In our haste to gain customers, we focus most of our efforts on what we want our customers to buy. In most cases, our efforts fall short of understanding the effects our message has on the customer.
In this article, we aim to highlight a few valuable studies relating to the promotion of your message in an email, within the proper context, expressed well enough to be likable, achieve higher than expected results, and all within a business environment.
The way we write our emails can affect how the reader engages with us. Research has shown that some words and phrases automatically cause people to disengage from what they’re reading, while others engage them in a more personal manner. The tone of voice should be friendly instead of formal or aggressive if you want your recipients to continue engaging with your email marketing campaign for long periods.
When questioning workers in English majority countries, most of those who use Email say that their experience with Email is manageable. Perhaps you have noticed that only a modest amount of your time on a typical workday is spent reading and writing emails unless you are among the small minority of power users.
Most will acknowledge how Email is precious, if not essential to their work and unsolicited spam emails are a problem. However, delving more profound into the spam issue, we find that it is a nuisance only for personal email accounts, and business users say that only a little spam is noticed in their work email.
Email Behaviour At The Workplace
In the workplace, the worker considers the humble Email firmly implanted as part of their job and uses it accordingly. Email works best for the simplest tasks like communications and logistics management, and Email is not used for sensitive issues and problems.
What is Email best used for in the work situation?
| By Email | By phone | In-person | |
| Edit or review documents | 67% | 4% | 26% |
| Arrange a meeting or appointment | 63% | 23% | 12% |
| Ask questions about work issues | 36% | 17% | 44% |
In the workplace, Email is used to encourage valuable discussion and communication. However, few have reported this to extend to out-of-office time. Workers have said that very few emails get checked outside of work hours.
Understanding Spam In The Workplace
We know that spam can be disruptive at the workplace, and employers have attempted to adopt spam filters. However, it is common to dial down filers to catch only obvious spam, such as sexual content. The drawback with filers is that you could see important work messages, which would be highly unproductive.
According to many survey results, relatively few spam emails are finding their way into work emails. The main reason for this is due to how spammers tend to prefer sending emails.
Spammers deal with tens of millions of email accounts designed to snag the vulnerable. Businesses are small prey, and the users quickly identify spam, making it undesirable for spammers. Blanketing millions in their list with spam is far less time-consuming than designing emails business users will respond to.
Cold business emails are not spammed if the end-user finds “legitimate interest” in the Email. Cold marketing emails can get through the highly productive radar and, in some cases, result in a business transaction. Some business users have reported that when a cold email has identified a requirement, it saves them time searching to fulfill that need.
Marketing To Email Power Users
A small workforce group belongs to what might best be described as the “email power user elite.” This group of individuals is inundated by emails and spend a vast amount of time dealing with them.
The group comprises professionals, managers, or executives, basically, the top positions in a workforce. If you have a list of these high earners and are looking to send your marketing email, be advised to take extra care with your content.
Email power users are evenly split between men and women. They are online veterans with a positive attitude to emails and have adopted high-time efficiency techniques.
“Email power users do more with email and do it smartly.”
They find emails more effective than phone calls and respond less to face-to-face requests. You’ll find your marketing email, if attractive, will be delegated to standard email users who are happier to engage with you on other mediums.
Your marketing email should be worded to differ any action from a subordinate standard email user as the power user is unlikely to have the time to respond to you.
Email power users are most likely to be using the anytime and anyplace strategy, and your Email will be viewed and dusted off if no value is found from it.
If you do get a reply, then they expect a prompt answer back. You can expect an aggressive turnaround in the decision-making process.
Power users like to be kept in the loop as they are not phased by the number of emails they receive. They say Email saves them time even though they spend far more time dealing with emails compared to standard users.
Marketing To Younger And Standard Users
Those under 30 years old, the youngest works represent the generation to have grown up with the Interest and Email. A study done in the United Kingdom in 2020 shows that email usage is one of the highest activities performed online by Gen Z, third place to Social Media and watching video content.
