Take a look at your inbox – how many unread or deleted messages do you have? And how many of them are from companies trying to catch your attention?
This is the reality of email marketing today. As such, it’s crucial to understand best practices that can help you improve email deliverability and compete in an environment where much is outside your control.
Check out the seven ways below to improve email deliverability:
Segment your campaigns:
Have you ever received an email that’s so irrelevant, you wonder what the sender was thinking? This is what happens when you don’t segment campaigns. Rather than reaching out to everyone in your database, take a moment to consider the demographics and firmographics listed below:
- Job titles
- Job functions
- Management levels
- Industries
- Company sizes & revenue
- Challenges and pain points
With this information in mind, you can divide and conquer. For instance, if your target market includes both sales and marketing professionals, you could create two separate campaigns: one on lead generation tips, and another on how to follow-up with leads more effectively. As a result, you’d cater to their more specific needs and interests, which would help increase engagement.
Test different subject lines:
Subject lines should be designed to pique the interest of your recipients. But as every marketer can attest, this is something that’s hard to predict. Thankfully, you don’t have to place all your bets on one line of text.
With A/B testing, you can determine the winners after each campaign deploys. So go ahead, get creative! Try sending one half of your audience a silly, pun-filled subject line, and then send the other half a more straightforward one. You never know what will resonate with recipients.
Avoid deception:
If you mention that something is free in your subject line, you’d better have a link to that free offer in your actual email. Otherwise, people will feel lied to – and rightly so. Is that the way you want to start off a business relationship?
To add to that, this type of content often gets flagged as spam. So use your best judgment and try to avoid phrases such as free, act now, and don’t delete.
Send fewer emails:
If you spend your days dreaming up new campaigns, this might be hard to hear. However, no one wants to be bombarded with B2B marketing emails. Even if you have even if you have A+ content, you should never send it to the same audience too many times. People will notice, and they will opt out.
To avoid this issue, use an editorial calendar and space out your communications. Of course, every audience is unique, so email frequency may differ. Just try to be considerate.
Remove uninterested contacts:
One tried-and-true way to improve email deliverability is to stop reaching out to those who don’t respond. This seems like a no-brainer. But you’d be surprised how many people keep emailing the same contacts over and over again, hoping to see some sign of life. Unfortunately, more often than not, this sign ends up being an unsubscribe request.
Instead of waiting for this to happen, be proactive. Send out a re-engagement campaign to anyone who hasn’t opened your emails in the past few months. And if they still don’t engage, cut your losses and move on.
Refresh your lists with new data:
Did you know that 30% of people change jobs annually, and 66% of people’s titles and/or job functions change annually? (source)
Now, you could see this statistic and get discouraged by the portion of contacts that may not receive your communications. But for those of you who prefer to view the glass as half-full, this is just an opportunity to expand your reach.
Data management tools are designed to automatically flag incorrect information and enhance your records. So if Cecilia in sales is no longer the right contact, you’ll find out who is and can take things one step further, fueling your funnel with other similar contacts that match your buyer personas.
Pay attention to the metrics:
If you have followed all of the steps above, there may still be room for improvement. You won’t know, though, if you don’t measure your results.
Keep a careful log of relevant email metrics, such as your delivery rate, open rate, and bounce rate. You’ll also want to take a look at the number of clicks, unsubscribes, and downloads. If one particular campaign stands out – either for a good or bad reason – you can then make changes to your strategy as needed.
Looking for more ways to improve deliverability? ZoomInfo can help! Contact us today to learn how our email database can drastically scale your email marketing results. And if you aren’t already, utilizing an email verification tool can help ensure your message gets to its intended recipient!
