1) Optimize your database
Every email marketing strategy is based on the creation of a database, that is, a list of contacts of people, companies, and entities with which you are interested in establishing business relationships.
To create a good database, keep these principles in mind:
- Include all the necessary information . The name, the company and the email are essential, but you are also interested in knowing the position of that person, if they are responsible for making decisions, how you came into contact for the first time or if they have responded to your previous emails.
- Data protection is very important, so you must ensure that your list complies with all GDPR regulations. In particular, it is essential that the user has given their consent to be included in the list and that you offer them the possibility of unsubscribing at any time.
- The content and product demonstrations are a classic “hook” to expand the database, but do not forget that you can also pull professional or even social contacts .
- Remember that quality is more important than quantity. Include only contacts who are genuinely interested in your products and services and who have an influential role in their business or organization’s purchases. As you launch email campaigns, you will be able to filter out those users who do not respond.
2) Meet the recipients
B2B companies often have one or more specific audiences for their email marketing campaigns. Before blindly launching your message, you need to be clear about who the users of your products or services really are and create a buyer persona that helps clarify what they need.
To create effective email campaigns, you must clarify at least the following points regarding the recipients:
- Type of company they work for.
- Position they occupy
- Challenges they face in their work.
- How do you prefer to solve these problems?
3) Create action-focused emails
The ultimate goal of any email marketing campaign is to get users to do something. For example, you may want your users to take advantage of an offer, contract a trial or buy a certain product.
Well, the good news is that your actions have a great influence on the outcome. The most decisive factor is the call to action: choosing the right one can increase the click rate by 371% and product sales by 1617% (yes, you read that right).
The most important keys are to include a unique call to action for each email and make it attractive, arouse curiosity, and activate the users’ sense of urgency.
4) Take advantage of affairs
Most B2B buyers receive dozens or even hundreds of emails a day. Therefore, it makes sense to think that many of them are overlooked.
To get the attention of your potential audience and get them to open the email, you have only one opportunity: create an irresistible subject line. Not sure what might work? Brainstorm different types of titles and put them to the test with A/B tests.
5) The brief, yes well…
One thing almost all B2B email marketing campaigns have in common is that they target very busy people. And this means they simply don’t have time for overly long emails.
You have very little time to convince your recipient to take the action you’re looking for, so make the most of it. Write short emails, with a few short paragraphs and the necessary white space. And remember that many times they will be read diagonally, so highlight the most important aspects of your offer in bold and repeat them at the beginning and at the end.
6) Personalize the messages
Personalizing messages increases the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. It is no longer just about including the name in the greeting, but about creating personalized micro-offers based on the needs of each user. (Hence the importance of having a complete database).
In addition to ensuring that the email meets the needs of the recipient, it is also interesting to personalize the texts in such a way that the user has no doubt that we are addressing him and him alone. After all, we all like to feel special.
7) Offer value
In the end, the key to an effective email marketing campaign is to add value to users and give them a good reason to click. Some ideas: offer free advice, include discounts, organize events or give away free samples and trials. The important thing is that it is something valuable for the public you are addressing.
8) Use social proof
We can’t help it: human beings are “copycats” by nature. At one time or another, we are all tempted to copy what our friends are doing or to buy a product just because someone we admire uses it.
Take advantage of this very human tendency in your email marketing campaigns, including statistics about your products, user testimonials, or logos of the brands that already trust you.