Business email is big business. Regardless of the industry in which you operate, the people you want to connect with likely have overflowing inboxes. Furthermore, the majority of those emails probably pose little interest: they fail to engage or remain unopened completely.
There is plenty of advice out there on how to send effective business emails, but personalisation is something that is sometimes overlooked. Your target audience wants to feel that you genuinely care about their specific needs and problems; they want to be treated as individuals rather than a mass market.
Therefore, when it comes to B2B email marketing, you need to carry out personalisation.
According to research by VentureBeat, “over 90 per cent of marketers see at least nominal, if not outright impressive, increases in open and click-through rates when employing some form of personalisation”.
It’s crucial that your B2B email marketing campaigns stand out from the crowd in order to increase open rates and click-through rates.
But this doesn’t have to involve complex manoeuvres – there are a number of simple ways you can personalise your next email marketing campaign.
Use the recipient’s first name
This might seem obvious, but it’s definitely worth mentioning. As you’re scanning through your emails, your eyes are more likely to notice things that are addressed directly to you, especially if it’s your first name.
In fact, a study by Hubspot found that implementing first name personalisation increases your click-through-rate from about 5.8% to 7%. This is a simple first step towards increasing results from personalisation, but it’s a highly effective one.
Use your full name
The Hubspot report also shows that emails sent from two-word names have a 7% higher open rate than those sent from a one-word name.
Therefore, it’s better to send your emails from an individual email address associated with your full name, rather than a generic one associated with a single brand name.
Addressing your recipients person-to-person is far more effective than company-to-person.
It makes them feel more valued and if they have a question about your product or service, they will be more inclined to reach out if they know they are in communication with a real person.
Segment your database
Whether your B2B database contains 100 or 100,000 contacts, there will be trends that emerge – and you can segment your database accordingly. These patterns will vary widely between organisations but you might, for example, identify a group of contacts that hold a specific role within a company; or who are at a particular point along the buyer’s journey.
What works for one group won’t work for another – for instance, you wouldn’t send a newly acquired lead detailed information about your pricing model. So you can create email campaigns for each of your segments, ensuring that people receive email content that is suited to their needs and interests.
Inject some personality
There are numerous examples of B2C companies that adopt a matey, conversational tone in their emails. This is not always appropriate for B2B organisations, but we can learn from the premise.
It’s easy to descend into corporate-speak, but don’t be afraid to give your business a “voice” in your email marketing campaigns. At the end of the day, we are all people and your potential customers want to know they are dealing with a business that actually cares.
Essentially, adding a personal touch to your B2B email marketing campaigns all comes down to being human. Addressing your audience person-to-person, segmenting your database and using your organisation’s unique voice are all highly-effective – yet simple – ways to add a personal touch to your B2B emails.
Nurture the relationship
The end result of personalising your B2B email marketing messages is stronger connections with your target audience – and, ultimately, more sales. People expect the marketing messages they receive from you to be consistent and relevant so that they can feel assured they are making a good decision when doing business with your company.
Personalisation is about better meeting the needs of the people who will benefit from your product or service. For your prospects, it’s the difference between buying a standard dress or suit off the rack, and having the item of clothing tailored to exactly fit their body. So, address them by name, send them relevant content and nurture the relationship.
To find out how your B2B email marketing campaign is performing, be sure to regularly measure its success. This will help you to realise if it’s the personalisation you need to work on improving, or perhaps it might be something else.
Conclusion
Here at Marketscan, we’re longstanding providers of high-quality B2B business data. Whether it’s for email, telemarketing or direct mail, we supply only the best B2B data. Feel free to contact us for help with data analysis or to find out more information.
