How To Craft A Winning Outbound Email For B2B Lead Generation
By 2023, more than 347 billion emails will be sent and received per day. To rise above the noise, it's critical to build an email that isn't overly pitchy or tone deaf. If you want your messaging to stand out in your future customer’s email inbox, it needs to be expertly crafted.
Crafting outbound messaging can be labor intensive, but the process itself doesn’t have to take years. Here are some general do’s and don’ts for creating effective B2B email messaging:
Do:
• Write tailored messaging for each buyer persona and ideal customer profile (ICP).
• Consider your tone of voice. Is it appropriate for the person you’re reaching out to? You may want to interview your users to see how they frame their problems and your solution. Use their own words in your messaging so your point is crisp and clear.
• Use an attention-grabbing subject line. You need to intrigue your prospect before they even open your message. Beware, though, that the “best subject line” articles floating around are already outdated and no longer work. You need to test this yourself or find a partner with experience testing subject lines.
• Convey your value, and provide proof that you can help alleviate the prospect’s pain points. Point to examples, and let other stories speak to the work you can do for them.
• Consistency is key, so use a CRM like Salesforce to stay on top of your buyer’s journey.
• Use a relevant opener to explain why you are reaching out to them. This could be a new partnership announcement, office expansion, press release or any compelling reason to connect.
Don’t:
• Use an inauthentic or insincere tone in your voice. Prospects can spot fakeness instantly. Don’t try to impress people with pedantic words, such as “pedantic.” You don’t want to emphasize your expertise in such a way that it comes off as showing off.
• Write long, boring subject lines. Your prospect will be less likely to read and engage with your message.
• Write off-putting, lengthy messages. Verbosity is for academics, not revenue generators. Don’t just talk about how amazing your offering is. Instead, focus on what your offering can do specifically for the prospect, using concise stories as examples.
• Go overboard with attention-grabbing tactics. These can hook a potential lead, but going overboard will make people think that you’re not taking your role seriously. Find the balance.
• Write with spelling and grammatical errors. Directors, VPs, and the C-suite all have above-average written communication skills. Run your emails through tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor before you hit “send.”
• Use industry jargon that consumers are not familiar with. For instance, I could write my emails to say that Convertist “helps maximize sales velocity,” but this would tank our reply rates. Remember, your prospects owe you nothing, so they will not translate your buzzwords for you. Never confuse or alienate your email contacts.
Other Ways To Improve Your Outbound Messaging
If you aren’t seeing your desired response rate, here are a few of my tried-and-tested tricks that have delivered success for clients:
• Try including the recipient’s name in your subject lines. This can significantly boost your open rates.
• Try sending emails in mid- to late morning: 11:00 a.m. is the optimal time of day to maximize click-through rates according to HubSpot, so experiment with sending messaging midmorning.
• Avoid spam filters. To get around them, it’s worth spending time learning how they work.
• Run your email by a friend who fits your ICP. Your ICP is the best sounding board for your outbound messaging. Before testing an email in production, ask a friend if they would reply to this.
In short, a successful outbound email combines a killer subject line with crisp, relevant copy and valuable content. Once you’ve crafted a winning campaign, the next step is developing the right KPIs to measure and track team progress.