Email Lead Generation — Best Practices Used by Professional Marketers

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The leaps that technology has made for the past two decades are astounding. In the world of marketing, it has spawned a vast assortment of channels and strategies. Still, email remains one of the most profitable and effective marketing methods out there. With so many marketers claiming that there are immensely better solutions, you are probably wondering — how is this possible?

The explanation is simple. When it comes to marketing, what works and what doesn’t depends on the customer base. It’s the customers that see email as the most comfortable marketing channel. According to research, 72% of adults in the United States would rather communicate with businesses via email than any other way.

To see the power of email marketing, all you need to do is look at the statistics. For every one dollar that you spend, email generates 38 dollars. What we’re looking at is an astonishing 3,800% return on investment.

When it comes to the most commonly used B2B lead generation strategies, email marketing takes first place with 78%. This is why it’s crucial to understand email lead generation and apply the best methods.

In this article, we’re going to help you learn how to create a successful email lead generation strategy. We’re going to cover the following email lead generation practices:

1. Creating gated content

2. Making your emails shareable

3. Ensuring your emails are mobile-friendly

4. Segmenting your audience

5. Personalizing your content

6. Performing lead scoring

7. Nailing your CTA design

8. Keeping an eye on the competition

9. Using email marketing automation

Creating Gated Content

Gated content is an effective tactic for generating leads by engaging them with valuable information. When you’ve got a top-notch report, webinar, case study, or whitepaper, you can limit how much the user can view and ask them for an email address to see the rest. While it may seem that this kind of approach would generate fewer leads, many case studies have proven otherwise. Whole Whale managed to boost lead conversions by 100% using content locking.

Keep in mind that the content you offer has to be relevant to your audience and provide actionable advice. Help your recipients realize their primary pain points and offer expert insight. This is one of the most effective methods for nurturing your leads and engaging them to take the next step in their customer journey.

Once you’ve crafted your gated content, you need to decide how you’re going to collect lead information and deliver what you promised. One of the best solutions is to create landing pages with subscription forms. Ensure that the page lets the visitor know how they can benefit from providing you with their information. 

The subscription form should be simple and straightforward. You should include as little form fields as possible. Ask for the user’s name and email address. Once they give the information to you, you need to provide the content as soon as possible. Plenty of email marketing software tools enable you to set up an email with the download or confirmation link as an automated response.

Making Your Emails Shareable

Even though your email campaign is limited to the contacts on your list, you can provide them with the option to share your emails. This is a fantastic method for improving your lead generation efforts by giving your subscribers a role in the process. 

There is a wide range of ways you can make your emails shareable. Here are some of them:

• Asking directly in your copy and providing a link for the subscription form

• Implementing a button for automatic email formatting

• Embedding pre-formatted tweets

• Inserting social sharing buttons for recipients to share your email on their social media profiles

When it comes to social sharing, keep in mind that every recipient has a favorite social media platform. Provide them with plenty of options, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.

Ensuring Your Emails Are Mobile-Friendly

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Mobile accounts for 46% of all email opens. This means that you have to ensure your email design is mobile-friendly. 

Every email you create shouldn’t be wider than 600 pixels. You need to use a font that’s big enough for mobile users to read your message without straining their eyes. You should be careful not to hinder the effectiveness of your subject lines by making them too long — the general rule is to keep them under 50 characters.

Depending on the email marketing software you’re using, you should be able to choose a mobile-friendly template and preview what your email looks like on mobile devices.

Segmenting Your Audience

Contact list segmentation is a crucial practice because it enables you to create highly targeted audiences that you can craft specific content for. You can find out about your leads’ wants and preferences and create adequate responses. According to the statistics, emails that are personalized based on segmentation have a 46% higher open rate on average than regular marketing messages.

You can segment your contacts according to a wide range of parameters. This includes:

Some email software enables you to create contact lists based on automated self-segmentation. This feature adds leads to specific lists based on the actions they perform. 

You don’t even have to create separate lists with some email list management tools. You can send emails by setting up specific filters.

Personalizing Your Content

Another method for increasing relevancy and engaging your leads better is introducing personalization features. Prospects want to be treated as individuals valuable to your company. According to research, 52% of customers say that if an email isn’t personalized, they’ll look for a solution elsewhere.

A wide range of email marketing software solutions enables you to insert personal lead information into your emails automatically or by using shortcodes. You can refer to your recipients by their name and include many other details, such as their job title, company, location, etc.

Many leads appreciate the personal approach because it makes them feel like you are paying attention to their needs. This is an effective way to earn their trust and loyalty.

Performing Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of rating your leads based on their characteristics and specific actions they take. This enables you to determine how qualified they are and assign them an adequate priority level. 

If a lead has a low score, they probably aren’t particularly interested in what you have to offer and you shouldn’t waste your time and effort on them. Leads with a high score are ready to move along the sales funnel.

You can use lead scoring to determine the best kind of email marketing content for specific groups of leads. When creating your email campaigns, you can craft different content for the leads that are ready to make a purchase and those you need to spend more time engaging until they’re persuaded to take action.

Along with segmentation and personalization, lead scoring can help you improve open, click-through, and conversion rates.

