With another year well underway, there’s no doubt that a change is taking place in the landscape of B2B outreach.
This is not just about the rapid advancement of AI, which is impacting both SaaS and service-based businesses. There’s also the need to navigate new rules and regulations such as the new email sender restrictions. Add to this the increased competition for inbox space and we can see that the sector is undergoing significant transformation. Adapting to these developments will be vital in order to have any hope of standing out among the growing competition.
Email was originally our own main channel for outreach at Sopro, as we knew that this was the way most people preferred to be contacted. To a degree, this hasn’t changed. We recently carried out additional research which confirmed that email is still the channel of choice for 67% of buyers.
However, the sheer volume of email has increased dramatically. 37% of brands increased their email marketing budget in 2023 and a staggering 1.5 billion marketing emails were opened.
With lead rates for email-only campaigns down 22.2% on 2022, the inbox is becoming massively overcrowded. It’s clear that we need to take a fresh approach.
So, what’s the solution? B2B prospecting has always been about finding quality leads, so casting a wider net won’t solve the problem. We need to focus on creating an outreach sequence that is more creatively intricate, while sticking to the key principles of reaching the right prospects with the right message, in the right place, and at the right time.
The answer – or ‘salvation’ if you will – is multi-channel prospecting. Our research showed that 75% of B2B companies have achieved better results when email is layered with other outbound channels. At the same time, B2B buyers are happy to be contacted on an average of 2.8 channels.
The first step in this process is to elevate the quality of your email outreach. Invest time in focusing on deliverability, content, personalisation and making your brand memorable.
Next, select additional tools and channels that will complement your optimised email messaging.
Tools that assess buyer intent are incredibly valuable for campaign outreach. By identifying engagement levels, you can personalise content based on activity and contact prospects when they are actively looking for a solution.
Other newly available technologies such as IP matching can also reveal hidden buyer interest. We’ve seen the results first-hand, with campaigns experiencing an uplift in lead quality by 37.8% and volumes by almost 15%.
Finally, expand your channels. This might mean adding LinkedIn, phone calls, gifting campaigns, paid ads or direct mail.
Creative strategies are becoming integral to the world of prospecting and we’re seeing a significant move towards intent-based, multi-channel messaging. It’s all about bringing together the latest tech with a heightened understanding of human behaviour – or you could just call it really good marketing.
Ryan Welmans is the CEO and co-founder of Sopro
