Everything You Need to Know About

Successful Email Marketing. Learn to

Manage Campaigns & Generate Leads

Faster.

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015

INTRODUCTION

Email marketing offers a number of benefits, like; less

investment of time and effort, higher return on small

investments, ability to test marketing concepts, ability

to involve customers with personalized messages, and

facility to track prospect behavior. Owing to the same,

two thirds of CMOs in the USA declared ‘email

marketing’ as the most effective customer retention

tool in 2014.

We have to acknowledge that not every campaign is successful because...

Email messages are never opened

Email marketing has been here since the invention of the Internet and has evolved with the growth of e-commerce. Over the past couple of decades, it’s proven to be a very effective marketing tool.

Studies endorse that for every $1 invested in email campaigns, the average return is $44, making it a very cost-effective and high-return marketing channel.

44%

People unsubscribe from the company alerts/emails, they

previously signed up for.

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 1

91%

The simple answer is “No”.

If 65% of marketers are earning leads from emails, it means the channel is not dead. In this guide, we’ll help you understand the “success principles” in the form of best practices. dd They will guide you to run and manage your campaigns effectively, nurture leads, close deals and achieve your business goals.

So what should we assume? Is email marketing dead?

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 2

Why is Email Marketing Relevant in 2015?

Statistics Tell Us Why Email Marketing Is Still the Medium of Choice.

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 3

That’s one email every 0.00000035 seconds

Billion emails sent per day

247

the average return is $44.25

For every

spent on email marketing

$1

with a well-planned email marketing campaign

of consumers are inclined to make a purchase

65%

People who receive emails

spend more than those who don't receive

138%

than Facebook and Twitter, according to McKinsey & Company

Email is

times better at acquiring new customers

40

check emails on mobile devices

of the corporate decision makers

35%

at least once a day

of the people check their inbox

91%

via email rather than direct mail or text messages

of consumers want to communicate with brands

70%

by 2017

Business emails volume will cross

billion emails (Sent & Received) per day

132

In

companies in United States cited email marketing as the most e�ective digital marketing channel for customer retention

2014

If So, Then Why Do Email Campaigns

Fail to Achieve Their Goals?Many marketers are unable to achieve their goals with email marketing because they do not follow best practices. Before we move to best practices, let’s review key factors that lead to failure.

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 4

You’re sending mass emails but ignoring a list/blog subscriber’s

privacy. This ends up with un-subscription or “mark as spam” click.

Spamming

As a marketer, you fail to understand that “Email marketing is so much

more than coupons, o�ers and newsletters”.

Transactional emails like; reminders, notifications, password changes

and confirmation have significantly higher open rates because they

serve a purpose.

You’re spending time and money in email creation but the list is

outdated. To put it plainly, you’re sending emails regularly, but aren’t

growing your database and lists.

Ignoring Behavioral and Transactional Emails

Using Outdated Lists

If you fail to quickly communicate value, your email will surely bounce

from the audience’s attention.

You Fail to Communicate Value

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 5

When a marketer adds too many images and too much content, the

result is confusion.

Visual Noise is An Email Killer

This is self-explanatory. When you fail to keep things simple, don’t

blame the readers for cold response.

Too Many Options Lead to No Option

What’s the first thought on your mind when you open a message in

your inbox? Yes, “what’s in it for me?’ The recipient evaluates the

message on the benefits it o�ers. Again, it’s result of poor value

proposition.

WIIFM

A lot of marketers still rely on simple email marketing tools with little

or no marketing intelligence and no CRM integration. Not every

platform o�ers prospect behavior tracking and deep analytic, which

causes failure of the campaign.

Ignore Analytics

With studies endorsing businesses’ expansion related budgets soaring up, the penetration rate of automation platforms is expected to pass 50% in some industries. This complex and changing environment has led to creation of new rules of the game. To help our readers plan their better email marketing campaigns, and achieve their marketing goals, we are listing down key rules for email marketing in 2015. These are based on studies, latest trends, digital marketing statistics of 2014 and 2015, and our experience with Fortune 500 to small businesses.

