Lead rates from email-only outreach fell drastically last year, while those from multichannel continued to climb, according to new research from sales technology specialist, Sopro.
A 22% drop in success rates for email-only outreach occurred in 2023 vs 2022. This corresponded to an increase in the number of marketing emails by 49% as businesses battled for attention from prospects.
Three-quarters of B2B companies surveyed believe that marketing results are better when email prospecting is combined with other outbound marketing channels, while 68% agree that email prospecting complements inbound marketing channels.
Email still holds a vital role in outreach strategy, however. Sixty-seven percent of buyers said they prefer to be contacted by email than any other channel, while 88% want to hear from suppliers when researching a purchasing decision.
The landscape remains challenging. An average of four stakeholders are now involved in the decision-making process, up from 3.6 in 2023. Eleven percent of companies have between six and nine people involved. When asked to list their main marketing concerns in 2023, respondents cited lead generation (46%), lead quality (38%) and generating quality content (36%).
Sopro analysed data from more than 75.2 million emails and combined them with insights from over 350 sales and marketing professionals, outlined in the State of Prospecting 2024 whitepaper. The study comes as businesses prepare for new regulations by Google and Yahoo, which have been enforced from February 2024. These will apply to anyone who sends more than 5,000 emails per day, in a bid to clamp down on spam.
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