B2B Email Marketing Best Practices
Every business today is looking for new ways to drive traffic to its website and it has been proved that email marketing is the most effective channel for businesses to market to other businesses.
In a 2018 Content Marketing Institute survey, 79% of B2B marketers credited email as the most effective distribution channel for their demand generation efforts.
So, let’s ask you a few questions.
What is your email marketing strategy? How can you break through the clutter? What are some of the email best practices? How can you create a successful email campaign?
At the outset, you need to have a plan in place. You need clear goals, an audience, and a strategy and above all a system to measure the efficacy of your strategy. All your marketing initiatives should be completely focused on what other businesses want and how you can meet their expectations. Email is a key tool to maintain your customer relationship throughout the lifecycle of a product or service – informing customers of updates or new features and providing them with advice on getting the most out of your services.
Segmentation – Wouldn’t you love to send the right message to the right person at the right time? By dividing your subscribers based on various characteristics like interests, habits, and demographics, you will be able to send targeted emails. If people receive emails about subjects they want to read about, the result is higher click-through rates!
Define your target audience – By defining your target customer, you achieve clarity. Learn about the industry of your targeted company, its size, the number of employees, its top management, etc. You can now think objectively about the challenges faced by your ideal companies and how your service/ product will help them. Find out who are the authorized decision-makers and what role do they play in the company. The more you delve into the background of the person who makes the buying decision right from their career goals, and what is it that draws them to a particular product/service, to their expectations from vendors, you will achieve success.
The focus of your overall online marketing efforts will improve.
Measuring success – Set goals that are smart and measurable in nature so that gauging success becomes simpler, and more scientific. Once you have set the right B2B email marketing goals set, spend time to get everyone on your team onto the same page.
Analyzing results to see what’s working and what’s not. You should do a weekly or monthly analysis of the email marketing tools you are using, and see how you can improve them. A low click-through rate should prompt you to check if your call to action is in line with your message. If you find a low number of recipients opening emails, then your subject line may not be attractive. If your emails have a high bounce rate then your landing page needs to have a more engrossing copy.
Customizing email marketing services based on when they are being offered, to whom and what purpose do they seek to achieve.
Send emails before an event: Create perceptions of your company being well informed and completely involved in the business by inviting your special customers to the event. Save their valuable time by providing an interesting summary or guideline about the event.
Send emails after an event: This email will position you as a thought leader who cares about his audience This is an opportune time to share your insights and understanding of their market.
Content strategy: We consider ‘content as the king’! Your email: marketing should drive your clients to your web-site or surveys that create value for both you and your customer. Make your customers a part of the process, invite their feedback or articles, and use these in your content. From time to time share insights into reports or research which is not easily accessible to all.
Webinar invitations Webinars are a great way to showcase your expertise and connect with buyers’ who are further down the sales cycle and looking to make a purchase.
In terms of return on investment, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found that email marketing delivers a $43 return for every $1 spent.
At MarketAxis Consulting we believe that increased subscriber engagement means more sales, higher revenue per customer, and overall, better profits.
