5 Email Marketing Best Practices for MSPs

In 2020, Datto surveyed MSPs around the world. Twenty-three percent of respondents said that sales and marketing are major pain points for their business. Many of the respondents said they wear several hats, so they often feel like marketing is extra-credit work that doesn’t fit their schedule– they’ll do it if they get around to it. That doesn’t have to be the case. Marketing is key to the growth of your business, and this article will explore one of the most effective marketing channels you can use to reach prospects and current clients: email.

Email marketing is the most effective way to engage a large portion of your audience and drive activity that will facilitate business growth. But while it is effective, getting started isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve turned to your fellow MSPs, who have identified which tactics and tricks drive real results. Here are five best practices that have worked for your peers in the MSP community:

1. Have a purpose: Before you compose any email, ask yourself: What is its purpose? It may sound simple, but if you can’t answer that question yourself, the recipient won’t be able to, either. Identify the email’s overall mission and establish clear goals that will be used to define its success. Your emails may be measured by open rate, click-through rate or replies. Make sure you read the email to yourself, aloud if it helps, and ask yourself again if the message you are reading serves the purpose of the email. According to Hubspot, the first email you send has a 77% chance of engagement. After the first email, engagement drops down to 25%. Don’t spoil your best chance to connect with your audience by not having a clear purpose.
2. Don’t overlook the subject line: This is your first chance to make an impression and get the reader’s attention in a sea of inbox clutter. According to Convince & Convert, 33% of recipients decide whether to open an email based on its subject line. Spend time thinking about what attracts your attention when you receive emails. Without a good subject line, it won’t matter how good the email content is because no one will bother opening it. Personalization can be very effective when it comes to the subject line of an email. According to Yes Lifecycle Marketing, personalization in subject lines increases open rates by 50%, so we suggest taking advantage of your email platform’s tools to make the subject line more relevant to the recipient.
3. Define your audience: Email marketing can serve a variety of functions, so it’s important that you handle each send differently and don’t rely on a single approach for all. Shandi Hogg, director of marketing at Ancero, said her method varies from campaign to campaign. Ancero is an MSP operating out of New Jersey. In addition to managed IT services, the MSP provides clients with cloud-based communication solutions, private cloud storage and various other services. Hogg splits clients into different email campaigns, depending on which services they receive from Ancero. This makes it simpler for Hogg to send out notifications or updates to them because they are always relevant to the recipient. Continued on the next page…
   
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