Give your mailings more impact
Emailing is a great way to make contact. More effective than phoning, it's less time-consuming - and therefore less costly - to implement. For your sales reps, it's a great way to offer quality content while fuelling their sales approach. While there are a few rules to be respected when it comes to content, the recipient e-mail base remains pivotal to the success of your e-mail campaigns.
Mailing or phoning?
Direct canvassing
What form should your first prospecting contact take? Mail? Call? This depends very much on the type of market you're in. If you don't have many leads, why not call directly? Yes, but to say what? On the one hand, e-mail allows you to process a higher volume of leads, but it also provides a good excuse to call afterwards. "Hello, Mr. Smith from company x. I've sent you an e-mail...". That's as many chances as there are for you to avoid the traditional "Send us an e-mail...", a formula that's systematically used to avoid a response. If you've already done so, you'll be able to bounce right back.
The difficulty of phoning
For the first contact, it's all about cold calling / cold mailing. The ROI (Return on Investment) of cold calling is very low: around 4%. It has to be said that companies are highly solicited, and cold calling can be seen as intrusive. As a result, cold calling has become a real sport! Telemarketing requires both tenacity and endurance. But even the most motivated can become demoralized when the umpteenth call remains unsuccessful.
Mailing as an approach technique
In BtoB, direct mail is the preferred channel for finding suppliers. The Fevad study reveals that it accounts for 63% of purchases. In terms of ROI, emailing achieves a result of 12%: three times better than phoning. It's also less time-consuming, since you're simultaneously addressing a large target of prospects. This saves your sales force time, allowing them to focus on the "hottest" prospects.
The rules of a good mailing
Keep it short and personal
Your mailings must be concise. Be concise to capture attention. Personalization is also key: address the person by their first name, mention the name of their company, adapt your message to their situation.
Write a good subject line
The subject line should also be short, but effective. There's nothing worse than sending an e-mail, arriving in Inbox, but not being read because your subject didn't inspire interest. The key is to attract attention, pique curiosity and capture interest. Don't say too much to stay open. If your opening rate doesn't exceed 20%, your objects need to be reworked. The AB testing method allows you to test two variants and analyze their impact, to select the best one. Some mailing software packages offer this. This optimizes the deliverability rate of your mailings.
Call to action
A good mailing is one in which the recipient knows what to expect. This is known as a CTA: Call to Action. Your prospecting consists in proposing a follow-up to your readers: a next step. Ask a clear question such as: "Would you be available for a telephone conversation at 3 p.m.? Rather than being too vague, such as "I'd like to have your feedback".
Follow-up
Send follow-up emails until you get a response. 90% of sales people don't bother. Being part of the persistent 10% makes all the difference. We're afraid of sounding insistent, but in reality the majority of your recipients will notice your pugnacity. In today's fast-paced world, we all receive a lot of e-mails and don't take the time to read/open them all. But that doesn't mean we're not interested. And the day you need a supplier, the name of the one you're receiving e-mails from comes more quickly to mind.
Automate
How do you go about it? When you're prospecting a large volume of contacts, it's difficult to segment actions by batch of recipients without making mistakes. It would be unwise to re-address an e-mail to a contact who has replied in the meantime. There's no better way of doing this than by automating your reminders. You're sure not to forget anyone, while adapting the action to each individual.
The quality of your database
Which database to start with?
It's one thing to write a good mailing, but if the recipient emails aren't good, the result will be nil.
How good is your database? Is the information fresh and up-to-date? Hard to know. And then... hard to track! Buy a database on purpose? Yes... but the risk is that it's already been used a lot. And it can't be exhaustive.
Rely on professional social networks
Linkedin is the most up-to-date and comprehensive network. It's where people fill in and update their career paths. It's a gold mine of information. However, you need to know the person in order to "connect". Retrieving emails by export is complicated. You can opt for a premium version of Linkedin, or use specialized software.
Feed your CRM with fresh data
There are lead generation software packages that can update your database in real time using professional networks. Such is the case with Datananas. Based on networks such as Linkedin or Viadeo, the solution will search for contacts and prospects relevant to the company and export them to your CRM. As nominative professional emails are not always included, the software will be able to guess or verify the professional email of all exported contacts.
Sales reminder template to integrate into emails
Can't find the right words to remind your prospects? Download this free template and personalize it.
Mailings continue to play an important role in lead management. Less intrusive than phoning, they enable you to offer content while feeding the conversion tunnel. While the quality and characteristics of the e-mail certainly play a major role in terms of impact, the qualification of recipient e-mails remains key. That's why professional networks such as Linkedin represent a goldmine of fresh, personal information to be judiciously mobilized.
Article translated from French