Prerequisites to a successful email outreach campaign
Before any successful campaign comes the preparation and foundation for success. Going blindly into a project doesn’t consider all of the potential opportunities and obstacles. To set up an email outreach campaign that converts, do the following:
- Establish a clear business goal. Maybe this will be inspired by something the business is lacking, or an area the business sees as an opportunity. For example, a business goal could be to increase customer retention rates. If that’s the case, an outreach email should focus on the customer experience, such as offering promos or loyalty programs.
- Know the audience. Before running the email outreach campaign, collect information about the customers or ideal leads so the content they see is relevant to them. If the business is offering automation support for enterprises, it’s likely the content will need to be geared toward decision-makers in busy companies.
- Create a targeted email list. Don’t send outreach emails to just anyone. If the content is personalized and is being used to reach a goal, create a list of customers that will be most likely to make that happen. Consider what the receivers of the emails will need to convert. A certain budget? Age? Location?
- Know the different email types. An email isn’t simply another form of communication. It’s a category that holds unique types of communication using email as a conduit. Consider what kind of email will coincide with the goal. Here are some options:
- Announcement emails
- Upselling emails
- Newsletters
- Holiday emails
- Welcome emails
The best email outreach campaign process
Once the preparations for an email outreach campaign are complete, it’s time to work on the ongoing process of optimizing and managing them. Once an email is created and sent, there’s still work to be done. First, the email campaign needs to be created, then it needs to be consistently managed, and finally, continuously tested.
- Start with additional research. Make sure the content being delivered to the customer is valuable to them and that it demonstrates how the business can provide the solution to a problem they did or didn’t know they had.
- Write a compelling subject line. This is the first thing people read when they check their emails. If it looks like spam or isn’t immediately intriguing, the email will be deleted.
- Don’t write an email for the sake of sending one. Each email should be full of value and in support of achieving a goal. Just because there hasn’t been one in a while, doesn’t mean an email should be sent.
- Include a powerful CTA. As always, give the customer their next steps. Make it simple and engaging. If the goal is improved customer retention, offer a link with membership perks, for example.
- Always personalize. Using a CRM, include the receiver’s name. And if the targeted email list was well done, the content can be personalized for that niche.
- Make sure the design is mobile-friendly. Since most customers read emails on their phones, make sure the chosen template and design is fitting for desktops, handheld devices, and mobile phones.
- Get the timing right. There isn’t necessarily a “one-size-fits-all” scenario. The ideal cadence for email outreach campaigns depends on multiple factors: individuals, industry, product, and more.
- Use A/B testing. Create two or more versions of outreach emails so A/B testing can outline what customers prefer to receive and respond to.
Outreach email campaigns: the results
As the email campaign runs, not only is it necessary to manage it, but it’s also important to track its performance. The results of tracking outreach emails will inform the business how to adjust moving forward to reach the goal. Keep an eye on the following:
- Open rate: Is the subject line engaging enough for customers to open the email?
- Click-through-rate (CTR): Is the content and CTA intriguing enough for customers to click on the link?
- Bounce rate: If there’s a high bounce rate, what is it that’s driving customers away?
- Unsubscribes: Is the content not providing enough value? Is the timing off? Try different things to lower unsubscribe rates.
- Spam complaints: Does the subject line look like spam? Or is the content not valuable and bothering the customers?
- Lead generation: How many new leads are the result of the email outreach campaign? Is this on par with the goal or does something need to change?
The risks of not using email outreach
Wondering if setting up an email outreach campaign is worth it? Not only does bant.io offer its email outreach expertise to make things simpler, but here’s what else would be missing:
- A huge avenue for potential new leads
- The ability to automatically nurture leads
- The influx of data
- The chance for customer feedback
- A platform to increase brand awareness
- An opportunity to increase sales
- The power to reroute traffic to a website
So there’s really no reason not to implement outreach emails if all that good stuff would be missing—especially if bant.io can make the process seamless and informative.
Email outreach at bant.io
As sales, marketing, and business strategies evolve, we continue to offer the best sales acceleration services, including the latest in sales email best practices. We analyze data from past and current campaigns, listen to our customers’ feedback and needs, and invest in our people and sales acceleration tools all to ensure we’re bringing the most effective and efficient solutions to our customers.
Email outreach campaigns allow businesses to reach their target audiences through one of the most widely used mediums in the world. Over four billion people have an email account! At the same time, over 420 billion spam emails are sent each week, with office workers receiving an average of 120 emails per day.
Because of that, it can be difficult for brands to cut through the noise. They can’t just approach email outreach as an afterthought because that’s a guaranteed way to make sure they end up in people’s spam folders. Instead, develop a comprehensive strategy with highly specific targeting so people open and act upon the emails they receive.
Successful marketing is all about reaching the right people with the right message at the right time. Bant.io’s email outreach module is specifically designed to help with just that. Speak with a growth specialist now.
Jaclyn
Jaclyn joined the bant.io team as an Account Manager in early 2018 and now proudly supports bant.io as CEO, where she is responsible for wrangling and organizing our team initiatives.