Hello!
Welcome to the ninth lesson in the B2B lead generation and nurturing course.
My name is Jo Gniewek, and I am the Senior System Implementation Officer at the Sales4Team Agency, which has developed and implemented a system that organises, streamlines and automates the process of generating B2B leads on LinkedIn and nurturing them through email marketing automation.
Together with the agency's specialists, who implement lead generation strategies for our clients daily, we have created a series of step-by-step lessons to introduce you to B2B lead generation.
Here we go!
E-mail in communication with potential customers
During the previous lessons, we focused on generating leads from LinkedIn and warming them up using webinars. It's time for the next step in communicating with potential clients: email.
This will be the focus of this and the next lesson.
Why is this happening?
Email is the most popular and mature communication channel. Importantly for marketers, it can be easily automated.
Most companies devote a significant amount of energy and resources to the lead generation process. Can they afford to neglect the stage of warming up leads through email messages, many of which end up in spam?
Email is a very mature form of communication and has been present in business for about 30 years. With email, spam also emerged, leading to the introduction of rules and algorithms to prevent unwanted messages.
The battle between spammers and email providers and security tools has been going on for so long that, as a result, properly configuring email is now beyond the capabilities of the average user.
However, there is still no alternative to email, so it's worth getting to know the subject better and implementing a series of rules and changes that will significantly improve the "deliverability" of emails to your potential clients.
On the web, you'll find many free and easy-to-use testers that will quickly evaluate your email and suggest improvements.
One of them is Mail Tester:
https://www.mail-tester.com/
Visit the tester and send your message to the test address. Both the content of the email and the device or tool you use to send it are important. Conduct the test exactly as you would when sending messages to potential clients.
(photo: the tool will indicate what needs to be improved in the message before sending)
The mentioned tester is the first step on your journey to increasing deliverability. You will learn whether the SMTP server from which the message was sent is correctly authorized in the DNS records of the domain you are using.
The tester will also suggest how to modify the content so that spam filters rate your message better. You will learn about the reputation of your server's IP address and domain and whether they are listed on any "blacklists."
Another important factor affecting deliverability is the appropriate content and correctness of HTML code in your message.
The tester will guide you on what to change.
If you are sending a bulk message, it's worthwhile to have an experienced programmer prepare the HTML code for your message.
Most no-code tools or HTML editors unfortunately leave a lot of "junk" in the code, which can negatively impact the deliverability of your message.
Ensure that your message displays correctly on all popular email clients. An application that can help with this: app.emailpreviewservices.com.
Avoid risky words, such as "credit card." You can find a full list of risky phrases detected by spam filters online.
Avoid including images and attachments in the email content. Instead, consider coding to download optimized images from a server or direct recipients to a webpage for file downloads.
(image: the application will show you a preview of the message on various devices and email clients)
Remember to stagger the speed of mass email sending. Start with 100 emails per hour, increase to 500 the next day, and then to 1000 the following day. Sending a large number of emails with new content in a short period can raise suspicions with automatic anti-spam mechanisms.
(image: the "email sending settings" module in the Sales4Team System allows you to control the email sending speed)
Fortunately, you can get delisted from a blacklist. However, it's important to continuously monitor deliverability and blacklist records. If your server ends up on a blacklist, immediately suspend sending. Failing to do so can further harm your situation.
You can learn more about removing an SMTP server address from a blacklist online.
The internet is teeming with programs and applications that "guess" emails using trial and error methods, such as combining names with company domains. As a result, several addresses are generated, with one potentially being the correct one.
Creators of anti-spam software are aware of this method and implement rules on their servers to flag senders who send messages to non-existent email addresses.
To ensure high deliverability, regular review of your contact database and necessary cleanup is essential. Contacts that entered your database several months ago may now be outdated.
Fortunately, tools like the Smart Email module in the Sales4Team System assist with this by monitoring recipient statuses and preventing emails from being sent to risky addresses.
First and foremost, ensure that emails do not enter your contact database without the explicit consent of their owners. Putting legal and ethical issues aside, such actions encourage spam reports, which increase the risk of lowering your server's reputation.
If the recipient joined your contact database willingly, make sure they can easily unsubscribe. A visible and functional opt-out option in every message is your ally. This way, your database will organize itself, and you won't create a negative impression.
Greater interaction with your messages (e.g., email opens) leads to a better reputation for your server and domain.
If you're targeting offers to diverse audiences, introduce proper segmentation of your contact database to deliver the most relevant content to each recipient.
If you send many emails and only a few percent of them are read by recipients, you risk lowering your reputation. Experiment with the content, especially the subject line of your messages. Remember the principle that "subjects open messages." In other words, poor subject lines reduce the open rate.
Monitoring spam and bounce statuses will also allow you to react promptly in case of blacklisting. That's why in the Sales4Team System, we've built an automatic mechanism that suspends sending when the spam complaint rate exceeds a critical level.
You can also review the reasons why your message was flagged as spam, and this knowledge will help you take effective corrective actions.
(image: email sending statistics example from the Sales4Team System)
If you're using email automation tools, ensure you have a dedicated IP address. Unfortunately, many CRM system providers do not offer this service.
Using a shared IP address for outgoing mail server is a straightforward and quick path to very low deliverability.
Even if your email campaigns are executed perfectly, you shouldn't trust other users sharing the same IP address, over whom you have no control in this situation.
Email marketing is an essential way to communicate with potential clients. However, for it to work as expected, it's necessary to carefully review settings and implement a series of rules.
Even if it seems difficult after this lesson, I assure you it's not, and with each step you take, the deliverability of your emails will improve.
They will receive an invitation to enrol in the course at the indicated email address.
The number of free places is limited!
COMPARISON OF LEAD GENERATION METHODS WITH LINKEDIN
MAKE THE BEST FIRST IMPRESSION
POSTS AND ARTICLES ON LINKEDIN TO SUPPORT B2B LEAD GENERATION
INVITATIONS TO CONNECT
HOW TO FIND MORE OF THE RIGHT DECISION MAKERS ON LINKEDIN
HOW TO GENERATE CONVERSATIONS WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS?
MANAGEMENT OF CALLS AND QUALIFICATION OF LEADS
GENERATING AND NURTURING LEADS USING COURSES AND WEBINARS
