PLUS LITTLE-KNOWN POINTERS TO BUILD YOUR LIST , FIND CONTENT , AND IMPROVE YOUR DELIVERABILITY , OPEN RATES , AND RESPONSE PERCENTAGES
INDUSTRY SURVEY
THE SHOCKING STATS ON HOW MSPS ARE ( NOT !) USING EMAIL MARKETING
Who doesn ’ t love how easy , inexpensive , and fast it is to send out an email marketing campaign ?
Apparently , not a lot of MSPs . Last month , we conducted an online survey of our subscribers about how they are using email in their marketing mix and what their biggest challenges are . What I discovered honestly surprised me . A shocking 34 % of the MSPs polled said they are not using email to market to their list , and 24 % said they are “ kind of ” using email . Essentially , 58 % of MSPs are not doing any email marketing or are doing it so inconsistently that they aren ’ t getting traction .
Are you currently using e-mail to market your services to prospects and clients ?
34 %
Not yet . 42 %
Yes !
24 %
Kind of ...
This is surprising given how easy and inexpensive email media is , particularly when selling to existing clients who are more likely to open , read , and respond to email communications . If you can ’ t get email marketing done , your chances of getting more difficult and expensive media done ( direct mail , trade shows , PPC , SEO , etc .) are slim to none .
So , where ’ s the hang-up ? According to our survey , the biggest challenge MSPs have with email marketing is content creation , specifically , figuring out what will be interesting , relevant , and engaging to the recipients . A close second to this is list building , or getting qualified prospects to give you their email address in the first place . The third challenge is getting the emails delivered , opened , and responded to .
WHAT “ CONTENT ” ARE WE REALLY TALKING ABOUT HERE ?
Since “ I don ’ t know what to write about ,” or content creation , was the No . 1 email marketing problem for MSPs , it ’ s important to stress this point : Do NOT attempt to write long email messages ; instead , use the email to drive the prospect to your website for more content or to complete an action .
As a point of clarification , some email campaigns are designed to move the sales process along ( book an appointment or follow up on a proposal ) or to drive some type of action , such as registering for a webinar or seminar , downloading a report , completing a survey , etc . These emails shouldn ’ t require a lot of “ content creation .” They need to be short , to the point , and relevant to what ’ s going on with the prospect or client at that moment . Could someone have trouble writing these emails ? I suppose so , but I don ’ t believe that ’ s the type of content creation the MSPs we polled were talking about .
The content problem is more specific to drip marketing campaigns : emails designed to keep your list of prospects
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