6 Steps to Ace Email Marketing – The Pardot Way

“Reaching the inbox isn’t your goal, engaging people is.”- Matt Blumberg

The best way to keep your existing customers engaged while gaining traction with potential leads is email marketing, especially considering our increasingly digital landscape. If Pardot is your preferred email marketing tool, here are a few quick tips for you to delight your recipients every step of the way – the Pardot way.

The 6 Steps to Ace Email Marketing – The Pardot Way

It isn’t time to declare email a primitive marketing channel, simply because it delivers the best marketing ROI. So, here are 6 steps for you to build the best email marketing campaigns in Pardot:

1. Optimizing Email Deliverability: Even the most brilliantly fashioned email is worthless unless it actually reached its destination. The solution to this is email deliverability, which means the ability to deliver emails to the subscriber’s inbox. You could optimize deliverability by setting up authentication, warming up your IP address, and compiling superior email lists. The most commonly accepted authentication standards are Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys, and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM). The intent of these standards is to separate the spammers and the phishers from legitimate marketers. Warming up your IP address over 2-6 weeks is extremely important and the magic spell is to not send out emails to every prospect in your database right at the get-go so that you steer clear of a spam monitor red flag. In our post GDPR era, it’s essential to send out email communications to recipients that have opted in. Avoid buying email lists, use active or confirmed opt-ins, and make opt-outs as easy and rapid as opt-ins. Your email stature won’t get scarred by opt-outs, but being reported as spam.

2. Designing Effective Templates: This is the cornerstone of all fabulous email campaigns. Aristotle once said, “Well begun is half done”. So, take your time to get equipped for an effective template that would yield results like higher response rates, higher engagement, better branding, and steady customer relationships. Here’s a cheat sheet or a checklist that your template must consist of:

• Plain Text or HTML
• Bullets and Small Paragraphs
• Color
• Images
• CTA
• Contact Information
• Social Sharing Buttons
• Unsubscribe Links
• Clean and Uncluttered Template

3. Creating Phenomenal Email Content: This is, undoubtedly, the most critical aspect of an email campaign. To make your email content rock solid, incorporate the following tactics in it:

• Know your audience
• Write a killer subject line
• Craft different content for different stages of the customer lifecycle
• Don’t be narcissistic or overly ‘sales-y’
• Keep it crisp and to the point
• Make hyper-personalization your friend
• Ensure your assertions are backed up by substance

4. Optimizing and Campaign Testing: This step is as essential as all the others. Many marketing automation platforms offer an integrated rendering and email spam analysis engine that allows users to view the look and feel of their emails across the leading email clients and browsers, to ensure the emails render exactly as they’re intended. Pardot goes a step ahead and also provides you with a ‘Pre-Flight Email Checklist’ to make sure your email is optimized for content, deliverability, and rendering. Here’s what it consists of:

• Subject Line
• List
• Type
• CTA Copy
• Plain Text or HTML
• Bulleted Text
• Images and Color
• Unsubscribe Links
• Social Share Buttons
• Contact Information
• Obvious Sections

5. Considering Best Practices: A few best practices for a sure-fire email marketing campaign are:

• Schedule like a pro
• Make the most of A/B testing
• Don’t go overboard with personalization
• Don’t Spam
• Use images and hyperlinks
• Make your brand the center of your universe

6. Measuring Email Marketing Success Through Tracking and Reporting: Once you’ve crafted an outstanding email campaign, make sure you track and evaluate its impact. Most marketing automation platforms have built-in tracking features like open and click-through rates, bounced messages, unsubscribed messages, etc. The reporting metrics to keep in mind are Click-through Rates (CTR), bounces, email clients and devices, and engagement statistics (read, unread, skimmed percentages, and forward and print count).

Your customers are smarter and more informed than ever. Why not send them the top-notch email campaigns that they expect and deserve? Why not exhibit that the best breed of marketing is here and now? Why not make the most of your preferred marketing automation platform? Now go ahead and send smooth emails like cream cheese on a bagel – The Pardot Way!

Want to become a Pardot Email Marketing Rockstar?