Email Marketing Checklist for 2021

by James Mac B2B Expert

2021 is known as the era of digital marketing. It is increasingly important for companies to be on top of their game and stay relevant in this tight competition. With the emergence of numerous marketing methods, businesses are significantly losing sight of just how essential email marketing is.

There is no denying that it is one of the oldest marketing methods; however, email marketing can still be considered the best marketing channel for generating leads. This can be said because, according to Statista, there are currently 3.9 billion daily email users. The number is expected to rise to 4.3 billion by 2023.

To curb the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has left on B2B companies, Deck 7 brings a 6-step email marketing checklist that will allow you to grow your business exponentially in 2021. But before you get into the details of this guide, let's look at how email marketing has evolved and how important it is in 2021.

Evolution of email marketing - Businesses have no more doubts about how to get into email marketing. They know this marketing method well. But initially, it was a sincere concern for many B2B companies. For starters, the first email marketing strategy to win prospects started with an experiment of sending a single email to about 400 people at a time. The company that managed to do it had tons of sales later.

Then came the coordinated process of email marketing and the use of mobile phones. With smartphones becoming all the rage after 2007, email marketing accelerated like never before. And here we are today in 2021, where businesses can communicate through automated responses and scheduled emails. As a marketing method, email marketing has its own momentous journey.

Importance of email marketing in 2021 - Lead generation had become a major hassle for businesses in 2020 due to the sudden need to operate remotely. But email marketing came to the rescue because of its traditional yet meaningful approach. And now B2B companies have started to see tremendous results through email campaigns. One of the HubSpot reports said that email marketers are sending 27% more emails than before the coronavirus. This has resulted only because of the convenience that the email marketing process brings to businesses. Now that you've established how essential email marketing is for businesses, let's explore some of the most effective email marketing tips through Deck 7's 6-step checklist.

6 Step Email Marketing Checklist - Most companies are aware of the various email marketing steps required to implement an email campaign. But are all campaigns successful? Unfortunately not! However, by following the email marketing checklist below, your business is sure to receive the leads you are looking for.

Invest in good email marketing software - An email marketing checklist is technically incomplete without good email marketing software or application. To help you choose, here are some email marketing software that will help you navigate your email to your audience.

MailChimp
Drip
Get an answer
ActiveCampaign

When selecting the right software for your business, be sure to keep the following in mind.

Integration - Having software that seamlessly integrates with your CRM is an advantage that companies don't realize. Since you have other aspects to focus on in your email campaign, using an email marketing application that sends, forwards emails, and updates lists on its own saves a lot of time. Therefore, software that is well integrated with your other business processes should be an important consideration on this email marketing checklist.

Feedback handling - Another facet to consider when selecting the software that is also part of this email marketing campaign checklist is checking how you handle and respond to comments.

Put aside your audience and your goals - Another very important part of your email marketing campaign best practices should be knowing who to target and what you want to achieve with your email campaign. In an attempt to achieve these two, it is necessary to do the following.

Decide who you want to address - When deciding your target audience is part of your email marketing checklist, there is very little chance that your campaign will go wrong. Although there are thousands of leads in the market, your job is to finalize a list of customers who would not only click through to your email, but would also go ahead and become leads.

Determine what you want to achieve - Your business may deal with multiple products or services, your job is to limit the goal of the email campaign and the results you want to achieve at the end of it. Including your end goal on your email checklist constantly reminds you of the purpose of doing this type of marketing and what you will accomplish if all is done right.

Finalize the email list to be used - Your customer is an important part of your email marketing checklist. So you need to decide which list you want to target and when. Generally, your company can have 2 types of email contact lists:

Existing Clients - These are the customers who have already purchased your product or service. Email marketing strategies that might work for your prospects may not necessarily work for your current or past clients.

New acquisitions - Making your new acquisitions part of your email marketing checklist is essential to reaching new customers alongside current ones.

Have an email template defined - An established template that is unique to your offers should be part of your business email checklist. Your template should have the characteristics mentioned below.

Subject line - Every email you send should have an attractive subject. Because your subject line is the most important element of your email, and most often the deciding factor whether or not your target will open your email. Therefore, a subject line is a crucial part of this email marketing checklist.

Firm - One of the B2B email marketing tips that companies ignore is having a uniform email signature. When you focus on such minute details, you are going to build an audience that will pick up on this and become even more of your loyal customers. Keeping your signature consistent on all your emails and campaigns demonstrates your quality of attention to detail.

Email length - Emails should be short and direct. Since it is not possible to summarize your message in a single paragraph at a time, having a standard email length helps. The reason for including this in your email marketing checklist is that this is also one of the elements that makes your business stand out, as your audience realizes how much content they can expect via your emails.

Call to action (CTA) - The goal of your email campaigns is to inform your audience about your offer or sell your products or services. In both cases, an action is required to form the audience. This is why you need to put your call-to-action statement or button in a distinctive format. Make this feature part of your email campaign checklist and experience success for yourself.

Personalization - Customers love customization in any way. Therefore, keeping at least one personalized item in your email is one of the essential tips to make your emails more attractive. Addressing the email to a customer or prospect with their first or last name adds that personal touch and is very important to a business in the long run. For this and other reasons, personalization is part of this email marketing checklist.

Prepare your content with care - Your email campaign is meaningless if your content is not up to par. As customers are now more aware of what they are consuming, offering them what grabs their attention is a task in itself. This is why careful crafting of your email content is included in this email marketing checklist.