Now that COVID-19 has vastly reduced face-to-face time, email marketing is more important than ever.

Manufacturing marketers have for years relied on email to connect with their target audience to generate engagement opportunities, strengthen their brands, and nurture leads. Email campaigns to house lists, e-newsletter advertising, and co-branded emails with marketing partners all have their place in your marketing portfolio.

Given the current climate, more emails are being sent and inboxes are even more crowded than usual. You have to stand out to get your audience to pay attention.

Here’s how to send your best emails ever:

1. Match your message to your list

You need to deliver the right message to the right audience. The first step is segmenting your list in a way that makes it easy for you to craft targeted emails. For example, new customers get welcoming emails, current customers get upgrade emails, hot prospects get purchase offers, nurtured leads get educational information.

2. Treat every email component as a call to action

Even the ‘From’ line is a call to action (CTA). It’s telling your recipient to pay attention because this email is from a person and/or company they know and have opted-in to receive emails from.

The subject line should also be treated as its own mini-CTA. Its purpose is to have the reader take the action of opening the email. Use active and benefit-oriented words in the subject line, such as watch, download, register, get, discover, and meet.

3. Take advantage of valuable real estate

Many email programs offer a preview pane, which allows the user to see the top few inches of an email before deciding whether to open it. Those top inches are of utmost value: use them wisely. Instead of displaying a large graphic masthead or logo, use that space for teaser copy or the most compelling content you have.

4. Answer this one question

The most successful marketing emails are simple, targeted emails that answer one major question your audience asks: Why should I? Give your audience a compelling reason why they should open, read, and act, and you will have a winning email.

For example, if the purpose of your email is getting your audience to register for a webinar, tell them why they should. What will they learn? How will this information help them do their jobs better? What’s so special about your presenters? Why is your webinar the best source for this information?

5. Make it easy for your recipients

You want your audience to take action—make it easy to do so. Include bold buttons with action verbs: register, download, watch, etc. Include the CTA in text links. Place the CTA in several locations in the email.

When writing the email, use plain, straightforward language. Use short paragraphs and sentences, bulleted lists, and headings. In your copy, extoll benefits, but don’t be too salesy or promotional.

6. Keep your eye on the conversion prize

Your goal is to convert—that’s why you pepper your email with CTAs. The conversion could be a simple click-through to watch a video or read an article or download an infographic. It could also be getting your audience to fill out a form to access gated content or to register for an event. Or, it could be enticing them to fill out a survey or answer a poll question.

If you are using a form, ask for as little information as possible. Three fields—name, company, work email address—are all you need to get a relationship started. You can fill in the rest of your prospect’s data as they move through their buying cycle and interact with you further.

7. Render emails for mobile devices

Reading email on mobile devices is now the norm. By making your email communications mobile-friendly, you make it simple for your recipients to review your communication on any device.

8. Be relevant

The number-one way to stand out is to send emails that contain relevant, useful content to your prospects and customers, such as white papers, articles, how-tos, or special offers.

If you understand your audience’s information needs and work to meet or exceed them, prospects and customers will look forward to getting your emails and will hunt them down in their inbox clutter.

9. Work with a partner

If you’re strapped for resources or want to broaden your reach beyond your internal lists, you can advertise in third-party e-newsletters or send a co-branded email to a new, yet targeted audience.

GlobalSpec offers 70+ newsletter titles focused on specific industry segments and products. You can gain access to a highly engaged audience of decision-makers who use them as a key resource during all stages of their buying process.

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