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6 Best Practices For Your Email Drip Campaign

In our first post on email drip campaigns, we talked about the benefits that this automated online marketing tool can have on your business.

Well, now it’s time to take it a step further. We’re going to assume that you were persuaded by all those benefits and that you’re ready to put an email drip campaign together.

The system you use and the offers you share are going to be up to you (unless we help) but there are a few best practices that you can use to make sure you’re on the right track.

6 Best Practices For Your Email Drip Campaign

1) Personalize it (as much as possible)

One of the benefits of online marketing tactics like email drip campaigns — especially in comparison to traditional marketing methods — is the available data.

Your marketing team can leverage this data by segmenting your email lists according to demographic information, where the lead is in the sales process, and more.

This audience knowledge allows savvy marketers to create email messages and offers that are tailor-made for specific groups while retaining the benefits of automation.

Drip emails can also be triggered by certain events, including user actions or the length of time since your last communication, as ProsperWorks points out. Reaching out to specific prospects who take specific actions — again, without any action necessary on your part — is a great way to cultivate leads.

2) Keep it interesting

Nothing sends users toward the “Unsubscribe” button faster than boring or repetitive content.

Keep your customers and prospects on the hook by providing them with valuable, engaging information that connects to your company’s offerings.

Your emails can include different formats and methods for capturing your audience’s attention, including:

  • Stories from your blog. If your business has an ongoing blog, your email campaign is a great place to include an “evergreen” blog post on your services or your industry.
  • Product/customer highlights. Show off your latest offering or a customer project that went especially well. If possible, include a testimonial from the customer — preferably one that makes your company look good.
  • Social proof. Speaking of testimonials, it’s not a bad idea to incorporate them whenever possible. It shows your audience that you’re helping real people in the real world, and that these emails aren’t coming from robots. Other forms of social proof include links to your social media accounts, spotlighting members of your team, and mentions of your business in the press.

3) Split test your emails

The online marketing wizards at HubSpot recommend A/B testing the offerings in your drip emails. This way you can see what prospects consider most relevant.

Switch up specific elements like headlines, images, presentation formats, and anything else that can be tracked to refine your campaign.

Click here to learn more about split tests and how they can help your business.

4) Track everything

Split tests are only worthwhile if you’re tracking the results and using that information to make decisions. And if you’re going to track your split tests, you should probably track everything else associated with your campaign, right?

As we mentioned in #1, online marketing and email campaigns are loaded with data that your team can put to good use. Available metrics related to your email campaign include everything from the send time and subject line to click-through rates and landing page conversions. Over time and multiple phases of testing, you should be able to spot some trends that will lead to increased customer activity.

5) Don’t go overboard

As Quora mentions, email communications with your clients shouldn’t go on forever. They’ll quickly lose interest and be less likely to open future messages.

Get your message across quickly and simply, and people are more likely to stay engaged and click through.

6) Slow down “unsubscribers”

Sometimes your email recipients decide to opt out even after you’ve followed all of the best practices listed above. You can still keep them in your system, however, by offering multiple unsubscribe options.

ProsperWorks says:

“If a prospect clicks to unsubscribe, avoid giving that lead an all-or-nothing proposal. Set up a landing page that offers choices; ‘unsubscribe from all emails’ shouldn’t be the default. When leads see multiple options, they won’t feel they are being pressured to become a customer before they’re ready. Let them decide how often to receive messages from you and what sorts of content they would like to get.”

By putting all of these email drip campaign best practices into place, you’ll be well on your way to an automated system that will increase your online conversions and boost your company’s sales.

And isn’t that the reason we’re doing this in the first place?

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