Email marketing remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for IT services companies looking to generate new business and nurture existing client relationships. With focused email campaigns, IT services firms can increase brand awareness, deliver helpful content to contacts, capture leads, and drive sales.
In this article, we provide 11 proven email marketing tips tailored specifically for IT-managed service providers, computer support companies, and digital consultancies aiming to expand their reach and triple revenue growth.
By following these best practices for IT email campaigns, your company can cost-effectively engage contacts, convert subscribers into customers, and maximize the return from your email programs. Consider also using email marketing tools to help with the process.
Significance of Email Marketing for IT Services
Email marketing delivers outsized returns for IT companies. On average, email generates $44 in revenue for every $1 spent, the highest of any marketing channel. Beyond superior ROI, email strengthens customer relationships, drives repeat business, and provides detailed analytics unavailable with other tactics.
For small IT shops, email enables scalable lead generation and sales workflows not possible with an inbound call-based business model alone.
With email, even solo IT consultants can capture leads 24/7, nurture prospects automatically, and build a sales pipeline over time. For established MSPs and computer support firms, email allows more touchpoints with customers, facilitating upsells/cross-sells and increasing client lifetime value.
Ultimately, thoughtfully planned email campaigns allow IT companies to grow faster while spending less on marketing. The high-profit margins make it well worth the effort for computer services firms of any size.
1. Offer Free Network/Security Audit in Exchange for Email
Conducting complimentary reviews of a prospect’s technology infrastructure or security protocols is highly effective for generating new business leads. The concept helps you build an email list fast and provides multiple advantages:
First, on-site evaluations demonstrate expertise beyond any traditional sales collateral. Testing backup systems, inspecting network architecture, and identifying vulnerabilities face-to-face establishes immediate credibility. Prospects witness you diagnosing pressing issues before making purchasing decisions.
Additionally, making assessments contingent on sharing contact info incentivizes lead capture. Avoid cold calling by having compliant prospects willingly supply email addresses in exchange for expert advice. Warm leads convert at significantly higher rates.
Finally, understanding pain points through assessments enables crafting tailored solutions addressing each customer’s unique constraints and objectives. Recommendations speaking to their precise scenarios evoke greater interest than one-size-fits-all pitches.
The takeaway—strategic free consultations exchange genuine IT insights for actionable sales contacts. This value-added exchange catalyzes growth for computer service firms.
2. Send Educational Content on IT Best Practices
Sending regular informational emails highlighting IT best practices helps position your company as an educational thought leader, not just a vendor. The goal is to develop subscribers by providing truly useful advice rather than constant sales pitches.
Effective educational emails take many forms – a monthly newsletter summarizing new cybersecurity threats, a guide covering software updates and patches, a checklist detailing disaster recovery protocols, or a webinar introducing business continuity planning.
Think like a trusted advisor seeking to arm prospects with actionable advice for strengthening their technical infrastructure and workflows.
The content itself should focus on common pain points and relevant industry trends rather than boast about your technical capabilities.
For example, an MSP could distribute a checklist to help companies evaluate cloud migration readiness across areas like app compatibility, data security, and employee training. An IT consultant may produce a guide ranking remote access solutions for small businesses.
The key is supplying email subscribers with impartial recommendations they can implement immediately to improve operations and reduce organizational risk.
Position your firm as an informative teacher in the IT space rather than a seller of commoditized support services.
You can use templates like the ones in the image below to simplify your work. Simply swap out the pre-configured content for your own and you’re ready to send.
Demonstrating thought leadership builds authority and turns subscribers into loyal brand advocates over time.
3. Promote Webinars and Tech Skill-Building Courses
Hosting free webinars and technical training courses generates email leads while growing credibility with prospective clients. Well-run educational events position your company as a technology leader willing to share expertise openly rather than peddling point solutions.
When planning IT webinars, first identify key skill gaps faced by regional companies struggling with emerging threats, cloud adoption, or operational challenges. For example, an MSP can run a webinar on identifying phishing attempts and other social engineering schemes commonly used to infiltrate networks.
An IT consultant might create a course teaching basic scripting and automation skills to understaffed IT teams.
Promote these educational events heavily via email, social media, professional associations, and direct outreach. Require registration to access the webinar or training content. This captures attendee contact details for future marketing while demonstrating thought leadership.
Record all sessions allowing the repurposing of evergreen content for future lead nurturing campaigns.
