B2B Marketing ROI

One of the most frequent questions I get from clients is in regards to deliverability. Spammers out there have made it tough for legitimate email marketers to send messages without having to worry about triggering spam filters or ending up in someone’s junk folder.

Here are some quick things to watch out for that Stefan Pollard suggests are the hallmarks of classic spam:

• Vague or aggressive subject lines
• E-mail address or stranger’s name in the sender line instead of a company or brand name
• Aggressive language in body copy, along with overuse of exclamation points and misspellings
• High ratio of images to text, especially one large image
• Oversized, boldfaced red type
• Too-frequent messages, often with unwanted or irrelevant content
• Newsletters that look more like solo offers than reliable information sources

Though the above are all warning signs, preventing looking like spam really boils down to the application of common sense. Try to read your email messages with the perspective of the recipient. Or instate a test-run, and send other company members your email, asking for feedback on whether they got spam vibes from the message.

A common topic I read about is the departmental feud between Marketing and Sales. In one regard, they are siblings that clearly act as one. One blames the other for the lack of quality, quantity, or a variety of other items. Although each department comes from the same family (company), their approach towards one another is due for a revamping. This is the way to create synergy between Marketing & Sales: treat each other as if they were a potential customer!

When someone reaches out to a new prospect, each action is strategic and carefully executed. The prospect explains the circumstances, their needs are evaluated, recommendations are given and a professional relationship is developed. Most times, not everything is solved immediately and the sales cycle takes full effect. Marketing and Sales should adopt the inner campaign cycle that should let eat department understand the necessary development process of each new marketing or sales campaign. By having a more professional relationship as opposed to a dueling sibling rivalry, marketing and sales will naturally be able to let synergy evolve between them.

Oversending: an outgrowth of the old “send until you break even” direct mail model. Combine this with the low-cost nature of the email channel and that’s a lot of emails. Repetitive messaging may be a “do” in marketing, but repetitive sending is a “please don’t” which is often formalized by the dreaded “mark as spam.”

The belief that sending more emails to more people leads to better business is flawed. After a certain point, this approach will lead to a greater amount of unsubscribes and spam complaints, resulting in higher acquisition costs to replace the lost customers.

The solution? Segmenting prospects and nurturing them through appropriate drip marketing programs. A more personalized and targeted approach is key in driving sales and conversions while reducing list churn.