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Email marketing campaigns are essential elements of any marketing strategy. They communicate and build relationships with prospects, gather important data, and help boost marketing ROI. As important as these campaigns are for marketers, many miss the mark and continue to fall short on the campaign’s return.

To build, execute, and maintain effective email marketing campaigns, you must pay close attention to your audience, the message, and avoid blasting self-promotionalmessages.

To achieve the maximum returns for your campaigns, here are 9 tips for successful B2B email marketing campaigns:

1. Create a conversationMany marketers use the “batch and blast” method. This type of campaign achieves the objective of sending out email, but it often does not begin a dialogue with your audience. Listen, add relevant value, and engage prospects with meaningful communication. Ask for their participation and always include social sharing buttons to encourage your audience to continue the conversation and share your content on their social channels.

2. Segment Your ListCombine the standard segmentation criteria with behavioral data to create more complex segmentation strategies. Look at data including: who opened the email, whether they downloaded the offer, the length of time they spent on the web site, and what they downloaded while they were on the site. Once you have a better idea of what your different segments find interesting, you can make sure your offers are more customized to fit their needs.

3. Grab The Reader’s Attention With Your Subject LineYour subject line is what your email recipients will see before they open your email. An optimized subject line will help you capture your audience’s attention and convince them to open your email to read more.

4. Focus on The MessageTailor your messages according to the prospect’s profiles, interests and actions. Consider sending different emails/messages to the different segments of your list when appropriate. Your copy should be concise and compelling. Clearly convey your offer. Images are crucial in attracting viewier’s attention and can assist your copy in conveying information about your offer. Always make sure your content is relevant and has value. Your call-to-action is most important, because the goal of your email is to get your readers to click on it and take action. Whether it’s a button or a link, you must make sure your call-to-action is prominent and clear.

Proof your messages and identify any issues that may prevent your message from getting to your prospect’s inbox. Avoid common spam words like free, opportunity, offer and click here.

5. Mix Campaign Styles and MethodsTo avoid having your email campaigns underperform, consider mixing up campaign styles and methods. As you test different email components such as delivery days, content angles, surveys, and fulfillment pieces, you will start to learn what your customers are responding to. By always keeping your content and methodology fresh, you will have a better chance of keeping your readers engaged.

6. Optimize For MobileMake sure your emails display across all devices so you don’t miss a chance to convert a lead.

7. AutomateAutomating your email marketing campaigns gives you more time to spend on developing your strategy and creative. Automate campaigns based on event and behavioral triggers, and you’ll have more time to build relationships with prospects.

8. TestTo achieve optimal results from your email marketing campaigns, testing is mandatory. Use standard A/B testing and test subject lines, images, change in copy or other small revisions. Test the deliverability of your email with a small inhouse group and always make sure your links go to the right pages.

9. Measure and AnalyzeStandard metrics are important, but go beyond just statistics. Pay attention to where prospects went on your web site, number of visits, visit frequency, social sharing, and how you can segment them based on their behaviors. Make sure you are measuring engagement in addition to traditional metrics like click through rates (CTRs).

Leverage the reporting dashboards from your email service provider or your marketing automation solution. Use these details to understand prospect interaction and improve future campaigns while boosting marketing ROI.

Need help developing your email marketing strategy? Contact Lori 877-447-0134, x111.