The practice of lead generation is to pique consumer interest in your products and/or services. In other terms, a lead is any individual or organization that expresses interest in your products or services. Without the constant attention of consumers, businesses will inevitably cease to exist. Thus, understanding how to generate leads for your organization is critical. Fortunately, email marketing is the most successful means of generating leads and is also the most straightforward to execute. This article discusses how to conduct effective email campaigns for lead generation.
Email marketing provides a higher return on investment than any other means of acquiring leads. According to the DMA’s Marketer Email Tracker, email has an average return on investment of 3228 percent, or £32.28 for every £1 invested. Additionally, before we proceed, it’s important remembering that individuals do not become leads just by interacting with company assets.
This is because consumers frequently interact with material in order to benefit from it. As a result, people may be uninterested in your offerings. For instance, a person who downloads an eBook may have done so just for the purpose of perusing its contents. Thus, your objective with email campaigns is to convert that initial engagement into genuine interest in your items. This article will demonstrate how to generate leads via email.
1. Capitalize on pre-existing consumer Touchpoints
While every business begins with a blank slate when it comes to developing an email list, you can exploit current consumer touchpoints. For instance, a local electronics store could begin soliciting email addresses from prospects both locally and online. However, individuals will not always give their contact information without receiving something in exchange.
As a result, you’ll need an attractive offer to get people to provide their email addresses (e.g. a coupon or discount). This type of reward is sometimes referred to as a lead magnet. It’s best to place lead magnets at prominent consumer touchpoints throughout your website and physical location.
You do not want to appear obnoxious, however. Rather than that, the objective is to be genuinely helpful. For instance, a clothing firm that provides a free winter-ready checklist to its visitors is not being pushy, but helpful. After all, winter is not the time to be without warm clothing.
2. Automate Lead Nurturing
Businesses may use marketing automation tools to nurture leads on autopilot. Email automation enables the regular delivery of content tailored to the interests of prospects. The majority of email software has automation functions. For instance, Benchmark is an email marketing platform that, among other things, automates cart abandonment. This enables automated email campaigns to be sent to individuals who did not complete their transactions.
Automation is critical for nurturing since, as previously said, simply because someone supplied information for an incentive does not indicate they are interested. As a result, this strategy can direct your company’s efforts toward genuine leads. As an example, suppose someone exchanged their email in return for downloading one of your lead magnets. You can follow up with them in a few days with another offer, this time requiring the prospect to identify their product interest, if any.
A simple question such as, would you want to see a free demo from one of our specialists? That should suffice. This strategy certifies prospects as leads prior to transferring them to the sales team, hence increasing the quality of leads. Additionally, you lose nothing if the prospect accepts the offer without first trying your product. This is because you may continue to provide them free information on a periodic basis via automation in the hope of eventually winning them over.
3. Incorporate Marketing Tracks
There are numerous marketing tracks that come to mind when considering how to produce leads. A marketing track is a sequence of emails sent to a specific type of audience. Segment your list according to interests and gradually distribute select email series to each group. You can conduct multiple marketing campaigns concurrently. As long as you’re using email software that supports this, such as Constant Contact. This program enables the simultaneous execution of multiple marketing campaigns.
The objective of a marketing track is to constantly contact a potential lead. It also maintains your brand top-of-mind. A marketing track might be lengthy or brief in duration. Emails, on the other hand, must be customized for each recipient.
Once a lead has completed a marketing track without making a purchase, they might be transferred to a general mailing. You can even shift them to a different marketing track with a different focus on a different issue. However, ensure that you revisit your marketing tracks on a regular basis to alter or improve them.
4. Write Effective Emails
It is vital that you are able to persuade or generate interest in the company’s products/services. This is when outstanding copywriting comes into play. The email copy is the most critical conversion factor when it comes to lead generation. Your copy must carry the majority of the weight. In general, there are four critical factors to nail: content, clarity, engagement, and call to action (call-to-action). The subject line is the first thing a prospect will read before determining whether to open your email. A strong subject line is succinct and enticing; in other words, it should capture their interest.
Clarity is about ensuring that your emails are simple to read and free of industry jargon. Engagement is critical for retaining a prospect’s attention. Visuals such as photographs and videos are an excellent approach to increase engagement. However, embedded videos may impair email deliverability; therefore, ensure that the content is hosted on a third-party site such as YouTube. Then, direct prospects to the video with a clickable picture.
Your CTA is critical since it instructs readers on what to do next (e.g. buy now, read the report, etc.). As a result, ensure that each email contains one.
5. Triggers for Advanced Behavior
After reading our tip on marketing tracks, you’re probably already seeing how segmentation can help improve lead generation and overall ROI. Email automation, on the other hand, enables firms to employ even more sophisticated behavior triggers. For instance, you can automate the distribution of emails based on the links that users click.
Similarly, a business that sells multiple products can have emails prepared for each offer. Emails can be sent whenever someone clicks on specific URLs. However, do not convert or purchase anything. The following are further sophisticated behavioral triggers. Though, this is not an exhaustive list.
- After a specified time period, send emails to prospects who have no history of conduct.
- Triggers for emails based on demographic information such as age, income level, and work type.
- Emails sent in response to survey results
- Triggers depending on activity or interaction, such as coupon utilization, open rates, and CTR (click-through rate), among others.
- Purchase history data, such as the amount spent, the items purchased, and the date and time of the most recent purchase.
- Website behavior, such as the most frequently visited pages and the amount of content ingested.
Conclusion
A potential lead or customer is someone who visits your website or real store/office location. Therefore, ensure that you are leveraging current touchpoints and automating workflow. In addition, incorporate marketing tracks, configure complex behavior triggers, and design effective communications. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to swiftly move prospects through your sales funnel or pipeline in order for them to convert into paying customers. This entails converting leads from awareness to interest, then to decision and finally to action. Try incorporating social media shareability into your emails so that they may be shared. This can help you expand your brand’s reach and get additional subscribers. Acquiring leads is critical, and the most effective way to do so is through lead generation email campaigns.