and clients engaged and present hidden opportunities using content marketing , such as driving people to your blog .
This is a particularly effective type of marketing to send to prospects who have “ gone dark ” or are not interested in booking an appointment or getting a quote right now but who have not opted out of your list . The goal is to “ drip ” relevant , interesting content to them via email to stay top of mind . This way , they think of you when they are ready to make a buying decision . Another email drip campaign you want to initiate is to current clients so they stay connected with you and develop into more loyal and productive clients . If done right , you ’ ll get more referrals and cross-sell opportunities , as well as better “ behaved ” clients .
This is where the “ content ” challenge comes in : If you don ’ t have an interesting article or juicy tidbit of news to share , if you don ’ t know what your audience would find interesting and relevant , and if you are clueless about how to write influential marketing pieces , why would you email someone ? If this is a problem you struggle with , go online to MSPSuccessMagazine . com / content-marketing-msps for my top five content creation strategies .
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU SEND EMAILS ?
According to our poll , 64 % of MSPs are emailing their list once a month or less . Only 14.8 % email their list two or three times a month , and only 18 % email once a week . A very small segment ( 3 %) are emailing their list more than once a week . So who ’ s right ? How many emails are too many before people get angry and opt out ?
As with many things in marketing , it depends . If the content you ’ re sending is extremely interesting to your audience , you can ( and should ) email at least once a week . If you email only once a month , you lose traction with your audience , and the list becomes less responsive .
That ’ s why many highly successful content-driven websites , authors , consultants , and speakers with big and productive email lists religiously send at least one email per week . Those emails are driving the audience online to read , watch , listen to , or consume content , with the occasional promotion thrown in .
WHAT ’ S THE AVERAGE MSP ’ S LIST SIZE ?
The breakdown of this data was rather interesting . Most MSPs ’ email lists are under 500 people , though a surprising almost 20 % have a list of 1,000 or more . The survey did not differentiate what percentage of those lists were clients versus prospects , and it didn ’ t detail accounts . ( That simply means you might have multiple email addresses from one account , making it appear like you have more buyers than you actually do .) However , before you take this to the bank , there are other metrics and factors not on the poll that may play into how productive , responsive , and lucrative these lists are .
For starters , you need to know and monitor how many email addresses are marketable , meaning you have permission to email them , and they haven ’ t bounced or opted out . Over time , everyone ’ s list shrinks for these reasons . Another factor is engagement , or how many people open and respond to your offer ( or at least click on the link in the email ). Some email broadcasting services will automatically suppress anyone on your list who has not opened or clicked on an email in three months or more , making it critical to send messages that will get opened and clicked on . While the “ open ” rate is far from 100 % accurate , it does give you an idea of how well your messages are resonating with your list and how much the recipients are paying attention .
Most email marketing statistics show that a 15 – 25 % open rate is considered average . Who you are sending the emails to ( your list segment ) will greatly impact this number , as clients have much higher open and response rates than prospects . Furthermore , newly opted-in leads will obviously be the hottest , most engaged prospects you have , so it ’ s smart to segment them separately from everyone else and send them a carefully constructed follow-up process ( often called an indoctrination campaign ) rather than dumping them into your stock standard broadcasts .
WHAT DO MSPS USE TO SEND EMAIL BROADCASTS AND MANAGE THEIR LISTS ?
Given that there are thousands of email list management and broadcasting applications on the market today , I was not surprised by the vast disparity of applications used to send email broadcasts , with the largest percentage of answers being “ other .” Most PSA tools have email broadcast capabilities baked in , but what ’ s the best application ? Here are a few pointers :
• Look for an application that is a complete CRM and marketing automation platform , not just an email broadcasting software . Having these tools integrated into your email broadcasting service allows for more sophisticated targeting of messages , automated follow-up , better reporting , and the ability to move a “ click ” or show of interest to an actual sale . Essentially , you want all the data in one place , not spread across two , three , or more applications that don ’ t talk to each other .
• Look for marketing automation based on “ if-then ” logic . This is the primary reason we chose Infusionsoft as our CRM . If I send an email broadcast to my list , inviting them to a webinar , I can quickly and easily pull a list of those who didn ’ t respond to send them a second invite a few days later or to get a salesperson to follow up . I can also segment those who clicked in the email but didn ’ t register to send a more appropriate message and follow-up : Hey , I saw you clicked to register for this week ’ s webinar , but you didn ’ t register . Did you have a problem registering ? Did the date and time not work for you ? I can also segment ( suppress ) those who have registered and trigger a “ show up ” campaign instead of just spamming out another invitation for them to register . Marketing automation makes quick , easy work of this type of segmentation
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4 • MSPSUCCESSMAGAZINE . COM | 13