Category: Marketing Automation

Email is a great equalizer for many brands. You don’t have to have a dedicated email team with years of experience to send an email that looks professional and polished. That’s just one reason email is one of the most lucrative marketing channels for any business.
With a few tips and tricks, you can compete with even your biggest competitors. The key is to know how to design an interactive HTML newsletter that stands out and delivers the most enjoyable experience for your subscribers.
An interactive HTML newsletter does just that. Start with the beginner elements and work your way up to the more advanced techniques.
Here’s how to integrate them into your strategy.
Types of interactive HTML emails (with examples)
Interactive content can take many forms, which makes it perfect for email marketers at all levels. Here are some examples of common types of interactive HTML emails.
Beginner interactive elements
These interactive elements are easiest for marketers to implement without much time or expert knowledge:

Animated buttons
Roll-over image text reveal
GIFs
Videos that play in the email

For example, Burberry uses a small interactive element in the following email, where when you hover over the button, it animates to encourage clicks.

Intermediate interactive elements
These interactive elements require a bit more knowledge to implement correctly and may be more time-consuming to create:

Surveys
Quizzes
Calculators
Contests
“Scratch off” discount animations

For example, Harry’s includes a quiz within a promotional email, designed to then suggest personalized product recommendations based on the results:

Advanced interactive elements
These interactive elements take time to create and animate, and some may require significant coding knowledge.

Games
Long-form interactive content (ebook downloads, whitepapers, lookbooks)
Interactive infographics

For example, Email Monks launched a holiday email that included an interactive game:

Interactive HTML email best practices
Creating your interactive HTML emails is not that different from creating regular email content. However, there are a few best practices that we recommend.
Consider your subscribers’ stages of awareness
The Content Marketing Institute discovered that the efficacy of interactive content depends significantly on the stage of awareness. Most types of interactive content is most effective during the early to mid stages of awareness, instead of the later decision stage.
But there are some types of interactive content that lend themselves well to later stages. Here are our recommendations:
Early stages of awareness
Fun, entertaining, and shareable content is best during these stages. This may be because this type of interactive content does not require a large time investment or pre-knowledge from people who may be completely unaware of your product or services.
For your early stage of awareness subscribers, choose elements like quizzes, games, and contests.
Middle stages of awareness
During the middle stages of awareness (pain aware and solution aware), interactive content that educates and qualifies subscribers is most effective.
For middle stage subscribers, choose elements like interactive infographics, eBooks, and lookbooks.
Late stages of awareness
If your subscribers are product aware, interactive content designed to help people make a decision is most effective.
So, for the later stages of awareness, choose elements like calculators. This type of interactive element provides personalized knowledge to subscribers that can help them make an informed decision about whether to purchase or become a client.
Consider your time and budget constraints
With an email service provider like Campaign Monitor, creating interactive content is no longer only available to huge companies with massive email marketing budgets.
But there are some types of interactive content that require more time and more expertise, which could strain a smaller budget.
Here are our recommendations:
Small to midsize businesses without email marketing teams
Go for an easier interactive element, like a quiz, survey, or contest. Or, consider starting with even simpler elements like a roll-over text reveal or GIF.
These types of interactive content will still surprise and delight customers, but they don’t require high-level knowledge or big budgets to implement.
Businesses with a big email marketing budget or adventurous spirit
Larger businesses with more email marketing experts and bigger budgets should consider investing in complex forms of interactive content. For example, you might create a game, interactive video, or a piece of long-form interactive content like an eBook.
Make your interactive HTML email entertaining
When in doubt, aim to entertain. Consumers reported they are more likely to buy from a brand that entertains them.
So, if you’re not sure how to involve interactive elements into your email marketing, go the fun and entertaining route instead of the educational route. Some examples of entertaining interactive elements include creative quizzes, GIFs, “scratch off” discounts, and games.
Combine interactive content with personalization
Make your emails extra enticing by combining interactive elements with a proven tactic for boosting open rates, conversions, and satisfaction.
Consider that:

Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened
Personalized emails lead to 6x higher transaction rates
26% of consumers feel happy responding to a personalized message from a retailer

Personalization can be subtle, like segmenting your audience to send highly relevant content, or it can be more direct, like personalizing a subject line or salutation.
How to use interactive HTML email in a newsletter (with examples)
Email newsletters are some of the most consistent and frequent emails subscribers see from brands. So how can you leverage interactive HTML in your email newsletter?
Use tools to make it easy and fast
You don’t have to code your HTML emails from scratch to include interactive elements. There are plenty of tools that integrate with your email service provider to make incorporating interactive elements easy and fast.
Here are few key tools to consider:

Jotform for surveys

Stripo for interactive HTML email templates

Outgrow for lots of interactive elements including, calculators, quizzes, recommendations, forms, surveys, chatbots, polls, contests and assessments

Get inspired by these interactive email newsletter examples
Check out how other companies are using interactive HTML email to create stand-out email newsletters.
Wrap up
Don’t forget that your email strategy doesn’t have to be bare bones just because you have a small team or budget. These interactive elements make your newsletter stand out.

HTML email is a must-have in marketing, but interactive HTML emails is where to focus to drive engagement, improve conversions, stand out and compete with larger brands.
Interactive HTML can seem intimidating for smaller companies without a huge email team, but using tools makes it easy.
Interactive elements can also be simpler than you might expect, like adding a video into your email or animating buttons.
You can eventually experiment with more complex entertaining options like games!

To get started building interactive HTML emails today, check out our html email template builder.
The post How to Create an Interactive HTML Newsletter appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

ClickFunnels is an awesome tool but it’s not perfect for everyone. We’ve tried out 5 best alternatives and prepared in-depth feedback to aid your decision.

In 2020, you might have heard your favorite influencers talking about a mysterious new social media app called Clubhouse.
But, unless you had a huge online following of your own, you might just be getting access to the app now.
Until a few months ago, Clubhouse was a platform where big-name celebrities, company leaders, Silicon Valley investors, and some of the web’s top global influencers could have uncensored audio group chats about their lives, hobbies, work, or industries.
Now, as the invite-only Clubhouse continues to gain media coverage and a growing pool of non-celebrity users, you might be wondering, “What the heck is it? And, how do I get in on the action?”
Below, we’ll explain where Clubhouse came from, what it actually is, and the pros and cons of using it in your marketing strategy.

