For most B2B tech companies today, communication is about generating leads and engaging the audience with great content. But the competition is razor sharp and it’s hard to stand out in the buzz. I interviewed Nancy Harhut, leading Marketing Creative & Behavioral Science Expert, to get an update on the latest trends to create successful emails – which engages and drives conversion.
Get my greatest learnings in this blog post and listen to the full episode here.
“We all act as individuals and apply the same triggers”
Nancy Harhut
Nancy is an authority in the field but started her career in journalism. Soon, however, she ended up in the marketing field and was inspired by psychologist Robert Cialdini's behaviour principles. She started to explore how these could be applied in marketing.
— Regardless of channel - whether it’s emails, content, telemarketing or print - we all act as individuals and apply the same triggers, says Nancy.
The subject line is critical
She tells me that the words we choose to communicate in emails are of great importance – and most important of all is words mentioned in the subject line:
— There are some emerging techniques that have been proven successful, such as capitalizing each word in the initial sentence, using unusual signs or ending the sentence with a question mark. Methods like this increase the overall engagement, Nancy says.
She also tells us that demonstrating urgency attract more readers. It may be a time-limited offer or a deadline for acting upon something. Furthermore we, as readers, are always attracted to what boosts our ego. Messages about exclusivity will always get our attention.
6 tips to create successful emails
When it comes to the actual email content, Nancy mentions 6 useful tips:
- Quizzes’, polls and other engaging content are always successful.
- Value-creating content such as guides and videos are also appreciated.
- Current topics work well.
- New angles on existing technology and methods can provide reading value.
- Storytelling is appreciated.It brings emotions and activates other parts of the brain.
- Makeinformation easy digestible in useful bite size pieces - preferably in numbered lists such as "Our 3 most important tips ..", "7 steps ways to ...".
In general, Nancy thinks that anything that’s useful or sharable is equal to good content. We as human beings like to emphasize ourselves. If we can share something that makes us appear smarter or better we’re more likely to do it.
What should be avoided then? Nancy warns us to think that everyone is as interested in our product or service as ourselves.
– Companies have a tendency to put everything out there, but we need to take a step back and really consider what the customers want to know, she concludes.
Would you like to get more tips on how to succeed with your lead generation? Download our eBook "Lead Generation for B2B Tech Companies"
