According to The Radicati Group, in 2013, the majority of email traffic came from business email, which accounted for over 100 billion emails sent and received per day. By the end of 2017, it is expected that business email will account for over 132 billion emails sent and received per day.
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.
Therefore, 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 add a personal touch to your next email marketing campaign.
1. Use the recipient’s first name
So simple, yet so effective. If you are emailing someone, it makes sense to use their first name. This approach creates trust and shows the recipient that your email contains interesting information that is relevant to them specifically, thereby making them more likely to engage.
In fact, the HubSpot 2014 Science of Email Marketing Report found that implementing first name personalization increases your click-through-rate from about 5.8 percent to about 7 percent. However, this is only the first step in effectively personalising your emails.
2. Use your full name
Returning to the results of the HubSpot report, it was shown that emails sent from two-word names have a 7 percent 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 tangible individual.
3. 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.
4. 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. As Jayson DeMers writes for Forbes: “Impersonal content is boring. When your content reads like it was written by a robot, nobody wants to read it! Personal content is much more exciting.”
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.
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