The goal is to address relevant IT knowledge gaps while showcasing expertise. Consistently producing technical training cements relationships with prospective clients already valuing education over traditional sales pitches. Email subscribers convert more readily after benefiting from your teaching.
4. Share Case Studies Demonstrating Service Impact
Developing client case studies to showcase previous project successes represents one of the most compelling email marketing strategies for IT services companies. Case studies tell a story – the business challenges a customer faced, the technical solution you designed and implemented, and the measurable operational impact.
For example, an MSP can detail the workflow interruptions and costly downtime issues plaguing a healthcare clinic before installing their redundant internet connectivity and proactive network monitoring services. Rather than making vague claims about “industry-leading solutions”, the quantifiable performance stats and client testimonials communicate real-world value.
Case studies serve as credible third-party proof that you can deliver on promises made to prospects. Wise IT firms feature different vertical industries in their email campaigns – legal, construction, retail, manufacturing, etc.
Subscribers working in the highlighted field connect with the content more intensely since it mirrors their dilemmas. This relatability speeds up sales cycles.
Of course, always obtain client permission before promoting case studies featuring their projects. Offer them publicity benefits driving new patient traffic or industry accolades in return. The end goal is to demonstrate IT competency via real examples while respecting privacy agreements in place with featured companies.
Celebrate client wins that subscribers can envision replicating with help from your technical experts.
5. Send Alerts on Cyber Threats and Best Practices
With email, IT-managed service providers can instantly alert customers and prospects about emerging cyber threats or data breaches affecting regional businesses. These real-time advisories showcase vigilance while educating subscribers on risks.
For example, an MSP may rapidly notify healthcare clinics and doctor offices in the area if ransomware campaigns are targeting that sector. Or a computer consultant could warn local retailers about point-of-sale malware during busy shopping seasons. These proactive notifications build goodwill with prospective clients struggling with IT security.
Effective threat alert emails provide actionable best practices rather than simply raising fears. Give clear recommendations on bolstering defenses based on attack patterns, such as implementing 2-factor authentication, training staff to identify phishing attempts, testing backups more frequently, or applying critical software patches. Position your company as a knowledgeable security advisor.
Ongoing threat awareness communications demonstrate that you’re carefully tracking the ever-evolving cyber landscape to protect customer networks proactively. Subscribers gain confidence knowing your team has their back.
They become more receptive to sales calls discussing advanced services like penetration testing, security audits, or managed detection/response solutions.
6. Segment Subscribers by Tech Stack and Interests
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, the most effective IT companies segment their email subscriber list based on tech stack, company size, industry, and other relevant attributes. This allows for delivering tailored content that resonates more with each subset of contacts.
For example, an MSP may create separate audience groups for customers still using on-premises servers vs. those who have partially/fully migrated to the cloud. Email campaigns can then be customized to inform each group about news, upgrades, or features impacting their unique infrastructure.
The same goes for consultants supporting both Mac and Windows environments – they can split subscribers accordingly.
According to the study below, email segmentation offers higher open rates, greater email relevance, and lower unsubscribe rates.
Small businesses have different IT priorities and budgets than large enterprises. A computer support firm would tailor messages explaining its outsourced help desk service based on company headcount.
The version for smaller companies may focus on flexible per-seat pricing and scalability while the enterprise edition highlights global service-level agreements and dedicated account management.
The overarching goal is crafting content that resonates with subscribers’ existing configurations, operational needs, and financial realities. Generic mail blasts go ignored while well-targeted emails feel helpful and personalized even at scale. The higher relevancy and open rates lead to more sales conversions over time.
7. Automate Lead Nurturing Campaigns by Tech Role
Sophisticated IT service providers automate customized email lead nurturing campaigns based on each prospect’s role and interests. Instead of generic blasts, contacts receive ongoing content matching their responsibilities and technology infrastructure.
For example, an MSP would create one nurturing track providing network administrators with tips on server maintenance, storage optimization, backup verifications, and patch management. Another track for CIOs may cover developing cloud migration plans, building business continuity programs, and evaluating new technologies like AI-assisted IT support.
Nurturing sales opportunities already in the pipeline via tailored content is equally important. An IT company can automatically send decision-makers at a hospital RFP bid case studies detailing previous healthcare cybersecurity wins and co-branded thought leadership reports on securing patient data.
The goal is to move contacts seamlessly through sales stages by providing bite-sized information matching their needs at every step – building awareness with “beginner” materials, driving interest with specialized content, overcoming objections with evidence, and finally conveying value.
The result is responsive, automated campaigns aligned to each person and their role in recommending IT purchases.
