As a Business-to-Business (B2B) company you are probably aware that selling a $10,000 service via email is much more difficult than selling a $3.00 product. Building trust and credibility is much more important for B2B companies engaged in digital marketing strategies. However, despite the longer term sales funnel of a B2B company, email marketing is still highly recommended. The ROI of an email campaign is so high that you can’t afford not to be using email. These five best practices will help you to build the best email campaign for your B2B Company and begin seeing substantial ROI in no time.
1. Create a Strong Subject Line
You have heard it a million times but it is still the most important feature of your e-blast; build a strong subject line. This means creating a succinct, informational and persuasive subject line that will entice users to click through to your email. According to Convince&Convert, 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone! That means one third of your recipients won’t even read your email if the subject line isn’t enticing enough. We recommend focusing on the key offer or element of your email in the subject line. Let users know what they can expect but also let them know why they should read on (i.e. Are you missing out…?). Keep your subject lines to 50 characters or less and make sure that the important buzz words are up front.
2. Focus on One Offer
Creating an e-blast that is focused on just one central offer will help to keep your recipients’ eyes on the prize. Multiple offers can be distracting, so determine what the main focus of your email campaign will be and build the design around it. Of course you should have multiple calls to action for the same offer throughout the email. This will create several touch points for the recipients and more opportunity to convert. And your offer doesn’t have to be “buy now”. It can be as small and simple as downloading a whitepaper or registering for a free webinar. Your emails aren’t all about making a sale, they are about relationship building!
3. Work on Building a Relationship
Sending regular emails to your clients and prospects is a great start to building a long-term relationship. Your emails can be focused on educating and engaging your recipients instead of trying to make the hard sell. According to EmailMonday, “analysis of the campaigns of B2B email marketing agency Admitter shows that in 90% the Call to Action link text ‘more info’ wins from a Call to Action text like ‘try me now’ or ‘buy now’.” Your email recipients are relying on you to solve their problems through blogs, recommendations, webinars, and quick tips. Keep this in mind when developing your next e-blast!
4. Find that Perfect Balance of Images and Text
Images are an important piece of any email campaign. They grab your users’ attention and support your text. At the same time, text is just as necessary. While you should have both images and text in each e-blast, make sure that you have a good balance. Spear Marketing recommends an image to text ratio of 30/70 since too many images can trigger spam filters. Although your email will be made up of mostly text, that text should be broken up into small paragraphs, bullet points, and call-outs. Keep it fresh, fun, and easy to scan!
5. Send Users to a Specialized Landing Page
The calls to action on your e-blast should always direct users back to your website, preferably to a specialized landing page. The benefit of a specialized landing page is that you can target it solely to those prospects who clicked through. That means targeted text, images, and even a custom form. In addition, the conversion that lives on this landing page, whether it be filling out a form or downloading an e-book, should have a special thank you page. This thank you page can be used to continue the sale. Offer additional downloads, encourage users to call you, or direct them to a related blog. Anything you can do to keep prospects moving around your site and interacting with your content is a win for you.
Now, are you convinced that email marketing is the way to go? If so, keep these simple tips in mind as you embark on your first B2B email marketing campaign. And as always, contact Informatics if you would like assistance with setting up or managing your email marketing strategy.
View the other B2B digital marketing blogs from this month:
5 Tips for Tackling Social Media if Your Are B2B
5 Slam-Dunk B2B Blog Topic Ideas
8 Effective SEO Tips for B2B Companies
