Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach and engage with your B2B customers. It can help you build trust, showcase your expertise, and generate leads and sales. But how can you use email marketing to reach more B2B customers and grow your business? Here are some tips and best practices to follow.
Before you start sending emails, you need to understand who your target audience is, what their pain points are, and how your product or service can solve them. You can use various tools and methods to research your audience, such as surveys, interviews, analytics, and buyer personas. The more you know about your audience, the more you can tailor your email content and messaging to their needs and preferences.
I think LinkedIn is a perfect example of a great B2B email newsletter. Their B2B insights email is PACKED of incredible insights and a MUST for any B2B marketer. One thing to point out to marketers, don't make it too long. Concentrate it around max 3 main highlights.
Leverage email marketing to expand your B2B reach: 1- Understand your audience. 2- Segment your list for targeted messaging. 3- Craft compelling subject lines to grab attention. 4- Offer value & education, positioning yourself as a thought leader. 5- Use clear call-to-action to drive engagement. 6- Measure results, optimizing for better performance
Knowing the target audience is key and this will enable the message to be tailor made based on factors such demographics etc
Email marketing is an important tool to reach a broader B2B customer base. Begin by segmenting your audience based on factors like industry or company size to tailor messages effectively. Personalization is key; addressing recipients by name and incorporating industry-specific insights enhances engagement. Additionally, leverage email for networking purposes, initiating and nurturing professional relationships by following up after events or sales meetings. By integrating these strategies, email marketing becomes a robust channel for effectively connecting with and engaging B2B customers.
Not all B2B customers are the same. They may have different roles, industries, stages of the buyer journey, or behaviors. That's why you need to segment your email list into smaller groups based on relevant criteria. Segmentation allows you to send more personalized and relevant emails to each group, which can improve your open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. You can use your email marketing software or CRM to segment your list based on various factors, such as location, company size, purchase history, or engagement level.
B2B journeys are long and take more than 5-8 weeks on average to convert. Due to the complexity, many customers will be at different stages in the customer journey. Here's how I'd recommend segmenting if you're a start-up: 1. Based on existing customers and prospects with high open rates from your previous emails (super warm) 2. Based on prospects with low open rates ??Share value with list #1, and 'Things to know' and success stories with list #2. The email for list #1 should include: 1 Blog-post Webinar invites Key feature updates The email to list #2 should include: Industry news Recap from trending posts on socials Success stories Ideally, promote contacts from List 2 to List 1 as they start warming up.
The thing about B2B is email addresses change with every job change. So, you need to keep up with your ICP’s data. Break down your ICP list by industry, company size, or roles, and suddenly, your campaigns will be unstoppable. Plus, the segmentation helps you personalise your content more and you can build meaningful connections easily. Ultimately, a well-organized and segmented email list ensures that your B2B marketing efforts are finely tuned to meet the unique requirements of your varied audience.
Be specific, be precise, prefer quality rather than quantity - don't try to "catch" everyone with your content (you risk to catch ...no one) : segment, define the needs and list the pain points of your personas. Rank them and then ask you how your content or solution is THE answer to these pain points. Then communicate it clearly in your emailing
In B2B you need to check the validity of emails more often than in B2C. People change job so their email address become invalid. Regularly check your email database in tool like EmailListVerify to avoid hard bounce. Use "last open email date" to segment your database and remove inactive subscribers. That will help you maintain a good email deliverability.
Email marketing for reaching more B2B customers involves understanding their diverse needs and preferences. By segmenting your email list into smaller, targeted groups based on factors like industry, buying stage, or behavior, you can send tailored messages that resonate with each group. This approach allows for more personalized and relevant content, boosting open and click-through rates. Utilizing email marketing tools or CRM software streamlines the segmentation process, enabling customized communication strategies. Ultimately, personalized emails catered to specific B2B customer segments can significantly enhance engagement and drive better conversion rates.
The subject line is the first thing your B2B customers see when they receive your email, so it's important to craft compelling subject lines to make your email marketing campaign successful. To do this, keep your subject lines short and clear, using action verbs and power words to capture their attention. You can also add personalization or urgency to increase engagement. Make sure to avoid spammy or misleading words, and test different variations to see what works best.
Subject lines are paramount to get attention in the crowded inboxes of your recipients. Try using an AI Subject Line Generator tool to come up with additional variations beyond your starting ideas. In addition to subject line, the Preheader is also a key piece of email real estate to help get attentions and opens. Many people only focus on the subject line and forget about the preheader...big mistake!
In my experience as a B2B marketer, you can expect better open rates if you personalize your email subject lines with the first name and company name of your prospects and ensure your value proposition is crisp and clear. It's equally important for you to segment your email database based on industry and designation to ensure that personalised emails get better open rates. For eg, if you are a CRM solutions company and have a solution which caters to multiple industry verticals, you will be better off in segmenting your industries and buyer personas and doing a targeted campaign towards them
B2B customers are searching for solutions that can help them reach their objectives, conquer their difficulties, and enhance their circumstances. Therefore, it is essential that your email content offers value and education instead of sales pitches or promotional messages. You can do this by sharing useful tips and best practices, offering free resources such as ebooks, webinars, or case studies, responding to frequently asked questions or common objections, demonstrating how your product or service can be beneficial for them, and providing testimonials or social proof from satisfied customers.
Be clear and direct. Upfront, tell recipients how any particular piece of content (ebook, webinar, etc) will benefit the recipient. If you aren't getting the reaction or engagement you want after being upfront and direct, you may want to rethink your offer or content to make it more compelling.
Email marketing is not simply about selling your product or service - and if every email is trying to get a sale, your prospect will see right through that. It takes a lot to get someone to open a marketing email. Start by telling them something they don't know. Make them open the email or click the link to learn the answer. Now you've just proven how valuable you can be to them.
Vary the content format ! But avoid heavy ones / link that converge to external plateforms (risk to lose your customers). What gets usually more attractivity is testimonials from customers peers - and if you can, someone with some "influence" - about a specific subject of interest. Product-focused emailing is way low in the balance versus an article on a customer experience, new way of working or evidence based opinion for ex
The ultimate aim of email marketing is to get B2B customers to progress in the buyer journey, such as visiting your website, downloading a lead magnet, signing up for a demo, or making a purchase. To achieve this, it's essential to include clear and convincing calls to action (CTAs) in your emails. CTAs are buttons or links that direct customers to take the next step. When creating effective CTAs, make sure to use action-oriented and specific words, create a sense of urgency or scarcity, utilize contrast colors and fonts, place them above the fold or at the end of the email, and test different sizes, shapes, and placements.
Don't overthink a call to action. Because the CTA doesn't convince people to click. It reminds them to click. What comes before the CTA does the convincing.
The only way to know if your email marketing is working is to measure and optimize your results. You need to track and analyze key metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, conversion rates, and revenue. These metrics can help you evaluate the performance of your email campaigns, identify what's working and what's not, and make data-driven decisions to improve your email marketing strategy. You can use your email marketing software or other tools to measure and optimize your results.
If you're sending an email from a brand, make sure the email represents your brand well. Send an email proof to yourself before deploying to your whole list. Click all the links. Check how it looks on a mobile device. Make sure you have all the necessary accessibility elements (eg alt text) in place. You can't recall the email once it's sent, so be sure to send something great.
B2C email marketing can often get away with annoying prospects into a purchase because the scale of the purchase is trivial. But that's not how B2B works so don't try this. Come with value or don't come at all. And don't come often. Make yourself a little scarce. You want prospects to be happy to see you, not groaning while they say "It's them again."