Best E-mail marketing strategy

27 replies
Hello warriors,

I have a B2B business and have constantly used e-mail marketing but due to some reasons most of my mails are having a very low open rate or are ending up in spam folder, any suggestion on how to overcome that?
#email #marketing #strategy
  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    1) Write better subject lines

    2) Generate a higher quality list (if they aren't already high quality)

    3) Use a good autoresponder. They all are expensive these days. (Aweber and Getresponse are 2 i recommend)

    4) Get more leads

    5) Have a history of creating good, informative emails
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956171].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author OfficerIM
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      1) Write better subject lines

      2) Generate a higher quality list (if they aren't already high quality)

      3) Use a good autoresponder. They all are expensive these days. (Aweber and Getresponse are 2 i recommend)

      4) Get more leads

      5) Have a history of creating good, informative emails
      Whats the likelihood of your subscribers reading your emails?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956347].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author ritzy987
        Thanks,
        Randall,Dmarc, Tim, Zack, Veekay,

        I wasn't using any autoresponder so will try them out and will also keep the tips handy and if possible, share my experiences here.

        ThAnk you all for helping me out
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956396].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dmarc
    What autoresponder service are you using? Aweber and getresponse are known to generally have good deliver.

    Getresponse has lots of good information about what can cause your emails to end up in spam folders. You can even sign up for the free trial (or maybe its $1 for the first month, I don't remember) and access their resources.

    Here's a decent blog post on avoiding the spam folder: How to Avoid the SPAM Folder in 10 Easy Steps

    Google is your friend.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956182].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tim Fuhrman
    I agree with Randall's advice above but I would add: Make sure you ask your "customers" when they initially sign up to white list you. Also make sure you are using double opt in. It is easy to give a "bad" email for a free report but if you have to verify the info to get whatever you are offering for signups then you know the email addresses are good.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956190].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Zack Lim
    You might want to consider the source of traffic that you are using to drive traffic to your website. If you are using crap traffic, there nothing that you can do to get more response as it will be a crap list.

    I agree with the points that Randall has mentioned by using professional autoresponder and writing better email messages that will get better response.

    The key is to keep growing the list with quality traffic and improve the email writing from there by consistently sending emails.
    Signature

    FREE Affiliate Marketing Mini Course Reveals The Fastest And Honest Way To Make Your First $1000 Online

    Click Here To Get FREE Instant Access

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956215].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author veekay31
    If your mailsare landing in the spam folder then you need to check with your autoresponder service provider. Go for a quality autoresponder like Aweber if you want to inbox consistently. Track and test everything. If you have the tracking data then you can make decisions based on that data.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956339].message }}
  • One thing to consider is the email address you have provided as the "from" address. Don't use a free email address like gmail or yahoo. Instead, set up an email account or an email forwarder from your domain or hosting provider.

    You should also always check the spam score your autoresponder company provides you. As with most everyone in this thread, I use and recommend AWeber and they give you a spam score for every letter so you can see if you have trigger words and phrases or other issues with your emails.

    If this was a recent change and out of no where a responsive list is suddenly a ghost town, then you might want to contact your service provider and see if they have any idea what's going on. Maybe something on their end.

    If this has been a problem over time however then poor quality leads, boring headlines, or non-engaging content could be possible culprits.

    Hope that helps
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8956404].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    I would work with any of these 2 companies because generally they have an OK delivery rate.

    You can choose from Getresponse.com or Aweber.com I personally like Getresponse.com and am using it right now.

    Now, you need to make sure that you are getting high quality leads.

    There are some places online that help you get leads and these leads may be a very low quality.

    If you are in the work at home niche for example, the best leads that you can generate for your business are through pay per click companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Bing. If you are going to use pay per click advertising, make sure you work with any of the 3 I mentioned in this sentence. Don't work with the smaller ppc companies because they have very poor quality traffic.

    Once you do that, you need to try out different subject lines to see which ones get you the most open rate.

    And lastly, make sure that you get new and fresh leads every single day. Most marketers get 500-2000 and then stop. No, this is the worst thing you can do. You need to make sure that new leads are coming into your auto-responder on a daily basis without stop. Consistency is the KEY.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8957255].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author IanM723
      Originally Posted by talfighel View Post

      I would work with any of these 2 companies because generally they have an OK delivery rate.

      You can choose from Getresponse.com or Aweber.com I personally like Getresponse.com and am using it right now.

      Now, you need to make sure that you are getting high quality leads.

      There are some places online that help you get leads and these leads may be a very low quality.

      If you are in the work at home niche for example, the best leads that you can generate for your business are through pay per click companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Bing. If you are going to use pay per click advertising, make sure you work with any of the 3 I mentioned in this sentence. Don't work with the smaller ppc companies because they have very poor quality traffic.

      Once you do that, you need to try out different subject lines to see which ones get you the most open rate.

      And lastly, make sure that you get new and fresh leads every single day. Most marketers get 500-2000 and then stop. No, this is the worst thing you can do. You need to make sure that new leads are coming into your auto-responder on a daily basis without stop. Consistency is the KEY.
      Awesome Advice! People always say that "the money is in the list!" but in reality, what they really should be saying is that "the money is in a RESPONSIVE and HIGHLY TARGETED list!" You have to go back and look at where your traffic is coming from and how targeted that is. If you build a highly focused list, your open rate and CTR will definitely go up so focus on that and you will definitely see significant improvement. Good Luck
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8957391].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ritzy987
    Thanks Sws and Tal for your valuable suggestions, you guys are of great help.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8957339].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author shadeofinfo
    I would suggest to do split testing if possible with your autoresponder. Maybe your headlines aren't working so do a split test. Send half of your list an email with one headline and another half with a different headline. Open rate is related to headlines mostly ... or your list. But try the split test for the headlines first.
    Signature
    Actionable blueprints and strategies for growing your site. www.contentranked.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8957354].message }}
  • have to agree with Randall. You have to constantly be building your list and at the same time
    build a strong relationship with your list if you want better open rates.
    Randall gave good advice on how to do that.
    Don't over think this just keep at it.
    Never give up
    Good Luck
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8957738].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rayholt
    Do you monitor your domain's reputation through SenderBase or https://www.senderscore.org/ ? If you see your open rates trailing off you could be getting a high spam complaint... therefore resulting in always ending up in the spam folder, or worse off blacklisted and not delivered at all.

