Content Production Simplified: Email Marketing

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Email marketing has proven to offer the most direct route for conversion or completing the ‘conversation to commerce’ journey. Whereas as a client may not visit a company’s website, blog or social media accounts every day, with few exceptions, they will check their email everyday – multiple times in fact. According to the Direct Marketing Association, the return on investment boasts figures of around 4,300% making it an incredibly cost-effective tactic too. To really work, however, email marketing requires strong content. This is the value exchange, where valuable information is traded for a prospect’s time. Consequently, the content must be worth the time it takes away from business activity in order to build a relationship with the recipient and to generate leads. Email is particularly important for the B2B sector and in a recent global survey, the Content Marketing Institute discovered that as many as 83% of business participants are using email as a marketing tactic – with 58% rating email as their most important strategy. With businesses believing it to be a genuinely worthwhile investment, email must being proving its value with their clients. Where the content

Regardless of the type of email, there are some important points that

being sent is useful, 46% of consumers

businesses should be including in their content:

agree that they would rather receive emails over traditional forms of advertising. Hardly surprising, as strong content is the corner stone of an effective email marketing campaign – it moves business messages away from being transaction driven (and potentially off-putting) to something of substance that can, over time, help to develop the client relationship.

T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk

• An attractive subject line that addresses the needs or problems experienced by the average subscriber on the contact list. • A brief summary of the information provided in the email, in bullet point form. The body of the text should also aim to relay as much useful information as possible in a short and concise way. • If the email is promoting a product or service, both the features and benefits of this should be discussed in the content. • End the email with a clear call to action, encouraging the recipient to follow this instruction.

Published by Applegate Marketplace Ltd - located at Riverside Road, Pottington Industrial Estate, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1LS, United Kingdom - is registered in England and Wales with company number 03990680 © Applegate Marketplace Ltd 2015w

Cert No. 10700 ISO 9001


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According to SuperProfile, the average client is exposed to around 2,904 media messages and will only pay attention to around 52, and of this limited figure, can only positively recall a total of 4 daily. Again, this is where the strength of an email’s content determines how engaging it will be to recipients. In order to be memorable, successful emails strive to be more relevant, more useful and more strategic than any other lurking in the client’s inbox. Before the content can be planned, the aim of the email needs to be decided, which will then dictate the type of email that shoud be sent and there are several formats to choose from:

Percentage of businesses that rank transactional emails as an important content tactic for the following activities:

Transactional emails are messages

detail to persuade them to visit the

that are triggered by specific actions

company website. The introductory

that the recipient has taken. Regis-

nature of transactional emails can

tration on a website, for example,

also act as a barrier if the recipient

might prompt a transactional email

chooses not to click through and

welcoming the new contact or asking

continue the conversion journey and

them to verify their details by log-

often this is the case if they feel that

ging in. Transactional emails are also

they are being pushed into following

the messages a person might receive

up on an instruction in the email.

from an ecommerce site confirming a

Remember these emails are the first

purchase or other details pertaining

step in building business relationships

to an order. Typically, transactional

with new clients, it is therefore vital to

emails enjoy a high click-through rate

make the right initial impression. The

and often include a strong ‘call to ac-

call to action used should prompt, but

tion’ to engage the recipient. An ex-

not demand. On average, 45% of user

Customer Retention

ample of this would be requesting a

actions within a web application will

new registration is verified by clicking

trigger a transactional email and as

89.9%

an included link through to the web-

these messages are automated, it is

site where the recipient registered.

also important for a business to en-

Transactional emails are important

sure that the information delivered is

in introducing potential clients to a

correct and up to date

business. The content in them should be welcoming and offer just enough

T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk

Customer Aquisition

79.1%

Marketing

71.5%

Published by Applegate Marketplace Ltd - located at Riverside Road, Pottington Industrial Estate, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1LS, United Kingdom - is registered in England and Wales with company number 03990680 © Applegate Marketplace Ltd 2015w

Cert No. 10700 ISO 9001


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Dedicated emails are sent as a stand-

Lead Nurturing emails are a series

and aware of the brand, as email re-

alone message. They usually promote

of integrating messages that provide

sponse rates decline over the course

a specific offer or subject and might

useful content to a targeted receiv-

of a lead series. Whilst lead nurtur-

be used to inform or notify clients

ing group, with the specific purpose

ing may not create as much attention

about business events and updates.

of generating leads over time. Unlike

around a brand, as dedicated emails

Focused on one call to action, dedi-

an individual stand-alone email, lead

might, they can be automated to tar-

cated emails successfully drive results

nurturing emails are timely and for

get segmented recipient lists and will

in respect to the single offer or infor-

the businesses sending them – it is

therefore gain a higher click-through

mation they refer to. With one main

important to engage newly registered

rate compared to general email

message, dedicated emails make it

contacts whilst they are active with

sends.

easy to track the progress of click through rates, conversions and leads generated from this individual send. Once a template design has been developed for a dedicated email, it is relatively simple to replicate for future campaigns to match new promotions and messages – although

90% of consumers find custom content more useful than general content in emails.

content in these emails is less diverse than e-newsletters. This separation, however, may cause issues around consistency and expectation. With dedicated emails relaying a ‘one-off’ message, subscribers may fail to recognise the brand connection between these seemingly sporadic and separate sends.

