The 12-Step Process To Get Started With Outbound Email Marketing

It’s not easy to get started in outbound email marketing. These days, it can seem like everyone is trying to sell you something.

But with a little strategy and forethought, you can avoid the spammy pitfalls of many marketers and instead find success in reaching your customers through their inboxes.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the 12-step process for creating an effective outbound email campaign: from building your list to sending your message and everything in between.

In addition to these steps, we’ll also give real-life examples of how other companies have used them successfully so you can see how it works in action!

How to Master Email Marketing (2023) – YouTube

Key Takeaways
1. Understand the Basics of Outbound Email Marketing
2. Define Your Target Audience and Segments
3. Craft Compelling Subject Lines
4. Personalize Your Email Content
5. Focus on Value Propositions
6. Use Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
7. Leverage A/B Testing for Optimization
8. Maintain Clean and Updated Email Lists
9. Respect Privacy and Regulations
10. Monitor and Analyze Campaign Performance
11. Continuously Iterate and Improve
12. Develop a Consistent Follow-Up Strategy

Table of Contents

Why Outbound Email Marketing Is Worth It

Outbound email marketing is a good way to reach prospects. If you’re running a business, and you have a list of contacts, you can send them outbound emails that promote your business. This can be done through automated messages or even live sales reps.

Outbound email marketing is also a good way to build relationships with customers.

You can send out newsletters or other types of content that will help them learn more about your brand and what your products do for them, which will hopefully increase their loyalty and get them coming back for more products or services in the future.

Outbound email marketing helps companies maintain relationships with existing clients, too! If someone has already bought something from you previously (or even if they haven’t).

It makes sense that they would want information on what else might interest them if they were going through an initial phase of buying something new again;

This could be anything from advice on how best practices work in different industries across various regions throughout North America as well as abroad (such as Europe).

Recommendations on which items would suit certain needs better than others depend on whether someone wants something portable versus durable enough so it survives multiple trips without breaking down completely after just one year’s worth of usage.

These kinds of questions are common among people who are thinking about upgrading their devices every few years rather than sticking with one particular model forever since these days when technology advances faster than ever before!

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Step 1. Explain The Concept To Yourself

You’re going to want to know what outbound email marketing is and how it works so that you can understand the benefits it can provide your business. Knowing how and why something works will help you figure out how best to use it.

Here’s a quick overview of what I’m talking about:

Outbound email marketing is the process of sending an email message to your target audience with the intent of turning them into customers.

It’s not just another way for companies to send emails in their inboxes; rather, it’s a highly effective method for building brand awareness, generating leads, and driving sales through direct response campaigns sent directly from businesses’ brands (not third-party providers such as MailChimp).

Step 2. Set Up A Spreadsheet

The next step is to set up a spreadsheet. The easiest way to do this is with Google Sheets or Excel, but you can also create one in Word or another program if you prefer.

Once you’ve opened your spreadsheet, add some columns: one for email addresses (or whatever contact information is required), one for names, and one for phone numbers.

You may also want to have a column that tracks website links and other information like social media handles or company locations (if they’re relevant). This spreadsheet will become your central hub of contact data so it’s best if it’s easy to navigate through!

Generating leads through outbound tactics requires a strategic approach. Discover the power of tried-and-true methods with our article on 17 Outbound Marketing Tactics Proven to Generate More Leads, and unlock the potential to expand your customer base.

Step 3. Determine Who Your Target Audience Is

You’ve probably heard the term “target audience” before, but what does it mean? It’s a group of people who share a common interest and are likely to be interested in your product or service. Does that sound vague?

Well, it can be! Getting specific about this step requires you to do some research on your potential customers so that you know who they are and what they need or want.

Who will use my product/service?
Why would someone buy from me instead of another company? Or why should I buy from myself instead of another company?
What information do these customers need so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not they should give money/time/etcetera over to me/my business?

