines. While it’s not the newest form of communication by any means, email is still a viable way for companies to communicate with their existing clients and prospects. 

Although some SEOs have proclaimed email was destined to go the way of the Dodo bird in recent years, that’s simply not the case. In fact, it’s estimated that people will send even more emails and the number of email users will increase in upcoming years. In 2018, approximately 281 billion emails were sent every single day and 3.8 billion people had email accounts. By 2022, more than 347 billion emails will be sent and received by users daily and around 4.4 billion individuals will use email.

While those numbers are impressive, they don’t matter if people won’t actually receive your emails. With people getting legitimate and spam emails in their inboxes every day, you might question whether recipients will actually get your messages, but most will. According to the report, “The 2019 Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability,” around 85 percent of the people you send email to will receive your messages.

An inbox placement rate of 85 percent is eye-opening to say the least, but it’s not enough for your messages to land in people’s inboxes. To turn your email marketing strategy into leads, you have to get people to open and act on your emails. Luckily, there are some lead nurturing tips that can help your messages inspire recipients to do both of those things.

Email People Who Want to Hear from You

For your email marketing to yield leads, it’s better to send messages to people who want to hear from you instead of random individuals who haven’t voluntarily shared their email address with your brand. To capture email addresses from interested prospects, you need to focus on an opt-in strategy that allows individuals to share their email address.

In general, people will be more willing to share their email address and possibly other personal information like their name, in exchange for something. Across your digital channels, give people the chance to share their email address by using pop-ups and/or side bars. Entice people to type in their email addresses by offering them a benefit for doing so, such as getting a free weekly newsletter or an exclusive discount on their first purchase.

To ensure recipients still want to hear from you after your initial and subsequent messages, it’s important to include an unsubscribe option in your future emails. Even though you don’t want people to exercise their right to unsubscribe, giving them the chance to do so is a courtesy you shouldn’t overlook.

Segment Your Recipients

Even the people who sign up to receive emails from you using the same digital platform will differ from one another just like individuals who sign up using different channels will have some things in common. It’s crucial for you to use those differences and similarities to segment your pool of email recipients into clearly defined groups of prospects. Once you’ve segmented your overall pool of recipients, you can create emails that will resonate with each subgroup.

If you question whether it’s worth segmenting your list of sign-ups, consider the following. Segmented email marketing campaigns have a higher open rate compared to campaigns that aren’t segmented. Similarly, segmented campaigns boast a significantly higher click-through rate than their non-segmented brethren.

Create a Compelling Subject Line

If you ever took a journalism class, then you’re probably familiar with the inverted pyramid style of delivering information. This format delivers the most interesting and compelling information first and then expands upon it later. The inverted pyramid format translates well to emails, meaning you should treat your subject line like a headline for a news article. Just like a headline is meant to grab a reader’s attention, you should craft your subject lines with the same goal in mind.

Although your subject line should relay attention-grabbing information that will motivate recipients to read more now or later, it doesn’t have to be boring or lacking in personality or expression. Believe it or not, emails that have emojis in their subject line have a higher open rate so don’t be shy about using an emoji at least from time to time.

Don’t Neglect the Design of Your Email

Creating a compelling subject line for your emails isn’t the only thing you need to do to nurture leads. You also have to design your emails effectively overall. While your subject line is a critical component, there are others you should focus on, such as your text. Make sure your text is clear, concise, and as short as possible. Your content should be scannable as well.

Make it easy for recipients to share your content by including links to social media in your messages. Use images to reinforce your message. Include one obvious call to action in every email you send as well.

Share Meaningful Content

Just like the design of your emails is important, so is what you share. It won’t matter if your emails look great and have a clear CTA if people don’t find your content meaningful and relevant to their lives. When you send content that’s meaningful and relevant, it decreases the likelihood that people will unsubscribe and it increases the odds that they’ll share your material with others.

To ensure your content is meaningful to your recipients, it’s essential for you to segment your audience and research each subgroup exhaustively. Identify offers that each segment will find the most valuable and include them in the appropriate emails. Remember – quality and relevance are what matter when it comes to email marketing and lead nurturing, not quantity.

For Effective Email Marketing, Choose GoingClear

To make your email campaigns as effective as possible at generating leads, you should work with the email marketing experts at our Boston, MA digital marketing agency. GoingClear has a proven track record of capturing leads through email marketing campaigns for SMBs across industries, and we can do the same for you.

Connect with GoingClear to learn more now!