How to troubleshoot low email engagement for B2B content marketing?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from LinkedIn shares that making content extremely relevant to the recipient's business needs will improve engagement. Highlight solutions to their specific pain points.
Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog shares that ensuring emails are fully optimized for mobile devices is essential. Many B2B professionals check email on their phones, so responsive design is critical.
Email marketer from Reddit r/EmailMarketing explains that proper list segmentation will improve engagement. Segmenting B2B lists by job title, industry, or company size to tailor content and messaging is key.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog shares that improving email content by focusing on providing value to your subscribers will improve engagement. Use personalized content and compelling storytelling techniques.
Email marketer from Quora answers that including personalization beyond just names will improve engagement. Mention shared connections, relevant company news, or past interactions.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares the recommendation of implementing a double opt-in and adding new contacts to the address book after they download content. It is best to pair this with a 2-question survey to gather preferences on email content and frequency to inform segmentation.
Email marketer from Mailchimp Resource Center responds that A/B testing subject lines, content, and send times to optimize your email campaigns. Analyze the results to identify what resonates best with your audience.
Email marketer from MarketingProfs explains that providing tangible value in every email, like exclusive insights, early access to content, or special offers to B2B subscribers. Emails should offer a clear return for the recipient’s time.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that understanding your audience is key. Segment your list based on demographics, industry, and past engagement to tailor your content and increase relevance.
What the experts say12Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource shares that improving your call to actions (CTAs) can increase engagement. Ensure your CTAs are clear, concise, and compelling, and make them visually prominent in your emails.
Expert from Email Geeks states that tools showing email placement are mostly fictional for B2B, while varying for consumer email.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests gamification tactics to encourage clicks and gauge audience engagement. This helps determine if emails are reaching the inbox, being opened, and if recipients are willing to click links.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests sending test emails to friends and family behind corporate filters to gather data on deliverability issues such as emails going to spam or being quarantined.
Expert from Email Geeks advises to check if emails are technically correct by sending an email to <https://aboutmy.email> to see if it authenticates properly.
Expert from Email Geeks explains breaking down your reporting by recipient domain and you see problems at O365 hosted domains, but not at google apps hosted domains you can look harder at microsoft filtering.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests diagnosing and fixing the underlying issue before considering a new domain, as it may not help and could appear as filter evasion.
Expert from Email Geeks explains the age of email addresses can be a factor, as recipients may have moved on from your product or changed jobs, making them invalid targets.
Expert from Email Geeks emphasizes that the first challenge is identifying if the mail is going to bulk or to the inbox. Determining if this is a deliverability problem or a lack of audience interest.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that one factor contributing to low engagement is the lack of segmentation. Sending generic content to diverse B2B audiences will yield poor results. Segment your list based on industry, company size, job function, and engagement level to send more targeted and relevant content.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that checking your sending permission and ensuring you have gained consent from the user to email will improve user engagement.
Expert from Email Geeks advises to identify a problematic filter by checking if emails are going to google apps and not getting opens, which could indicate a deliverability problem.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains that sender reputation is crucial for deliverability. Ensure your domain and IP address have a positive reputation by authenticating your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that properly configuring DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) to protect your domain from email spoofing. It enables reporting to monitor email authentication.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools shares that monitoring your domain reputation through Google Postmaster Tools will help identify potential deliverability issues. Implement feedback loops to handle complaints effectively.
Documentation from RFC explains that setting up SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records correctly to authorize your sending servers. This helps prevent spammers from spoofing your domain.
Documentation from Return Path shares that establishing feedback loops with ISPs to monitor complaints and promptly address any issues affecting your sender reputation. Feedback loops provide early warning signals about potential problems.