A comprehensive HVAC email marketing sequence can increase lead generation and enhance brand awareness. As a result, drip emails should be a part of every HVAC marketing campaign.
AC companies can benefit from email marketing. If properly executed, emails help reach new customers and preserve existing ones.
HVAC Webmasters details the best email marketing strategies for heating and cooling businesses this year in the following guide.
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HVAC Email Marketing Goals
The most effective email campaigns start with a pre-established goal. For example, what are you trying to accomplish through your email sequence?
In the HVACR industry, you can break down goals into three categories.
- Customer Retention
- Customer Upsell
- Customer Acquisition
Within these three categories, you can implement varying sub-campaigns aimed at more specific goals. Once you identify an objective, you can craft your sequence and send out the actual emails.
Choosing an Email Marketing Platform
Email marketing is only as potent as the platform that powers it, which should be credible and trustworthy. The best email marketing platforms are AWeber, ActiveCampaign, and MailChimp. At HVAC Webmasters, we recommend AWeber.
AWeber allows HVAC companies to design campaigns with their Smart Designer, automate tasks like tagging and auto-responding, and track multiple segmentations within a subscriber list.
Most email platforms offer a free plan for a limited number of subscribers. However, as a business owner, you should find ways to increase your subscriber list through lead magnets and other means to reach more potential leads.
Email Segmentation
There’s a reason why email marketing has grown more effective over time, and it’s because of email segmentation. As marketers have smartened up to the customized needs of different cohorts, email campaigns have resonated with more of their target audiences.
AWeber allows AC companies to segment their contacts within a list or create multiple lists. For example, a list of existing HVAC customers can be segmented by specific zip codes, types of services, and property types.
These distinctions allow marketers to craft hyperspecific campaigns customized for a target audience.
Here is a list of potential segmentations you can implement into your subscriber lists.
- Zip Codes
- Types of Services
- Property Types
- Seasonal Climate
- Tenure
Creating Effective Email Campaigns
Once you’ve implemented segmentation into your email strategy, you can craft more effective campaigns. You’ll want to track your open rate per campaign so you can test which angles your subscribers respond to most intently.
The estimated email open rate is 21.5%, which means you want to outperform that number on a per-campaign basis. If you find that one of your campaigns is below this threshold, the campaign likely requires tweaking.
HVAC Email Campaign Examples
Brainstorming email campaigns can be challenging for companies just starting with email lists. The key is creating a unique value proposition for the subscriber and speaking directly to one of their pain points.
Take a look at some of the campaign examples below:
- Summer is Coming: Replace Your Aging Air Conditioner
- Winter is Coming: Replace Your Aging Heating System
- Halloween Savings Special (Limited Time Offer)
- Don’t Forget To Claim Your $60 Discount
- Win a Free Gift Card By Referring Friends or Family
Email Regulation Compliance
Credible platforms like AWeber take email regulations and protocols into account, simplifying business owners’ processes. For those unaware, the CAN-SPAM Act stipulates specific steps email marketers must take before sending a bulk email.
Some of the regulations include:
- Unsubscribe Option
- Mailing Address
- Contact Permissions (Don’t Buy 3rd Party Lists)
Some marketers think of these regulations as unfavorable. Still, there’s no point in harassing people who are not interested in your services—allowing people to unsubscribe increases your open rates and will enable you to customize email campaigns more specifically in the future.
Email Copywriting
Great marketing emails tell a story to their recipient. For example, as an AC company, you might specify some of the most pressing furnace repair needs during winter. Conversely, you may want to outline warm climate challenges during summer. As a result, people are more likely to engage and respond.
Subtle CTAs help increase conversion rates, but you must walk a fine line. As a business owner, you don’t want to bombard leads with sales talk but rather present an opportunity for them to take a self-serving action. Think of your audience as partners rather than targets.
Email Graphics
Most modern email campaigns focus on text-based content since it’s less likely to be flagged as spam or immediately enter the promotions folder.
However, for highly engaged contacts, you can include graphics within your campaigns. For example, a discount or promo is better suited as a visual presentation.
AWeber makes graphic design simple with its built-in Canva compatibility. HVAC companies can easily design pre-templated graphics to impress their subscribers with stunning visual elements.
Graphics created with email marketing software can be edited to fit your brand, color scheme, and text content.
Email Response
Engagement is ideal for all marketing emails; you want to encourage your audience to respond and be ready to respond to them. For example, it’s not uncommon for a potential client to respond to an email drip with a specific question about your services, pricing, etcetera.
Failing to respond to their response negatively impacts your company and frustrates potential customers. As a result, you lose business and damage your online brand. However, responding is easy, and you can even set up automated responses based on the context of their response.
Email Tracking
AWeber and other platforms track email open rates, clicks, and engagement and break down lists into different response categories. As a result, you can monitor which of your drips performs best, worst, and in between.
Some of the most critical metrics for emails are:
- Open Rates
- Clicks
- Clicks + CTA
- Undeliverables
You can alter your strategy based on results and even perform A/B tests in real time to compare variations of emails. The ultimate goal is to streamline your email sequences to maximize open rates, clicks, and actions and reduce bounce rates to the lowest possible numbers.
Getting More Email Subscribers
Your emails are most effective when they reach a large pool of engaged subscribers. The only way to get more people is to grow your email list using proven methods. In most cases, your digital presence directly influences the growth of your lists.
For example:
- Custom Website
- Lead Magnets
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media Ads / Posts
Consider investing in a lead magnet plugin like Thrive Leads, which allows you to craft custom overlays and other promotional graphics that prompt website visitors to submit their email addresses.
Of course, it helps to offer a value proposition such as a free PDF or discount in exchange for the contact information.
