Dear {First Name}, here's what I learned from sending out an embarrassing email

Last Friday I made a horrible mistake. It’s the kind of error that makes most marketers cringe or at least point and laugh. What did I do? I sent out an email blast and failed to personalize the greeting with the person’s name so everyone saw this:

Hey {{name}}!

I’ve seen mistakes like this happen before but this was the first time it happened to me so I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew it was important to use this as a learning experience. Here were the results from this email blast: 

• 54% Open Rate
• 7% Click Thru
• 10% of the people actually emailed me back.  

According to Mailchimp the average open rate for B2B is 23.07% and click thru rate is 2.84%  

I expected some people to reply and point out my error, which of course they did: 

{Insert Cringe Here}

haha! Funny guy!

but I was actually surprised to get more favorable responses and wondered why this happened even with such a glaring error in my opening line. Here are three reasons why I think this email still worked: 

1) The accounts were targeted 

Our team at Triblio believes in account based selling and has seen the results first hand. Using this more targeted, high touch approach, we've increased demos by 73%, revenue by 402% and our average sales price more than doubled. Today, we make it a point to reach out to someone only if we see an opportunity to help their company improve and become more successful. If you're getting an email from our sales team, believe they've done their due diligence and have a good reason for why they're reaching out.

2) The message was relevant, timely and offered value

Having targeted accounts allows us to be more intentional and value focused on what we email. In this case we sent out an invitation for an event we're sponsoring called: #FlipMyFunnel which is an account-based marketing conference happening in San Francisco later this month and highly relevant and valuable to our target audience. 

3) We've interacted with them beyond email

Our team believes in social and uses it as a way of engaging and getting on the radar of our target accounts even before sending email. This tactic allows us to learn more about the people in our target accounts and leverage that information via email or phone. They also become more likely to open and respond because they've seen our name before.

Here are my final thoughts:  I was lucky to get decent results without personalization but you might not. On average marketers who leverage personalization can expect to increase their engagement, conversions and sales. If you want to maximize your results always choose to personalize! People today expect personalization not just in emails but also on your website. Make them feel special and watch results soar. 

Interested in learning more about account-based marketing? Check out this free upcoming webinar featuring...

• Jon Miller, CEO @ Engagio
• Rishi Dave, CMO @ Dunn & Bradstreet
• Andre Yee, CEO @ Triblio
• Sangram Vajre, CMO @ Terminus

Click here to RSVP