More Evidence That “Free” Is A Four-Letter Word For B2B Marketers
Last week, I covered an email performance study that flagged the word “free” as a deal-killer for click-to-open rates. Today, I was intrigued to see a HubSpot blog post that describes an experiment designed to test this very point:
“If you’ve been email marketing for a while (or even if you haven’t), you might have heard that “free” is no longer a dirty word with the email overlords. Still, some email marketers are hesitant to use the word, just in case there’s some truth to the former rumors.”
HubSpot set up a simple A/B experiment: One email used the word “free” in the subject line, the other email didn’t. The test was designed to compare deliverability rates as well as click-through rates on each.
In terms of deliverability, it turned out it’s fine to offer a free lunch:
“It looks like ‘free’ raised an additional (small) red flag, but it was not severe enough to make version A perform statistically words than version B.”
But when it comes to click-through rates, the experiment told a different story: In its A/B test, the email without the word “free” in the subject line had a 17% higher click-through rate and a 5% higher click-to-open rate.
HubSpot isn’t ready to deliver the thumbs-down to using “free” in a subject line. As they (rightly) point out, what they used instead of “free” in the subject line (in this case the word “SEO”) might have been the real source of the difference.
When, however, you compare the HubSpot study to the Adestra study we covered last week, the dots connect nicely: When it comes to B2B email subject-line performance, “free” really seems to be a four-letter word.
-Matthew McKenzie
Happy Graduation, B2B Social Media!
It’s graduation time! While a slew of early 20-somethings enter the woeful workforce, the B2B world has something else to celebrate: its “graduation” into the social media big leagues. Yesterday’s post highlighted that half of B2B marketers are ignoring social media, but recent industry moves paint an interesting picture: One that indicates a positive progression for B2B social media.
More than four years ago I started writing about B2B and marketing automation. We focused on how companies were implementing a marketing automation process (MAP) and tying it to their demand generation efforts. The cool kids in school were taking it a step further with lead scoring and nurturing initiatives.
The very first article I ever wrote covering the retail space was about how retailers were tapping Facebook and MySpace to connect with their customers. The conversation in Retail TouchPoints centered on getting as many followers as possible. The “strategy” was merely an equation:
Lots of names + an interest in our brand = success.
The B2C conversation evolved from populating social networks to creating a more cohesive, cross channel engagement strategy that connected the dots between e-commerce and brick and mortar. While social commerce rapidly emerged as a result, we couldn’t figure out how to spin the story for DemandGen Report. How do you encourage B2B marketers to engage with their prospective buyers and customers on….Facebook? It didn’t add up.
But now it does.
The recent acquisitions of social media solution providers aren’t just an indicator of the market’s growth— they validate the natural progression we’ve seen in the B2B space. That calls for a graduation celebration, because dare I say it — I believe social media for B2B is finally happening on a grand scale.
To mark the special occasion, here’s a timeline of a few marquee social events covered in DemandGen Report:
Q2 2011:
- We start to see socially-focused product features in marketing automation solutions, such as Silverpop, and Salesforce.com’s acquisition of Radian6 ensues massive buzz.
Q3/late summer 2011:
- HubSpot acquires social media firm Oneforty and merges its directory of social media applications with the HubSpot App Marketplace.
- Silverpop partners with Janrain to offer social sign-in capability
- “The Social Enterprise” takes center stage at Dreamforce 2011, where Salesforce chairman and CEO Marc Benioff introduced a new framework of apps and innovations that leverage social, mobile and open cloud technologies.
- Vendors take the opportunity to launch social suites at Dreamforce, including Eloqua’s Social Suite
Q3/late fall 2011:
- Marketing automation vendors across the board, including Pardot, eTrigue and Treehouse Interactive, rolled out a number of socially-focused features and functionality to help marketers integrate social media into their demand creation campaigns.
Q2 2012/late spring 2012:
- Silverpop launches free Facebook app to help marketers convert “Likes” into revenue.
- Marketo acquires Crowdfactory and launches social marketing suite
- Oracle acquires Vitrue, a platform that gives marketers a single set of tools to manage their presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and other social media platforms.
- Salesforce acquires Buddy Media to combine the platform with Radian6, its social media listening platform, to enable users to listen, engage, gain insight, publish, advertise and measure social marketing programs.
- HubSpot partnered with HootSuite to help marketers connect social media to generating, managing and nurturing leads — to help marketers “close the loop” on social media marketing.
Social Articles Of Interest in DemandGen Report:
Why B2B Marketers Should Embrace Social Sign-In
Tapping Into The World Of Social To Drive Sales
Pinterest and B2B Marketing: Pinning Down The Newest Social Media Player
Infographic: Understanding Marketing Automation
While the marketing automation industry has seen rapid, steady adoption over the last two years, industry experts point to a lack of process-based insight as a reason why marketers are not realizing the full value of their investments. This infographic highlights the evolution of marketing automation, as well as some of the key challenges and barriers to success. Additionally, the content explores the best ways to utilize automation to maximize efficiency and enhance prospect and customer communications.
Infographic: Inbound Marketing Rising
Progressive marketers are fusing inbound marketing and content marketing efforts to compete in a noisy market. By targeting relevant, quality content strategically at ready to engage prospects, marketers are cultivating a greater role in the buying process, but doing so on the buyer’s terms. According to inbound marketing vendor HubSpot, 72% of companies that blog weekly have acquired customers through their blog. Companies that are able to demonstrate value via relevant content are outpacing competitors and developing stronger, more profitable, relationships.
