Learn about building a scheduled email program

Oh, hello there. I was just checking my email. I’m guessing you just did the same or you will, as soon as you finish this module. Did you know that email is the most cost effective way to reach all of your known prospects and customers? It’s valued by your audience, that’s why people opt in, they can even opt out if they want. Email is immediate, personal, trackable, and it’s versatile. You can use email for simple alerts and updates, offer new content, and deliver anything from discounts and promotions to thought leadership. Customers like it, and it works.

In Marketo you can set up several types of sophisticated email campaigns. But you can also send standalone scheduled email blasts when you need to. However, before you send any emails, make sure that you segment your audience. You want to make sure your message is as relevant as possible. You can do this by selecting the right audience and targeting them with a specific message. For example, you might want to identify and target people who have visited one of your digital assets in the past month, or who have a specific job title such as Director or Vice President. Also, consider who you don’t want to target. For example, you might want to avoid sending emails to certain domain addresses because of deliverability issues. The steps for sending an email blast are pretty easy. Identify your audience, define your message and create a compelling email, determine when you want to send the email, and approve the email send program.

Let’s go over all the elements that go into a successful email. The From name, this is who sent the email. It should embody your brand and differentiate you from other emails in the recipient’s inbox. The From Address, just like the From name, the From Address is who sent this email, but recipients are also likely to look at this and ask, “Is this a reputable sender? Does this seem like spam?” The Reply-To. This is usually the From Address, but not always. The key here is that the Reply-To Address is set up to receive email and that your team has a process in place to answer incoming replies. You should make sure that both the From Address and the Reply-To Address can receive responses. The Subject line. It’s often the first thing your recipient sees, and your goal here is to get the recipient to open the email. If you get them to stop what they are doing and open it right away, then you found a winning Subject line. Don’t use all caps or write anything that sounds like spam. The best Subject lines put important words at the front of the message, stay within 35 to 55 character limit, use personalization, and are clear and concise. Confusing Subject lines usually don’t lead to higher open rates. Related to the Subject line is the preheader. The preheader is pulled into the preview pane when an email is delivered. It is the first text from your email, so be sure that its first words compliment your subject line. Social Buttons. Social icons are a great addition to any email. If someone clicks to follow your company on Facebook it’s a great way for that subscriber to warm up to your brand, and hopefully make a purchase down the road. In many instances, email tests have shown that Social Buttons increase clicks on the intended offer. Social Buttons also make you more credible as an email sender. Images and Headlines. The imagery and headline is the handshake or introduction to your email. You should choose images and graphics that are visually compelling, and add in headlines and sub-headlines to entice the subscriber to read further. It should tell the subscriber what the offer is and why they should care. The Copy. This is the heart of the message you’re sending. The content of your email needs to be clear and concise. The copy should be compelling, read quickly, and have a clear value proposition. A good rule of thumb is the copy for a single offer email should be no more than three to five sentences. Give the prospect the benefit and value in as short and sweet away as possible. Anything longer than that will likely lose the reader’s attention. You should be able to read through your email in 30 seconds and know what value it provides. If not, tweak the messaging until you can. Design. Too much clutter in your email design will cause your reader confusion and your risk being sent to spam. Your email should always be well designed and easy to read. Also consider responsive design since a huge percentage of recipients will be reading your email from their phones. All of Marketo’s email templates include responsive design.

The Call to Action. This is the action you want the reader to take once they finish reading your email. The call to action can be a button, a link text, or an image. Just make sure it is consistent with the other elements in your email. It should be bold and obvious so your reader knows exactly what to do. The call to action is an essential element of your email that you can edit and test to make sure you get it right. The Unsubscribe link. Every email needs an unsubscribed link to remain CAN-SPAM compliant, unless it is an operational email like a receipt or webinar confirmation. Make sure your unsubscribed link is clearly labeled so your recipients can unsubscribe or update their email preferences easily. If they can’t find it, they might mark you as spam, and that hurts your sender reputation. Sending emails without an unsubscribed process is a violation of CAN-SPAM laws. So be sure to include your unsubscribed link in every email.

Once you’ve sent your email, you’ll be curious of its impact. Marketo comes with several out of the box metrics that you can view in the Email Program Report. These help you see if your email worked as intended, and provides insights into how subscribers interacted with it. It contains metrics such as sent, delivered, Click-through-open-rate, and more. Okay, so let’s go ahead and put some of this into practice and create an email blast program. -