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Email is rapidly becoming the preferred channel for B2B marketers. Not only does it allow for a direct, conversational style of communication with your customers, but it also delivers a higher return on investment than any other channel. In fact, studies indicate the ROI of email marketing is higher than 3000% and it continues to rise, even in the wake of GDPR updates. When you’re ready to take your B2B marketing to the next level, take a look at these B2B email marketing examples for inspiration you can use to harness the potential of this powerful marketing opportunity. 10 B2B email marketing examples to engage your audience One of the great advantages that email has over social media is that emails have a much longer lifespan. Whereas posts on Twitter or Facebook can live and die within hours, your subscribers can engage with emails days after they are sent. Today, machine learning-based software allows for deeper data insights, paving the way for more targeted content. With the rise of artificial intelligence, B2B companies can implement more personalization and segmentation in email than was possible even a few years ago. There is a multitude of ways you can utilize email to engage your B2B audiences. Here are some of the best: 1. Curated email content It’s not as easy to build an organic mailing list as it was 10 or 15 years ago. People are more cautious about giving out their contact details or signing up for newsletters. Ultimately, when new subscribers do come on board, what they really want from you is value. They’ll only invite you into their inbox when they’re convinced your brand can deliver valuable, insightful content that will benefit them. Once you gain subscribers, it’s up to you to deliver on your promises and meet the expectations of your followers. A great way of fulfilling these expectations is by sending emails that consist of curated content from a range of other sources on the internet. Having access to a lot of high-value content in a single email saves people time, and they’ll appreciate content that isn’t always promotional. By sending curated content, you show your subscribers you care about them holistically, instead of only caring about your clients’ money. This welcome email from General Assembly offers value to subscribers by providing a curated collection of photos from various sources. Source: Really Good Emails 2. Activation It’s pretty common for people to sign up for your email subscription list and then sit on the sidelines, receiving your email but never getting involved with your products or services. Sometimes, all these businesses may need is a little encouragement to get active with your emails and fall in love with your product or service. Asana has a great platform to help teams with project management and communications. Its clean and clear user interface is easy to navigate. However, new users may be a little daunted by all the possible options. In order to welcome new users, the company sends a fantastic email to introduce new clients to the platform, showing them just how easy it is to use the service. With a strong call-to-action, an email like this can engage new users and reduce their intimidation and frustration. Asana uses email to encourage new subscribers to get involved with the app. By presenting the features and showing how easy it can be, they can boost engagement. Source: Really Good Emails 3. Re-engagement Similar to the activation email, this B2B email is good for reigniting a fading relationship with older subscribers. Over time, your list may end up with a lot of inactive subscribers. Instead of cutting them from your list or letting these contacts remain dormant, take a more direct approach to encourage interaction by sending a reengagement email. Here at Campaign Monitor, we use this example of B2B email marketing to remind people about our email template builder. That way, we ward off any intimidation our clients might be feeling about launching into their first email campaign by acquainting them with the product. Sometimes people just need a little push. Campaign Monitor uses a re-engagement email to inspire action by making email marketing seem easy and enjoyable. Source: Really Good Emails 4. Announcement One of the B2B email marketing examples you’re probably familiar with is the announcement email. A lot of brands use email marketing to keep their followers updated with big changes at the company, such as the release of new products, a website overhaul, or if they scooped up an award. These are great opportunities to get back into the minds of your followers, and many people will be curious enough to read about the news or check out a new site or product. This type of announcement keeps the relationship between B2B brands and customers warm, helping companies remind their followers why they subscribed in the first place. And, as is the case with Uber, allows companies to take back control of stories that have been in the news. After some well-publicized criticism tofUber’s management, Uber kept their users up-to-date by using announcement emails when the company made some big changes to their leadership. Using email to keep their users informed meant Uber could win back their customers’ trust and reassure them of the company’s commitment to offering safe and “stress-free” rides. Uber uses an announcement email to let customers