Our Best B2B Email Marketing Tips

B2B email marketing is a powerful tool for connecting with businesses, nurturing leads, and driving sales—but it can also drive recipients crazy.

A lot of business is conducted via email these days, so it’s imperative that your brand stays in touch, but the average professional is also drowning in junk email. The problem is so bad that 67% of B2B buyers have a secondary email account just to receive “junk.”

Staying out of your customer’s junk folder means creating emails that are:

• Targeted
• Timely
• Valuable

The best, most useful emails will naturally rise to the top of your customer's inbox; the worst, most promotional pieces will quickly be banished. Achieving all three of these points is tough, but it can be done with the right strategic approach and the help of marketing automation tools like HubSpot. 

Our email experts specialize in creating email marketing strategies for B2B clients, and sat down recently to offer us a handful to tips to help you optimize your own B2B email journey.

Nail the tone for your B2B email campaign

B2B email marketing focuses on reaching businesses and their decision-makers. It involves sending targeted email campaigns promoting products or services, nurturing leads through thought leadership content, and building long-term relationships with potential and existing clients.

B2B marketing does not include outreach to individual consumers, or the general public. Those marketing efforts are classified as B2C, and tend to be more transactional in nature. B2B email is about value and relationship (but conversion is still important, too).

The line between B2B and B2C can seem confusing at first because communicating with either audience involves moving a buyer from awareness to sales, but the tactics required to convert each type require specific approaches:

B2B emails typically emphasize the value proposition, benefits, and features of products or services relevant to solving business challenges. This content often includes industry insights, case studies, and data-driven analyses to demonstrate expertise and credibility.

B2C emails tend to focus more on appealing to emotions, desires, and lifestyles of individual consumers. This content is more focused on product promotions, discounts, storytelling, and visually appealing imagery to capture attention and drive impulse purchases.

Target your B2B emails appropriately

Specificity is the key to any successful marketing strategy, and for B2B email marketing, specificity starts with targeting. If you’re not getting to the inbox of the buyer who makes the decision (or at least influences the decision), your emails are failing to have an impact. 

Instead of a scattershot approach, target your email marketing based on:

• Industry: Your messages should focus on industry-centered obstacles and pain points, and provide insight as to how your company can help them solve these specific problems. A great B2B marketing message makes the recipient feel like your brand truly understands their work.
• Company size: Companies working at different scales have different needs. Craft your messages accordingly.
• Job title: Is your email going to the company president or the junior purchasing coordinator? The tone, level of detail, and personalization can all be optimized based on the recipient’s role.
• Purchase history: Your marketing team should have access to customer histories to personalize B2B marketing emails. Follow-up messages should be informed by the recipient’s previous interactions and purchase behavior.

Go Deeper: 5 Ways to Segment Your Email Marketing List

Precise targeting helps your emails reach the right people with the right message, increasing engagement and conversion rates. Take every opportunity you can to learn about your audience and include that information in your campaign output. If you are using a CRM like HubSpot, you can also experiment with the deployment of dynamic content, so you’re serving up personalized content within one global email design.

Hit B2B inboxes at the right times

In the world of B2B email, timing is key to making a lasting impression and building strong connections with your audience. Think of it like sending a message to a friend just when they need it most—it shows you're tuned in and ready to help. Imagine reaching out to a potential client just as they’re actively researching solutions. Your message is more likely to resonate, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Using your understanding of the marketing funnel and buyer journey, tailor your B2B email strategy so your messaging aligns with a buyer’s specific point in the process. Content examples could include:

• Awareness stage: Informative blog posts, whitepapers, or industry reports; introductory brand emails; curated industry content and relevant news
• Interest stage: Case studies, webinar invitations, product demos
• Consideration stage: Comparison guides, free trials or samples, testimonial messages
• Purchase stage: Special offers, cart abandonment emails, confirmation/onboarding emails

By aligning the content of email campaigns with the specific needs and interests of recipients at each stage of the buyer journey, you’ll build a relationship with clients that ultimately pays off in the form of conversions, referrals and reviews. 

Create value in every piece you send

By consistently delivering valuable content when it matters most, you're not just selling a product or service; you're building a relationship based on trust and reliability. And that's what sets you apart as a go-to partner in the busy world of B2B commerce. How do you do that?

Be a thought leader: Share valuable insights, industry trends, and innovative ideas through your email content. Position your brand as an authority in your field by providing thought-provoking articles, research findings, and expert commentary.

Offer inside tips and tricks: Provide practical advice, insider tips, and actionable strategies that can help your audience solve common challenges or improve their processes right now. Whether it's productivity hacks, efficiency tips, or best practices, offering valuable insights demonstrates your understanding of your customers' needs and positions your brand as a trusted advisor.

Be consultative, not promotional: Skip the sales pieces, and instead take a consultative approach that focuses on offering solutions and guidance. Position yourself as a partner invested in your customers' success, and prioritize building long-term relationships based on trust and mutual benefit.

Offer deals and promos: B2B buyers may not go for impulse deal emails like B2C customers, but they still love to get a deal when it’s time to buy. Provide exclusive deals, discounts, or promotional offers to incentivize action and reward customer loyalty. Whether it's a limited-time sale, special promotion, or loyalty program, offering tangible benefits can entice prospects to take the next step in their buying journey.

Learn More: 5 B2B Email Marketing Best Practices to Know

Avoid these common email marketing mistakes

Even the most seasoned B2B marketers make mistakes, but there are some basic ones you can avoid all together:

Don’t buy email lists: Purchased lists often contain inaccurate or irrelevant contacts, hurting your sender reputation, leading to more emails that end up in junk folders, which means more wasted effort, time, and money.

Don’t neglect personalization: Generic emails lack impact. Use segmentation and personalization techniques (like mail merges) to tailor your email into a message that demands to be read.

Don’t ignore mobile: Ensure your emails render flawlessly on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.

Don’t dismiss the data: Track key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates to measure performance. Analyze what works best and apply those tactics where you’re underperforming.

Don’t be overly promotional: It’s no secret that your company lives and dies by sales—every business does! So instead focus on providing value and building relationships. The sales will follow.

By understanding these strategies and avoiding these pitfalls, you can craft B2B email marketing campaigns that deliver results and nurture lasting business connections. The experts at Informatics can help—just reach out!

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