    After that I would segment your list to those who have recently opened or clicked on one of your emails within the past 3 months. You should see decent open rates from this mailing.

    What is a very low open rate... 10%, 1%, .01%? Do you keep a log of all of your sends and the open rates? How is it comparing to before? Have you made any changes that would warrant the decline in open rates?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8966194].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Sean DeSilva
    your open rate is like a wave of sorts. It gets stronger if you deliver high-value content and continually pay off people for reading and opening.

    There is also a short-term force at work also that can add to the current or push against it, which is the subject line. Obviously a good subject and good content are ideal, but between the two I found that building my name through high-value content was most important of all.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8966225].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      One thing I haven't seen addressed directly yet is expectations.

      The expectations you set when you acquire the email address and before you ever send that first email can make or break you in the B2B sector.

      Presumably, your business solves one or more problems for other businesses. Your first task is to generate trust and confidence. That's hard to do if you're sending the typical IM hype.

      Start by identifying one problem you can solve for your potential customers. Just one. Create a white paper analyzing the problem - what it is, why people have it, what the stakes are, and best practices for solving it. Do not turn it into an ad for your company. Once you've demonstrated some expertise, you can use your follow up sequence to provide additional material, case studies (where you do get to toot your own horn), and testimonials. Once you've built your case, make an offer to get that first order. In B2B, that first order is more like an audition than anything else.

      Once you've done that, pick another problem. Go through the steps in the white paper as part of the sequence. In the meantime, start a new list target people worried about that second problem, offer them the white paper, and proceed.

      Keep at it, and soon you'll have a whole bunch of smaller lists you can go back to again and again. And repeat customers are where the real money is...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8966266].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Zero
        1 thing i learnt from Ben Settle is that don't drive yourself crazy over Open rates - focus on sales and if they are going up.

        Though that isn't to say you shouldn't try to work on getting better open rates, but measure the effectiveness based on how many sales you are making from an email you send.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8967584].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ezdiainc
    Best e-mail marketing strategy :

    Personalize your message by greeting the recipient by their name.

    Time the e-mails. Avoid big e-mail marketing campaign during the holiday season as people are bound to delete your email along with loads of others and just concentrate on the important ones.

    Use a catchy subject to make the recipient wanting to read your mail. Also try using a name in the senders e-mail address to make it look authentic

    Its very important for your message and call to action to be short but long enough to describe the key benefits.

    For every message you send create a landing page for it
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8978610].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Haligonian
    Getting messages delivered is one of the most important aspects of email marketing!

    The post doesn't indicate if you are using a bulk email platform but assuming you do you should ask them about SPF and DKIM authentication. I'm using SimplyCast and they gave me the records for my DNS TXT records for my domain. Basically this tells email services that your bulk sending platform is authorized to send on behalf of your domain. This seems to help!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8979908].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Haligonian
    Oh another thing that SimplyCast email marketing told me was that a dedicated IP can be used. If you use a dedicated IP you will be in complete control over your sender reputation. There is a warm up period however and if you send spam you will actually hurt your results. Assuming the contact list has opted in and is up to date this could help you get your messages delivered directly to inboxes.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8979924].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jtraits
    i don't really like the condition "best strategy" . best strategy for every person varies. yes, there are some steps to follow but only that... the rest are up to you to decide what works best for your situation
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980002].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mark1988
    can i use solo ads to send affliat links ?
    Signature

    No affiliate links, please

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980008].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Leon Zykos
    Hi,

    Basically have a good subject line because that is going to determine whether people are going to open your emails. and generally aweber have a spam detection tool before you send, as long as is not too high, you should be good.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980232].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gcbmark20
    Hi,

    1) Create a list of "Problem" topics that you can write your emails around.

    2) Then solve those problems that your readers may be having within your emails.

    3) Once you've helped them with a particular tip or strategy then link to an offer.

    4) An offer that helps them grow and solve a particular problem or reach a particular
    GOAL they want to reach.

    5) TEST different subject headlines against one another. (if you have a good autoresponder service they will allow you to split test your email campaigns against one another).

    6) BE CONSISTENT.

    Don't allow your list to go cold.

    Ask them how you could help them. And what they would like to learn from you.

    Get involved with your list, let them know that you're there to help them.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980264].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mjbiel
    Check out this video. This guy knows his stuff. It's 7 min long but he talks about how to write a killer 7 day follow up series. This will get you started on the right foot with your subscribers.
    Signature

    ==> Free (No Optin Required) Complete Solo Ad List With Over 150 Solo Ad Vendor's, their email address, their skype address, their website and the lost cost they charge - Enjoy

    http://www.instanttrafficideas.com/s...urce-thankyou/

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980838].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author bobby_shahzad
    Please do the following

    Generate interesting variations in your subjectlines which are laser targetted to your audionce.

    Higher a good copy writer to write astonishing/awesome email message for you.

    Use doble optin lists to get the best results.

    Consistently engage with your list on regular basis.
    Signature
    BulkResponse.com Email marketing service , single and double optin accounts. List Hygiene Service Available.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8980921].message }}

Trending Topics