Top Email Marketing Tips For Logistics And Shipping Business To Get More Sales

Repeat after me, email marketing works! 

A recent report by Mckinsey & Company concludes that email marketing is about 40 times more effective than social media. The same study also reveals that buying happens three times faster over email as opposed to social media. 

So, there is not an iota of doubt that email marketing is an exceptionally effective method of reaching out to your customers. However, it is surprising that this potent medium is not as popularly used in the logistics and shipping industry to improve engagement. 

Are you responsible for marketing operations and brand awareness of a logistics organization? Do you want to leverage email marketing for conversions? If yes, then the following tips are handpicked for your success. 

Pro Tip 1: Define Your Objectives 

Sure, an email marketing campaign must be customer-centric, but not misaligned with what you wish to achieve from it. In a nutshell, even before creating content for your message, define your objectives. 

Start by asking and answering these questions: 

  • Are you seeking new customers? 
  • Do you want to launch a new product or feature? 
  • Do you want more business from loyal clients? 
  • Are you trying to create a reputation as a thought leader? 

The email message must crisply toe line your primary goal. And, remember different intentions demand different messages and audiences.  

Pro Tip 2: Know Your Customers

Sounds generic? It’s not! An industry like logistics and shipping enjoys clientele across diverse business verticals – from textile to livestock, they don’t leave much to the imagination. With such a staggering level of customer heterogeneity, you need to gain an even more robust understanding of your clientele.

To create an audience blueprint, ask and answer the following questions: 

  • Which industry do most of my customers come from? 
  • What are their primary challenges? 
  • What are their need gaps? 

Flesh client outlines much like scriptwriters etch characters in movies. Nothing too dramatic, just definitive and complete. Buyer profiles are also called personas, and they will go a long way in helping you tailor your email communique.

Pro Tip 3: Segment Audiences in Lists

There is enough literature on the effectiveness of highly segmented email campaigns, yet businesses indulge in blast-mailing every client in their database. Doing this defeats the entire purpose of this tool, as it is not built for aiming wide. Going deep by hyper-targeting customers, made possible with segmented lists, is the very essence of email marketing. Recently, a study by Campaign Monitor reveals that even on the worst day for email marketing (Sunday), the click-to-open rates were more than expectation i.e. 14.2%. 

Segment Audiences in Lists

Therefore, if you are not finely dividing your customers into lists, you are far more likely to encourage droves of prospects to unsubscribe from your email communication. Use buyer persona profiles to define your segments as narrowly as possible. Doing this will also assist in crafting highly focussed content, thus enabling award-worthy engagement. 

Pro Tip 4: Do Not Let Your Contact Database Decay

All of the tips mentioned above are inutile if you are working with a decayed customer database. And, datasets decay dramatically – up to 30% every year. So, it’s critical to refresh your email contact lists. 

What leads to data decay? Within the logistics and shipping corporations, you perhaps have several C-suite or senior management level contacts. Employees at these designations tend to change jobs, cities, email ids, etc. When they do this, your dataset erodes. Therefore, just by updating obsolete and inaccurate information, your logistics email open rates will jump up, thus enhancing your marketing campaign outcomes.    

Pro Tip 5: Craft Compelling Subject Lines

Your marketing email’s subject line defines whether a prospect will read it or not. Therefore, test a few lines to see which one works better than others. You can do this by sending out a pilot batch of email with two or three different subject lines and track which ones result in a higher open rate. Vague subject lines will put clients off. Furthermore, people will opt-out of your campaign if the email body does not deliver what the subject line promises. 

Also, email marketing software which offers automation comes in handy here. For instance, Adobe uses AI-powered email automation, which suggests effective subject lines based on what it has learned about the company’s customers. Such automation can also aid logistics and shipping businesses in segmenting email lists, recommending products for every client profile, personalizing messages, and much more. 

Pro Tip 6: Keep Email Body Catchy Yet Valuable

You don’t have more than a few seconds before a reader loses interest, so show them how your email offering adds value right off the bat – no dillydallying or beating around the bush before getting to the point. This rationale is especially critical for logistics and shipping marketing emails. Ensure that your email copy length lies between 25 to 125 words. 

You might think 125 is too short, but a brief copy performs well. Campaign Monitor reports that marketing emails between 25 to 50 words enjoy a high response rate of 50%. Do not go below 25 words as that does the same amount of damage as a 500 to 2000-word email. Employ bullets and short sentences so readers can quickly scan through your message while retaining the essential bits. 

Lastly, data-backed hyper-personalized content is king! Don’t send hit and trial sales pitches, especially to B2B clients. Try to offer them what they may already be looking for or are missing and don’t know yet. Writing useful emails will improve your open rates and establish your brand as a thought leader in the logistics and shipping industry.

Pro Tip 7: Do Not Forget that CTAs are Cardinal

A prospect has just opened and read your email. Now what! Let them know with a Call-to-Action or a CTA. Encourage your reader to take action, preferably to engage with your brand or make a purchase. A CTA can be something as straightforward as letting them download a whitepaper, registering for an online event or webinar, or just clicking on a button to go to your landing page. 

Calling your audiences to act upon your email completes the cycle. CTAs create a sense of urgency. You can also choose to introduce a Call-to-Action with a timer running below. Doing this for sale on your website can skyrocket conversions. A compelling CTA tells your readers what they should do next and how it will benefit them.

And It’s a Wrap!

Not every logistics and shipping email marketing campaign will be a success – just an unfortunate fact. But, if you religiously employ the tips listed above and persistently track your campaign’s results, there will be far more successes than failures. So, deliver regular, engaging, personalized, and valuable emails to your freight-forward clients and watch loyal relationships blossom.

Author bio:

Rohan Profile Pic

This post is written by Rohan Mendiratta. He helps marketers with building an engaged audience and increasing their sales via  SendX: Email Marketing Software.

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