Revealed: data-backed prospecting strategies for 2024

We’re diving head-first into some of the critical data uncovered in The State of Prospecting 2024 report that will significantly impact your outreach marketing strategies for the year ahead.

---

We’re getting right into it by showing off some of the key data and insights that have emerged from The State of Prospecting 2024. We’ve strategically worked through five pieces of core information that can significantly impact your marketing outreach campaigns for the year ahead.

As we dive into a brand new year of prospecting, we face plenty of new opportunities, but with that comes more challenges. Utilising the insights we’ve uncovered could be key in helping your business and outreach strategy navigate the seas of evolving markets, economic fluctuations, technological advancements and, of course, a significant shift in regulatory frameworks (did someone say new sender rules?). 

The key elements that we will be focusing on include:

• Buyers want sellers to contact them, and they prefer email.
• Competition is heating up. Standing out is increasingly difficult.
• Messages must be genuine, personal and authentic.
• Multi-channel prospecting meets prospects in the right place. 
• Timing is everything: buyer intent connects you with buyers at the right time.

So, let’s get into it.

Buyers want sellers to contact them, and they prefer email.

Email, without a doubt, is still coming out on top. However, with lead rates falling year on year, it’s time to bolster that strategy with a multi-channel approach. 

The biggest plot twist of 2024 is that direct mail is making a comeback, with 18% of buyers stating that they would be happy to be contacted by post. So, it’s time to innovate and integrate multiple forms of outreach into your prospecting strategy.

To strengthen this further, we know buyers are more likely to remember and trust your offering if they have seen the message more than once. Whether that’s through being exposed to highly targeted ads on social media, connecting with your expertise through a webinar, or receiving an informational pack in the post.

Competition is heating up. Standing out is increasingly difficult. 

Just 18% of companies surveyed don’t utilise email in their prospecting strategies. This small percentage highlights just how crowded the inbox is getting.

No, really. Litmus reports highlight that a staggering 1.5 billion marketing emails are opened each month, a 48.5% rise from the previous year. So, the aim of the game is to be remembered and to increase the uptake of good quality leads coming in as a result of your outreach. We’re all about that good-looking ROI. 

So what’s the solution? Multi-channel prospecting, of course! Buyers have reported that they’re happy to be contacted on an average of 2.8 channels (up from 2.3 last year). So what are you waiting for? It’s time to harness multiple channels to get your product or service in buyers’ minds.

Messages must be genuine, personal and authentic. 

With the increase in DIY email software, it’s become more accessible than ever to personalise your outgoing emails. At this point, many businesses have come to understand that a bit of personalisation goes a long way. 

So now that every person and their dog sends emails with your name in them, you need to go the extra mile to make messages feel genuine and personal. According to our survey panel, 57% of companies rate their email personalisation as “basic” or “intermediate” – it’s time to get beyond the first-name basis. 

Beyond personalisation, we’ve been digging a little deeper into the content that connects for 2024.

This year, time personalisation is the clear winner, adding a level of urgency and intrigue to pique initial interest. 

Our whitepaper digs into the nitty gritty of those words and phrases that can either capture your prospects or turn their attention away altogether. From tone of voice to the length of your emails, every detail can have a significant impact.

While creating a personalised message to grab their attention is tactical, it is just good business practice to be genuine and actively interested in your prospects. It helps forge a more authentic relationship – but be succinct. If your email tails on for too long with all the research you’ve done, the recipient may lose interest. 

Multi-channel prospecting meets prospects in the right place. 

To start strong, 75% of B2B companies say prospecting results are better when email is combined with other outbound strategies. With email-only prospecting becoming ever more popular, competition is heating up. So, there’s a wider need to cut through the noise and be heard amongst the masses. 

It’s safe to say that you won’t come off too strong, either. Following the hypothesis of encoding variability, we know that when people are exposed to information more than once and in different contexts, they’re more likely to remember it. 

Good news. Our panel of B2B buyers said they would be happy to be contacted via at least two platforms. Email, social media, direct, or on the phone! So what are you waiting for? 2024 is the perfect time to perfect your multi-channel prospecting strategy.

Timing is everything: buyer intent connects you with buyers at the right time. 

Based on our eight years of experience, we know that understanding buyer intent should be crucial in your multi-channel outreach strategy. 

Tracking buyer intent is an informative tool for identifying at what stage your prospect is in their journey. Helping you to target and act accordingly, also allowing you to lean into that next level of personalisation. Quickly identifying any barriers or questions at the surface – assisting you in problem solving and creating transparency throughout that customer journey. 

“We looked at some of the biggest campaigns using our IP Match and Engage feature. IP match increased their total lead numbers by 14.7% compared to using email alone. Not only that, but the quality of those leads was 37.6% higher, demonstrating again that reaching people while they are researching drives better results.”

Need we say more? It’s time to start leveraging buyer intent tools into your strategy.

Sell more with Sopro

Being advocates of multi-channel prospecting ourselves (if you couldn’t already tell), we integrate personalisation, multiple avenues of outreach and buyer intent IP tracking into all of our campaigns. Want to check out those success stories? You can look into our case studies to see how multi-channel prospecting has worked for our clients. 

And if you haven’t already. There’s plenty more where that came from in The State of Prospecting 2024 report.