Whether we like it or not, email remains the most common means of communication for businesses. This is the very reason why email marketing is so valuable. But in order for your marketing emails to first reach the target audience and then to inspire action, they must follow certain guidelines. Follow these seven proven marketing email best practices to build successful email marketing campaigns again and again.
“42% of businesses say email is one of their most effective lead generation channels. And for B2B marketers, 88% cite email as the most effective lead generation tactic. 73% of marketers agree that email marketing is the core to their business.” – Khalid Saleh, Invesp
Email Marketing Is Still Alive and Effective
We are all tired of the emails that pile up in our inboxes, yet, that is where we find opportunities of value to us! Bottom line? Email marketing is effective. According to MailChimp, only government, non-profit, and religious emails get much higher open rates than the construction industry! And if you have any doubts, check out these stats! We avoid spam to the best of our ability but, still, there is a flood of emails in our inboxes daily that we need to sift through. Actually, that your prospects have to sift through…
7 Proven Marketing Email Best Practices
So, how do you catch their attention in all that noise? Get your construction value proposition across? Or even just have them open the email you know they would respond to? Because why not, you are the best, you do your best, and it would be in their best interest? And what are the marketing email tips for reaching your target audience via that platform?
Well, we did the research and came up with some answers to questions like why email marketing is effective, how often you should send emails, what email marketing service is best, how long marketing emails should be, what your email marketing content strategy should be, etc.
BEST PRACTICE 1: Start with a Qualified List
It is a best practice to get prospects to subscribe to your email contact list. Spam filters are very discerning and some will not deliver emails from senders that are not in the recipient’s email contact list. And some firewalls will even show open and click through via your email service provider when there were none, kid you not! Just check the Send, Open, and Click Through time stamps and you will be able to tell for yourself.
So, it is an email marketing best practice to get buy-in from your prospects to receive your emails. But how?
- Blog on your construction website or Meta page and provide a link for visitors to sign up for emails.
- Offer useful downloads in exchange for email addresses, for example, “how to” guides that serve the construction industry.
- Join industry organizations that provide email and contact lists as part of their member benefits. ABC, AGC, or NAHB are great examples. You can find more organizations of this type in this Contractor Associations & Construction Associations list.
- Attend construction events and trade shows and network, network, network!
- Remain active on social media.
We also recommend you read our article Email Subject Lines for Networking: Examples & Best Practices for some networking email goals & guidelines on how to reach out and connect with prospects via email as part of your email marketing strategy.
As Ramsay Leimenstoll says it, “A small list that wants exactly what you’re offering is better than a bigger list that isn’t committed.”
BEST PRACTICE 2: Focus On Their Needs and Segment Your List
As you are gathering contact information, try to learn more about your prospects’ construction niches and especially… possible pain points. Focus on how you can be of service to them. Then, target your email marketing messaging accordingly. Even though there is overlap, residential construction companies typically don’t have the same issues or needs as commercial construction companies, and subcontractors don’t view matters from a general contractor point of view. And property developers are in another category altogether. Segment your list and tailor your email messaging according to your target audience to make your value proposition relevant.
For example, a residential building company would not be interested in heavy crane lifting services, but small earth moving equipment.
Suffice it to say: “Make the customer the hero of your story.” Ann Handley
MARKETING EMAIL BEST PRACTICE 3: Avoid the Spam Filter
Yes, as mentioned above, artificial intelligence is pretty advanced these days! Avoid a sales pitch that will raise the spam flag. Salesy email subject lines, especially, can land your email in the spam folder. Pull, rather than push sell. Solve problems that will lead prospects to you for your construction services or products. And do not make exorbitant claims. Integrity is key. Demonstrate how you or your products can be of value to your prospects. But that begs the question: How often should you send email marketing? Do not “spam” your contact list with email after email. Time them carefully, or you will end up with a high percentage of unsubscribes, and that may send future emails straight to the spam folder.
Take note of these phrases that are sure to raise suspicion:
- Important Information
- Urgent
- Free
- While Stocks Last
- Exclusive Deal
- Sign Up
- Act Now
- Last Chance
- ! (exclamation marks)
- 😊 (emoticons)
- ALL CAPS or
- Spelling mistakes!
BEST PRACTICE 4: Choose Your Subject Line Carefully
This is a big marketing email tip when it comes to email marketing strategy because it is the one thing that will get your prospects to OPEN your email. Keep your email subject line short. Compelling. Run A/B testing. For construction email subject line best practices and examples, read the articles Email Subject Lines Examples and Tips for High Open Rates and 13 Best Practices for Email Subject Lines. You can also use this helpful subject line grading tool for free to help you get it right.