Clubhouse was launched in March 2020 by Paul Davison, who previously worked at companies including Pinterest and Google, and Rohan Seth, a former Google engineer. According to a post from Davison and Seth, Clubhouse was created after a handful of social media app experiments.
“After a lot of iteration in the audio space, we launched Clubhouse in March of last year,” the co-founders wrote. “Our goal was to build a social experience that felt more human—where instead of posting, you could gather with other people and talk. Our north star was to create something where you could close the app at the end of the session feeling better than you did when you opened it, because you had deepened friendships, met new people, and learned.”
Initially, Clubhouse was marketed to top-tier influencers, celebrities, Silicon Valley investors, and industry thought leaders, but recently opened to more general audiences. A few of the app’s first high-profile users include Drake, Daymond John, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey. Early on, these notable users were heard chatting in Rooms related to their interests, hobbies, causes, or industries.
Despite Clubhouse’s exclusivity, it was valued at $100 million and received a $12 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz within a year of its launch.
Most recently, Clubhouse has begun to give access to a larger pool of users by allowing each new member to invite two friends of their own. This has caused the user base to jump from 600,000 active users in December 2020 to more than 2 million today.
“This past week, two million people around the world—musicians, scientists, creators, athletes, comedians, parents, entrepreneurs, stock traders, non-profit leaders, authors, artists, real estate agents, sports fans, and more—came to Clubhouse to talk, learn, laugh, be entertained, meet and connect. It’s the most exciting thing we’ve ever been a part of,” wrote the Clubhouse team in a Jan. 24 blog post.
Why Most of Us are Just Learning About Clubhouse
Just hearing about Clubhouse now? You aren’t alone.
As mentioned, Clubhouse was initially targeted to high-profile industry “elites,” such as celebrities, CEOs, and top online influencers. For a while, these types of users were the only ones who could send and receive Clubhouse invites. On top of the app’s invite-only nature, it’s only available to iPhone users.
While Clubhouse’s early exclusivity made it interesting and alluring to the every-day social media user, it caused the app’s awareness and user-base to grow at a slow but steady pace.
Now that the app’s become more accessible to social media users, it’s been getting more awareness online and across news media. At this time, marketers are also starting to wonder if and how they could use Clubhouse — or something like it — in their strategy.
In fact, many professionals, business leaders, and non-profit members can already be heard speaking in Rooms that discuss a topic related to their brand, industry, or mission.
For example, a recent Room I dropped in on featured a group of lawyers aiming to offer education around patent protection. While this content was intriguing to listeners, it also could have brought each lawyer’s firm more awareness:

Aside from marketers, major social media companies are also trying to take advantage of Clubhouse’s audio social media trends.
Shortly after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke in a Clubhouse Room, the New York Times reported that his social media company was allegedly building a similar audio platform. Meanwhile, Twitter just began rolling out Twitter Spaces — a drop-in audio feature with its app — to a small group of beta testers.
At the moment, Clubhouse seems like a promising way to network and build a community online, and its audio social format is already being adopted by competitors. However, in a time where we see a handful of new online platforms each year, is Clubhouse really a game-changer in the social media space? Or is it just another over-hyped app you shouldn’t waste your marketing efforts on?
Below, I’ll give a brief description of how the platform works and then weigh the pros and cons of using Clubhouse for marketing.
How Clubhouse Works
While we’ll be publishing a detailed how-to guide for the Clubhouse platform, which we’ll link to in this post later, here’s a quick description of how some of the major features work.
Clubhouse’s Main Tabs
When entering Clubhouse, users will find a homepage that highlights ongoing Rooms related to their interests or followers. They’ll also find search, message inbox, calendar, and notification icons in the upper navigation.

When tapping the search or “Explore” tab, users can scroll through a feed of suggested Rooms, Clubs, or people to follow. They can also use the search bar to find specific individuals or Clubs. However, it does not seem like users can search for specific Rooms yet.

If users can’t attend a Room when they’re surfing the Clubhouse app but would like to drop into one later, they can tap the calendar icon.to see or create their scheduled Rooms.

Clubhouse Rooms
Entering a Room is essentially like attending a webinar or Zoom meeting with no video and a partially muted audience.
Attendees, who can join or leave a Room at any time, enter (or drop-in) as automatically muted listeners. If they’d like to speak or ask questions, they can tap the “Raise Hand” icon in the lower right corner of the Room page. Room moderators will then be notified of the hand raise request and can ignore it or unmute the attendee.
Below is a look at what Clubhouse Rooms look like:

Visually, attendees of the Room can see only the profile photos and names of current participants, with moderators and speakers appearing at the top of the screen.
Users and moderators can also add people they follow to a Room by tapping the “+” button in the lower navigation. This gives their friends a notification that they’ve been invited to a Room and enables them to open the app and join it directly.
Starting a Room
At the bottom of the homepage, users can also tap “Start a Room” to launch either a “Closed” chat open to specific people only, a “Social” chat open to all of a user’s following, or an “Open” chat that anyone on Clubhouse can drop into.

Users can also tap the nine-dot icon on the lower homepage navigation to have a private audio chat with specific followers who are online.

Room moderators, who either launched the Room or were assigned to a moderator role after the Room launched, see a similar page that attendees see. However, they also get notifications of new Room attendees and a list of attendees who have raised their hand requesting to speak.
One interesting thing to note is that a Room only ends when a moderator ends it or when the final moderator leaves it. Additionally, moderators who want to leave a Room without ending it can assign someone else to become a moderator. This means that a Room with multiple moderators can go on for hours or even days.
Because of how long Rooms last, and the fact that attendees can join or exit whenever they want, you might regularly hear more seasoned Room moderators re-introduce themselves, what they’re discussing, and who else is speaking throughout a Room event.
Clubs and Networking
Aside from creating Rooms, users can also follow individual profiles of friends, influencers, or thought leaders in their industry.
They can also join or create Clubs, which are groups of users with interest in specific topics, hobbies, or industries. Take a look at some of the Clubs that appeared when I searched, “growth marketing.”

