Sales Managers’ Guide: Boosting Sales with Effective Email Marketing Strategies

An efficient sales process is the backbone of every business, and with today’s multi-channel marketing possibilities, the potential for driving sales and growing a business is practically limitless. Still, even though effective sales rely on multiple channels, from organic website traffic to social media promotions, email marketing remains one of the most lucrative platforms with the highest ROI — roughly $36 per dollar spent.

At the same time, many brands, both in B2C and B2B segments, are vying for the user’s attention, so sales managers have to stay on top of the latest trends to keep up with the ever-growing competition. Below, we will discuss some of the most effective strategies and give a few practical examples of major brands that successfully leverage such tactics.

Narrow segmentation wins the day

This may sound like a no-brainer, but in fact, failure to properly segment your audience is one of the most common email marketing mistakes that alienate leads and disrupt conversions. Besides classic segmentation parameters, like demographics, brands are strongly encouraged to consider behavioral data, starting with notification preferences users indicate in their sign-up forms. But, of course, efficient segmentation goes beyond complying with data privacy laws. Here are some parameters to consider:

• Subscription channel, i.e., whether the lead subscribed from a website, social media, referral, etc.;
• Browsing history and behavior;
• Past purchase history, if any;
• Previous email engagement history;
• Transactional history, i.e., the amount spent and order frequency, if available.

Analyzing all of these data will help accurately place each lead within the correct stage of the marketing funnel and, more importantly, get a better grasp of the lead’s interests and values. This, in turn, will be very helpful in setting up automated workflows — another efficient strategy we’ll discuss below.

Multiple email triggers boost conversions

Automated workflows can be highly effective if the triggers are chosen wisely. For example, did you know that welcome emails have an open rate between 50% and 90%, according to different estimates? This is a huge margin, of course, but even if we aim for a lower estimate, the figure is still very impressive. Surprisingly, many brands either ignore a welcome email completely or send a generic copy that fails to build trust with a new lead. And we all know how important first impressions are! So, use this chance to your advantage — if possible, you can even set up different welcome emails for different lead categories, i.e., a new sign-in from a website vs a referral.

As important as welcome emails are, other stages of a customer journey should not be neglected either. Another common (and often under-appreciated) trigger scenario is cart abandonment, which may happen for various reasons. For example, the world’s leading retail provider, Amazon, never leaves an abandoned cart unnoticed, which results in up to 15% client recovery rate. More than that, Amazon claims that one of the most common reasons for leaving a cart without making a payment is when clients are expected to complete too many steps before finalizing an order, followed closely by the lack of convenient, mobile-friendly payment options. In other words, brands should make shopping easy for the end buyers — but that is a story for another day.

Back to our effective email marketing strategies, practically any action between the lead’s first sign-up and an abandoned cart can act as a trigger for an automated email. Sales managers should analyze what consumers are doing and create compelling email prompts to keep nurturing trust with their leads — based on business specifics and factual lead behavior they analyzed earlier.

Perfect timing varies for different leads

There’s plenty of research on the perfect timing for sending promotional emails, but the truth is — it all depends on business specifics and may additionally vary on the lead type. Netflix, for example, sends most of its promotional emails on weekends and evenings when its prospects are most likely to have some downtime. But again, while this approach works with most of Netflix’s demographics, some subscribers may have work shifts during traditional off-time. So, it once again goes down to analyzing your audience and segmenting it as much as possible.

Another thing to consider is email frequency, which also varies drastically for different lead types. The type of promotional content matters, too — for example, informative emails aimed at educating leads about product features usually have higher click-through rates and are perfect for leads in the early stages of their customer journey. However, as the lead progresses down the marketing funnel, sales managers should be careful not to overdo their promotional materials. This leads us to the next point.

Consistent A/B testing results in tailored marketing

Regular A/B testing is the only way to discover which strategies work and which don’t. Once again, casting a wide net will not help in today’s competitive landscape. HubSpot, for example, makes a point of tracking every email sent, and we all know that this major company really resonates with its target audience.

The trick is choosing the right metrics, of course. While the standard indicators, like open, click-through, and bounce rates, are very important, some other metrics, like conversion rate and conversion value, are harder to measure. However, they are more important in the long run. So, it makes sense to analyze campaign results across narrower audience segments for higher accuracy.

Predictive AI analysis gains momentum

There’s no hiding the artificial elephant in the room any longer — especially considering that generative AI’s predictive capabilities are growing ever more advanced. Most major brands, including Amazon and Netflix, actively use genAI in their marketing campaigns. Netflix uses predictive AI for offering viewing suggestions, while Amazon applies the same tactics both for its retail store and its Kindle’s ‘next to read’ ideas.

No doubt, a lot will depend on your software quality because too many off-the-mark guesses can alienate prospects. However, with today’s AI advances, predicative suggestions get ever more accurate, so it makes sense to explore the trend now — until it becomes common practice.

Lead nurturing brings long-term results

In the long run, it’s nurturing that wins customer loyalty. Google is probably one of the best brand examples in this regard because instead of advertising its primary products, it sends educational materials tailored to each lead’s interests and usage specifics. However, Google is not alone — the more complex a product is, the more opportunities sales managers have for nurturing relationships with their leads and existing clients.

The multiple marketing channels available today play in the sales manager’s favor because a consistent branding strategy helps build trust, especially with GenZ consumers. Creating a consistent brand image, clearly visible in email campaigns, social media, and other promotional channels helps boost conversions and increase customer retention rate, which is the ultimate goal of marketing.