Manufacturers: Staying on Top of Your Email Marketing Automation

We often hear our clients say that in order to get customers, they have to be in the right place at the right time as their prospects aren’t always looking for their product or service. Since we aren’t mind readers, how can we possibly know when prospects are looking to buy without them telling us? The truth is, we can’t. However, we can take steps to continually be top of mind with these prospects so that they remember us when the time comes for them to make a decision. Queue email marketing automation.

Email marketing automation is a great tool if you are already generating a decent amount of leads (contacts) from your website or sales team. Leads are people who have shown some sort of interest in what you do, and could very well convert to a sale at some point in the future. Because they have already shown interest, you want to stay in front of them by offering helpful content geared toward aiding them in their decision making process (i.e. case studies, whitepapers, blogs, etc.). Through email marketing automation, you can easily provide this information without a salesperson having to remember that it’s been a month since their last touch point with your company - this is done through workflows.

Workflows allow manufacturers to specify when emails are sent to whoever is enrolled through the creation of delays. For example, you can enroll contacts in a workflow that automatically sends them a Case Study and then set a delay for 14 days for the send of the second email containing a checklist. This process can continue for as long as you think necessary to reach your goal, which should be specified prior to the implementation of the workflow. While you aren’t flooding your lead’s inbox with emails, you are keeping your name out there. According to Forrester, B2B marketers who implement marketing automation increase their sales pipeline contribution by an average of 10%.

Tips for Successful Email Marketing

1. Personalization

Sending generic emails to prospects won’t help win them over. Your audience has a specific reason for potentially wanting your product or service, so creating emails that cater to that need is a must. Segmenting different leads into different email campaigns based on their behaviors can help manufacturers reach contacts more effectively rather than lumping everyone together in a campaign that might only speak to one third of those enrolled. By properly segmenting leads, you can expect to see a growth in open / read rates as well as increases in revenue.

2. Keep it Relevant

Similarly to segmenting, you want to provide your leads with content that is relevant to them. Chances are your prospects are busy people and don’t have time to read a novel about what your email contains. They want to read something that quickly gets to the point and addresses one of their needs and/or frustrations. Add copy to the email that will convey to your leads how the content you’re providing can help solve their problems - they’ll be more interested in this rather than a general “here’s a case study about me” email.

3. Clearly State Next Steps

Most importantly, you are sending these emails in order for your prospects to take specific ‘next steps.’ This could be anything from downloading a piece of content to scheduling a consultation of some kind. An easy way to achieve clarity is by adding a compelling call-to-action (CTA) to the body of the email. You want to add something that screams “download now,” “request a sample here,” and gives the lead the opportunity to do so by directing them to the appropriate place. It is important to note, there should only be one action per email as this will help increase click-through rates.

Have you seen success with email marketing automation campaigns? Tell us about it in the comments!