Abstract
- Campaign accuracy. Identify your ideal client profile for more effective B2B email campaigns.
- The quality of your list matters. Maintain a verified, high-quality email list to increase engagement and ROI.
- Don't ask questions, engage. It offers a more valuable resource than a sales pitch for increasing the effectiveness of your B2B emails.
In a crowded digital landscape full of companies competing for attention with every click, B2B email marketing remains a powerful tool for engaging with B2B prospects and generating quality leads. That's because most of your target market isn't actively looking for a solution, so it's more effective to go to them and generate their interest (demand generation) than to wait for them to find you (demand capture).
5 steps to successful B2B email marketing
The challenge: With 9.7 billion emails sent every day in the U.S., you need a calculated approach to stand out. Below are five steps to creating an effective email campaign that resonates with prospects and stimulates demand.
1. Understand and target your most ideal customer profile (ICP)
Effective B2B email marketing starts with clear targeting.
Define your ICP based on your most successful customer relationships, industry, company size, and job titles of decision makers and influencers. For example, we ran a successful campaign for an ERP systems integrator that targeted the owner/CEO of a US rental service provider with revenues between $20M-250M.
It's common to have at least three or four different ICPs, and you'll focus on the one that's most likely to gain momentum for a few months.
Related article: Things I've Read About Email Marketing That Are Completely Wrong
2. Build and maintain a high-quality email list
A strong B2B email marketing list of your key target markets is key to the success of your campaign. Start by finding contacts from a reputable service like ZoomInfo. UpLead and BookYourData offer more cost-effective alternatives.
To ensure deliverability and maintain your sender reputation, run your lists through a validation service like ZeroBounce, which will minimize your bounce rate and help you avoid penalties from platforms like HubSpot that enforce strict bounce rate limits.
Related Article: Email Marketing Trends Seeing Adoption and Success
3. Create active and engaging content
Your B2B email marketing content tells your prospects how you solve their problem, which is the heart of email marketing. This is the essence of B2B brand storytelling. Your prospects are the heroes of their stories, and if you show you understand their problems, they will accept you as their guide. Don't lead with your products, services, features, or benefits.
Don't ask your top ICPs for something, give them something. Offer resources that will encourage engagement, such as guides, webinar invitations, case studies, and relevant blog posts. Don't send empty, top-of-funnel content or long-winded newsletters about your business. Video can drive 3x click-through rates compared to other content types.
Include an offer: A clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA) that encourages the recipient to take the next step. This should be something better than “Request a free consultation” or “Get a demo” – something you might need later, but not as a starting point.
4. Optimize your subject lines and preview text
Subject lines and preview text are important for grabbing attention and increasing open rates. This is arguably the most important part of your entire email because without a subject line to get the recipient to open your email, the rest will be like a fallen tree in the forest, unheard.
In B2B email marketing, subject lines and preview text need to be concise, compelling, positive, and relevant to the recipient's problem. As a guide, consider the century-old formula of combining appealing to your prospect's self-interest, sharing news, piquing their curiosity, and letting them know there's a quick and easy solution to their problem while creating a sense of urgency.
5. Manage expectations and follow up
B2B email marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Initial lead generation emails typically have open rates of 10% to 20%, and it's normal to see few responses at first. It can be discouraging to know that 80% to 90% of recipients won't open your email, but persistence is key, so follow up with recipients who click or open your email multiple times. Note: If all links in your email are being clicked, it's possible that automated software opened the email to check for viruses or phishing scams.
A personalized follow-up email or call can significantly increase engagement and conversion rates, but try to limit the number of follow-up attempts to no more than three. Keep customers on your B2B email marketing list so you can reach out with your next email. Email campaigns can sometimes get responses months after they're sent because of poor timing.
While digital communications are prevalent, traditional direct mail can complement a B2B email marketing campaign. For some audiences, well-crafted direct mail can grab more attention than email, making it an effective tool to reach your audience in a different format and reinforce your message.
Effective B2B Marketing Email Campaigns
When executed well, B2B email marketing is one of the most cost-effective outbound techniques for generating demand by connecting with quality leads who aren’t actively searching for your solution.
Anyone who says otherwise probably wasn't putting the right level of effort into their campaigns – some get discouraged after sending just a few emails and abandon their efforts.
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