Once users join a Club, they can be notified if a Club’s manager launches a Room related to its core topic. For example, if I were to join one of the Growth Marketing Clubs shown above, I’d be instantly notified if they hosted a Room on a growth marketing tactic.
The Pros and Cons of Clubhouse.
Pros of Using Clubhouse
1. Clubhouse could help brands build trust and community.
In 2020, consumers began to favor companies with authentic, trustworthy messaging over big-name companies with decades of brand loyalty. This shift will likely continue through 2021.
Why? In a time of financial uncertainty and constant news events, consumers want to know that brands care about their customers and share values with them. While creating a live, uncensored, unscripted Room related to your brand’s industry might sound nerve-wracking, it could help some brands seem more authentic and trustworthy.
“Clubhouse offers a lot of opportunities for connection with celebrities, a vast variety of people in different industries, and even close friends,” says Krystal Wu, HubSpot’s social media community manager. “It opens the door for live conversations allowing people to be vulnerable within a community space. This type of connection is unique to deliver audio content with small to large groups of people. Its unscripted content that anyone can be a part of.”
Brands that use Clubhouse could earn credibility by discussing topics they’re experts on. But, they could also earn trust because they’ve made themselves available to listen and talk candidly with their audiences.
2. The app’s content is always evolving.
While the app initially hosted conversations related to entertainment, business, and technology due to its initial target audience, the audio content on the platform has broadened and evolved
In fact, CNBC recently reported that some of Clubhouse’s most engaging Rooms have been launched by innovative Black creatives who’ve done heavy experimentation on the platform.
For example, instead of hosting a chat or discussion, one group of Black performers hosted an audio-only production of Disney’s “The Lion King.” 
While there isn’t a recording of the Clubhouse performance, led by Noelle Chesnut Whitmore, Kam DeLa and Bomani X, here’s a screenshot from the event, which shows each Room moderator as the character they played:

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“What started as a random conversation on Clubhouse has scaled to something much greater. We have so many talented people contributing their time and energy to this performance,” Whitmore said in a press release. “Our goal is just to spread some joy to people through these events. I never imagined this would get such a huge response.”
In another example, a cocktail brand called Loop hosted a Room that encouraged participants to have a cocktail and join a casual conversation with no specific topic. While this strategy is less structured, it enables people who want to learn more about the brand or just want to chat with other cocktail drinkers to connect.

Because Clubhouse is fairly new, there aren’t major content-related expectations just yet. This means that anyone from any group, industry, non-profit, or brand can experiment with it and learn what’s truly engaging to the app’s growing audience.
3. The app is primed for thought leadership.
Clubhouse’s user base was built around influencers and thought leaders. This means that users are likely coming to the app to hear the latest tips, exclusive information, or discussions straight from industry experts.
For example, the scheduled Room shown below features Coinbase Co-Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong.

In a Clubhouse Room like the one shown above, users could learn more about a brand like Coinbase and ask its leader questions about the company or its industry. Through Rooms like this, Coinbase and other brands could boost both company awareness and credibility with audiences who listen.
4. Audiences want online communities and audio content.
In the last year, people who were stuck at home turned to webinars, virtual events, and other online experiences to learn more about their interests, hear from others in their industry, or just feel a sense of connection to people outside of their households.
But, while virtual events were beneficial for many, most of us eventually dealt with screen fatigue.
Because too much screentime can be mentally draining, consumers also checked out podcasts or camera-free webinars. Now, these audiences could be primed for Clubhouse’s audio-only nature.
“Clubhouse’s most appealing quality is that it’s a break from the nonstop screen time we all exist in,” says Kelly Hendrickson, HubSpot social media marketing manager. “Clubhouse is also a wonderful place to have conversations among niche communities and topics.”
And, while consumers are craving personal connections and live content more than ever, many brands are trying to build stronger online communities and launch effective digital event strategies.
Ultimately, Clubhouse’s audio-only layout could help brands meet and build an engaged community of fans on an interactive, authentic, and live platform.
Cons of Clubhouse
1. The app still has limited audiences.
Ultimately, one of Clubhouse’s biggest brand marketing flaws is also what makes it so intriguing: exclusivity.
“I am generally against anything that is invite-only as it creates a culture of ‘others’,” Hendrickson says. “Any time you need to be ‘in the know’ to have a seat at the table, how can you also be inclusive?”
While Clubhouse might pose unique group chat opportunities for community marketers when more people join, the audiences might still be too limited for some marketers at the moment. On top of this, the app is still unavailable to Android users.
“Clubhouse actually hinders its capabilities because there are many talented potential users out there that are missing out all because they are on Android,” Wu says.
If you’re looking to only create content for the largest audiences possible, you might want to hold off on building a Clubhouse strategy right now. However, if you’re only looking to experiment and see if you can reach the audiences it already has, it might be an interesting platform for your team to try.
2. Clubhouse could have strong audio-app competition.
Facebook and Twitter could be just the first platforms to create a similar audio drop-in experience. And, while this hints that Clubhouse creators have stumbled upon a platform many social media users want, the big-name competition could also pose concerns about the platform’s future.
For example, if Facebook or another major competitor can create something similar that’s less exclusive and allows iPhone and Android users, people might leave Clubhouse for a platform with a larger audience or more credibility in the social media world. If this happens, marketers who invest heavily in a Clubhouse strategy might need to do a sudden pivot.
While this shouldn’t scare you away from testing the platform if you think it’s right for your brand, the competition is still important to keep in mind. If you are considering Clubhouse, continue to follow its competitors and determine how you could pivot your strategy to those platforms if your audiences start to flock there instead.
3. Clubhouse can feel like an “unedited podcast.”
“Another challenge I think brands and individuals will have with Clubhouse is how it feels like an unedited podcast,” says Hendrickson. “That means you’re hearing all the great meat, but you also have to listen to the trimmings. It will be interesting to see if long term, people are okay with that in their content.”
If you’re planning to experiment on Clubhouse, consider practicing a few conversation starters, how you’ll enter the call, and determine what you’ll do if you run into dead air, boring conversation, or off-topic discussion that draws attention away from your Room’s goal.
Although Rooms are live and unscripted, having a gameplan will help you moderate an effective, higher-quality conversation than users might find in other Rooms.
4. Brands could be too vulnerable.
Certain generations, like Gen Z, crave authenticity from people and brands they follow on social media. With an app like Clubhouse, brands could create Rooms or Clubs related to their industry that include thought leaders, prospects, and even clients that want to talk with them in a live, unfiltered way.
However, while Clubhouse’s high level of unscripted authenticity has intrigued both marketers and prospective users, it also could put brands in vulnerable positions. Wu describes this as “a balance between good and evil.”
Within a year of its launch, Clubhouse’s live nature has already led to brand-related controversies.
For example, in February, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, dropped into a Room with Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev and raised his hand. When he was invited to speak by the Room’s moderators, Musk began intensely questioning Tenev and asked him to explain why his stock-trading company stopped its users from buying and selling GameStop and other manipulated stocks. You can hear the line of questioning in the video below:

While Robinhood’s CEO remained calm and collected throughout the chat, some brands might not have well-trained speakers who would react as calmly or professionally to this surprising scenario.
Additionally, although Clubhouse doesn’t allow users to record, many either downloaded screen-recording apps or filmed their phones with another video recording device. Because of this, Musk and Tenev’s conversation was covered by the media within hours.
Even though conversations cannot be replayed or recorded in the Clubhouse app itself, marketers on the app must remember that they’re live and anything they say could easily be streamed or quoted in seconds. Because of this, Room hosts should prepare themselves so that they can answer both easy and challenging questions from audience members. Moderators should also determine what they’ll do or how they’ll react if an unmuted audience member says something controversial or unexpected.
Is Clubhouse right for you?
In its current state, Clubhouse could offer some major awareness and community-building benefits to brands. But, because of how new it is, it also poses some challenges and cons to companies that want to reach the largest audiences possible. Ultimately, while some companies might thrive on it, others might realize that it isn’t the best platform for their goals just yet.
As with any new social media platform, you’ll want to spend some time on Clubhouse and see what the app has to offer before putting time and effort into using it.
At this point, it could be wise to see if one of your friends or colleagues can send you a Clubhouse invite so you can familiarize yourself with the app. If you can’t log on, be sure to continue following the news around it.
As you surf through the app or read Clubhouse news coverage, ask yourself questions like these:

Are topics related to your product or industry widely discussed on the platform?
Are there any thought leaders or company experts you could host a panel or two with to boost your awareness or credibility on Clubhouse?
Are our competitors using Clubhouse? And, if so, can we create stronger Room experiences than they can?
Do you already use marketing strategies that could be adapted to an audio-only platform, such as live video Q&As, webinars, or virtual events?

With questions like those above, you can determine if you’ll be able to create scalable and engaging content for this social media platform.
Can’t get access to Clubhouse just yet? Don’t worry. We’ll continue to cover it on the HubSpot Blog so you’ll be ready when you do.

Hello everybody! I’m looking for a post scheduling tool that works well with the following platforms: ​ Facebook Groups Facebook Pages Instagram (Carrousel posts and stories) Reddit Pinterest Linkedin. ​ I used Jarvee in the past, but after taking too much damage from it (getting some IG accounts banned) and their awful user interface, I decided to move on. Is crazy to see how there are so many new tools for scheduling post and honestly, all of them are looking the same and providing similar service. Do you have any recommendations for a tool that could help me to cover all these platforms? I care more about having everything in one place than the pricepoint. ​ Thanks a lot!
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As a marketer, you might’ve heard coworkers talking about how email marketing is dead. It’s been a common concern for many marketing departments. Well, I’m here to let you know that you don’t have to worry because email marketing is still going strong. In fact, 40 percent of B2B marketers say email newsletters are most critical to their content marketing success, and 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email. Furthermore, 99% of consumers check their email every day and it is by far the preferred way to receive updates from brands. As marketers, we can’t ignore these statistics. That’s why it’s important to develop a strong email marketing strategy. Below, let’s review the top benefits of email marketing, which show why it’s one of the most effective marketing tactics: https://szdebrecen1.medium.com/the-12-benefits-of-email-marketing-that-you-must-know-9fb25e96c703 https://preview.redd.it/a2fkhojxf1i61.png?width=770&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcae4d33deb1b01f76fe7ecceb5274b3419eb2a9
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We’ve all been in meetings that were about 30 minutes too long.

We laugh at “this could’ve been an email” GIFs, sigh, and continue with our days.
Yet, the truth is, unnecessary meetings are costing us way more than just time. Doodle’s 2019 State of Meetings Report estimated that poorly organized meetings are costing U.S. companies $399 billion.

One to two unnecessary meetings a week might seem insignificant, but when you consider a whole year’s worth of meetings, the impact is considerable.
As more companies move toward remote work, the number of meetings are also increasing. So, how can teams ensure their meetings stay productive? Stand-ups are one way to solve that.
To understand why stand-ups exist, you first have to understand the agile methodology.
For a long time, many companies were using a waterfall model for projects. This meant that teams would tackle projects one stage at a time and assume that requirements would stay the same through development. The issue with the waterfall approach is that:

Teams are not always aligned.
Unclear requirements often delay progress.
Testing only begins after development is done.

Agile is built around iterative development, which makes teams more involved in the project’s progress. Teams work in sprints and through stand-ups, issues are addressed quickly and efficiently.
Stand-ups are typically daily. However, some teams have them on a less frequent basis. To maintain the benefits of the process, a stand-up meeting shouldn’t happen less than once a week. The main reason is that it makes it harder to track everyone’s progress and address roadblocks as they appear.
We also know that business priorities can change quickly. Having stand-ups too far apart can create information gaps between teams and slow delivery timelines.
Stand-Up Meeting Format
During a stand-up meeting, each team member should answer the following questions:

What have you worked on since the last meeting?
What are you working on now?
Are there any blockers impeding your progress?

Regular updates help team members and leaders track everyone’s progress and assess what needs to be done to meet sprint goals.
Let’s use my role as a writer on a blog team as an example.
During a stand-up, here’s what I would say: “Yesterday, I finished writing X article and completed my second draft for Y article. Today, I will work on uploading Y article to the content management system (CMS) and will draft two outlines for new articles. My current obstacle is that I lost access to the CMS and need to connect with someone from IT to regain access.”
From there, my manager could suggest connecting me with a specific engineer on the IT side and follow up with me after the stand-up. Following this format gives everyone involved in the meeting a clear overview of what you’re working on and how that will affect the sprint.
Stand-Up Meeting Best Practices
1. Keep the meeting short.
If your stand-up meeting is an hour, you’re doing it wrong. This type of meeting is meant to keep all team members synced up. It is not a meeting to plan, problem-solve, or brainstorm.
Ideally, your stand-up will be between five and 15 minutes. While that may sound short, it works out well when everyone stays on task. That’s why everyone should prepare what they will say beforehand and stick to the script.
To keep the meetings productive, have your scrum master or team lead keep track of time and step in whenever necessary to move things along.
2. Follow-up after the meeting.
As mentioned before, stand-up meetings have very defined goals: to know everyone’s main focus and determine roadblocks that may affect the sprint.
Once issues have been identified, follow-up meetings with smaller team members can be scheduled to address them, whether it’s to brainstorm solutions or resolve them.
For instance, let’s say during your stand-up, your team’s UX designer says they have a roadblock with the app design requirements and need more instruction from the product owner. While it’s great to mention the issue, the stand-up is not the time to get into the details. Skip the problem solving and save that for a follow-up meeting with said product owner.
3. Keep it consistent.
Imagine attending a meeting every day and having no idea what to expect. It’s unsettling at best, chaotic at the worst. For stand-up meetings, three things must stay the same:

The agenda – There are only three main areas a stand-up should cover: yesterday’s outcomes, today’s priorities, and current obstacles.

The frequency of the meeting – If the meetings are irregular, how will team members stay on the same page? When you skip meeting days, things can fall through the cracks and lead to more issues down the sprint.