For example:
We Build Anything from Bridges to Bookstores
(Catchy but too generic, no company name or mention of the trade)
vs.
Our Sprinkler Systems Have a 0% Fail Rate
(States a great company differentiator)
MARKETING EMAIL BEST PRACTICE 5: Get to the Point
Time is precious. As “they” say, the devil is in the details. Do not make your email complicated. Nobody has the time to wade through a whole dissertation. But they expect you to deliver on your email subject line promise. So, cut any hype, state your value proposition in as few words as possible, and provide links to the relevant details… on your webpage! Yes, that is where you ideally want prospects to land and engage with your construction company and its services, i.e. sign up for them.
Here is an example of a well-crafted and to-the-point message (personalization is always preferable if you have that information):
Checking on a few proposals we submitted
Good morning Doug,
Hope all is well. Will you please take a minute to provide feedback on our price for the following projects?
- Deer Crossing Apartments
- DelWeb Marina Storage
Thank you,
Dereck Smith
Seth Godin says best to sum it all up. “Why waste a sentence saying nothing?”
BEST PRACTICE 6: Include a Call to Action
Of all the best practices, this one is so easy to forget, and yet so important! Be sure to conclude your email with a compelling call to action that stands out in your email body, and will take a prospect where they expect to land based on the information provided. Avoid clickbait at all costs. There is no faster way of getting a prospect to unsubscribe than misinformation, in other words, a proposition that leads them through, for example, a series of advertisements to get where they want to be. Especially in the construction industry, time is of the essence. Some examples of calls to action below:
- Find More Information on XYZ
- Learn More about <Company Name>
- Download Our Brochure
- Get Pricing
MARKETING EMAIL BEST PRACTICE 7: Follow Up and Measure Results
“That which is measured improves.” – Karl Pearson
Study the email metrics to finetune your email marketing strategy. Most service providers provide statistics on open and click through, even details such as who clicked on what link. Be sure to have a follow-up strategy for different response scenarios, for example, you may want to try a different subject line in your next email to non-opens. Or, if you see that a recipient is particularly interested in a topic, craft content of further interest to the recipient. In other words, build trust. One can even set up a whole follow-up campaign and automate the responses via some of the email service providers.
And, speaking of follow-up, check out our article specifically on follow-up marketing email tips, Follow Up Email for Sales: Best Templates and Follow Up Email Examples.
Here’s a good example:
Hi John,
Thank you for your time. I enjoyed talking to you earlier today and learning more about you and your company.
Attached you will find more detailed information on the projects / services you were interested in learning about more.
When you’ve had a chance to review the documents, please let me know when you would like me to give you a call to go over any questions you have. Of course, you are welcome to call me any time too.
Best,
[your name and contact information]
BONUS MARKETING EMAIL BEST PRACTICE
Find the Right Tool for Your Construction Marketing Email Campaigns
Another marketing email best practice is finding the right tool! In addition to managing your email marketing campaigns with a service provider, consider managing contacts, clients, and construction opportunities (all the way along the sales pipeline!) with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool like iDeal CRM.
Do take a few minutes to look at some of the iDeal Construction CRM features and see how it supports not just your bidding and sales process, but your marketing email campaigns as well:
- Manage All Your Bids, Leads, and Opportunities in One Place
- Manage All Your Clients and Contacts in a Single System
- Create Professional Proposals in Minutes, Even Multiple Proposals at Once
- Create Marketing Brochures, Flyers, and other Collateral with the Built-in Tool
- Mass Emailing Tool for your Email Campaigns and Outreach
- Use Follow-up Automation so You Follow-up with Your Clients and Prospects Consistently
- Make Informed Decisions with Built-in Construction Reports
Pricing is very affordable. But see for yourself. Test drive all the features at your own pace without incurring any fees or obligations!
Set Up Marketing Email Campaigns with iDeal CRM
See iDeal Construction CRM Marketing Features in Action.
Take Your Email Marketing to the Next Level
Armed with these proven marketing email best practices and the right tool, you now have an email marketing strategy in place for your construction company. You are ready to take it to the next level! Bookmark this article and run your emails by the 1-7 checklist we have provided until email marketing becomes second nature and you are running a well-oiled construction marketing machine!
Wishing you more leads, clients, and jobs going forward!
Further Reading
- Construction Proposal Example – Proposal Examples that Make an Impact
- Sales Email Template – Best 10 Examples
- 10 Construction Marketing Ideas
- Email Subject Lines for Networking: Examples & Best Practices
- 13 Best Practices for Email Subject Lines
- Follow Up Email for Sales: Best Templates and Follow Up Email Examples