know about exciting changes that will improve their service. Source: Really Good Emails 5. White paper When it comes to providing high-value content, white papers are right up there as some of the most valuable content your company can produce. In fact, research from the Content Marketing Institute found that an impressive 71% of B2B marketers use white papers in content marketing in 2018. On the downside, it takes time to produce a high-quality white paper. But once you have the work done, you can send out the download link to your mailing list, which will invariably delight and impress many subscribers. Offering gated content also provides you with an opportunity to gather more information about your subscribers and increase the value of your emails. Though it’s a little more work, a white paper offers a lot of value and is worth the extra time. 6. Campaign support Email is the perfect marketing vehicle to drum up support for whatever type of campaign you’re running. Whether it’s for a new product launch or driving traffic to your site, your goal will be much easier to achieve when you have a solid email marketing strategy backing up your campaign. With a series of emails that share a common goal or CTA, brands can nurture a relationship with recipients and also develop their unique brand voice, which helps forge a relationship with their customers. The business card designers, Moo, use emails to highlight the potential value their premium designs can offer their customers. Although it’s clearly a self-promotional campaign, by using email to put the focus on the benefits, the company endears themselves to more customers. Telling your customers they deserve more is a clever way to show them your brand cares about their needs. Moo did this to great effect with their email campaign. Source: Really Good Emails 7. Event planning If you’re hosting an upcoming event, you can use email marketing to notify your mailing list and keep them updated with important news. From sharing basic details like the date and time to leaking teasers about what your subscribers have to look forward to, email is a great channel for building anticipation and awareness around your event. As the big day closes in, you can ramp up the marketing efforts with more emails, helping to drive those all-important last minute sales. Nobody wants to be left out when everyone else is snapping up a great deal. By including a countdown timer in their emails, Vodafone plays on people’s fear of missing out (FOMO) to encourage more people to grab their Black Friday offers. Source: Really Good Emails 8. Webinar More than 60% of companies hosting webinars are in the B2B space. It’s easy to see why, as this form of content is a staple for thought leaders. You can use email to build a dialogue with prospects in your mailing list and make it easy for them to register for the webinar. Also, consider sending a recap afterward and include CTAs that encourage feedback and/or sharing to make sure your company stays top of mind before, during, and after your webinar. AdWeek drives engagement for their upcoming webinar by using email to stir up conversation and interest around their topic. Source: Really Good Emails 9. Case study Case studies take a little time and effort to put together, but it’s time well spent. An in-depth case study can convince more prospects about the great benefits of your products or services by offering proof that your services live up to the hype. Over 80% of people will ask for advice from friends or family members before making a purchase; people care about the experiences of their peers. Using a case study to highlight the success of past consumers shows your current prospects they don’t have to simply take your word for the value of your product or service. Instead, your case study offers proof. Backing everything up with hard facts, stats, and quotes from the clients and consumers only adds weight to your claims. 10. Offer free trials It’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t like free stuff. While some subscribers may be swayed by in-depth case studies, and others may jump at the chance of attending a great webinar, other people on your list might be more hands-on. Offering them a free version of your service or a demo product has many benefits: not only will a free trial give them insights into the great value your products offer, but a trial nurtures trust with your prospective clients. This email from Clear encourages more people to become members by offering a free 3-month guest pass. Source: Really Good Emails Wrap up There are countless ways you can use email marketing to communicate with your B2B customers depending on your business and the goals of your marketing strategy. One of the great things about email marketing is how easy it is to customize a campaign for your specific needs and interests, far beyond the 10 B2B email marketing examples we offer here. Whether it’s a free trial, webinar, case study, or a simple reminder of the value of your products and services, your brand can leverage email marketing to forge stronger relationships with your mailing list. When done well, email marketing can guide clients down your sales funnel over time and ultimately bring in more revenue, giving you the best results from an email marketing campaign yet.
Through personalization, segmentation, automation, and retention, you will maximize results—and profits.