T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk

According to Hubspot, lead nurturing emails generate an 8% click through rate compared to general emails at just 3%.

Published by Applegate Marketplace Ltd - located at Riverside Road, Pottington Industrial Estate, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1LS, United Kingdom - is registered in England and Wales with company number 03990680 © Applegate Marketplace Ltd 2015w

Cert No. 10700 ISO 9001


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Newsletter emails or ‘e-newsletters’

Sponsorship emails allow a busi-

create a controlled environment

ness to extend their reach, targeting

where businesses can distribute im-

different audiences with the aim of

portant marketing messages, deliv-

engaging a new client base and gen-

ering useful content and nurturing

erating leads. In sponsorship emails,

relationships with prospects (who’ve

companies will invest in having their

already shown an interest by signing

content appear in another vendor’s

up to receive this news). E-newslet-

e-newsletter or dedicated send. This

ters help to keep a brand in mind with

form of email can be highly targeted

subtle promotional messages and by

to include specific characteristics and

reinforcing credibility, expertise and

demographics. Geographic location,

thought leadership – aiding the con-

interests or business sector and the

version journey. This form of email

number of employees a company has

might feature informative short arti-

can all be used to determine the tar-

cles explaining any business changes

get audience. As the recipient is so de-

or developments, snippets taken from

fined, the opportunity for any email to

recent articles or blogs, news about

encourage opens and click throughs

industry events or new product and

is higher than other forms of email.

service launches, Q & A interviews

This return on investment is also eas-

with experts and useful tips or lists. As

ier to monitor, as the cost of the send

long as the e-newsletter contains rel-

has already been determined by how

evant advice and content in an attrac-

much the vendor is paid, so only the

tive way, recipients will take the time

results demonstrating visit, lead and

to read it over. To find out more about

sale generation need to be tracked to

building an effective e-newsletter, see

show how valuable a send has been.

60% of businesses agree that sponsorship emails help to drive lead generation.

Delivering highly relevant content is a top priority for 72% of B2B marketers, as revealed in the ‘Email Marketing Benchmark Report’.

our recent news story. These emails, however, tend to dilute any call to action included – as content is diversified rather than focused on one idea.

T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk

Published by Applegate Marketplace Ltd - located at Riverside Road, Pottington Industrial Estate, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1LS, United Kingdom - is registered in England and Wales with company number 03990680 © Applegate Marketplace Ltd 2015w

Cert No. 10700 ISO 9001


Content Production Simplified: Subject...

Email:

From...

@applegate.co.uk

With many forms of email available to marketers, it is easy to fall into the trap of sending too many emails to a contact list. To avoid spamming and ensure recipients are given relevant content, it is important for businesses to organise who is and isn’t delivered different messages. This is called segmentation. Separating recipient lists will make sure that the communications each individual receives is useful for them at that time. Segmented emails reach prospects and leads timely with the right type of email to suit that recipient’s needs and preferences.

As with any other marketing project,

Define: This refers to the project’s initiation and at this

the campaign needs to be monitored

stage a marketer will establish the email’s subject, name

throughout and analysed for success

and begin entering the important details around this.

afterwards. For a campaign to be effective, the following essential steps

Test: The testing stage ensures that an email send contains

in the process should be taken.

all the relevant content, a strong call to action, is engaging and from a technical stand point - actually arrives correctly in the inbox. If the send is a sponsorship email, this is the point at which a client needs to give the ok and sign the content off. Send: Obviously once the email is ready to go, marketers can set up a segmented recipient list and schedule the send for a specific time. Measure: Once a send is complete, the attention an email has received needs to be monitored to determine how successful the campaign has been. This includes measuring the rate of activity in opens and clicks. Report: This stage summarises the results collected in the measuring stage and is especially important for businesses who have opted for sponsorship emails. Reports should demonstrate client usage, the bounce rate and any activity.

T: 0845 600 7177 E: enquiries@applegate.co.uk W: http://www.applegate.co.uk

Published by Applegate Marketplace Ltd - located at Riverside Road, Pottington Industrial Estate, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1LS, United Kingdom - is registered in England and Wales with company number 03990680 © Applegate Marketplace Ltd 2015w

Cert No. 10700 ISO 9001


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