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We all aim for the best results but it’s worth remembering that there are multitude of factors influencing email campaign's success. Every company is different and every email campaign is different. The unique nature of every company means that identical strategies can produce different outcomes, even within similar industries and markets. So, what drives these differences?

Here are five key factors that significantly impact the effectiveness of any email campaign you outsourced to your lead generation agency.

• brand recognition
• experience with lead generation
• engagement and good communication
• sales strategy.
• good timing and knowledge about your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Check them out with a little bit of explanation.

➡️ Brand recognition. 

A newcomer to the market will need to invest more effort compared to an established name. Our experience shows that well-recognized brands enjoy higher open and response rates for their email invitations to demos, intro calls, or webinars. 

Think about it. You are invited to the webinar via email - one invitation you get from the company you never heard of, you never saw them anywhere. And the other email invitation you get from a company you know, heard of or even see on LinkedIn. In which case you are more likely to take time, read the email, answer it and join the webinar? That’s how the brand recognition works

On the other hand by sending out email campaigns you are also building your brand recognition. You are landing in somebody’s mailbox and even though you are not getting answers now - they saw your or your company name there and it may stick with them.

➡️Experience with lead gen.

When companies have the experience with lead generation, they most likely have some conclusions as well about what works and what doesn't. Running a campaign when we know what works puts us one step ahead of the game. Why? Most likely the value proposition is already defined, ICP or subject line tested - lead gen agencies don’t have to start working on that from scratch since it’s already there. 

With companies who are just starting with lead generation and email marketing it’s often all about testing. There are predictions about target groups or ideal value proposition but reality often redefines them. It’s ok if the first campaign brings for example conclusions that it’s better to contact tech people than CEO (because we noticed that CEO transfers our emails to them). This doesn’t generate revenue straight away but it’s great though for the next campaign that may shorten the process. All of us want results straight away, sometimes forgetting that they are coming with experience ;)

➡️Engagement and good communication.

Lead gen agency takes prospecting out of your shoulders. But still needs your input for example in building the email body. The better communication and professionalism on both sides the bigger chances for good results 

This is crucial. Bad communication is killing the whole process from inside, during the process of setting the campaign, but mostly during running the campaign.

Imagine - you manage to set the email campaign, value proposition and target group is defined. Lead agency who is responsible for running the campaign starts sending emails out and you forget to tell them that this week you are off for vacation. What’s gonna happen? Your potential clients reply that they would like to meet with you and you will answer them a week later - not professional and definitely influence the final results of your campaign. 

➡️Sales strategy.

In most cases the lead gen team delivers the meeting that your sales team is taking over. As known - some sales teams work better than the others. Two sales teams in two different companies got the same number of meetings from email campaigns - one gets 0 customers, the other gets 5. Does it mean that lead gen is not working? No.

Responsibilities of the lead gen team and sales team are not the same. Lead gen is about getting meetings and sales is about closing meetings. They both influence each other and the better cooperation between them the better results. 

There is also a bigger picture. Lead generation can bring you meetings now, but also in the future if you and your sales team manage the contacts right. Having a CRM, always marking the statuses, being organized and having longer plans increase your results a lot. A very good practice is to recycle databases in three or half a year. To do it right you need to be organized from the beginning and have a plan for that. 

➡️Good timing and knowledge about your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Knowing when and how to engage your prospects can make a significant difference. Industry-specific trends may dictate the best times for outreach or the tone of communication - to some it’s better to send emails in the morning, to others it’s better to use official language, to some it’s ok to be more direct. When you outsource email campaign activities there is a huge chance that the lead agency can help you with that (based on their experience and thousands of campaigns led before) and you can confront them with your ideas. 

❗️In conclusion, effective email marketing is not just about the message itself but involves a holistic approach that includes understanding your brand's position, leveraging past experiences, engaging with your team and clients effectively, strategizing sales follow-ups, and optimizing timing and communication based on a deep understanding of your target audience. 

To get more information about the outsourced lead generation insights check out our E-book on this topic. You can find it HERE

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