The time length – Fifteen minutes is the magic number for stand-ups. Make them much longer and it turns them into something else that likely won’t be as productive.

Stand-Up Meeting Ideas
1. Actually stand up.
Have you ever let out a sigh when first sitting down for a meeting? Not because you’re dreading it but because you know it’s going to be a long one and you’re getting comfortable.
Well, that’s exactly what you want to avoid during a stand-up meeting. The reason why they are called stand-ups is that they’re meant to be quick. So quick, in fact, that you could be standing up. If your team is having trouble staying on task, take the no-chairs approach.
Have everyone stand up while each person presents. This will help ensure everyone gets to the point and doesn’t stray off-topic.
2. Use a prop.
Instead of following the go-around-the-table order, have someone start with a prop, like a ball or squeaky toy. Once they’ve presented, they’ll throw it to someone else. It will continue going around the room until everyone has gone.
Props can be very useful during meetings, as they help attendees stay engaged. The anticipation of receiving the prop next can keep everyone on their toes. It’s easy to drift off when you know your turn isn’t for another 10 minutes. This strategy encourages focus while making things fun.
3. Incorporate an icebreaker.
Most stand-ups happen daily. However, if your team conducts them less often, it may be helpful to use an icebreaker to loosen everyone up.
It can be a joke, riddle, question, or GIF. On HubSpot’s blog team, we have a rotating team member ask a question to start the meeting off. Past questions have ranged from, “What is your dream vacation?” to “What would be the name of your memoir in six words?”
It starts every meeting off on a lighthearted note before getting to the nitty-gritty work details.
4. Use a messaging system for asynchronous stand-ups.
If you have team members in different time zones, you may not be able to find a time that works for everyone. That’s where messaging software like Slack or Microsoft Teams come in handy.
To set it up, build a bot or purchase an external bot tool (like GeekBot) that allows you to:

Send daily prompts to your team based on their working hours.
Collect their answers and send them to the team channel.

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What’s great about this approach is that it keeps everyone on the same page while working within their schedules. The automation is also a huge time saver and streamlines the process.
Text-based stand-ups also help everyone stay on task. Face-to-face meetings, whether in person or virtual, can easily stray off-topic and be huge time wasters. By limiting the number of questions members get, it helps stick to the point and get the key information needed for the stand-up.
On that same note, they prevent side discussions that can steer the conversation off track. Team members can direct message each other or start a thread that won’t disrupt the flow of information.
Following the stand-up format may not remove the need for longer meetings. However, it can improve communication between your teams and keep everyone aligned on the goals of your projects.

Back in 2018, I chose to work at HubSpot because I loved HubSpot’s content, and its culture.
Oh — and the smoothie bar, waffle Wednesdays, and ping pong tables didn’t hurt, either.
Office space has undeniably seen a change in recent years. Open-floor plans have become increasingly popular, as have standing desks, beer on-tap, game rooms, and even greenhouse spaces. As this decade came to a close, many of my closest friends chose jobs based, at least in part, on office vibe.
And yet, it’s long been said that remote work is the future. In fact, HubSpot has been touting the benefits of remote work since 2012 in its Culture Code, which states: “Work isn’t a place we go, it’s a thing we do.”
In 2020, that premonition became a reality as the pandemic forced an entire global workforce to shift to remote work practically overnight.
And now, as the dust settles and employees find new, innovative ways to work productively from home, many businesses are wondering: Do we even need an office, anymore?
Let’s explore how marketers across the U.S. feel about remote work in 2021, and whether remote work is just a current necessity — or the new long-term reality.

Will employees return to the office?
To explore whether or not employees will return to the office in 2021 (if they’re permitted to do so), I started by surveying 496 marketers and asked the question: If given the option to go back to your physical workplace in 2021, will you return or continue to work remotely?
The results were split roughly in half. 40% of marketers will continue to work remotely full-time — and the remaining 11% don’t have the option to work remotely, but wish they did.
However, that leaves 49% of marketers who do want the option to work in an office space, at least part-time.
Let’s break down that 49% for a second: out of that 49%, 24% of marketers don’t have the option to work remote, but prefer their office space anyway; 9% want to return to the office as soon as it’s possible to do so; and 16% prefer a flexible schedule so they have the option to do either.

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Other research supports this trend. Pew Research Center surveyed over 10,000 U.S. adults and found 54% of workers want to continue working from home after the pandemic ends. A third echoed they’d like to work remotely at least partially — while just 11% said they’d like to return to the office full-time.
HubSpot’s employee data highlights this shift as well, with many employees now preferring remote work over in-office — in fact, two-thirds of HubSpot employees plan to work remotely more often even after offices re-open, and approximately 16% plan to shift to fully-remote for the first time.
I spoke with Meaghan Williams, HubSpot’s Remote Work and Inclusion Program Manager, to get a better sense as to why many marketers may want to remain remote even after the pandemic has ended. She told me: “Before COVID-19 forced everyone to work from home, a ‘work from home day’ for an office-based employee was often scheduled on a day where perhaps they had appointments, deliveries, or weren’t feeling well.”
“‘Work from home’ quickly became equated with low productivity, distraction, and working from one’s couch. With the long-term commitment to working from home, I suspect many folks have found a way to carve out a productive work space, create a routine, and make the most of their working hours to enable more productivity.”

Williams says, “Working remotely is not for everyone, but for some, the ability to focus without the distraction of the office or freedom to be able to jump on your laptop when creativity strikes (rather than try to hold onto the idea while sitting in traffic!) may have them hooked on remote for the long-haul.”

Of course, logistics will factor into an employee’s decision to return to an office, as well. For instance, many businesses are selling their office spaces and subsequently forcing employees to become fully-remote; alternatively, some companies are relocating to satellite offices, or simply reducing the amount of office locations they own globally.
Ultimately, the data suggests that many employees will want to remain remote after the pandemic has ended, but others will prefer having the option to return to an office.
Which poses a unique challenge: How can companies meet all its employees needs, when those needs seem split so evenly down the middle?
Many companies (HubSpot included), will be increasingly interested in creating a hybrid experience — meaning, employees will have the option to remain fully-remote, return to the office full-time, or experience a little of both.
Let’s dive deeper into what this data means for marketing managers, next.
What the Data Means for Marketing Managers
If you’re in a management position, you’ll likely find that many of your employees want to remain remote even after the pandemic has ended.
Remote life has its perks. For instance, Vrnda LeValley, a Customer Training Manager at HubSpot, told me, “I plan on staying totally virtual because I enjoy using my commute time to meditate and mentally prepare for my day. Additionally, I love the flexibility to work from anywhere.”

