How to Get More out of B2B Email Marketing

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Most business owners and executives receive hundreds of emails daily. This complicates gaining their attention through an email campaign. Nevertheless, email campaigns can produce high-quality leads if executed effectively and as part of a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy.

Otherwise, email campaigns can waste time, lead to prospects sending your emails to the spam folder, or even result in your company’s email domain being blacklisted.

Here are some effective strategies to ensure your B2B email campaigns generate more leads and sales.

List Acquisition

UpLead is a recommended list source because it provides complete contact information, including email addresses, for around $0.50 per name, and you own the list. There are numerous ways to sort this data: by industry (including SIC and NAICS), title, revenues, or number of employees. It even allows you to preview the contacts with their titles, letting you deselect names that aren’t relevant. It’s frustrating enough that 20-30% of purchased names bounce after the first email, but it's even worse to download names you can’t use because you are unable to preview the list.

The traditional method of renting lists is ineffective because it does not include tracking metrics: who opened the email, how often it was opened, what links were clicked, whether they unsubscribed, etc. Therefore, I suggest steering clear of these services.

The more targeted the list and message, the better. We’ve sent email campaigns to plant managers of refineries nationwide, CFOs of mid-sized manufacturers in the Upper Midwest, and superintendents of every school district in the Chicagoland area, with messages that would only appeal to these groups so they know we specifically want to talk to them and are not spamming everyone and their brother.

Email Content Development

This topic has been discussed numerous times, so here are some concise suggestions:

• Refrain from the newsletter approach: newsletters focus on your interests, while people want to read about topics that directly relate to them.
• Adopt a brand story approach by offering valuable insights on how the recipient can address challenging problems and seize new opportunities
• Include 2-3 engaging elements: something interesting or educational, a downloadable item (such as a video, guide, or whitepaper), and a promotional element (like an offer or event invitation).
• Choose an email template that aligns with the site’s design language.
• Like your web pages, avoid including so much content that it requires excessive scrolling—people prefer to click. Also, include links back to your website for more information.
• Break up paragraphs of text with headings, bullets and small images
• Make sure your email title and first 100-150 characters of the email body are compelling – this is what determines if someone will open it, delete it or junk it
• Avoid spam trigger words, including “free”, “exclusive offer,” and even “click here”
• Send emails from a person’s name (emails from info@ and sales@ mostly end up in junk). However, avoid using their main email address because the number of bounces and out-of-office replies can overwhelm your inbox. Additionally, some recipients may mark the email as spam, preventing future correspondence with them. You might want to contact them directly later, outside of a campaign.

Drip Marketing

Unless you’re promoting something exceptional that practically sells itself, one-off email campaigns are ineffective. You need to send emails to your target market every 3-4 weeks – exceeding this frequency may feel spammy and lead to increased unsubscribes.

It’s important to recognize that it’s unlikely someone will receive the email, grab the phone, and place an order immediately. In the best case, a few may express some degree of interest. More commonly, some will hold onto it and revisit it later when the timing is better. We’ve had individuals respond with genuine interest to an email six months to a year later. Instead of sitting back and waiting for someone to respond, you’ll want to ensure you… 

What Open Rates to Expect

The most effective use of an email campaign is to engage your target market before making a call. It’s even more advantageous when you follow the email campaign with a promotional marketing campaign or a direct mail piece. Mail is generally more noticeable than email and can achieve response rates of 20-50%.

The highest email open rate I’ve observed in recent years is approximately 40%. Based on our experience, prospecting emails typically see a rate of 7-15%, while campaigns targeted at clients, former clients, and others who are familiar with you usually achieve rates between 10-25%. This indicates that 60-90% or more of your target market will likely never open any email you send, so it’s advisable not to put all your eggs in one basket. Among those who do open your email, we frequently notice a minimal number of click-throughs and responses.

Following Up

To generate leads from your email campaign, you should follow up with recipients by phone within 1-2 days of sending it; otherwise, there’s almost no chance they’ll remember seeing it. I focus on those who opened the email multiple times but didn’t reach out – this doesn’t guarantee their interest, but they are more likely to engage than someone who didn’t open it at all.

You need someone to do this follow-up who genuinely likes talking to people, doesn’t get discouraged when hung up on, and can think on their feet. This is usually an inside salesperson and/or marketing coordinator.

The follow-up will be easier with an enticing promotion or a “no-brainer” offer; for instance, we provide prospective clients with a free, comprehensive website audit emphasizing content, SEO, and usability. This “qualified lead” can be passed to outside sales if they express interest. Our experience shows that outside sales, particularly seasoned veterans, tend to avoid lead qualification (also known as “bird-dogging”)—they already have an established sales pipeline and often look down on contacting individuals who have merely opened an email.

Put in the Effort & Reap the Rewards

Don’t expect much from your email campaigns if you throw them together haphazardly, send them out only once or twice, and fail to follow up on them.

If you take the time to incorporate your email campaigns into an overall sales and marketing effort, they can play a central role in lead generation and increased sales for you and your clients.

About Innovaxis Marketing

Business owners and marketing leaders who want marketing to drive sustainable, double-digit revenue growth rely on Innovaxis. Let Innovaxis help you articulate your value to more of the people you serve by fully leveraging marketing strategy, brand storytelling, agency services, and marketing automation. Innovaxis will partner with you to increase your thought leadership, demand generation, and customer acquisition – often starting with a marketing audit and followed by the execution of a marketing program customized for your organization. Innovaxis custom marketing programs typically generate an ROI of 300-1,000%+ within the first 12-18 months – Innovaxis only grows if you grow. More: https://www.innovaxisinc.com