Email marketing campaigns for scientists

Marketwise has been helping our customers run email marketing campaigns for scientists for over 20 years. Below are our five top tips to help you run a really successful campaign.  Our pricing is available here, please feel free to get in contact using the link at the bottom of the article.

Step one: Define your email marketing campaign objectives

The first step when starting an email marketing campaign is to agree your goals. Your objectives should not be vague, they should be S.M.A.R.T.

Specific: Adding new prospects to our mailing list / getting webinar attendees

Measurable: At least 50 webinar attendees.

Achievable: Adding 600 prospects to our email list, for $5,000 total spend

Relevant: Prospects must be working in stem cell and genetics based research

Time-bound: 500 targeted prospects, within 3 months

Step two: Agree your strategy

To acheive your objective, what is the best strategy? In our email marketing campaigns for scientists context, these could be:

A single shot email campaign

Starting a regular (weekly/ monthly / quarterly) email campaign

A single email campaign, but with multiple messages “multi-hit-campaign”

Each is appropriate for different objectives and resources. Not all companies have the resources to run regular or multi-hit campaigns for example.  At this stage, its a good idea to think about budgets and see what is actually possible. Our pricing is available here for example.

As part of the email campaign strategy discussion, the scheduling should be considered. When to send? Will the necessary resources be available in time?

Step three: Prepare and design phase

Now the hard work starts! This is a critical stage, make sure you leave enough time to properly design your material:

Email HTML – optimised for open rates and click through, make sure you keep your copy tight and not spammy.

Landing page – simple and easy to use

Downloadables – will you provide any documents or other material to help enhance the attractiveness of your email campaign?

Webinar / event material – allow time for a dry run of a webinar.

Lastly, who will your email be from? Without considering this, many companies will simply use a generic email “newsletter@mycompany.com”. Much better is to make your email personal, even if the personal email is actually going to an email alias, it should look like a person, “jeff.kingston@mycompany.com”

Step four: Delivery

By now, you will have agreed the size of the email campaign and Marketwise or your other provider, will have prepared your prospect list.  Email HTML, subject lines and from details should be sent to your campaign provider at least 3 working days ahead of your agreed send date.

Splitting the delivery up geographically can help improve open rates, so that the email arrives at a sensible time, usually early morning local time.

Bounces

These are unavoidable, people move jobs, retire or lose their jobs all the time. Anything above 5% is considered poor in the industry, over 10% may well land you in trouble with an email provider. A good provider should offer to replace or in some other way compensate for a high bounce rate.

Step five: Analyze and refine

Open rates and click rates should be analysed and reviewed against averages. If running a regular campaign, or a multi-hit, then this is the chance to see what is working and what isn’t.  Make sure you use this information to your advantage.

Tune, tweak, adjust ! Keep modifying and making small improvements.

Lastly, remember to track your Return on Investment (ROI). Your objectives should include financial goals. Did the cost of the email campaign meet your expectations? Was it worth it ?!

A great email marketing campaign

Following these five steps will give you a great chance to run a successful email marketing campaign. Using a direct email marketing campaign is a great shortcut to build new prospects fast.

Ongoing, regular mailings can help to sustain the growth. Once you have decided on your objectives, Marketwise can advise at each step, helping you get the most from your email marketing campaigns for scientists.

Do you want to target a specific scientific discipline?

Diseases

email lists