However, this does not mean that they are similar to email power users, and younger users are categorized as standard users. The younger workers regard the use of their Email in the workplace differently from older workers, and the line between work and personal use becomes blurred.
Those who are less enthusiastic with emails than email power users tend to be regarded as standard users. They are less likely to be professionals, managers and more likely to be in sales or work part-time.
Effects Of The Pandemic On Work Emailers
The Covid pandemic has created a trend of working from home and traveling less to the workplace. This has not changed the Email but only when and how workers access it. New technologies have given workers the flexibility to access using multiple devices. The work hours do not apply; many have to organize work around childcare and housework. Many have said that they take time to look at cold marketing emails and even, on some occasions, reply to them.
Creating Effective Emails For B2B Customers
Email is in many ways similar to a face-to-face conversation, and it is not always easy to switch from casual to professional. As with experienced marketers, you should keep your emails, professional, when engaging in B2B email marketing.
Common mistakes to avoid:
- Do not use emoticons
- Do not be too informal
- Avoid misspelling and poor grammar
- No capitalization (use appropriately)
Now the meaty bit, content, stringent follow these guidelines:
- Always introduce yourself in the same way as you would in a cover letter.
- Make the reason obvious in the subject line
- Personalise the contact name to the person or company you are sending to.
- When you reply, always reply to the original message.
- Keep your email address short and simple (readable)
- Always have all your information in a signature, including your name and company contact details.
- If the response is informal do not reply back informal, keep your professionalism.
- B2B customers need a telephone to follow up.
- Set a tone in your emails and always be aware of it.
Setting The Tone Of Your Email Content
You must get the tone right in your marketing email. We should remember that an inappropriate manner can cause the receiver to ignore, delete or even overreact to your message. Business email writers must control the style so the email message has the intended result.
Definition of tone: “the quality in your writing that reveals your attitude towards your topic and reader.”
The structure of your sentences and the choice of words used govern the tone of the writing. You will damage the business partnership before it even starts if you use the wrong style.
The best advice for setting the tone in your writing is to write in a way you would speak to the receiver in person. However, choose your words carefully as you are limited to only paper and don’t have the luxury of body language to convey your message.
- Use appropriate greeting and closing. The closing needs to reinforce the tone such as an action-oriented closing or closing graciously like, “I look forward to meeting you”.
- Write in an active voice. An active voice makes your tone clearer. The last thing you want is your email tone to sound bureaucratic the way a passive voice sounds. An active voice example would be: “we will gladly provide materials” as opposed to passive voice: “material will be provided promptly”.
- Use personal pronouns. Keep the writing personal and address the reader directly. For example: “you will receive” as opposed to: “all subscribers will receive”.
- Keep your information ordered. Place the important information first do not try to bury it in the middle of it may be missed or misinterpreted.
- Keep marketing emails short. You may have a lot of information to give your customer but better to write to the point and remove the fluff.
- Proofread. It can be so easy to forget to proofread before sending. But each mistake can lower the chance of starting a business partnership.
How to write professional emails:
Conclusion
B2B email marketing should be made more intuitive to the interests of the receiver. There is tremendous opportunity after the Covid era has energized email users. We know now that Email is as popular as ever, and access to business emails is not limited to work hours due to the influence of WFH.
As a B2B email marketer, you have two types of email users, the power users and the standard users—each with its way of dealing with incoming emails. Your marketing email needs to pay attention to which type of user your Email will be sent to.
You don’t need to be an expert in writing an email, but you need to follow the guidelines in this article to secure a greater chance of success.
Email communication should not be used as a substitute for face-to-face conversation. Even during the lockdown, people have been arranging zoom video conference meetings. Use Email to get your foot through the door.
The usage of the correct tone in your Email is vital for the excellent transmission of your message. If your goal is to convert cold leads to paying customers, you’ll have to start by expressing your message clearly and appropriately.
References
https://www.ramapo.edu/hr/files/2018/02/Communication-Skills-for-Workplace-Success.pdf
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.629.2554&rep=rep1&type=pdf
