An effective lead generation strategy, and email marketing is part of that, is the lifeblood of any thriving business. In fact, 91% of marketers say that lead generation is their most important, significant goal for any campaign. Unfortunately, capturing and converting leads isn’t simple.
Up to 80% of new leads never turn into sales, simply because companies don’t spend enough time nurturing contacts, qualifying their leads, and building relationships with consumers. Fortunately, that’s where email marketing comes in.
Email is one of the least expensive, and most effective ways to capture, nurture, and convert more leads, no matter which industry you serve. Some studies even show that email drives 50% more sales than any other lead generation method.
The question is, how do you get the best results from your email techniques in 2024?
The Top Email Marketing 2024 Lead Generation Strategies
While email marketing has always been a valuable tool for lead generation and conversion, the techniques that actually work for companies are constantly evolving. Some best practices, like creating high-quality content and delivering value with your emails will always be relevant.
However, if you want to outshine the competition in 2024, there are some cutting-edge techniques and trends you should be paying attention to.
1. Go Above and Beyond with Personalization
It’s no secret that personalization makes email marketing strategies more effective. Studies show that up to 72% of customers will only engage with marketing that’s tailored to their interests. Unfortunately, in today’s competitive world, it’s not enough to simply use a customer’s name in your email. You need to by hyper-specific with your content.
This means:
- Carefully segmenting email lists: Segment your list of contacts based on specific factors, such as their location, their key demographics, or even the previous products they’ve purchased, so you can send unique emails to every customer group.
- Giving customers more control: Empower customers to choose when they receive emails from you, and what kind of content they receive, with a “subscription settings” page. This will help to reduce your number of “unsubscribes” over time.
- Leverage customer history data: Take advantage of the information you already have about your customers, such as insights into their previous purchases, and what they’ve added to their cart, to create more unique emails, like this one from OpenTable:
2. Use AI to Optimize your Email Marketing Efforts
When it comes to email marketing in 2024, AI is everywhere.
While it’s not a good idea to rely too heavily on AI when creating marketing campaigns, intelligent tools can make a huge difference to your overall email marketing campaign. The right AI solutions can help you scale your marketing efforts, and even improve a customer’s perception of your brand.
You can use AI-powered tools to:
- Generate personalized subject lines and content, targeted at specific subscriber groups and segments. Remember, 89% of marketers say personalization drives higher campaign ROI.
- Analyze customer groups and segments, for deeper insights into their preferences, the kinds of content they consume, and when they’re most likely to read your emails. This can help you create content calendars and sending schedules that drive better results.
- Optimize your email marketing automation strategy, with AI-powered tools that can automatically send cart abandoned emails based on specific triggers, or deliver lead magnets and content to your target audience.
3. Engage Customers with Interactive Emails
According to studies, up to 63% of the customers who arrive on your website and interact with your brand won’t be ready to buy anything straight away. That’s why it’s so important to nurture your customers with engaging, powerful emails that strengthen their relationship with your company.
In 2024, one of the best ways to do this is to create interactive emails, transforming your static messages into dynamic experiences. You can make your emails more interactive with:
- Embedded widgets and features: Such as surveys, polls, and quizzes customers can interact with directly in the email itself.
- Rich media integration: Videos, GIFs, and other rich media that captures your customer’s attention and keeps them interacting with your messages for longer.
- Gamification elements: Such as scratch cards or spin-to-win features.
- Interactive CTA buttons: Buttons that change color, animate, or expand upon hover or tap, providing immediate feedback to users.
Here’s a great example from Google:
4. Build Trust with your Audience
One of the reasons companies are having so much trouble building and growing their email lists in 2024, is that customer trust in companies is dwindling. Consumers are becoming more concerned about sharing details online, as phishing and ransomware attacks continue to increase.
The best way to overcome this issue, and boost your lead generation potential, is to show customers they can trust you. The first step towards doing this, is making sure that you adhere with the guidelines outlined by companies like Gmail, when it comes to authenticating your sender domains, allowing for one-click unsubscribes, and staying below spam thresholds.
