10 Email Marketing Best Practices for B2B Businesses
Email marketing has always been an important tool for B2B companies looking to reach potential customers, build relationships, and drive sales. These days, however, with inboxes overflowing and attention spans shortening, it's more vital than ever to follow the best practices that will help make your emails truly stand out.
Here are some of the key email marketing best practices that B2B businesses should follow:
Segment your audience
One of the biggest mistakes made in email marketing is sending the same message to everyone on your email list. To be effective, you need to segment your audience and send targeted messages to those different groups. This way, you can send the right message to the right person at the right time, increasing your odds of a positive response.
Personalize your emails
Just like audience segmentation, personalized emails are more likely to be opened and acted upon than generic ones. Personalization can include using the recipient's name in the subject line, greeting, or body of the email, and tailoring the content to the recipient's interests or preferences.
Write a clear and compelling subject line
It’s kind of like the old saying about the tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it. If your email is never opened, it doesn’t matter how well it’s written. One great resource for checking your subject line is Subjectline.com. This free website will compare your subject line to millions of others and score it based on a set of established criteria, helping you understand what changes might improve teh results of your subject line. Since the subject line is the first thing the recipient sees, it determines whether the email ever even gets opened and read. Make sure your subject line is clear, concise, and provides a compelling benefit to the recipient.
Make it mobile-friendly
Increasingly people are accessing their emails on mobile devices, so it's critical to make sure your emails are mobile-friendly. This means using a responsive design that adjusts to the screen size, using a font size that is easy to read on a small screen, and keeping the content short and to the point. Before you send the email, be sure to check how it appears in mobile format to ensure you’ve achieved these B2B email best practices.
Keep it short and sweet
You have seconds, at most, to capture your audience’s attention. People are busy and don't have time to read long emails. Make sure your emails are short and to the point, with a clear call to action. And remember, bullet points are your friend!
Test, test, test
Before you send your email to your entire list, make sure you test it first. This includes testing the subject line, the content, the design, and the call to action (CTA). If you’re not getting great open rates, consider switching up your subject line. If you’re not getting strong click through rates (CTR), it might be time to change your body copy or adjust the CTA. Make changes and test again until you're confident with the results.
Use a clear call-to-action
Your emails should have a clear call-to-action (CTA) – the next step you want your recipients to take. This could be a request to visit your website, call your sales team, download a whitepaper, or schedule a demo. Make sure your CTA is clear and stands out in the email.
Provide value
One of the most common traps marketers fall into is sending emails that provide no value to the recipient. Your emails should provide something that will benefit the receiver. Consider the purpose or goal of the email and tailor the content accordingly. This could be in the form of providing industry news, tips, or special offers. Make sure the content is relevant to the recipient and provides them with something they will really want.
Timing is everything
When you send your emails can have a big impact on success. Timing depends on your audience and when they are most likely to open and interact with your communication. For example, if you're targeting busy executives, sending emails on a Friday afternoon may not be the best idea. Test different times and days and find what works best for your audience, and remember there is a ton of information on the internet about ideal sending times based on industry standards.
Measure your success
Without measurement, email marketing is just guesswork. To see what's working and what's not, you need to benchmark the success of your email campaigns. This includes tracking open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and bounce rates. Use this data to make changes and improve your email campaigns over time. Even unsuccessful email campaigns are useful because they provide vital information for improving on things next time.
Email is here to stay and will continue to be a powerful tool for B2B marketers to reach potential customers and build relationships. By following these best practices, you can improve your B2B email marketing experience and drive greater rates of engagement and business success.