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What is a successful email marketing campaign made of? The answer: a whole lot of moving parts, processes, and workflows. To ensure success, you need to make sure each piece is managed well and that all of them fit together seamlessly. How do you do that? With an email marketing strategy template. How to create an email marketing strategy from the ground up: Choose the right tools Identify your audience Build your list Create segments Identify goals and success metrics The above steps will help you build a successful email marketing campaign. Plus, you can repeat these processes for continued success. A recipe for success: 6 steps to build an email marketing strategy template Each of these steps is essential for building an effective email marketing strategy. 1. Choose your weapons wisely. Any email marketing strategy requires the right tools to help you create, send, track, and measure your marketing emails and campaigns. First, you need an email service provider. This is the tool that will help you create, organize, and send your emails plus provide basic tracking. In addition to an ESP, you may want to go one step further and pick out some extra tools to make your life easier. For instance, an automation tool helps you send marketing emails at strategic times, including those triggered based on a user’s web activity. To find a good option, check out this post from Neil Patel on 23 marketing automation tools. Once you have your go-to tools chosen, record them in a document for your team, including logins. 2. Identify your target audience. Your target audience is the set of people who would make ideal customers. They’re the people who want your product, need your product, or have a problem you can solve. Your email marketing should set out to attract them, interest them, and, ultimately, convert them into leads or buyers. To find your target audience, think about a few major factors, according to Inc.: Who are your current customers? Who are your competition’s customers? Who will benefit from your product(s)/service(s)? Once you hone in on all of these different groups, figure out where they overlap. Determine common demographic information like: Age Gender Location Occupation Income Education Marital status You should also think about your target audience’s habits, personal traits, and attitudes. For example, what are their hobbies? What do they value in life? What are their shopping behaviors? Once you know who you’re targeting with your email marketing, it’s much easier to tailor your messages and content to appeal to them. After you figure out your target audience’s demographics, traits, and habits, record them for safekeeping in your email marketing strategy template. 3. Build your list of subscribers. To build your email list of subscribers, you need to gather their email addresses. How do you do that? You need to attract them, build trust with them, and win them over so they want to hear more from you. A few tactics for list-building include: Create relevant content with an ask attached – With content, you build trust by providing value to your audience. Educate, entertain, or inspire them. Then, somewhere in your content, include a call-to-action that asks them to sign up for your email list. Make a one-time offer – A free offer in exchange for an email address is a great way to build your list. Try offering a freebie like a tip sheet, template, or ebook and ask for their email before they can download it. Keep an opt-in form on your website – This is a tactic plenty of brands use. Often, the opt-in form is located in the sidebar or footer and is a static element. This gives your audience the chance to sign up at a moment’s notice while browsing your website. For instance, Etsy keeps an opt-in form in their footer. It appears at the bottom of every page: 4. Segment your list. So far, you have one group of email subscribers who probably fall into your main target audience. Sending relevant emails to all these different people can get a little tough, especially as your list grows. What’s the answer? Email list segmentation. This process involves splitting your list into smaller groups based on similarities. For example, if your target audience consists of men and women, ages 25-34, you could segment this larger group into two smaller groups: those in their twenties and those in their thirties. Here’s a good example of a targeted newsletter from Reddit. It will appeal to people who love Reddit (“redditors”) and follow Reddit updates religiously: Ideally, each of your list segments should have a different buyer persona attached. This is a profile of the ideal customer that represents the major traits of the entire group. Coming up with email campaigns for each of your segments is a proven way to get better results. According to research by Aberdeen, email messages that are personalized this way get a 14% improvement in click-through rates and a 10% jump in conversions. 5. Create emails that mesh with your brand and audience. You have all the background information necessary—now it’s time to create some emails. First up, what kind of emails will you send? A weekly newsletter? Updates on your newest blog post? Emails triggered based on user interactions with your website? For instance, Legacy Box created a drip campaign that sent out a series of emails about a sale on their site. To help you figure out which types of emails to send, think about a few factors: Are there important days during the year where a drip campaign would help spread the word (think sales, events, conferences, holiday deals, etc.)? Do you publish content regularly, and would a newsletter help more subscribers see it? Do you have content ideas that would work well in email messages? Include all of your email ideas in your email marketing strategy template. 6. Figure out your goals and how you will measure your campaign’s success. You have your tools. You figured out your target audience and personas. You built up your email list. Now, it’s time to determine your goals for your email campaigns. Think about what you want to achieve with your email marketing. A few common goals include: Building a larger email list Getting more opens for your emails Increasing your click-through rates Converting more loyal subscribers into buyers You can have one or two overarching goals for each individual email campaign, or you can choose one or two for all of your email marketing endeavors. Remember: it’s totally dependent on your brand and business goals. Wrap up Email marketing is a process with lots of moving parts and pieces. Without a solid strategy in place, you’ll have a much harder time keeping track of it all, planning individual campaigns, and measuring your progress and success. Create an email marketing strategy template you can use over and over again to help make everything simpler. You’ll streamline your efforts as well as create more effective, targeted campaigns that net real results.
Takeaways from our webinar on how to attract, convert, and nurture donors with email.
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