You can also nurture trust by:
- Adding BIMI to your email: Leveraging BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), allows you to display your logo next to an email in an inbox. This is a great way to show your customers that your messages come directly from you.
- Constantly delivering value: Your email messages should always deliver something valuable to your audience, whether it’s personalized recommendations on which blog posts to read, or information about upcoming sales.
- Keeping your email list clean: An email list with invalid or non-existent subscribers can increase your bounce rates, which harms email deliverability. Make sure you’re constantly cleaning your list, for the best lead generation results.
5. Experiment with New Ways to Attract Subscribers
If you want to get the best results from your email marketing in 2024, particularly when it comes to lead generation and conversion, you’ll need to experiment with new ways to attract subscribers. Reaching out to customers via cold email is a risky business, so it’s worth finding ways to convince customers to interact with you instead.
One way to do this is to constantly promote your email newsletter on as many channels as possible, from social media channels like Instagram and Facebook, to your website and blog. Another option is to experiment with the lead magnets you create.
If you’re limited in budget, a simple eBook or download can be an excellent way to collect contacts for your email list:
If you’re looking for more advanced strategies, you could consider using no-code and low-code tools to build your own apps, directories, and template libraries. Remember, the best lead magnets are the ones that are tailored specifically to your target audience’s needs. So think about how you can address their pain points, or help them achieve their goals.
6. Optimize Email Automation
Email automation is one of the best ways to scale your lead generation efforts, and ensure you’re constantly engaging with and nurturing potential customers. But getting automation right takes some time, data, and practice. Don’t just decide to send an email once a week and put your campaigns on autopilot. Dive into the data in your email marketing tools to discover:
- The best time and day to send your emails: The best day and time to send emails can vary depending on your target audience. Your open rate analytics and click-through metrics can offer insights into what kind of timing will boost your conversion rates.
- The ideal email frequency: Your analytics can also offer insights into how often you should be sending emails. For instance, if your click-through rates drop and your unsubscribe rates increase after you start sending 1 email a day, this could be a sign you need to cut back.
- Email trigger options: Sometimes customers will expect to receive an email instantly after they complete a certain action. Think carefully about what kind of activities should potentially trigger a message, such as completing a purchase, abandoning a cart, requesting a callback, or downloading a lead magnet.
7. Improve Your Email Designs
The importance of a well-designed email isn’t a new trend for 2024, but it’s something you should still be paying close attention to, if you want to increase conversion rates. In 2024, minimalist emails are often the preferred option, particularly for customers who are increasingly accessing their inboxes from mobile devices.
Regardless of which email marketing software you’re using, or what kind of messages you’re sending, it’s a good idea to ensure you prioritize:
- Accessibility: Make sure your emails are accessible, with high levels of color contrast, large, easily legible font, and alt text for images and videos.
- Responsive design: Design your emails for mobile first, with touch-friendly elements (like larger buttons), concise content, and quick-loading images.
- Simple color schemes: Avoid overwhelming your readers with too many colors and graphics. Keep things simple, and reduce any unnecessary distractions in your messages.
It’s also worth ensuring the right content appears in the correct places throughout your email messages. Call-to-Actions should be easy to see at the top and bottom of the page. Social media handles should be placed at the bottom of the template, along with unsubscribe buttons.
Here’s a great example of an attractive email from Bellroy:
Mastering Email Marketing for Lead Gen in 2024
Email marketing is still one of the best strategies you can use to boost your lead generation efforts, and enhance your conversion rates in 2024. However, if you want to ensure you’re getting the best return on your investment, it’s important to stay up to date with the trends.
Invest heavily in personalization, engaging interactive elements, minimalistic designs, and unique lead magnets to grow your email list. Ensure you’re using automation and AI correctly to optimize your efforts, and consistently build trust with your subscribers.
If you’re still struggling to master lead generation, contact me today for help from a VA with expertise in lead generation optimization, or check out my free lead generation guide.