Best Practices for B2B Email Marketing in 2022
In B2B marketing, customers are worth their weight in gold. Of course, the situation varies from industry to industry, but one thing remains common. And here, it’s about the limited number of customers. Thus, contact with each of them is as valuable as the gold mentioned above. So it’s essential to build a quality relationship to make it work like clockwork.
Email marketing is a manager’s working tool in business, so the effectiveness of emails is often higher than in B2C. And in this article, you’ll learn the effective practices to make one of the best sales channels in B2B work to its full potential.
1. Choose a Paid Email Service with a Dedicated IP Address
Gone are the days of hidden copy mailings. Modern email marketing services replace both the designer and the programmer. Except they don’t write the text. But maybe in the future, they will also be able to do that.
But for now, they provide letter design templates and a block editor. Also, there’s convenient analytics: you can find out how many people received the mail and how many opened and looked at it.
You can see which regions these people are from and how many of them clicked on the site. Modern email services are constantly evolving. Over the last couple of years, all the existing platforms have become more user-friendly and easier to use.
So how to choose a platform? Almost any of them is good to start with, and functionality is practically no different. You can start with Mailchimp, for example.
However, choosing a paid plan with a dedicated IP address is essential. Most services on low-cost plans have different companies sending emails from the same IP. If one of your "neighbors" gets on the spammer list, your emails will be sent there too. So you should not save money on this.
2. Always Check your Database
Mailers care about their reputations. They know the market averages and guess if you do anything dishonest to your recipients, especially if you send spam.
What metrics are tracked in this process? Services don’t reveal the exact algorithms. The Email Bounce Rate and the Complaint Rate are under 100% control. The base with a high unsubscribe rate will also be under suspicion.
You are in trouble if you have more than 6% of unsubscribes, more than 10% of inactive emails, and users complain about you. That is, you will be blocked for spam. However, it’s also worth considering the following. For example, you might have your own, honestly accumulated base of email addresses, but not very new (2-3 years).
One manager quit, another changed his mailbox, or maybe signed a contract with your competitor. Such a base can lead to blocking, just like a purchased one, even if you know each recipient. To avoid being blocked, you must clear your list of addresses before sending your emails for the first time. Here’s what you can do:
✔️ Remove addresses of employees who no longer work or have changed mail
✔️ Remove duplicate addresses
✔️ Eliminate misspelled domains, remove addresses with non-existent domains
✔️ Eliminate shared addresses
✔️ Check the database service-validator
3. Come up with an Interesting Subject Line
The more exciting and valuable the subject line, the more people want to open it. Sometimes experts call such a subject “tasty,” and it’s true since the desire to open an email is very similar to the urge to eat something tasty. There are no universal recommendations for creating a subject line. You know your clients and understand what works best for them. Here are a few tips:
📝 Write outside the box
📝 Summarize the essence and usefulness of the mail
📝 Use humor
📝 Don’t deceive and create high expectations (clickbait)
📝 If there’s a promotion or discount in the email, mention it in the subject line
📝 Bring up the customer’s burning questions
📝 Use numbers
📝 Provoke the interest
Also, it’s crucial to use the subject line and the text the customer sees in the list of emails right after the subject line. If you have a problem with this, you can use the help of top writing services and get the most effective solution to your question.
4. Use the Links for your Benefit
In B2B, products are often quite complex, and it is on the website that the customer can get detailed information about them. So, if the goal of your mailing list is to go to the site, links are critical.
And they work best when placed not in the text but on pictures and buttons. It’s better to set an active company logo in the header of the email, and below that, key blocks from your site menu.
You can also use links to narrow your offer to best hit the reader’s needs. For example, highlight information for a specific segment if there’s not enough information for segmentation of the base at the mailing setup stage. You can also use links to direct to a particular product section or highlight a promotion.
5. Don’t Forget the Magic of Special Offers
This practice always works without fail for all clients. Consider that it’s better to tell about the promotions in the subject line. In addition, information about any special offers and activities should be placed on a picture, using a large font. It works 2-3 times better than if you explain the terms in text in the emails.
Conclusion
In B2B, the transaction cycle is long, and decisions are not made immediately. So it would help if you had time to convince the client to choose your company over another. To endure such a long-distance run, be low-key and enjoyable: write important, not too often, and respect the client. And, of course, don’t forget the links and pictures in the emails.