10 Electrician Email Marketing Best Practices to Supercharge Your Business

As an electrical contractor, you know the potential of email marketing, but how do you build a digital marketing strategy that generates profitable results for your electrical company?

Successful email marketing requires a solid strategy, which includes targeting specific customers so you can deliver timely, relevant emails that spark their interest. Segmented email marketing campaigns function as a valuable part of an electrical business marketing plan, increasing revenue by as much as760%, according to Campaign Monitor.

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Electrical business owners who use software likeServiceTitan to automate theirelectrician marketing find they can simplify the process and amplify the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. Electrical service companies of all sizes benefit from email marketing.

“It’s still one of the best cost-per-leads that’s out there,” says Megan Bedford, owner and founder of Denver-based Mugyver Consulting, and founder and chair ofDesk Free Nation, a nonprofit that seeks to attract new workers to the trades. “You might be a smaller trade company that doesn’t have salespeople or you might have salespeople. Think of email marketing as a salesperson working for you all the time.”

Follow these 10 electrician email marketing best practices to energize your electrician business:

1. Develop your digital marketing strategy.

2. Target your email audience.

3. Create engaging content.

4. Optimize for mobile.

5. Automate email marketing.

6. Maintain a consistent brand.

7. Take a multi-channel approach.

8. Clean your email contact list.

9. Stick to a schedule.

10. Track email marketing results.

1. Develop your digital marketing strategy

Before you send out emails, first decide what you aim to accomplish.

Think about your company'selectrician marketing strategy. Do you want to book more jobs? Strengthen your brand? Grow revenue by closing unsold estimates? Educate customers onelectrical safety during swimming pool season?

Once you narrow your intent, the rest is easy. With ServiceTitanMarketing Pro, electrical contracting businesses can leverage customer information to create professionally designed emails, seamlessly delivering customized messages to the right audience.

2. Target your email audience

Companies in the trades no longer need to blast their entire contact list and then cross their fingers. Highly effective email marketing relies on a specific target audience.

Send emails to customers based on unsold estimates, special offers, membership renewals, service area ZIP code, and more using ServiceTitan’s pre-built templates. When customers receive timely and relevant information they can use, they’re more likely to take action.

Sending segmented, personalized emails doesn’t need to be difficult or time-consuming, either.Robin Cody, director of marketing and business development for Dallas-basedCody & Sons Plumbing, Heating & Air, says she can set up an email campaign in Marketing Pro in 30 minutes or less, compared to an hour or more with different software.

“I just don’t have the time to devote to look into our data, research, and start doing things like building audiences,” Cody says. “That’s what’s so great about ServiceTitan Marketing Pro. I can essentially use it as our customer relationship management software now. I can use and analyze our own data to target customers appropriately.”

3. Create engaging content

Good emails feature an eye-catching (but not spammy) subject line and preview text. Check out these electrician advertising slogans for fun ideas. 

“The average consumer has only a time span of three seconds when they open an email,” says Alexander Attarian, ServiceTitan group product manager for Marketing Pro. “So, you have three seconds to get their attention, keep their attention, and get them to do what you want them to do.”

Once people open the email, the content should lead to a click inside the email.

“The content itself sells the click, which is the most important part from a marketing perspective," Attarian says. “You want people to actually click inside the email. I don't care what subject line you have, what open rates you're getting, if someone opens your email and doesn't take action, you may as well not have sent that email.”

Add layers to your campaigns, including links to your electrician website’s blog or YouTube videos. Make it easy for customers to respond, and include contact information, like your company’s phone number.

4. Optimize for mobile

Mobile-friendly emails are a must for a positive user experience. Format emails so they look great and perform properly on mobile devices.

Here’s a quick rundown for mobile optimization:

• Keepsubject lines under 50 characters and between four to seven words.

• Use a preheader, which is the text following the subject line.

• Keep it concise and to the point.

• Avoid spam triggers. Don’t use all capitalization, excessive punctuation, or words like “free,” “deal,” or “now.”

• Provide a clear, visible call to action.

5. Automate email marketing

Ditch the time-consuming manual process of combing through customer data each time you want to send an email. Software like ServiceTitan automates your email campaigns so you can quickly send customized emails to your target audience.

“The way our society is going and the way that we are running our businesses, we need to be automated,” says Sarah Ghirardo, senior marketing operations manager at ServiceTitan, in a recent ServiceTitanToolbox for the Trades podcast. “We need to be more efficient, because it hits the bottom line when we are not. ...The tools that we are providing you with Marketing Pro is about creating that automation and efficiency, and having transparency in your numbers so you can learn.”

After you segment your audience, customer information automatically updates in real time, so you can set up your campaigns and let ServiceTitan take care of the rest.

6. Maintain a consistent brand

As you develop your electrical business marketing plan, staying consistent with your message and visuals across all marketing channels builds recognition for your company.

High-quality email templates in ServiceTitan make this easy, so your fonts and images stay consistent no matter the campaign. When someone sees your email, direct mail product, social media post, customer testimonial videos, or website design, they can easily identify it with your company.

If your company cannot dedicate an employee for digital or online marketing, consider using a marketing agency specializing in electrician or home service or marketing services for consistent branding and more electrical contractor marketing ideas.

7. Take a multi-channel approach

Spread your marketing tactics over several channels to give your company more chances to reach potential customers. Instead of sending only emails, segment customers so they get an email followed by a text, or an email followed by a direct mail piece.

Since97% of people go online to learn more about a local company, according to SEO Tribunal, local businesses should view email as part of a larger marketing strategy. Update your company’sGoogle Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) and otheronline directories benefitting small businesses, like Yelp or LinkedIn.

Advertising strategies, such as PPC ads (pay-per-click),Google Ads, and lead generation throughGoogle Local Services ads, help homeowners performing alocal search find your local electrician business online.

Utilize content marketing so your company shows up higher in Google search engine results. Increase your company’s online presence with local SEO (search engine optimization), using targeted keywords on your company’s landing page and web pages.

And last but not least, manage your electrical company’s online reviews. Top customer reviews and more word-of-mouthreferrals lead tonew leads and potential new customers for your business.

8. Clean your email contact list

Clean your email lists regularly by removing inactive and unengaged email contacts who haven’t opened your emails in the past 18 months to two years. This way, you’re communicating to customers who want to receive your emails.

Staylegally compliant and allow recipients to opt out of future emails, if they choose. Or, allow customers to update their email preferences to receive only messages about certain topics.

9. Stick to a schedule

Want customers to open more emails? Test different days and times to see what generates the greatest results, and then stay consistent by automating your emails. Following scheduled sending times also shows your company operates in a professional and organized manner.

Similarly, test different subject lines or calls to action to see what attracts the attention of your customers, so you can deliver the information or offers that interest them the most.

10. Track email marketing results

Maximize your electrician email marketing efforts by tracking and measuring real-time results.

ServiceTitan Marketing Pro allows users to track actual ROI by measuring email performance and revenue attribution, so you can see exactly which emails generate the most results.

“With ServiceTitan, when a call comes in, it’s literally on a dashboard,” says Derek Baer, Director of Operations at Gold Shield Services in Illinois. “I can know whether the customer has called before, (and) where the marketing came from. It's all in one spot and not across multiple layers. I don't have to look for it.”

Once you know which digital marketing efforts generate the most profit, you can focus resources on those areas with the most potential for growth.