9 tactics to get more leads using email marketing

The secret word that may put a smile on a marketer's face is "leads." To generate leads, businesses will go to great lengths. You can never have too many leads, after all. Your business stops growing consistently the moment you stop generating leads. If you’re feeling a bit stuck, it may be time to review and revise your lead generation tactics. If this sounds scary to you as a small business owner, don’t worry. We have your back.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you should focus your energy on lead generation and what tactics you can use to generate more leads to help your business expand.

What is lead generation in email marketing?

The process of lead generation involves identifying and nurturing potential clients for your company. A lead needs to be nurtured and guided through your business' unique buyer journey if you want to see results and, in turn, increase your bottom line.

One of the most effective strategies used by digital marketers to generate leads is content. This could include updates on social media, blog posts, coverage of live events and coupons. Forms are used to capture leads who interact with the content and they’re then added to an email campaign for lead nurturing.

Why is a lead generation strategy important?

At the heart of everything you do, your business exists to increase its bottom line. A lead generation strategy can help you focus on how you are able to expand your customer base which in turn will increase your sales. Focusing on concerted efforts to generate leads will set your business up for success by generating more potential opportunities to generate revenue.

Lead generation can benefit your business in the following ways:

• Greater understanding of your customer needs
• Increased revenue
• Helping you measure your performance
• Find the most cost-effective ways to grow
• Improve your targeting targeting

According to research, more than 48% of marketers think email marketing is the best strategy for generating leads online.

How can you get more leads using email marketing?

Now that you’re aware of the value of developing a lead generation strategy for your company, let's look at the various tactics for generating fresh leads and sales.

You can use the 9 email lead generating tactics that are listed below to generate a consistent flow of leads for your company.

1. Segment your list

Splitting an email list into more manageable groups based on mutual interests (for example, different demographics, gender, industries, location, etc.) is known as list segmentation.

List segmentation is an important component of effective email marketing efforts. Marketers are aware of the huge benefits of segmenting email marketing lists to increase open and click-through rates. It justifies why email is still the most effective channel for nurturing leads and converting them into customers.

The fact that you offer services to a variety of customers is the primary basis for email segmentation.

Even if you're writing your email copy with a buyer's persona as your guide, not every person on your email list is a perfect match.

Therefore, if you want your subscribers to continue reading and opening your emails, you must make sure that the content you offer them is targeted to their unique needs.

2. Provide valuable content

Provide relevant, helpful information that will keep your audience interested rather than giving out generic content for the sake of sending an email.

Place your most valuable content first. You need to identify the main problems that your audience faces in order to develop excellent content that addresses those issues. This will encourage them to read more and draw them in.

If your audience's main pain point is establishing a successful online business, you could produce a high-quality how-to guide– that addresses that pain point. Divide the content into manageable sections and email it to your audience in a series of emails. This creates value for your audience.

3. Create catchy subject lines

Leads decide whether to read your email based on the subject line. So take some time to consider how you can make your subject lines stronger.

Emojis, bold, italic, and other font customisation can be used to make your subject line stand out to your readers and catch their attention.

Here are some ideas:

• Make subject lines that specifically address the issues or challenge that your business solves.
• Personalise the subject lines by incorporating your leads name
• Drive a specific action by creating an actionable subject line, such as "attend our webinar" or "download our latest ebook."

Image Source: LinkedIn

The above email from LinkedIn Learning is a good example. It’s a personalised email subject line that incorporates a preheader that drives the subscriber to watch a video.

This tactic can significantly improve the outcome of your email campaign by raising email open rates and encourage an action which in turn will lead to improved, conversion rates.

4. Have compelling CTAs

An easy-to-follow CTA that is clear and appealing should be in every email. Use innovative language to draw your readers' attention and persuade them to take action through your CTAs. As an email marketer, your main objective with your CTAs should be to guide your potential client into the sales funnels. For example, you might be directing them to book a demo or sign up to your form.

The best CTAs include a sense of urgency, excitement or suspense. You can increase your conversions by telling subscribers exactly what it is you want them to do. It’s difficult to ignore a compelling call to action.

