5 ways to keep prospects

Email marketingis a billion-dollar industry projected to grow to $17.9 billion by 2027, with an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. Lucrative, right?

However, leveraging these numbers is not as easy as it sounds.You need to know how to maintain your prospects to experience growth. Happy clients act as brand ambassadors and help you generate more leads and revenue.

In this article, we'll highlight five ways to keep prospects and grow your business;

How to keep great prospects

The first step to a successful business is obtaining excellent prospects from your email marketing campaigns. However, acquiring prospects isn't enough. The real challenge is to maintain these prospects and convert them into clients. Oftentimes, businesses fail at this point and end up losing potential clients to competitors.

To help you keep your hard sought clients, here are five ways to keep prospects;

1.   Improve the quality of your content  

No subscriber wants to receive email campaigns that don't solve their problems. You can combat this issue and improve your campaign's quality through;

a.    Great subject lines

35%of email recipients open emails because of the subject line. A good first impression will improve the open rate of your content. So, it is crucial to ensure that your subject line arouses curiosity. You can make great subject lines by;

·     Using questions as subject lines

·     Conducting A/Btesting to gauge the suitability ofdifferent subject lines

·     Adding action-packed words to grab the attentionof your prospects

·     Creating a sense of urgency

Subject lines are an easy way of improving your brandawareness.

b.   Personalized content

Everyone feels great when you treat them in a special way.In email marketing, you can achieve this by personalizing your content to suityour prospect's needs by;

·     Calling out your prospect by name

·     Segmenting your email list to suit differentniches

·     Demonstrating you understand your prospect'sproblems and offer them solutions

·     Personalizing their content according to past purchases or preferences

Remember: Personal = Profitable.

2.   Make your content scannable

Making your content scannable across all devices is mandatory to improve your open rate and CTRs. Since 41%of users check their emails via mobile phones, it's best to make your email content readable and viewable on all devices. To make your emails scannable, consider the following;

·     Use responsive email designs

·     Use short subject lines, preferably 30- 50 characters. It makes viewing the subject line easy without necessarily opening your email.

·     Organizing your content using subheadings that are easy to follow and understand

·     Use an engaging pre header copy to improve your email's open rate

By following the steps above, you'll improve the quality of your email campaigns, thus maintaining prospects.

3.   Timing and avoiding the spam folder

Timing plays two critical roles in email marketing. Theyinclude;

·      Optimizingyour open rate and CTRs

Most email recipients open their emails at specific times of the day. Others open their emails on specific days of the week. You can check your CRM software to know the best day and time to send out your email campaigns. The software will show you the days and times that get the most interactions with your prospects. You can then send your campaigns on those specific days and times.

·      Avoidingthe spam filter

Continuously blasting your prospects with emails may resultin your campaigns ending in the spam folder. Your emails can easily find theirway into the spam folder if prospects;

·     Don't open your email campaigns

·     Delete your emails without opening

·     Move your emails to spam

To avoid the spam filter, you can;

·     Alert your subscribers on how frequently you'll be sending out emails. They'll be expecting them, or let them choose the frequency of receiving your campaigns.

·     Segment your list so you can send relevant content to the different groups instead of the same content to everyone.

·     Be available by using the correct reply-to address. It will ensure your prospects can reach out to you; hence, all your campaigns will land in their inbox. Don't use a no reply@ address.

·     Give your prospect the option of signing in toyour email list instead of buying or renting an email list. This can result ina high bouncerate.

Optimizing good timing will result in positive feedbacksince your prospects will interact with your content.

4.   Use UTM tags

UTM tags trackthe performance of your emails. They are also used to track the source of yourwebsite's traffic. When using UTM tags, you should remember that;

·     They are case sensitive

·     Spaces between them might complicate your analysis later

·     You aren't supposed to use them with internal links on your website

They are a good way of gauging the engagement rate of your content.It can show you where to optimize to maintain good standing with yourprospects.

5.   Clear CTA

Calls-To-Action buttons are an essential component of a campaign. An email without one is a waste of time and resources. They give your prospect a chance to do what you wished them to do. This could be buying a service, downloading a book, or filling in a survey.

With a good CTA, you can convert your prospects into buyers,attract more leads and create your brand awareness effectively. A good CTAshould be;

·     Catchy and create a sense of urgency; this will improve your open rates and CTR. You can use action-oriented words like learn more or buy now

·     Easy to view and work on all devices, including mobile phones

·     Appealing to your prospects through its color and font

Wrapping up

Getting prospects is hard but maintaining them is even harder. Implementing the ways we've highlighted above will be the game-changer you need to break even with your email list. Remember, it's always about your prospects, so fight to keep them satisfied!