If your emails and digital campaigns aren’t converting, maybe it’s because they’re annoying your prospects. A recent study found that more than 50% of B2B executives are frustrated by receiving too many irrelevant emails and ads from suppliers.

It's time for digital marketers to stop frustrating customers and start finding ways to strike the right note. Here are three common audience communication issues and how to avoid them.

1. Accuracy

While it’s disappointing to see campaign emails that are deleted without being opened (maybe it’s time to work on your subject line…), it’s worse when your emails aren’t seen at all. Especially when it’s a message that the customer wants or expects. Whether it ends up in junk mail, is blocked by a spam blacklist, or is an invalid address, it often comes back to the quality of your data. Stop wasting time and money sending messages that go nowhere; start focusing on the quality of your data.  

As people change email addresses, move companies, and get promoted, even good data goes bad. Studies have shown that B2B data decays at a rate of up to 70% per year. If you don’t regularly assess, update and cleanse your database, your data is probably not as accurate as you think it is. A database cleansing service automates the process of removing, correcting and replacing inaccurate data from their own first-party data. At OMI, we view data as a Living File that needs to be regularly maintained and updated to accurately reflect the contact person it represents. Recognizing this important reality can better ensure your messages reach the right person.

2. Frequency

As in any relationship, you need to find the right balance in how often you’re communicating. Digital marketers often overwhelm B2B buyers with too many messages at the wrong time. Stop bombarding prospects and customers; start thinking about what they need based on where they are in the buying journey.

As an example, don’t make your follow-up emails to prospects automatic. Instead, reach out when you can provide meaningful or relevant information that aligns with their needs or that emphasizes a point that underscores the value of your offer. The bottom line: contact prospects when you have a reason to. With more information available online than ever before, buyers have more control to choose a self-directed journey, accessing many resources independently and moving through the funnel at their own pace. Your digital marketing should support them in this process. It’s not about sending more emails or ad impressions, it’s about targeting the right buyer at the right time, with the right message. 

3. Relevance

Perhaps the most frustrating communication mishap in B2B marketing is an irrelevant message. You’ve likely been on the receiving end of it as a consumer – the discount email about a product after you purchased it, or a personalized ad for a service you really don’t need. Something that was meant to strengthen a business relationship just ends up being bothersome to the buyer and a waste of time and money for the seller. Stop sending irrelevant messages to anyone and everyone; start targeting prospects that want what you offer. 

Audience segmentation is a great first step in creating more personalized campaigns based on the data you already have. But for even more relevant targeting, marketers should leverage intent data, insights that are obtained when buyers’ online activities are anonymously monitored, captured and analyzed based on website visits, content downloads, product reviews, registration for webinars, etc. By combining intent data – which primarily uncovers company data through captured IP addresses – with high-quality prospect contact data, you can reach buyers that are “in market” and searching for your solution. Then, when you know you’re targeting the right prospects, the next step is to amplify your message across social media, display and email for an omni-channel approach.

Additionally, digital marketers can also take advantage of innovative new data strategies such as identity graphs, which consist of anonymized customer profiles and identifiers for real individual consumers. Identity graphs combine data from multiple quality sources to expand and optimize digital marketing reach. Using the identity graph, marketers can custom-build their audience, then take the anonymized IDs from the graph to a demand-side platform to deliver the ads. The result is a deeper and more complete view that allows you to better identify the right prospects for your offers and engage more effectively with them. At OMI, this is an area we’re excited to be a part of – stay tuned for an exciting announcement. 

New digital marketing methods like intent monitoring and identity graphs are creating unseen levels of accuracy in reach and relevance, enabling B2Bs to avoid unnecessary friction with customers and prospects. Instead of bothering your contacts with irrelevant messages, data makes it possible to stop guessing and start knowing what your audience wants so you can tailor campaigns to match their needs.

Outward Media’s proven data cleansing services and targeted, accurate email data can enable you to achieve better email marketing ROI and, ultimately, convert more prospects into customers. Take a look at our case studies to find out more.