“I like that working remotely frees up my ability to select places to live that truly support the inclusive and diverse experience that is so important when establishing a sense of community and belonging.”

Additionally, Leslie Green, HubSpot’s Senior Social Media Campaign Manager, says, “I decided to move to a fully remote employee during the pandemic to be closer to my network and to choose my home, not based off my job, but where I actually want to live. Being near my network and in a city (Austin) that fits my lifestyle allows me to ‘show up to work’ as my best self daily.”
Remote life offers employees the flexibility to work where, when, and how they want; and it enables companies to attract talent from across the globe without barriers like physical proximity to an office remaining a factor in hiring decisions. 
However, there are certain challenges you’ll face when leading a remote team — many challenges of which have been highlighted during the 2020 pandemic-activated shuffle. Let’s dive into a few of those, now.
1. Marketing managers will need to invest in high-quality remote tools and platforms.
If you’re managing a remote team, you’ve likely come across some unique challenges regarding communication and technology.
For instance, 39% of employees believe their transition to remote work would be improved with better remote tools and platforms to communicate and collaborate.

High-quality video conferencing tools, messaging platforms, and task and project management software are necessary for ensuring your team continues to perform well regardless of where they work in 2021 and beyond.
Additionally, collaboration tools like Google Suite or Microsoft Office Teams can help you align your team on your company’s vision and the specific functions your team needs to complete to help your company grow over the next year.
With 45% of remote employees worrying about team collaboration when it comes to working with colleagues both in-office and remote, it’s critical you continue to invest in tools that help you create alignment regardless of where each team member works.

2. Marketing managers should continue prioritizing remote employees’ growth.
As a manager, it’s critical you ensure your employees feel they’re continuing to grow in their roles even when fully-remote.
Seeking out unique growth and development opportunities might feel more difficult when working remote than in-person — in fact, 40% of remote employees feel remote life has negatively impacted their career progression:

To continue facilitating your employees’ growth over the long-haul, it’s critical you set up yearly or bi-yearly performance and career growth conversations, even when working remotely.
Additionally, consider how you might implement task-tracking or project management documentation to stay on-top of your employees’ progress when you ask them to perform certain marketing activities, since you no longer have the privilege of watching them excel in-person.
Standardizing the tools you use to track your team’s progress can help you quickly identify high-performers on your team and reward them accordingly.
3. Marketers need to lead with empathy.
Your team is dealing with a highly-stressful and difficult time — and not just professionally.
Many team members are likely juggling childcare, mental health stressors as a result of the pandemic, and other major deterrents to their daily work. In fact, 46% of employees surveyed say their work performance has been negatively impacted due to changes at home as a result of COVID-19:

Additionally, roughly 50% of employees worry their performance will be evaluated without taking those challenges into account.
A good manager leads with empathy — when having weekly discussions with your employees or even performance reviews, it’s vital you take the time to understand outside factors that could contribute to less-than-ideal performance, and keep those factors in-mind when evaluating your employees’ performance.
Additionally, understanding your employees’ situation could help you recognize areas you might be able to support them as their leader. For instance, if you know an employee is on “childcare duty” in the mornings, it’s important you take the extra step to ensure you’re not Slacking them during that time or scheduling meetings they can’t attend.

These small details could go a long way towards creating a healthier, more productive work-life balance for all your employees.

While these tips should help you as you learn to lead a remote team, you’ll likely come across some unique challenges as offices reopen and businesses segue into a hybrid workplace. Next, let’s explore some expert tips on how you can create — and embrace — a hybrid workplace for the long-term.
Expert Tips on Creating Hybrid Workplaces
To explore how businesses can create hybrid workplaces in 2021 and beyond, I spoke with Eimear Marrinan, HubSpot’s Director of Culture.
She told me: “One of the biggest things to consider is how to effectively create a culture that enables productivity and, ultimately, engagement in a hybrid work model.”

Marrinan adds, “Being proactive in thinking critically about your culture will make or break many organizations this year.”

When you’re beginning to consider how you might create a hybrid workplace, there are a few factors Marrinan encourages leaders to keep in-mind. These include: 

Create a truly inclusive environment, one that is equitable regardless of location. That means being really purposeful and intentional about how you engage with employees — tactical things like holding team meetings or offsites virtually if not all employees are in-office, leaning into virtually inclusive events and programmings so the experience is the same regardless of where you sit, and making sure any perks and benefits are location-agnostic and not dependant on an office location. For instance, we announced at HubSpot in 2021 and 2022 any new benefits and perks can be enjoyed regardless of location.

Culture is not tied to an office — it is rooted in an organizations values and behaviors. Making sure that you have the right values and behaviors in-place to begin with becomes so important as organizations shift to hybrid. Bring your culture back to the basics, and consider the fundamentals — e.g. having a culture of flexibility, adaptability, and empathy. 

Ask your employees for feedback. At HubSpot, we invest in seeking feedback from our employees upfront regarding what they value, what they want, and what concerns they have. Listen to your employees — and not only listen, but act on the feedback. This is new for so many companies, so we can’t just assume we know all the answers … we most certainly don’t. 

Tamara Lilian, HubSpot’s Manager of Culture and Experience, echoes Marrinan’s advice, adding, “Creating an effective hybrid workplace will take full commitment from the business, along with adaptability and empathy. No matter how strong your in-office experience was prior, this culture you value so deeply will not translate to a hybrid world on its own.”
Let’s explore a few other tips when it comes to creating a hybrid workplace, from marketers and leaders in the industry working to embrace the hybrid experience. 
1. Make intentional decisions with the hybrid experience at the forefront of your mind. 
Tamara Lilian, HubSpot’s Manager of Culture and Experience, suggests making intentional decisions from the get-go to ensure remote work isn’t just an afterthought in your planning: “Before you create any experience for your employees in a hybrid world, you first need to nail being proactive versus reactive, and really be intentional on your approach to the experience.”
She adds, “Zoom links, considering timezones, and being mindful of an employees work-from-home environment can no longer be an afterthought — these have to be built into your approach from day one.”
To truly invest in a hybrid environment, it’s vital you make decisions without preference towards those at-home or in-office. Instead, you’ll want to create an experience your employees can enjoy from anywhere. 
2. Shift your current employee offerings to meet their new needs, and include employees in your process. 
A few years ago, most of HubSpot’s onboarding trainings were in-person, which meant you needed to fly to an office and stay in a hotel to attend them. 
Now, the trainings are entirely remote. 
It’s critical, as you move to a hybrid model, that you figure out how to shift your current offerings so they can offer equal value regardless of a person’s physical location. 
Lilian asks, “How can you shift your current offerings to meet your employees’ needs in a hybrid world — for instance, perhaps you consider how you can pivot your growth and development offerings to more of a self-serve model where folks can engage with resources when and where is best for them, and not on your timezone or schedule.”
3. Allow flexibility in your employees’ schedules. 
Ivelisse Rodriguez, a Historical Optimization Specialist at HubSpot, urges employers to encourage flexibility when switching to a hybrid workplace.
She told me, “One of the principal benefits of being remote is the ability to create a unique work schedule. When companies remain inflexible — i.e. expecting employees to log in exactly at 9 AM or constantly checking in on them on Slack to see if they’re online — they take away one of the principal benefits of being remote.”

