6 B2B email marketing tips. by Roberto Ciarleglio, Managing Director

In the digital marketing world, email’s ROI is unsurpassed. Data suggests that 82% of B2B companies use email marketing and most professionals report checking their work emails up to 15 times a day – or roughly every 37 minutes. Furthermore, 86% of professionals prefer email for business communication. These are three reasons why most B2B organisations use email marketing.

B2B companies need to leverage email marketing. In order to reap the benefits of email marketing, you need to follow these six email marketing tips.

1. Use your website to encourage visitors to subscribe.

B2B organisations provide business solutions to CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other business professionals. These customers will probably visit your website—along with the websites of other B2B organisations—if they’re trying to find a solution to a specific problem.

They’ll look at the services you offer to see how you can help them. They’ll also read your blog posts to determine if you offer any valuable insight. Use these instances as opportunities to grow your email list.

Include an email subscription call to action (CTA) on every blog post and a signup form on your Services page. If visitors are interested in your services, they’ll also be inclined to contact you, so place a signup form on your website’s Contact Us page too

2. Ask for permission.

Always ask subscribers for their permission before adding them to your list. Use the confirmed opt-in (or double opt-in) method in building your email list. With confirmed opt-in, you send an email to people who enter their information on your signup form and ask them to confirm their subscription.

Doing so conveys professionalism and credibility. Your subscribers are more inclined to trust you and are therefore more inclined to do business with your company.

The confirmed opt-in method is also the key to a clean and healthy email list. Since people have to confirm their subscription, it prevents invalid emails from being added to your list. This helps in greatly reducing your hard bounce rates, which have a negative impact on your sender reputation.

3. Segment your list.

You most likely use some type of CRM system for your B2B operations. If you chose the right email service provider (ESP), your CRM should be integrated into your ESP. Simplify your segmentation efforts by importing customer data from your CRM into your ESP.

In addition to using standard information, such as engagement activity and transaction history, segment your subscribers using these data points.

• Job title and job level – As a B2B company, you deal with subscribers from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are CEOs, some are managers, and some are also entrepreneurs.
• Organisation – Your subscriber could be the CEO of a multinational conglomerate or they could be the manager of a medium-size marketing firm.
• Industry – You can’t promote a retail-focused blog to an executive of a wholesale manufacturing firm; it wouldn’t help them. This is why it’s important to segment your subscribers based on the industry that they belong to.

With proper list segmentation, it will be much easier for you to send timely and relevant messages to each of your subscriber segments. Through segmentation, you’ll also maintain the interest of your subscribers. Remember, an interested subscriber is an engaged subscriber.

4. Create helpful and informative content.

B2C customers tend to look out for the newest products and the cheapest deals. In contrast, B2B customers seek actionable information and valuable insight. In fact, a survey revealed that 51% of B2B customers look for content that can help them in their decision-making.

Avoid publishing generic content. Other companies already do that. Set your organisation apart from the competition by creating content that contains specific information. Gather data from your own business, analyze it, and then publish it as a comprehensive report.

You can also have your design team create easy-to-read infographics for certain statistics. This type of content can also help you increase awareness for your brand because subscribers can easily share infographics to other professionals who might not be familiar with your organisation yet.

These same customers also stated that they looked for shorter content. This isn’t surprising since business decision-makers are individuals who deal with a lot of things all at once.

This only means one thing: Keep your emails as short and as straightforward as possible. Your subscribers are busy and are likely taking time out of their schedule to read your message. Show them that you appreciate that by eliminating any fluff and being concise.

5. Optimise your subject lines.

The subject line is one of the most crucial elements in your email marketing strategy because it applies to all your campaigns. Whenever you are creating an email campaign, crafting an effective subject line should be your top priority.

B2B customers are high-level executives, thought leaders, and decision-makers. They are professionals who are searching for the best possible solutions for specific problems within their organisations.

If you want your subscribers to engage with your emails, your subject line should clearly communicate that you want to provide them with a solution.

Craft your subject line using benefit-focused copy. For example, imagine you are promoting a new blog article in your weekly newsletter targeted for small business owners. The title of the article is “4 Ways Small Business Owners Can Boost Their Revenue.” Rather than a subject line that reads “Check out our new blog post,” it should be: “Boost your revenue by reading our new blog post.”

6. Always use a personal approach.

Your customers may be business professionals, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want more human connections. You can apply the same personalisation techniques to you that B2C companies to your campaigns.

• Subject line -Make it a point to include your subscriber’s first name in the subject line. For better visibility, place it near the beginning of the subject line.
• Message – Greet your customer using their first name in the body of your email.
• “From” name – Never send emails that are from “Sender.” Build trust by using the name of an actual individual within your organisation, such as the CEO or Vice President. If possible, use the same name across all emails, as this creates a feeling of familiarity and helps your brand stay top of mind with your subscribers.

B2B email marketing: conclusion

Email marketing is vital to your business success. By following these tips, not only will you maximise the efficacy of your email marketing strategy, but you’ll also develop better and more personal relationships with your B2B clients. You’ll also foster customer loyalty that has a much more permanent value to you than short-term sales.