For managed service providers, or MSPs, email marketing campaigns offer a valuable avenue to reach new and current clients. When strategizing about the kinds of messages you want to send, it’s important to remain cognizant of the fact that these campaigns will also help you develop your company’s voice.
If you’re just beginning to develop email campaigns, there a few things you can do to start off on the right foot. Here are five tips to get started:
1. Why are you sending this email? Ask yourself why you’re sending this email. What’s the purpose and what are your goals? If you can’t answer these questions, your reader won’t be able to either. Your message should be obvious. You should also choose something to measure that defines the success of your campaigns. Whether it be open rate, click-through rate, or replies - set a goal before you hit send so you can compare these metrics over time.
2. First impressions are everything. According to email provider Sailthru, email engagement in the first 30 days with a prospect is critical to determine their likelihood to do business with you. That being said, it’s always helpful to have someone proofread your emails that hasn’t helped write them. Get a second pair of eyes and save yourself from embarrassing typos or broken links.
3. People will judge an email by its subject line. So pique their curiosity! Your open-rate will be directly correlated to the subject line, and you want your emails to stand out amongst the hundreds of other offers flooding their inbox each day. To do that, try personalizing your emails to the audience. For example, if you’re trying to attract a client in the legal vertical, an email titled, “Is your law firm making this IT mistake?” will likely bait them into reading more.
4. Different emails serve different goals. If you’re sending and email out to prospects who have never heard of your company, it’s important to build a relationship with them. For example, if your company has a blog that discusses topics relevant to their business, let those prospects know about it. If you’re emailing current customers, it makes more sense to send them an email about deals on new products or services because you’re already a trusted seller to them. As your prospects begin to interact with your emails, start sending them the more targeted offers (similar to what you’re sending to customers) and move them along in the marketing funnel.
5. An email without a CTA is a waste of time. Think about all of the emails you receive each day. The one thing all of those emails have in common is a call to action. If someone reads your email, they should know where to click next. Even if this is your first time emailing someone, there should be a hyperlink in that email somewhere that will get them more information. A reader left at a dead-end, may very well leave you at one.
At Datto, our emails follow the above formula -- and then some. There are a million different ways to better measure how successful your emails are, develop your voice, and send meaningful content.
Bonus: If you’re interested in digging deeper into email campaign strategies, check out the eBook, Email Marketing Made MSPeasy.
Chris Rudnick is director of demand generation at Datto Inc. Read more Datto blogs here.