8. Cross-Sell Additional Managed IT Services
Once an IT services contract is secured, savvy providers leverage email to cross-sell additional managed services to the client. The familiarity and trust gained during the sales process increase receptivity to expanding the engagement.
For example, after an MSP migrates a customer to cloud-based business applications, the account manager can schedule emails promoting add-ons like enhanced analytics, single sign-on, or automated provisioning services.
Or after an IT consultant finishes network infrastructure improvements, they email offerings around proactive monitoring, help desk support, cybersecurity training, and other managed continuity services.
The key is mapping adjacencies between your diverse service catalog and current customer setups. Review the technology stack and identify gaps addressable via new managed service offerings. This upsell/cross-sell approach costs little but boosts client lifetime value significantly if converted steadily.
Set up drip email campaigns that methodically cover one related service area every month or quarter. This drips value onto subscribed customers. Also, monitor client trigger events like office expansions, leadership changes, or new funding rounds to email timely recommendations when needs shift.
Ongoing education demonstrating expertise in areas beyond the original scope of work earns new business with existing accounts.
9. Send Appointment Reminders and Project Updates
Email enables IT-managed service providers to keep customers informed on upcoming appointments and project milestones between on-site visits. These timely reminders and progress reports strengthen client relationships.
Appointment confirmation emails solidify scheduled calls while integrating calendar invites and streamlining planning. Email alerts before IT tech visits ensure staff availability, prompt requests for access credentials, and identify any final site prep needed. This reduces delays.
For longer-running projects, send regular email updates to stakeholders detailing the current phase, upcoming tasks, risks identified, and impact on other systems. Transparency around timelines preempts perception issues down the road. Celebrate hitting key milestones by highlighting benefits accrued so far before summarizing what remains in the project plan.
Proactive outreach reflects commitment toward achieving the end business goals outlined during sales discussions. Clients gain confidence seeing that technical service teams are aligned to their priorities, not just installing piecemeal components.
These productive check-ins via prompt appointment emails and steady project updates email newsletters showcase disciplined execution.
10. Track Campaign Metrics to Continually Optimize
Savvy IT services firms continually track email performance using key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Monitoring results identifies both winning and underperforming messages for optimization.
For example, A/B test email subject lines to determine which style attracts more open – urgent warning, thought leadership, industry news, competitive comparison, or customer success. Experiment with different sender names and reply addresses to increase trust. Measure CTRs on links to various educational assets and services pages to refine content offers.
Analyze engagement patterns across customer lifecycle stages – are nascent subscribers less active or responsive than longtime contacts? Review activity by customer persona and role – do technical teams open technical alerts while C-level executives click executive thought leadership pieces? Determine peak days/times for improved visibility.
Set performance benchmarks to judge campaign efficacy over time. If recently released cybersecurity preparedness content isn’t getting traction, assess why and adjust accordingly.
Email success requires continual testing, segment analysis, list scrubbing, and content fine-tuning based on data rather than guesswork. Mastering analytics guides the creation of emails that continually convert at higher percentages.
11. Thank Customers for Their Loyalty
Successful IT service providers use email to consistently recognize and reward loyal customers. Sending periodic “Thank You” messages and appreciation gifts nurtures relationships with existing accounts.
These loyalty emails should highlight mutual growth throughout the partnership, call out key client staff who drive success, and share service usage stats demonstrating expanding reliance on your firm’s expertise. Include a coupon code redeemable for discounts on future projects or managed services contracts as a tangible token of gratitude.
Consider bigger rewards for consistent long-term customers – an executive lunch, tickets to an industry event, or even a donation made in their name to a favored charity. The prestige of nominating VIP clients to your Customer Advisory Board also strengthens bonds.
Essentially, look for ways big and small to say “Thank You” via email while reinforcing the trust placed in your technical teams over the years. Avoid taking accounts for granted. Deliver praise directly to engaged decision-makers.
The goal is to earn expanded wallet share thanks to a genuine rapport where the client feels acknowledged as a partner beyond transactions. Loyalty develops loyalty.
By following these email marketing best practices tailored for IT service providers, managed support teams can cost-effectively generate leads, nurture prospects, educate clients, promote new services, and strengthen loyalty. Optimizing email channel performance fuels predictable revenue growth quarter after quarter.
With these proven tips to capture audiences and create compelling content aligned to each subscriber’s needs, IT consultants and technology companies cement unmatched authority in their regional markets while continually expanding their customer base. Start applying these techniques today to maximize marketing ROI.