Email marketing has the potential to provide a return on investment of 38 dollars for every dollar spent according to campaignmonitor.com. That’s a staggering ROI, but you’ll only see these kinds of returns if an email is done right by taking into account the specific needs and desires of your customers. To that end, personalization is the name of the game in e-commerce in 2018.
This entire strategy stems the basic instincts of people—personalization in the digital world is just an extension of the kind of quality service that brought customers back again and again. Now, whether it was to a hotel whose employees remembered the guest’s name, or a clothing retailer who knew the customer’s sizes, it doesn’t matter— you can apply these same principals to any kind of email marketing.
Five Reasons Email Personalization will Boost your ROI Now
Email marketing is no longer only reserved for the B2C space. Email personalization is improving the customer experience and business performance of those in the B2B realm. Consider the millennial generation—they are a distinct group and want a personalized consumer experience. And Reports by Adobe and Forbes state that the majority of this group prefers to be reached by email, they check their email multiple times throughout the day, on various devices.
With that in mind, here are five concrete reasons personalizing your email marketing will boost your ROI.
People want Personalization
Human instinct applies whether you work in the B2C or B2B space. And while there are plenty of statistics to back this up, if you think about it practically, it only makes sense. People want brands to understand them. If you do it right, you’ll have built a bridge. Case in point—millennials are willing to engage with businesses if they receive a personalized offer in an email. Moreover, in general, personalized messages perform three times better than blast and batch emails.
Spotify did this to great effect with their “Fans First” personalized emails. Essentially the recipient would receive an email congratulating them for being a top listener on Spotify. It would also come with special offers attached, like early access to tickets and invites to special events. So not only do recipients get a little flattery, but it’s backed up with cool deals, too.
Professionals Prefer Email
So now we’ve established that people are looking for a personal connection. We’ve also established that, in the world of e-commerce, personalized emails get higher open rates. Now consider the target audience. According to B2B stats, 86% of business professionals prefer to do business by email when communicating. And on the advertising side, 59% of marketers report that their personalized email marketing is the most effective channel at generating revenue.
So how best to apply the established principles of personalized email marketing to consumers in the B2B realm? Really, it’s best to look at it as “segmentation” rather than personalization. You can combine tactics to personalize emails. Regarding opt-in emails, you can segment your lists by customer shopping preferences, frequency, products and more. For repeat customers, you can send out transaction emails based on the above segments offering promotional coupons and complementary products. To maximize ROI combine this with personalization in all other aspects of your marketing, including:
- Social media (engage in personal dialogues with customers via social platforms)
- Websites (offer various landing pages with promo material, different navigation options, saved shopping carts, etc.)
- Loyalty programs (incentivize repeat business through rewards)
- Packaging (offer printed promotions attached to the orders you ship)
- Mobile (make sure your website and all your offers are optimized for mobile)
It’s Perfect for the Mobile World
Email marketing works because these messages reach people on any device, and since two-thirds of all emails are opened on mobile, it’s the perfect delivery system for your B2B branded message. You can reach your targets anywhere, at any time, with a personalized email. And because the message is tailored specifically to them, they feel they have a measure of psychological control in the business-customer relationship, which inspires confidence.
The great thing is you can send personalized emails across multiple devices simultaneously, and there’s a high chance the recipient will be interested. According to one statistic from nectarom, 64% of consumers have taken advantage of promotions found in an email. Also, it beats other marketing methods because, unlike, say, text, emails never incur the fee to send and receive.
Personalization will Help you Streamline your Marketing Efforts
Which, in turn, will save you money while simultaneously engaging with your target customer and boosting ROI. Personalized email marketing does this in two ways: by telling you what works and helping with lead nurturing. An effective, personalized email marketing campaign will showcase the metrics your B2B operation needs to know in order to determine which aspects are working to drive traffic to your site. For example, after sending an email out you can immediately go back and check the click-through rates on a particular link, which tells what appeals to your targets and what doesn’t.
It Facilitates Lead Nurturing
As for lead nurturing, personalization boosts credibility and strengthens relationships. A solid personalized email campaign gives the recipient the feeling they’re included in your operation and aren’t just a number on a list. And by sharing informative content, the recipient knows immediately whether you’re a credible-enough operation in which to do business. These are the fundamentals of lead nurturing as it is commonly known—except maximized to incredible effect via personalization.
Conclusion
There are a lot of different ways to craft a personalized email campaign. So let your imagination run wild. But don’t ignore the proven tactics. Do create customer buyer persona maps in order to glean insight into the personality of your target buyer. And learn how to craft personalized, engaging subject lines, as they will certainly increase your open rates. Most important, never fail to follow up and engage in meaningful dialogue with your customers.
