Page 12 - index

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

The formula "frequency = relevance" hardly

ever works out in B2B email marketing

Have you seen the campaign by Hubspot named "The Do they still hope to strike me down and finally beat
death by marketing automation" which was created in me, winning the battle?
2011? It states that through bad B2B email marketing
your reach shrinks by approximately 15-20% per year. Between us, even then, I will refuse to buy anything! As
How can Hubspot make such a provocative statement? a consumer I only buy when I feel the need or demand
- or perhaps have a glimpse of a feeling that I might
Let’s just take a look at our own email inbox. There are need it.
usually only three types of advertising emails:
In companies, purchase decisions are normally made
1 Emails that are clearly for advertising purposes and by a group of decision makers, making relevance not
that at this moment just do not concern or wake any frequency key in B2B marketing and the only way to
interest will automatically be deleted - unread. delight customers and prospects. The formula
"frequency = relevance" simply doesn't add up. To be
2. Emails that are sent so frequently, that they basically relevant, you need information about your receiver,
clog my mailbox. Such emails are often marked as which goes beyond the mere email address.
spam and get intercepted by a filter, before they can
reach the reader. If it could be arranged to choose in Another tip: With marketing automation, you can give
which frequency readers want these mails to be sent, the recipient more choice through an intelligent
they would perhaps be inclined to adjust the frequency "subscription center” in regards to which kind of offers
automatically. they would like to get, at what frequency, and even
what time of day they prefer to receive emails.
3. And then there are still some emails which are con-
sidered that they might someday still be of interest or Some people prefer to read their emails in the evening
useful. Most people move them to a specific folder and after work, others during the lunch break and I, for ex-
save them there. However, in general they just stay ample, prefer to read them while having my breakfast.
there forever, without being read, with maybe around As our personalities and profiles are so different, the
10% seeing the light of day again. emails should reflect this and adjust to our needs. Try
to do whatever it takes not to get deleted, ignored, or
I hardly ever bother to unsubscribe from a mailing list. pushed into the farthest corner of an ominous little mail-
Rather, I mark the email as spam and it then will be box that will never be read. ◊
filtered out. The big question is, however, why is it still
the case that in 2014 I am bombarded, literally By Roger Stadler
drowned, in uninteresting email advertising?

12 Asian eMarketing October 2014 - Marketing Automation