No matter your industry, getting more jobs requires marketing your business. There are plenty of options available, but one easily overlooked method is email marketing. Like most marketing, it requires time, effort, and money. However, email marketing builds name recognition and creates new leads and opportunities. If you’re ready to get more jobs with email marketing campaigns, our quick start guide below covers the basics of successfully targeting your customers with emails.

Who Should Use Email Marketing Campaigns

Any contractor or restoration business can use email marketing campaigns to create more leads, but we find they are most successful for plumbing companies and carpet cleaners. That’s not to say you can’t send email marketing if you do water, fire, or mold restoration. However, it’s much harder to generate repeat business since these services depend on specific circumstances.

How to Get More Jobs with Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great way to get more jobs, but it’s not going to work overnight. You need to send the right content on a regular basis to generate more leads.

Build Name Recognition

One of the most important reasons to use email marketing is that it builds name recognition. Even if your customers don’t open every email you send them, they see your name regularly.

When they need service, it’s more likely that they will call you because you’re right there in their inbox. For that reason, make sure your phone number is in your email template too. Ideally, you should use the TEL tag within your newsletter so they can call you directly out of their inbox on their smartphone.

Create Value With Content, Not Sales

It’s easy to assume that emails should be big sales promotions full of special offers and coupons. While offers and coupons are effective sometimes, they only work if your customers need those services.

Instead, focus on content that inspires and builds value for your customers. Depending on your industry, this could be a reminder to change your furnace filter, check your sump pump, or change the batteries in smoke detectors.

Many contractors have a negative option of creating DIY guides, thinking that customers won’t need their services. This does happen occasionally, but typically it outlines just how much work is required. Calling you is much easier.

When you include specials or coupons, make sure they are timely. If you include content about preventing frozen pipes in winter, offer a pipe inspection and winterization special. If your content is about spring rains, include a coupon for a sump pump inspection and cleaning.

How Often Should You Email Your Customers

There is no universal answer to this question. While many stores will send one or more emails a day, that’s probably excessive in the home service industry. We recommend that you send emails at least once a quarter.

If you have the content, you might even send as frequently as every two to four weeks. Track your opens and the number of people that unsubscribe. If you see a spike of people leaving your list or ignoring your emails, you are probably sending too often.

How to Get People to Subscribe to Your Emails

In order to get more jobs from your email marketing campaigns, you need subscribers. While you can put a sign-up field on your website, the best way to add subscribers is to ask your customers when completing jobs.

Make asking them to join your email list part of your procedure, just like asking for reviews and referrals. But don’t just ask them, make sure you sell the benefit of subscribing. Explain what they get and the value of them giving you their email address.

Ideally, you’ll direct them to a sign-up page where they can opt-in. If that isn’t possible, make sure you send them a confirmation email that asks them to confirm their subscription. Allowing them to opt-in to your emails ensures you aren’t spamming them.

Why You Should Avoid Sending Newsletters From Your Email Account

You may think it’s okay to send your newsletter direct to your customers from your inbox. However, we strongly advise against doing this, even if you only have a few subscribers.

Sending mass emails directly from your email account to customers is likely to alert email servers to a potential spam risk. If they blacklist your email account, every email you send could get sent to the customer’s spam folder.

And we’re not just talking about just your email marketing. This could happen with every single email you send. Imagine not being able to send emails to customers, employees, or vendors? It could cripple your business and it’s just not worth the risk.

An email marketing platform will maintain your email marketing lists and allow customers to unsubscribe. If you send directly from your email account, you don’t have any of these features.

Choosing an Email Marketing Platform

Email marketing platforms make it easy to send content to your customers. Most of the major email marketing platforms have very similar features, but it’s worth comparing them to ensure you get the features you need at a price that fits your marketing budget.

When it comes to managing your email marketing lists, you’ll need a way to import contacts. You may only need to add them through the platform admin, but you may also consider a solution that includes form integration.

Using a template ensures your emails look good without needing a degree in design. Customizable templates are pretty standard, but larger platforms often have a larger selection available. They are also likely to be easier to customize as well.

Scheduling emails is also a very standard feature, but it’s worth mentioning. This ensures that you can build emails in advance and then sent them at a specific time.

7 Things to Do Before You Hit Send

Once you’ve created your email, make sure you send a test to yourself, a coworker, or a trusted friend your email before sending it to your customers. Check your email to make sure it looks good, is free of errors, and complies with email regulations.

1. Check Your From Name – Your from name is the name that displays along with your email address. If the email was coming from a person, it would be their name. You should use your company name and not an email address, especially if that address is [email protected]. Setting your from name will prevent spam filters from catching your emails and increase your open rate.
2. Set Preview Text – The preview text is the summary that displays in your customer’s inbox. Make sure you include content that explains what is inside your email and entices the customer to open it.
3. Proofread for Grammar and Spelling – This is an often overlooked step that can really impact how your customer views your business. If you routinely send emails with errors, your customers will assume that’s a reflection of your service too.
4. Check That Images Load Properly – You should include photos inside your emails. Make sure they are properly sized for the email and test that they load correctly. Sending an email with broken image will also reflect on your service.
5. Test All of Your Links – This one is absolutely critical. If your links don’t work or send customers to the wrong place, they aren’t going to hunt for the right content. Instead, they will just contact a competitor.
6. Look at it on Desktop and Mobile Devices – While most emails are created on desktop devices, your customers are likely to look at it on their smartphone. Make sure that every email you send looks good on both platforms. This helps conversions and ensures customers don’t need to contact another business.
7. Include an Unsubscribe Link and Your Business Address – These are compliance requirements to ensure that email servers don’t mark your emails as spam or blacklist you completely. Most email marketing platforms include these at the bottom of every email automatically, but you should still check each time.

Get More Jobs With Our Exclusive Leads

Email marketing campaigns are just one of many different ways to get more leads for your business. Another way to generate high-quality leads is with leads from 33 Mile Radius. We send out leads exclusively to one partner, giving you the best opportunity to close the job.

Whether you’re looking to supplement your own marketing efforts or need jobs to keep you busy while you get your marketing rolling, we’ll help keep you and your crews busy. You only pay for valid leads and can pause or cancel your account at any time. Since there are no commitments, you have nothing to lose with trying our leads.

To schedule your demo, fill out the contact form below. A business development manager will contact you within 1 business day to explain our system and answer your questions. Ready to get started? Call 888-594-8381 or apply now to secure your area.