Due to its heightened importance in these tight times, we’ve run a couple of posts recently about email marketing:  its pitfalls, plus tips for getting more “oomph” from it …so our regular readers may think of this as this as another in that series.

Start from recent research by ReturnPath showing that about 28% of B2B marketing email never reaches the targeted inbox, primarily due to blocking systems implemented by ISPs and corporate IT departments.  And it’s not always the same 28%;  sometimes your email will reach a given subscriber, sometimes not.

Why does this happen?  For starters, because… [Read more...]

File this one under “Everything old is new again.”  Several observers have noted that numerous utility algorithms have been unnecessarily re-invented for the online world …mainly because that new world’s primarily youthful practitioners weren’t aware that these problems had already been well solved in the pre-Web “old world” of computing.

Which may explain why so few of today’s online marketers realize that there are important lessons for email marketing to be gleaned from the ancient (in their eyes) practice of direct-mail marketing.  Fortunately, Karen Gedney has posted a thoughtful reminder / “how-to” for us over at ClickZ.  Some of her suggestions: [Read more...]

Email is back on the hot list again, probably because every B2B wants to squeeze the max possible out of their lead funnel in this economy.  We joined the parade recently with some pointers on keeping your subscriber list on-board and engaged.

Just lately we ran into this great post by Paul Gillen, giving us “The Rules” of email as he’s learned them over a decade of practice.  We’ll supply just a sampling here, so do check out the full post for more:

• Maximize opportunities for your website visitors to subscribe by… [Read more...]

As B2Bs, we rely greatly on email marketing to nurture and stay engaged with prospects and customers.  So when an article like Jeanniey Mullen’s for ClickZ comes along, it can be very unsettling.  But don’t blame Jeanniey;  she was only summarizing stats compiled by the Email Experience Council …and here are some of those:

• Every year an average of 30 percent of the people who signed up for your email marketing list will not get your emails because their ISP (or IT department) will block them.
• 85 percent of the people on your email list will stop reading your emails (without bothering to unsubscribe) after… [Read more...]

Sure, you “know” it is;  you can just feel it in your bones.  Plus there’s the odd war story of the customer who tells you they followed your email series for months, and used it as part of the justification for their purchase decision.

Trouble is…

• keeping that series rolling takes a significant, very visible investment of time;  and
• your boss wants hard numbers, not just that “warm feeling”.

So, how can you measure the true value of that weekly (or thereabouts) email newsletter?  Maria Pergolino, in a nifty post over on the Modern B2B Marketing blog, has provided a systematic recipe.  First, you’ll want to look at… [Read more...]

Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex, recently blogged on this topic under the terrific title, “The way of the Dodo… Don’t let your email marketing go extinct.”

The trends he sees happening in B2B email marketing are these:

Out:

• the corporate newsletter (“about as readable and as welcome as used bathroom tissue”!)
• special offers (they mostly get caught by spam filters, anyway)

In:

• webinars or videos
• recent research
• tips and tricks to improve efficiency or other business results

Hmmm… those sound just like the kinds of emails we’ve been recommending that our clients use for some time now…

As Gary puts it:  “Email will simply be subject to the laws of natural selection.  The stuff people find useful will continue to morph and become even more valuable.  The rest will die off.”

Most B2Bs use ongoing email as a primary element of their prospect-nurturing program.  Most of them, however, probably use it in “sermon” style:  I talk, you listen …and that’s even if they’ve gotten away from sell/sell/sell-type messages and into more subtle ones aimed at thought leadership.

This is unfortunate, since email is the medium that gives you the closest thing to a 1-to-1 experience with your readers.  Writing in imediaconnection, Wendy Roth says that “building greater customer dialogue into emails has a number of tangible benefits.  More often than not, this approach helps to build stronger brand relationships with customers and prospects and, more importantly, motivates them to act.”

How to do this?  Wendy suggests…
Add contact links:  not only your email and postal addresses, but also your customer support, call center or main office telephone numbers.
Add a feedback link:  ask readers to express their opinions… about your products, company, or issues related to your market niche.
Start a user forum:  link to it in your email messages, urge customers to join.
Publish reader comments:  either some in each email, or perhaps devote an entire message to reader opinion.
Answer reader questions in your emails:  for every one person who sends you a question, probably 100 or so more are thinking the same thing.
Use polls and surveys:  either mini-versions in your regular emails, or link to a poll or survey on your website.
Synergize with your blog:  publish the odd blog post and/or reader comments in your newsletter, with links to your blog’s site.
Synergize with social media:  show your Twitter name in every email, and use the medium as a way to listen;  use a blog-tracking service to see what others are saying about you.

Of course, none of this will do any good unless you pay attention and respond!  You’ll need to designate one or two “point people” to monitor and respond to questions and comments, no matter where they turn up.  Giving your subscribers a voice does take time and effort;  but it will pay off in building deeper prospect relationships …and isn’t that what we’re all after?