Also Read: Marketing Automation Industry in the Year 2015

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015

Email marketing automation has been one of the key tools of marketing success in the year 2014. According to Forbes, approximately 63% of the companies that have out-marketed their competitors in the recent years have used one or more automation tools. Looking at the B2B marketing campaigns, we see a range of changes and emerging trends; like, a shift from mere email marketing to integrated marketing automation.

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 6

1

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 7

“Content is king” is the most familiar

phrase in digital marketing. With the

growing need of content in prospect

management and lead nurturing processes, the

need for a dedicated email content strategy

has been made clear. Be it on a landing page,

in a newsletter, or part of a promotional blast;

it is your content that motivates people to

consider your ‘call to action’. Therefore,

successful marketers will design a cohesive

content strategy for their email blasts.

Prepare a Dedicated Email Content Strategy

2

We’ve observed that despite some problems

with HTML and CSS support in email marketing

platforms, marketers try their best to optimize

designs. In 2015, we expect brands and managers

to keep pushing this ‘industry specific design’

phenomenon to ensure relevancy of their

messages. We might see a growth in videos and

interactive content being pushed in the emails.

Not every platform has an easy email editor or

the facility to offer clients upload their own

custom HTML (Makesbridge offers both).

Choose Industry Specific Designs

3

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 9

We already see a change in the way marketing

messages and designs are crafted. Every

aspect of digital marketing now revolves

around personalization and this trend is

expected to grow faster in 2015.

Hyper-personalized ads, messages, designs, and

algorithms will be used for location

targeting and retargeting campaigns. The

ultimate objective is to feed prospects what

they want/like and close a better deal.

Personalization

4 Enable Social SharingYou can increase your ROI by 46% by adding

social sharing buttons in your email.

5

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 10

As noted in the previous chapter, too many choices

and visuals create distraction, which leads to cold

response or bounces. Offer one or limited choices

and do not keep things open-ended. In addition,

avoid too many graphics. An industry specific

design with your logo and one relevant image will

be sufficient.

Keep it Simple & Short

6

This is self-explanatory. Over 46% of adults

and 36% of corporate decision-makers check

their inbox on a mobile device. The statistic

points to the importance of designing

newsletters, promotions, and landing pages in a

way that they are mobile friendly.

A responsive design will ensure maximum

outreach, better open and click through

rate, and enhanced possibility of

conversion. At Makesbridge, we have ensured

that our built-in templates for emails,

newsletters, and landing pages are mobile

friendly and relate to different

industries.

Mobile Compatibility

7

Best Practices for Email Marketing in 2015 | 11

One key reason of campaign failure is lack of deep analytics

and integration with CRM. In order to ensure maximum success

rate, integrate your CRM with marketing automation and use a

multi-tasking platform. You need to track your site’s traffic

behavior and analyze previous campaigns before boarding on to

another one. Make sure that your platform has the key

features like nurture tracks, automation, auto-responders, and

sales alerts.

If you are using a simple email marketing tool for email blasts

and nurture tracks, leap one step ahead. Subscribe to some

multi-tasking marketing automation platform that could help

you in email blasts and offer automation services coupled with

complete intelligence of website, email campaigns, traffic,

social media portals, and search marketing.

Use Multi-Tasking Automation Platform

The best practices are only one element to enhance e�ectiveness of your

email marketing campaigns. Remember, email marketing is not a separate

or isolated channel. Instead, it is one element of your overall digital

marketing strategy. The secret of success lies in e�ective integration

across these channels. Your search, social, paid, content, and email

marketing campaigns have to be in complete alignment in terms of

objectives, content, and message.

At Makesbridge, we hope this E-Guide proves useful in helping you

achieve your digital marketing goals. We are committed to help

businesses with quality content, guides, and a�ordable marketing

automation services.

CONCLUSION

Makesbridge is a multi-tasking marketing automation platform that o�ers email marketing, sales

automation, mass emails, nurture tracks, tight integration with CRM/Salesforce, prospect tracking,

Keyword/SEO analysis, and deep campaign analytics.

Visit our pricing page for 5 Scalable Packages.

Click and Join Us across Digital Channels.

A Makesbridge Presentation

www.makesbridge.com | sales@makesbridge.com | 1-866-991-7227

Join us for a 30-Day FREE-Trial

Blog