5 business email best practices for ABM
21 February 2023
Email is a core pillar of successful account-based marketing (ABM) approaches. And we’re not just talking about marketing emails but the business emails that individual employees send out.
But how can you ensure recipients read your emails, value the content, and take action? By following the 5 tips listed below. Let’s explain the most important email best practices for ABM.
1. Make your subject line so good they can’t ignore it
The average professional spends 28% of their time reading and answering emails. They receive roughly 120 emails per day. To put that into perspective, that’s an email every 4 minutes of the workday.
It’s increasingly challenging for your emails to stand out from the crowd. That’s why subject lines are so important. Great subject lines tantalize and excite readers as they have no choice but to open your message. However, poorly planned subject lines risk being filtered by spam or left unread.
Consider the following examples. Which subject line piques your curiosity and which has you instinctively thinking, “I’m not reading that”?
Everything you wanted to know about ABM but were too afraid to ask
URGENT!!! EXCLUSIVE OFFER INSIDE!!!
Here are a few quick tips to help you create a subject line that’ll pack a punch:
Keep it to 60 characters or less
Use emojis sparingly
Don’t use all capital letters
A/B test your subject lines
Create intrigue with lists, how-to's or tips
Use an AI tool to help you come up with some fun ideas that you might not have thought of
2. Cut to the chase, focusing on the ‘why?’
Now that you have a subject line to hook your readers, the last thing you want to do is disappoint them when they open your email. So, focus on the ‘why?’.
Why are you contacting them?
Why should they listen to what you say?
Why should they take action?
Framing your content around the ‘why?’ makes your emails more valuable. You’re not simply saying things for the sake of it. Everything has a purpose and is relevant to the reader.
If you do that, your emails will stand out from the crowd.
3. Use personalization to increase engagement
Personalization is vital in today’s business landscape. 71% of consumers expect personalized experiences, while 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.
However, personalization goes beyond just addressing your emails to recipients’ first names. Tailor your email content according to their industry. Include relevant case studies from similar companies you’ve worked with. Use your sales team’s knowledge of the point of contact to customize your tone of voice. Reference recent company updates to show you understand their business’s context.
4. Use email signatures to present a unified experience and build trust
Email signatures are perhaps the single most underrated marketing channel. By optimizing your employees’ email signatures, you can present a consistent brand experience, build trust, and boost conversions.
Here’s why.
Spelling mistakes and broken links destroy trust. If your employees can’t even send out accurate email signatures, why should companies trust you to solve their challenges? What’s more, individual variations between employees present a fragmented brand experience. It might seem like a minor issue, but it can make your company seem unprofessional, undoing the trust you’ve carefully built up.
Use tools like Exclaimer email signature software to ensure your signatures are always up to scratch. Deliver a consistent brand experience, no matter the sender’s location or department.
5. Analyze and optimize your email signatures
If email signatures are valuable marketing real estate, you should analyze them as you do with other marketing efforts. It’s not enough to deliver impressive signature designs. You must then track how each template performs, identify what works, what doesn’t, and how you can better serve your target accounts.
Fortunately, email signatures are easy to analyze, provided you have a solution like Exclaimer’s.
Track the success of your email signature templates with an analytics dashboard containing important metrics such as impressions and clicks. Precisely measure results to constantly assess your ROI and optimize your ABM activities.
Smash your ABM marketing goals in 2023
By following the 5 best practices listed above, you’ll ensure that business email is a core pillar supporting your overarching ABM strategy.
Create tantalizing subject lines that are too good to ignore. Always focus on the why; why you’re sending the email, why the recipient should care, and why they need to act. Utilize first-party data to personalize as much as possible. Ensure your email signatures present a consistent brand experience. Analyze how signatures perform before optimizing your ABM approach.
Ready to step up how you use email signatures as part of your ABM strategy?
Learn more about how Exclaimer helps organizations centrally manage email signature or sign up for a free demo today.