“Remote workers lose social contact, office banter, and in-person camaraderie, but the flexibility makes up for that. Stay flexible, trust your employees to get their work done, and don’t get obsessed with someone’s ‘online’ status. Whether they’re online or not has no bearing on whether they’re actually getting work done.”

4. Remote workers shouldn’t be the exception to the rule. 
HubSpot’s Senior Director of Creative, Dmitry Shamis, told me: “I was remote before the pandemic, but something I learned during the last year is that remote doesn’t have to be the exception to the rule.”
“I used to travel the office once a month thinking it was a must for keeping the team together and showing people that I’m accessible, and now that there’s no office I realize how much time I wasted with TSA, weather delays, hotel check-ins, etc. — plus, how much forced activity needed to happen when I was around.”
“From here on out, I think when the team does get together (and keeps it virtually inclusive), it will be a lot more genuine. People need to learn not to lean on a physical office space as a crutch — there are better ways to connect with people regardless of location.”
5. Encourage your employees to take advantage of the perks of remote meetings. 
Stephanie Worley, Microsoft Advertising’s Global Brand Storytelling Leader, told me how important it is for her and her team to set boundaries regarding work and home life: “People are certainly working long hours these days. In my role at Microsoft Advertising, I spend my day connecting with colleagues, customers, and partners around the world. Microsoft Teams has become the glue that connects us and supports our conversations and collaborations through video calls, chat, and sharing documents.”
She adds, “One thing we’ve realized during this pandemic is that without the normal work transitions of a commute, walking between meetings and walking to the break room, we can easily sit in front of our desks from early morning to late in the night if we don’t set some boundaries for ourselves.”
Additionally, she says she’s personally found it helpful to take some meetings outside for the fresh air and new perspective: “Microsoft Teams is mobile, which allows us to participate in meetings and collaborate with peers from anywhere. I have begun a new practice of taking a walk during meetings.  A daily walk during a meeting helps me get out, get some fresh air, exercise, and stimulate some more creative thinking.”
As your team adjusts to a hybrid setup, consider encouraging each employee to switch up where they take meetings. Whether you’re in-office or remote, a hybrid team gives you all the flexibility to take meetings on-the-go. 
6. If feasible, offer at-home stipends. Additionally, prioritize your employees’ mental health as they adjust to this new normal. 
Christina Mautz, Chief Marketing Officer & Head of Sales at Moz, shared a few critical components she’s used to help her team adjust over the past year. 
She told me, “Moz operated as a remote-first company prior to any changes mandated by the pandemic. We’ve found employees work best when office culture prioritizes things like accountability, empathy, and transparency. Those values are so much more important than asking our teams to be at their desk for a set amount of hours per day.””That being said, ‘remote work’ means different things to many different people. The young colleague who is fresh out of college may not have a dedicated office space in their home, while new or working parents might feel the conflict of juggling day-to-day tasks against sharing the same space with their virtual-learning children. To help, Moz offers stipends for home internet, mobile phone service, plus a $500 home office reimbursement.”Above all, she notes the importance of prioritizing your employees’ mental health: “We’ve addressed the many life-changing experiences we’ve all lived through publicly and made sure our employees know they can speak with HR and leadership openly. We’ve also reminded Mozzers of our Employee Assistance Program that provides mental health benefits for those in need.””And, while it might seem easier to work remotely compared to commuting to the office, our team managers encourage employees to take care that work (because it’s now happening at home) doesn’t take over. As a global office across many time zones, not every question gets an immediate answer. Project progress and KPIs still rest on shoulders; but, as an organization, we’ve shared that we know our staff can’t go at 100% all the time.”

Moz’s CMO told me, “Each of these components are intended to help our employees thrive in whatever ‘office’ they are in — during these isolating times, and long after.”

The good news? This “new normal” is offering companies the chance to truly redefine their values and enable employees to make their own decisions regarding where, when, and how they perform best.
The companies that come out on top will be the companies that listen and grow with these global changes to continuously improve workplace culture.
Trust us: Your employees will thank you.  

You know that email marketing is essential for brand growth, but do you know how to send emails that are beautiful, engaging, and get the job done? It’s a tall order, which is why it can be helpful to look at brands that have a reputation for hitting it out of the park. Every brand…
The post 5 Brands That Put Together Great Emails appeared first on Benchmarkemail.

Multiple Sclerosis Limited is the go-to provider of information, advice, and support for people affected by multiple sclerosis in Australia. The organization is a combined entity of the ACT, NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania with over 60 years’ insight into how to live well with progressive neurological conditions.
The nonprofit offers vital support and services for people living with multiple sclerosis while the search for a cure continues. It uses email marketing extensively as a way to engage donors, raise awareness, offer support, and promote its events. Switching to Campaign Monitor and completing a key integration with Salesforce has delivered a number of important benefits:

A smoother, more intuitive user experience
Faster access to critical subscriber data
Endless personalization in one click

The cornerstone for cross-channel nonprofit communications
Affordability, scalability, and powerful results make email the perfect channel for many nonprofit initiatives from fundraising to championing important causes. 
Among other missions, Multiple Sclerosis Limited uses email as a core way to raise funds and engage participants for a wide variety of events, from readathons to cycling challenges. A single event, from the beginning of the registration period through post-event, might include 60 or more emails sent out!