Nailing Your CTA Design

The way you design the CTAs is essential for your email marketing campaign’s success. You need to grab the lead’s attention and drive them to perform the action that your email is all about. 

Every CTA needs to be contrasted with the rest of the content properly. To move your leads down the sales funnel, you should place the focus on a single CTA. Any other CTAs should be less prominent to avoid distracting the recipient from the course of action you want them to take.

Crafting a compelling CTA depends on three major factors:

1. Size

2. Color

3. Placement

CTA Size

The average preferred size for calls-to-action is 47.9 pixels in length. When it comes to text size, you should use a font that is at least 16px big. Keep in mind that the CTA needs to fit the email’s design and depends on what a specific target audience prefers. 

CTA Color

Coloring is crucial because it sets the CTA apart from the rest of the design and elicits a particular emotion. One of the most common practices is using red CTAs because they evoke a sense of urgency and excitement. 

CTA Placement

The best placement for your CTAs depends on the type of email format. If your email has a single focus, the CTA should follow the general flow of the narrative. Since people commonly start reading the email from the top-left, an effective call-to-action should be found at the bottom or to the right of the content. 

If you’re crafting a newsletter that consists of multiple topics, you can place the primary CTA above the fold and have the secondary CTAs as natural conclusions to each section.

Keeping an Eye on the Competition

Knowing what your competitors are doing to generate leads can be a valuable insight. This doesn’t mean you should copy their actions. Your email marketing campaigns need to be unique and represent your brand. 

What you should do when monitoring your competitors’ email marketing efforts is to use that knowledge to improve your strategy. Look at how they approach aspects such as:

• Design

• Copywriting

• Social media efforts

• Educational materials

A competitor may be using a case study as a lead magnet. Check it out and see what you can do better. Maybe you can create an engaging, educational video instead. 

If you can provide more information or present it more compellingly, you’ve got an opportunity to perform better than the competition. Look for different ways to create a better user experience and customer journey than anyone else in your field.

Using Email Marketing Automation Software

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Automation is one of the most powerful courses of action for email marketing lead generation. Email marketing automation software enables you to create automated email sequences for the lead-nurturing process. It minimizes the time and effort you have to spend on crafting adequate messages for every step a lead takes along the customer journey. According to the statistics, it can help you generate up to 80% more leads. 

You can automate two types of email campaigns:

1. Drip campaigns

2. Trigger campaigns

Drip Email Campaigns

Drip email campaigns consist of a series of scheduled emails. They can be sent strategically to guide the lead towards becoming a loyal customer. This includes a range of different email types with specific purposes. Your drip campaign can look like this:

1. Start with a welcome email. Let the lead know you appreciate that they’ve subscribed to your mailing list and inform them about what they can expect from you

2. Follow up with a round-up email a couple of days later. Include a selection of your best blog posts relevant to the targeted audience the lead belongs to

3. Have the next email inform them about your products and how they can solve their pain points

4. Send them a special offer about a week later. Present them with your best product or service and an incentive that they have a limited time to make use of

Drip campaigns are effective because prospects like structure and predictability. They will appreciate knowing what they can expect from you. If you manage to engage them, they will anticipate your next email eagerly.

Trigger Email Campaigns

Trigger email campaigns are sent to leads based on relevant events and actions they perform. Instead of tracking lead behavior to provide appropriate messages, you can set up triggers for emails to be sent when someone:

• Signs up for your mailing list

• Abandons a shopping cart

• Purchases a product or service

• Celebrates a birthday or anniversary

• Doesn’t buy anything for some time

• Visits a particular page on your website

You need to decide which actions should result in an automated response. Here are a couple of examples of effective trigger email campaigns:

• A lead visits your website and spends some time on your FAQ page — They get an email asking whether they’ve got any questions that they can’t find answers to

• A prospect subscribes to download your ebook — They receive the download link right away. A follow-up email with more valuable information about the subject is sent a few days later

• A user creates an account on your website but doesn’t complete their profile — They receive an email reminding them about the missing information and letting them know how they can benefit from adding more details

Why You Should Try Our Autoresponder Tool for Successful Email Lead Generation

Finding a reliable autoresponder tool is crucial. The good news is that we at Sell SaaS have got a solution for you. 

Our software bundle includes a range of marketing tools for different purposes, including an email campaign creator with an autoresponder feature. You can use it to create top-notch email campaigns for generating leads in a handy online editor. Set your emails up and automate them as either drip or trigger campaigns. You can also track your results and see how the emails perform in terms of deliverability rates.

Other Sell SaaS Lead Generation Tools

We’ve got an assortment of email lookup tools that can help you create contact lists for your email marketing campaigns. This includes:

If you sign up for any of our products’ monthly plans, you can use their features with no restrictions.

The best part about our tools is that you can both use and resell them. You can brand them by adding your logo, colors, and company name. Once they’re in your hands, you can create an additional stream of revenue by reselling them at a price that you set in line with your business needs.

Partner up with us and start earning 60% of all that you sell. If your SaaS venture is successful, you’ll rise in our ranks and get 80% of the revenue.