If there’s one thing we learned in 2013, it’s that just writing a top-notch email won’t always get your message the attention it deserves. There are many aspects to your email marketing strategy that are just as important as the content of your email, and this year, we delved deeper into answering these questions of strategy. Check out some of the most important lessons we learned in our 2013 Email Marketing Roundup!
“Don’t Ever Overlook Deliverability”
If there’s one thing that today’s marketers cannot afford to lose sight of amidst the mayhem, it’s email deliverability rates. After all, email is at the center of your online marketing efforts, and ending up on a blacklist can halt these efforts in their tracks. So take the time to ask yourself these five deliverability questions, and make sure your emails are reaching their mark!
“Keep Lists Sparkling Clean”
If you’re still blasting your email messages to a stale or purchased email list, you’re not only wasting your time and money, you could be doing some serious damage to your brand. It’s becoming more important than ever for marketers to make sure their lists are clean and up to date — so check out these best practices for keeping your email lists sparkling clean.
“Subject Lines Matter”
Email marketing companies like Litmus and MailChimp have openly admitted it: there are no silver bullets when it comes to writing subject lines. But these companies have identified a few practices that can increase your open rates—and others that they suggest avoiding. Check out a few of these dos and don’ts to make sure you’re writing the most effective subject lines possible!
“Timing is Everything”
Your ideal email send time will ultimately depend on your product, message, and audience. So how do you find the perfect time to communicate with your audience? The answer is simple: look at your history. In this post, we explain how to analyze your data to find the perfect email send time for your audience—and we provide a worksheet to get you started!
“Layout affects readership”
An attractive email template can make the difference between your email being read or skimmed — or deleted altogether. So we put together the Email Design Lookbook to provide B2B marketers with a little inspiration. Whether you’re creating an event promotion or newsletter, or deciding between HTML and plain text, you’ll find a stellar example template to help lead you in the right direction.
“Monitor email engagement”
Even though email is a basic staple in most B2B marketing strategies, many marketers are still missing the mark on creating true email engagement. Pardot’s automation evangelist Mathew Sweezey is here to help with a 90-second summary of how to increase your email engagement.
“Lead nurturing pays off.”
We’ve known for a while that lead nurturing is a powerful capability of marketing, and this year’s studies provided the numbers to back it up. 2013 research found that companies excelling at lead nurturing generated 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost (Forrester Research), and that nurtured leads make, on average, 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (The Annuitas Group). Ready to get started with building your own lead nurturing tracks? Check out our interactive lead nurturing lab to learn more about the use cases, benefits, and best practices of drip nurturing emails.
Looking for more email marketing best practices and tips? Download our eBook, The Complete Guide to B2B Email Marketing for six free worksheets that can help you build and optimize your strategy!