“Email is sort of in this weird phase where some people think it’s dead and no one uses it,” says Amy Mulder, Communications Coordinator for the organization. “But then we see it’s the most popular way for people to communicate with nonprofits. It’s where we get most of our fundraising from; people are really engaged with it. For example, with our 2020 MS Gong Ride Virtual event, the top six days for highest donations had email as the only direct communication that day.” 
Though email is MS Limited’s greatest fundraising tool, it doesn’t work in a vacuum. The organization uses individual phone calls, SMS, social media, and other channels to keep its community engaged and push its mission forward.
Key integration makes MS a force to be reckoned with
One key development for Multiple Sclerosis Limited’s events program since joining with Campaign Monitor is the app’s Salesforce email marketing integration.
The integration between two of a marketers’ largest and most powerful engagement tools offers a suite of potent capabilities. With this integration Multiple Sclerosis Limited can:

Easily build beautiful, branded email campaigns with Campaign Monitor’s drag-and-drop email builder

Send targeted email campaigns to their contacts in Salesforce
Measure how email campaigns drive pipeline and influence closed opportunities
View email statistics directly within Salesforce
Map Campaign Monitor email fields with Salesforce
Automatically add subscribers

 
Shortly after moving events and fundraising communications to Campaign Monitor, Mulder initiated the Salesforce integration. The result: easier access to key data in a fraction of the time.
Previously, the email team had needed to go through half a dozen approvals and get support from their IT team to analyze data on different subscriber segments and use it to personalize messaging. The process could take as much as a week for a single email campaign. Now that the two systems can safely pass this information back and forth, the data is available on demand.
“The integration adds a level of seamlessness,” said Mulder. “The participant lists for our events, such as a bike ride, is updated every hour, so I can just create a segment saying everyone participating in this event, who has raised, say $100, show them this specific copy. It’s so easy. I’ve got more time to think in those strategic ways because I don’t have to be manually handling data.”
Turning “zeros” into MS heroes with dynamic content
MS Limited is fortunate to have an engaged, generous community that comes together time and again for support and activism. But like many nonprofits, MS Limited has a consistent challenge with convincing new contacts to take that first step, like registering for an event, completing an online profile, or reaching their first fundraising goal. It’s the “abandoned cart” of the nonprofit world.
Mulder says getting people off zero is huge to helping them build momentum, reach higher goals, and continue participating in future events. “Asking for money can be very awkward for some participants. We want to remind them that it’s easy, that they just need to share that they’re participating, and people will naturally support. And we provide everything they need to begin sharing; personalized email templates and social posts.”

The nonprofit incorporates dynamic content into emails adjusting to subscribers at this “zero” state to provide encouraging messaging and motivation to get the ball rolling. Campaign Monitor’s dynamic email content capabilities mean Mulder and her team can now add personalization like this with minimal time and effort. That means each recipient, whether a newcomer at zero or an experienced veteran, gets a customized experience tailored just for them.
“I can send one campaign, and have content in each email adapt to what we know about the subscriber,” says Mulder. “So if they identify as female, and they’re motivated by the challenge of the physical event they’re participating in when they open we can show an image of a woman overcoming the challenge. It’s so simple with Campaign Monitor, I can do it with a click.”

During an email campaign for the 2020 Gong Ride Virtual event, Mulder created an email using dynamic content that allowed them to personalize the graphic within the email based on their personal distance they would be riding during the event. By adding in this level of personalization through dynamic content, the MS Limited team was able to reach a click-through rate double their average. And even more, with a simple retargeting email to those who had not opened the previous email, they were able to achieve a click-through rate 5% higher than the average.
Upgrading email service providers
Much of Multiple Sclerosis Limited’s success and improvement in user experience has come since migrating from its previous email service provider, Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

“Campaign Monitor is very easy to learn,” Mulder said. “When I first started at MS Limited we were using Marketing Cloud, and we were encountering a lot of problems involving ease of use. It wasn’t very user friendly. But then I got to work with the Campaign Monitor platform and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, this is amazing!’” 
After making the switch, Mulder has more independence and flexibility with her communications and personalization. The intuitive interface and powerful Salesforce integration means she can act quickly without relying on other parts of the organization to get her job done.
“It is so user friendly. Going to Campaign Monitor from Marketing Cloud was so refreshing. Because if I have this for my events, I don’t have to rely on IT anymore,” she said.
Learn more about Campaign Monitor vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Wrapping up
We’re honored to get to work with nonprofits championing important causes around the world like Multiple Sclerosis Limited. Learn more about their mission and work on their site, and consider contributing, volunteering, or registering for an event.
Find other great case studies in nonprofit email marketing here.
The post Multiple Sclerosis Limited Accelerates Personalization and Fundraising with Salesforce Integration appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

With more people working from home and spending more time on digital devices, staying on top of a hot lead is vital. For example: If a hot lead takes a test drive of a demo on your website, it demonstrates their interest in your product. As a sales rep, you know it’s time to get in touch with the lead immediately. 
Case in point: A study from InsideSales.com found that salespeople are nine times more likely to convert a lead if they follow up within five minutes. And a study from XANT found that 96% of sales leaders say email is their go-to when communicating to potential customers.  
Salesforce VP of Sales Development Ali Gooch  recommends these 10 rules for following up:

Pick up the phone and call. According to XANT, you can’t rely on email in a time of crisis. You need a combination of phone and email to increase your contact rates.

Follow up with an email that mirrors your voicemail; data shows multiple touchpoints are important. 
Be brief.
Have clear objectives for writing (including confirming their interest) that mirror your voicemail message. You could also capitalize on their desire to learn. “What prompted you to attend this webinar?” “Are you responsible for the company’s revenue?” Make sure to focus on decision makers. 
Always end with a question. For example: “Would you be willing to have a conversation to see if there’s a potential way we can help?” This helps you narrow in on opportunities to educate the prospective customer.
Ask for next steps. Let the prospect take control of their buying process.
Reference things current customers love about your solution.
Track your emails.
Send content relevant to the prospect’s business needs, using the language and data that’s pertinent to their industry.
Ensure your communications are personalized to the prospect’s activities and interests. Did they attend your company’s virtual demo or visit your website? Maybe they asked a question on social media or engaged with content on your website. Take these factors into account in your communications.

When a Lead Goes Cold
When a lead has gone cold, it doesn’t mean you’ve hit a dead end. Here are some ideas to re-engage:Pause your outreach for 30 days, then send personalized notes every 30 days to stay top of mind. “I saw this article that speaks to some of what your competitor is doing to transform their business.” Try to drive inbound interest by sharing webinars that might apply to their business. “I thought of you as we are hosting this webinar. It might resonate based on your company’s stated mission on your website and current hiring phase.” This type of email is also great for identifying a more appropriate contact within the company.

Want more sample follow-up emails? We love this blog post from Yesware: “4 Sales Follow Up Emails That Will Get Your Prospect’s Attention.”

As you evaluate your sales follow-up, remember to always lead with empathy and focus on the customer. You can use the power of digital marketing to engage empathetically with customers.
In the meantime, which tactics do you use to better engage your sales leads? Share your follow-up ideas with us on Twitter! 
Keep learning
Check out How to Turn Your Virtual Sales Team into Superstars with Marketing Insights & AI.
This blog post was originally written and posted by Shauna Ward in 2015 and updated in February 2021 by Amber Dudley.