Step 4. Find Contact Info

In this step, you’ll be finding contact information for your target audience. To begin, you’ll need to determine the best places in which to look for it.

You can start by getting in touch with your list of contacts and asking them who they know that may be a good fit for your business.

If they are not already on a list or have recently changed their email address, then you will have to try other methods of finding them (i.e., Google).

If you don’t have access to any previous customers (or if all of the above has failed), then some tools can help: Voila allows users to search through social media profiles for email addresses and phone numbers;

FindAnyEmail lets users search through databases of emails collected from public sources like job boards; Email Finder pulls together several different databases into one place so users don’t waste time searching multiple locations at once;

Hunter will allow users access to over 40 million real business contacts across more than 50 industries–it’s also free!

Incorporating cold calling into your marketing strategy can be a game-changer for connecting with potential clients. Learn how to seamlessly integrate this technique with your efforts in our guide on Implementing Cold Calling into Your Marketing Strategy, and boost your outreach success.

Step 5. Clean Your Email List

Delete duplicate contacts. If you have the same email address on your list that is already active and engaged, you need to remove it from your list. You will save time and resources by removing this contact from your database.

Remove contacts who have unsubscribed to your emails. If a contact has unsubscribed from receiving emails, they most likely do not want to receive any more communications from you in the future (unless they are interested in what you have to offer).

Therefore, these people must be removed from your database so that they do not receive any additional messages or waste time downloading files that they no longer wish to receive.

Remove contacts who have been marked as spam/bounced back into inboxes because of inboxing issues (i.e., AOL).

These people may not want their email addresses listed publicly so deleting them from your database would be wise because there is no way for them to opt out themselves;

Thus, eliminating them protects those individuals’ privacy while still allowing some flexibility for how often the email address gets used by someone else within the company if necessary (and hopefully this will happen soon!).

Again though keep in mind: do not remove any legitimate users who might be having trouble receiving emails due solely

Step 6. Create A Template

Once you have your five emails ready to go, it’s time to create a template that will automatically send them out.

If you’re using Mailshake, Dux-Soup, or Lemlist (our favorite), each email should be sent individually and automatically to 100 people at the same time.

That’s because these tools allow you to easily customize each message while still sending it quickly with no manual effort required.

You can also use direct mail software like Campaign Monitor or Constant Contact if you want more control over how your emails are sent and received by customers but we recommend taking advantage of the automation features that these three tools offer.

With either method, review the metrics in your email tool after sending out all five versions of these messages: how many people opened them? Which links were clicked on?

This information will help guide future iterations of this process until you perfect the best possible message for your audience–and beyond!

Cold calling has its nuances and challenges, but understanding the journey of others can provide valuable insights. Read about personal experiences in our piece on How I Started Cold Calling and Why I Stopped to gain perspectives that might shape your own approach.

Step 7. Write Five Personalized Emails To Your Leads/Prospects That You Can Use Over And Over Again Every Time You Send Out Your Campaigns

While it’s important to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach when creating a template, it’s equally important not to forget the personal touch.

When sending out an email campaign, make sure that each recipient feels like they’re receiving something personal by addressing each one by name in the subject line of their respective email.

Also, make sure that your message is relevant to them and includes information about why this article or product may be of interest to them (and include a call to action).

Personalization also extends beyond including a person’s name within an email; it should extend into how you format the content itself.

While having readable paragraphs is great and makes reading easier on both parties you want consumers’ attention focused on what matters most: what value your company brings them in exchange for their time and attention (and ultimately, their money).

Step 8. Segment Your List Of Contacts Into Several Smaller Lists Of 100 Contacts Each

At this step, you’ll segment your list of contacts into several smaller lists of 100 contacts each.

You might want to create three lists: one for people who have opened your emails in the past, another for those who haven’t opened them before but did visit your website, and a final one with everyone else on the list.