Get creative with your CTAs. Even something as simple as switching "Click here" for "Book a demo" or “Sign up for more” can make a significant change.

TOMS uses their sign up form CTA to create a sense of community by using “Join the movement” instead of just a stand “Sign Up.”

Image Source: Toms

5. Meet people where they are by incorporating social media channels

According to Marketing illumination: “The marketing rule of 7's states that a potential customer must see a message at least 7 times before they'll be provoked to take an action.” You can strengthen your messaging by incorporating social media sharing links into your emails. This not only encourages readers to share your content with their network, but also gives you more opportunities to “hook” your audience and convert them from potential customers to actual customers. Give recipients the option to share on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and see how they become advocates for your brand.

See the example below.

Image Source: Email Marketing

On your social networks, you can provide your audience with multiple ways of joining your email list. For example, you can have a link in your Instagram bio that your audience can click to join your mailing list. Or even have a monthly “Join our newsletter” social media post that invites those on your social media pages to join your mailing list for more information and updates on your brand. This is a great way to generate new leads and encourage your audience to enter your sales funnel.

6. Incentivise referrals from your current subscribers

Word of mouth marketing is gold. Most people refer to their own network or reviews when making purchase decisions. You can capitalise on this behaviour by making use of your current customers and subscribers to generate new leads for your company.

Don’t be shy to encourage your current subscribers to add their friends to your email list. You can use our “forward to a friend” link or even offer enticing incentives. If you provide a compelling incentive, such as a minor discount on a future purchase or any other similar incentive, you are likely to see higher conversion rates. Make sure what you give is worthwhile for them and your subscribers will be glad to spread the word about your list to their loved ones.

7. Use hyper-personalisation

When trying to double the response rate on your email lead generation, hyper-personalisation should be one of your first priorities. Personalisation promotes brand loyalty, which increases sales. You can use email marketing to create more relevant and tailored email experiences that your subscribers will love by using the personal information you've collected from them.

Hyper-personalisation is a strategy you can use to create tailored experiences for each of your leads. According to research, personalised emails get greater open and click-through rates.

To personalise your subscribers’ experiences with your brand through email marketing, you can:

Talk to them using their first name: The first thing that generally springs to mind when considering how to personalise emails is addressing the recipient by name. This is a simple approach to start personalising your messages and gives your newsletter a great touch.

Use a subscriber’s behaviour as a trigger to send emails: When a person, for instance, downloads your content, you can send an email, which leads them to more of your resources or encourages a purchase. This whole process can be automated which saves you time too.

Send personal messages: You can send birthday greetings with a discount coupon or even create special unique anniversaries like the day they signed up. A simple thank you for your support can go a long way to encourage ongoing support and action. This is a memorable personal touch that your subscribers will always appreciate and that could drive your desired actions.

8. Always analyse

It's fantastic when you send out a campaign and achieve the desired outcome. Yet knowing why your campaign succeeded or didn’t succeed is where the secret ingredient is found because it can allow you to make informed decisions. Using the data that is available to you can help you further refine your lead generation strategy as you’ll know what has worked really well and what has not.

Mail Blaze allows you to track and analyse your campaigns with ease and gives you line of sight on key metrics. You can also add additional tracking such as UTM tracking to fully understand how your subscriber reacts to your emails.

• Delivery rate
• Open rate
• Click through rate
• Unsubscribe rate
• Bounce rate

To start refining your activities you need to begin to understand the reasons for results you are seeing. You can then start refining and defining what success looks like in your environment.

9. Don’t be afraid to test

Don’t hesitate to run different email tests. A/B testing can help you see what works and what doesn’t in your campaigns. A/B testing can help you increase the open and click-through rates of your emails over time which should help you generate more leads.make sure you are only testing one element at a time and use a statistically significant amount of data to test.

Conclusion

Now that you’re familiar with all the tactics you can use to optimise your lead generation efforts, you can take some time to work on your lead generation strategy to ultimately get the desired outcomes for your business this year.

If you have any questions or remarks, please feel free to comment in the comments section below.