Social media continues to dominate many of our conversations about marketing and brand-to-brand interaction. It’s email, though, that remains one of the best options for directly addressing the needs and concerns of your client base. For B2B companies, in particular, there are a number of ways in which email marketing can be used advantageously.

B2B Email Strategies

Here are just a few of the ways in which you can leverage email marketing most effectively for your B2B communication needs.

1) Segment your list.

One of the best ways to make your emails more effective is to make them more personal. Break down your email list into small, specific groups, allowing you to speak more directly to the particular concerns or pain point of each group. List segmentation has been shown to increase email open rates by close to 40 percent!

2) Show some consistency.

Emails are less effective when they arrive infrequently or sporadically. We’d recommend staying in touch with your subscribers on a monthly or even weekly basis. Studies actually show that most email list subscribers prefer to receive new messages at least once a month; meanwhile, 73 percent of marketers say they send emails weekly.

3) Be transparent.

One thing that most email recipients don’t like is when they get messages with gimmicky or misleading subject lines. This is especially true in B2B scenarios, where you’re typically dealing with people who just want clear, straight answers. Make sure your subject lines are brief and to the point, detailing exactly what the email’s contents are about.

4) Keep your messages brief.

Along the same lines, remember to be as succinct as possible. When you’re emailing busy professionals, the last thing you want is to waste their time. Studies have found that emails with about 20 lines of text tend to get the highest clickthrough rates.

5) Personalize your messages.

This goes along with our earlier recommendations about list segmentation. Your messages should be crafted in a way that recipients feel like you’re talking directly to them. The enCOMPASS team has software that can help you achieve this high level of personalization. Note that personalized emails deliver six times the transaction rates of non-personalized emails.

6) Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly.

Hopefully it goes without saying, by now, that all of your online interactions need to accommodate people who are using smartphones as opposed to desktop computers. Specifically, make sure you’re using an email marketing platform that presents your messages in total clarity across all device types and screen sizes. More than two thirds of marketing emails are opened on mobile devices. Meanwhile, an astonishing 89 percent of consumers say they will recommend brands following positive mobile interactions. In other words, this is a relatively small step that’s worth getting right.

7) Target abandoned carts.

What happens when someone puts items into a shopping cart without completing their purchase? Hopefully, if that ever happens on your website, you have a strategy in place to reach out to those people, reminding them to complete their transaction. These abandoned cart follow-ups might even include some special pricing or other promotions. Again, there are some compelling statistics here: Abandoned cart follow-up emails have an open rate of almost 50 percent, and about half of all leads will recover their purchase and complete the transaction!

7) Consider interactive elements.

Something else to think about is adding interactive content to your emails. This may not be appropriate for all businesses or all situations but note that video content increases email clickthrough rates by 300 percent. That’s certainly something worth strong consideration.

8) Coordinate paid ads with email.

Your email and paid ad activities should never be done in silos. Instead, coordinate your messaging. Leads are 20+ percent more likely to make a purchase if they see Facebook ads that are aligned with the emails they’ve received. Similarly, PPC can increase the efficacy of your marketing emails considerably.

9) Set up landing pages.

One final thing to think about: Where are you sending the people who click through your emails? It’s best if you can send them to a landing page that’s specific to the offer/product/service/content of your email message. A properly targeted landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 300 percent. Many of the businesses that get the best results from email marketing have at least 10 different landing pages where they can send leads.

Email Marketing Works

Email marketing remains an important way to interact with customers and clients, particularly in a B2B context. It can be especially impactful when used in tandem with paid advertising, content marketing, and other initiatives. If you’d like to chat more about any of this, or if you have any questions, reach out to the enCOMPASS team today.