Once you’ve created these smaller segments, send personalized emails to 100 people at once through Mailshake or Dux-Soup (other tools will work too) and track how many people open them.

If you don’t get any replies after 5 attempts move on to the next segment until all five versions have been tested against at least 1/3rd of your total list size.

Step 9. Use An Email Tool Like Mailshake, Dux-Soup, Or Lemlist To Send Individually Customized Emails (With Attachments) To 100 People At The Same Time Automatically

At this point, you don’t want to be sending out a million emails manually. You can save yourself some time and get a more consistent result by using an email tool like Mailshake, Dux-Soup, or Lemlist.

These tools allow you to send customized emails with attachments (like PDFs) to 100 people at the same time automatically.

Use the same email template for each email (if possible). This makes it easier for your team to prepare content and create unique messages based on segmentation.
Send attachments if they are relevant (e.g., video files). This allows you to use the power of personalized content while also giving people something they can consume right away (i.e., watch a video).

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Step 10. Review The Metrics In Your Email Tool To See How Many People Opened Your Emails And Which Links They Clicked On (By Doing This, You’ll Be Able To Figure Out Which Version Of The Five Emails You Prepared Is Most Effective)

Now that you’ve tested your five versions of the email, it’s time to review the results. An email tool will tell you how many people opened your emails, as well as which links they clicked on. This information can be used to determine which version of the five emails you prepared is most effective.

In MailChimp, for example, open rates are broken down by age group and gender in addition to overall numbers.

If someone in the 20-29 age group opens an email but not many other folks do (you’d expect this if it’s a subject line that appeals mainly to millennials).

Then that’s probably not a good sign for getting more people in their 20s to open future emails from you or buy products from your company.

Step 11. Send Five More Emails To Those Who Didn’t Open Your Previous Five Emails Using Another One Of The Five Templates You Prepared In Step 7 Above Until They All Open Up A Single Email From You (Sometimes This Will Take Ten More Emails)

Don’t give up! It can take a few weeks for your emails to start getting opened and read. Once they do, you’ll be on your way to earning the trust of your subscribers and turning them into customers.
Don’t send more than one email per day. You don’t want to annoy people with too many emails in their inboxes!
If a subscriber doesn’t open an email after two days, try sending another one of the same type (you did create five different templates in step 7 above, right?); this is called “resending.” Check out our blog post about how much resending is too much: [link].
The same goes for if someone opens an email but doesn’t click through any links inside it—try sending another one of the same types again within two days or so; this is also called “resending.”

Step 12. Create Three New Articles Based On What Your Readers Have Shown An Interest In

Next, you’ll want to create three new articles based on what your readers have shown an interest in. The articles should be 300-500 words and written in a conversational tone. They should be useful to your readers so that it’s clear why they should read them.

Make sure that each article has call-to-action buttons at the end so that people can easily sign up for your list of emails or download one of your digital resources or even purchase something directly from the article itself.

Conclusion

So, what do you think? Are you ready to start using outbound email marketing in your business? The great thing about this method is that it doesn’t require any extra money on top of the cost of running your website.

You can get started today by following the steps above and focusing on where you see room for improvement each time you send out a campaign. In no time at all, you’ll be making sales from people who wouldn’t have bought from anyone else!

FAQs

What is outbound email marketing?

Outbound email marketing involves proactively reaching out to potential customers through email to introduce products, services, or offers.

How can I optimize my outbound email campaigns?

Optimize your outbound email campaigns by segmenting your audience, crafting personalized messages, and testing different subject lines and content.

Is cold calling an effective outbound strategy?

Cold calling can be effective when done strategically, focusing on offering value and addressing the recipient’s pain points.

What tools can I use for outbound email marketing?

There are various tools available, such as email outreach platforms, CRM systems, and analytics tools, to streamline your outbound email marketing efforts.

How can I measure the success of outbound email marketing?

Track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and response rates to measure the success of your outbound email marketing campaigns.

Costantine Edward

Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.