How to Write B2B Emails That Don’t Suck in 2019
Before we bring the hammer down on why B2B emails suck, can we take a minute to appreciate electronic mail and the emergence of email as an everyday necessity? Because it’s pretty amazing and I don’t think we give the phenomenon of email as much credit as it deserves.
The first email was sent almost 50 years ago by Ray Tomlinson in 1971. While email didn’t really go mainstream until the 1990s, today the average office worker receives 121 emails a day and sends out 40.
The current number of emails sent across the world per day? Approximately 269 billion.
But what was life like before email? Before email took flight we relied heavily on ‘memos’ for business communications. And, guess what? Most memos really sucked.
When I first started copywriting, I read everything I could find published by David Ogilvy. In 1982, the iconic Father of Advertising wrote an internal memo to his agency staff on how to write [a good memo].
Ogilvy's famous memo shared 10 hints for better writing (Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners):
The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.
Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.
Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:
1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.
3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.
6. Check your quotations.
7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.
8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.
David
Ogilvy's timeless advice makes it clear that no matter the medium, good writing isn’t easy.
The formula for a successful email is still rooted in many of Ogilvy’s 10 hints. These are core principles to crafting communications that resonate with your audience.
So the memo evolved to the email and emails evolved from the send of a simple electronic message to now being used for mass marketing campaigns, to instantly sign contracts, send gifs and videos, cater to interactive experiences, leverage AI and machine learning for content and more. The vast and ubiquitous ways email is used today is truly exciting!
But as a B2B marketer, I don’t blame you if the evolution of email isn’t something you stop to rejoice. Because for the most part, B2B marketing emails suck.
I mean, who can resonate with the following scenario?
It’s Wednesday afternoon, your sales leader demands you get a promotional email out this week because sales for widgets are down and the only thing sales needs is for marketing to [finally do something useful and] send an email blast to the entire database with a ‘special limited time offer’ – *eye roll*. Been there, experienced that. Amirte?!
And speaking from personal experience, in that scenario, I’ve dropped everything to put together an email that at the time I truly hoped would save the day and bring in some valuable leads for my friends in sales.
So I carefully crafted some clever copy around the importance of said product promotion. I put together a nice graphic and set up an A/B test for my subject line.
Moving fast to get the email ready to send on Thursday (because every B2B marketer knows you don’t send B2B email campaigns out on Fridays!) – I set up my list and with a combination of nervousness and relief for crossing the ask off my to-do list, I hit send.
What happened next?
...Unfortunately, not too much.
The custom landing page I put together for the campaign got a few hundred visits and less than .04% conversion rate. Ouch. The salt on the wound? Unsubscribes were double the conversion number. Cue the pity party.
Now a day behind on the items I was working on prior to the emergency sales campaign interruption, a sales team that’s still stressed for leads, and a bruised ego, I’ve decided that e-blasts are the bane of my existence.
What went wrong?
Your prospects receive 121 emails a day (see opening stats in this post), what made this email stand out from the noise? Nada. My focus was on the product, the features and my hook was an overused pressure technique (limited time offer!).
No segmentation.
No personalization.
No analysis of the buyer stage prospects of my send list were in.
Besides offering the audience a deal on MY company’s product, how was my email authentically connecting with the audience’s relevant interests and current challenges? In retrospect, it clearly wasn’t
So whether B2B emails suck or I suck at emails, I had to face the hard truth that emails are not going away anytime soon. And I was going to need to figure out a way to make my B2B emails suck less.
After conducting lots of research, analyzing and experimenting with my marketing team, and pulling from expert advice, I’ve put together my learning into the following top five 2019 B2B email best practices (or email suck less practices). Enjoy!
1.Segment Your Audience:
According to Campaign Monitor’s 2018 Email Marketing Report, 39% of marketers never personalize their emails and 21% never use segmentation. That sucks. Because MailChimp’s stats show segmented campaigns get 14.64% more opens and 59.99% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns.
Segment your list pull for relevance of your message. Here are some ways you can segment your database:
Acquisition channel or campaign
Demographic
Geography
By offer that brought them in
By position in the buyer funnel or lead score
By GAR (gross annual revenue)
List segmentation will improve your open and click-through-rates, so stop the batch and blast and take the time to get up close and personal with your audience.
2. Make your subject lines stand out
Good subject lines capture the attention of the recipient. Look for ways to disrupt patterns and stand out from other emails in your audience’s email inbox. But keep in mind, once a trend in subject line writing catches on (imitation is the best form of flattery!) its efficacy is reduced over time. Focus on crafting subject lines that create curiosity, leverage humour and incorporate big brand names.
Bad subject lines, on the other hand, don’t say anything meaningful (ie. April’s hot picks!) and trigger promotions filters by using spammy language. Avoid any subject lines that will make your audience think ‘I don’t care about this’.
Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the preview text! This is your email curtain and is a great tool to help improve your open rates.
3. Use action-orientated (and interesting!) CTAs
Your call-to-action (CTA) should not be overlooked – make your CTAs clear and concise (but not boring!). Best practice suggests two CTAs (same link) in an email, with one linked text CTA and one button CTA. Campaign Monitor suggests you start with the end in mind and decide on your CTA before composing any other part of your email.
Wherever possible, UTM link your CTAs in order to track activity resulting from your email. Because you can’t improve what you don’t measure!
4. Get Personal
Personalization is critical in B2B marketing today. Not personalizing your prospect and customer touches is, frankly, rude and inconsiderate. When contact details are provided to you, it is only polite to ensure you make effective use of that personal information. Besides minding your manners, did I mention personalization also boosts open and CTRs?
Think back to the last dinner party you attended or group setting you were in, wasn’t it nice to be addressed by your name amongst the others in attendance? People like to feel noticed, important and acknowledged. You can capitalize on the opportunity to build those connections via email too – so don’t miss an opportunity to make your email list feel special.
When using personalization in emails, make sure you include default values – and be creative with them. Get clever with default values that will surprise and delight your recipients.
Also, don’t limit personalization just to names, you can use personalization for location, company name, job title and more. But don’t go overboard. An obvious attempt to personalize gone wrong is not a pretty sight.
5. Make Your Email Copy Count
Heed Ogilvy's advice: good writing takes time. You likely wouldn’t throw together copy for a magazine print ad in 15 minutes – but it’s a shame how many people don’t give their email creative the same care. While there are gifted wordsmiths that have a natural ability to compose persuasive copy in minutes, the average marketer needs to write a lot of garbage before producing gold.
Here are a few pointers on crafting high-converting email copy:
Ensure your headline makes the ‘what’, ‘why’,and ‘how’ clear and easy to follow.
Mention the offer immediately and use a related image.
Sell the offer not the product – think benefits: what’s in it for your recipient?
Focus on one offer, using one message, and one call to action.
Use your email copy to drive action, don’t just relate facts.
Grab the reader early – avoid long “set ups”.
One call to action, but use multiple links and make sure they are above the fold (use a button and text CTA) – and avoid “alternative” CTAs and distractions.
Finally, no one is going to read a long email – so keep it short and to the point. If you are struggling with your email copy, scroll back to the top of this post and reread Ogilvy's 10 hints, then check your email copy to see how you can improve.
My last tip on creating less sucky B2B marketing emails – always be testing. Like all digital marketing tactics, it’s best to rely on your data to tell you what works. So try these tips out, observe and analyze, and learn what works best for your audience.