MailChimp
We know we bang on about these guys a lot, but it’s because so much of what they do resonates with experts in the B2B space. Jenna Tiffany, founder and strategy director of Let’s Talk Strategy, is a big fan too. “MailChimp really goes on a journey with its business customers as soon as they create an account,” she says. “For example, if you don’t create a campaign to be sent out a couple of weeks after signing up, MailChimp will send you a personalised email containing tips and guides on how to build your first campaign. This is what a truly relevant communication should be about and what a value exchange should look like. Then as soon as you log in to the platform you’re greeted by your personal user name and a highlight of stats on the performance of your email campaigns and any latest amends or campaigns created in your account.”
Moz
Moz, a provider of inbound marketing and marketing analytics software subscriptions, makes sure it’s on its customers’ radar without being too intrusive. “Every week, it sends out some stats around keyword rankings, domain authority and external links,” explains Molly Koernke, head of SMB Marketing at Insight. “It’s a friendly reminder to ensure you’re going back into Moz to use what you’re paying for. If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed your campaign data, they’ll send you a trigger email encouraging you to view your campaign data. It’s helpful without being overwhelming. They also sent out a recent survey asking users what else they’d like to see. It’s nice to have my voice included in their next update.”
"Digital personalisation is like adolescent sex. Everyone obsesses over it, but unfortunately very few know what they’re doing"
HubSpot
HubSpot is one brand that seems to have hit the B2B personalisation nail on the head – a great endorsement considering they’re selling an inbound marketing product. “From the minute you interact with the company, it has qualified you, found out your needs and interests and then hits you with personalised free content to drive engagement and push you further along the sales funnel,” says Sally Hunter, marketing director at Hunterlodge. “And it appears to be working with HubSpot having grown from a start-up in 2006 to turning over hundreds of millions in terms of revenue today. It uses the full spectrum of marketing channels – email, social, SEO, blogging, CRM and analytics – to create personal, tailored tactics to ultimate effect.”
GE Power Services
Recognising that personalisation in B2B is made tougher by the trials and tribulations associated with effective targeting, Molly urges marketers to focus more on making all customer interactions memorable. “GE Power Services recently did just that. Its Collaboration Summit targeted Indian start-ups working on game-changing technologies, and GE designed everything for the event with a specific audience in mind,” she says. “It even had a ‘What’s in it for me?’ section. All of this proves that the winners in B2B are the ones who can humanise digital experiences.” (Molly also wins B2B Marketing’s quote of the month with this lexical showstopper: “Digital personalisation is like adolescent sex. Everyone obsesses over it, but unfortunately, very few know what they’re doing.” Molly, we salute you.)
Salesforce
The B2B CRM powerhouse impressed us with this element of the Dreamforce website – a carefully-worded email template designed to convince your boss that they should fork out for your tickets and airfare. Such a tactic humanises the Salesforce brand: it shows it to be viewing its customers as people rather than numbers, and while the content itself clearly can’t be highly personalised, it’s done a pretty good job of making it relevant and useful for a wide-ranging audience.
