In 6 Steps to a Successful B2B Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing has gained significantly in importance, especially due to the pandemic. While live sales talks, meetings and events were canceled, email has become one of the main ways of communication in the B2B sector to advertise. But B2B marketing is challenging in all its facets. Therefore, you should know what to do when attempting email marketing in the business-to-business sector.

For this, we have created a guide for you, collected numerous tips and introduce you appropriate B2B email marketing tools from OMR Reviews. Additionally, we will reference studies that express the differences between B2B and B2C email marketing in numbers and reveal how you measure your own email marketing success.

Here are the differences in B2B and B2C email marketing

Each year, especially providers of email marketing software publish their studies which show how different email marketing strategies develop. An essential part of these studies is to show the difference between B2B and B2C email marketing because both of these need to be approached differently. This results in different data collection. You can find extensive studies or summaries, for example, from Inxmail, Optimizely and rapidmail.

If you now ask yourself, what matters in B2B email marketing and how do B2B and B2C differ in this regard, we will enlighten you. The essential difference already begins with the target group: on the one hand, you operate in different industries than a consumer; on the other hand, the target groups are quite different. Hence, the following principles, which clarify the significant differences between B2B and B2C email marketing:

• B2B industries are more numerous than in B2C, where mainly online shops, restaurants, fashion industry, fitness industry and direct banks advertise by mail.
• The opening rate for B2C emails is higher than for B2B, where spam filters are more likely to work. In the B2B sector, advertising emails are tolerated because they are expected (like newsletters) but filters often sort out emails with certain words. This varies from person to person. Therefore, it is important to know your target group and differentiate especially.
• In B2B, mailings are harder to place because the recipient is the wrong person, the recipient's needs are clearly managed, the data quality (email addresses) is not particularly high, and you need to stand out from the mass of B2B emails.
• In principle, informative mailings and newsletters work better than pure advertising in B2B.
• The demand for useful contacts is higher in B2B because the recipient lists are shorter. This is mainly because certain individuals in companies are responsible for purchasing services and goods. In B2C, however, the masses are targeted - regardless whether decision-makers are reached or not.
• Also, the purchasing process is different: impulse purchases are virtually non-existent in B2B.
• For sending newsletters in the B2B area, you need to pay attention to specific sending windows.
• As long as you stay serious, you should also be creative in B2B. Let your humor out and stand out from the mass of standard mailings. What an exciting newsletter can look like, we wrote down for you recently.

How you can measure your success in email marketing

So that you get an overview of how generally the click and opening rates in B2B email marketing can or should look like, we show you numbers from the Inxmail Email Marketing Benchmark 2021 For this, more than three billion anonymous emails from 200,000 email marketing campaigns conducted in 2020 were analysed.

Opening rate

The opening rate is the number of times your mailings have been opened. Thus, you can read from it how often the current newsletter was opened by the recipients. Here, you must distinguish between the absolute opening rate and the opening rate unique. The one totals all the openings, even if a recipient has opened the same mail several times, and the other relates the number of openings to the number of delivered messages.

What does the statistic say? The benchmark report shows that the opening rate in the B2B area is 28.2%. So, every fourth recipient opens the mails. In B2C it is with 29.3% slightly more.

Click rate

The click rate is theoretically the most crucial metric for you. It indicates how many readers of your mailings click on a call-to-action. These are usually quite low, don't be surprised. Therefore, it is all the more critical that you pay attention to the quality of your mailing content.

What does the statistic say? Approximately 3.7 % was the click rate in 2020. This is definitely more than in B2C, where only 3.4 % were achieved. Due to the pandemic, slightly higher numbers are expected in upcoming reports.

Effective click rate

The effective click rate is all about the ratio opening rate to unique clicks. The whole thing is also referred to as Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and tells you how many of your recipients have both opened your mailing and clicked on a link in it.

What does the statistic say? According to the above mentioned click and opening data from 2020, the effective click rate in B2B email marketing is a proud 14.1 percent. Why proud? In B2C it is just 12.6 %. This statistic is due to the fact that it is harder to reach B2B decision-makers, but they show a more stringent interest when confronted with the right topics. This leads to more likely clicking on the CTA button in B2B. As said: Quality of data and content is important!

Bounce Rate

The rate, known as bounce rate in English, shows how many users put your mailings directly into the trash folder. But even if this is a number that no one likes to read, it is extremely important for your success in B2B email marketing. Here you have to find out what prevents people from opening your newsletter or why it ends up directly in the spam folder. The bounce rate in B2B email marketing is very high compared to the B2C sector. This is due to the fact that there are significantly more newsletters and advertising emails in circulation in B2B. In other words: Stand out from the crowd, that is the motto!

What does the statistic say? It says: 0.9 % do not interact with advertising emails. In B2C, it's just 0.3 %. This tells you that you have to pay attention to details already in the subject. Don't use certain words or signs because of which spam filters ruthlessly sort out your mailings, and fill the subject line with exciting sounding words.

Devices

In the end, the device on which the reader opens your mail or your newsletter also counts. In general, you should always pay attention to responsive design, with email marketing tools supporting you. In this way, your mailings will be displayed equally well on all devices. In addition, mail clients display their mails differently to their users on the desktop, mobile device and in the browser.

What does the statistic say? 37.5 % of people in B2B read their mails in a desktop application such as Outlook. This is followed by the web client with 35.1 % and mobile devices are in last place with 27.4 %. In the B2C sector, it is the other way around: Starting with 43.3 % of users use smartphone and co. to check their mails.

So this is what successful email marketing looks like in numbers - there is always room for more!

If you regularly check your numbers using email marketing tools, in this way you constantly measure your success in email marketing. But measurement is not everything, you also have to take action. Therefore, optimize details that you believe will increase one or the other key figure. We have collected several tips for you in the following to have some recommendations for implementation ready.

Here are the 11 tips you should pay attention to in B2B email marketing

1. A, B, C... - First of all: Test as much as you can! No matter how many great tips we now give you, a mailing can achieve different results for everyone. Too many factors have an impact. So if you have sent out the first mailing, check your numbers and start testing. Send out the same mailings in slightly altered variants and check which ones are received better. The more often you repeat this, the more likely you are to get answers. And yes: The testing never stops - at least not if your B2B email marketing is to continuously grow.

2. Stay clean, don't overload - When it comes to newsletters, advertising emails and Co., make sure they have a consistent look, but above all, are not overloaded. Save on elements, colors, text blocks and images. Feel free to stick to your corporate design, but stay clean. If readers are confronted with too much, the mail will fly into the trash bin faster than you can say "B2B". The advantage: In the B2B area, you can even hold on to simple mails, but the informative content must be right.

3. Maintain a style - The second tip continues in the third: Stick to one style and do not change your mailings fundamentally all the time. For instance, you can ask whether a text or HTML appears more reasonable. Often, a pure text mail seems more attractive than a puffed-up HTML mail with a lot of bells and whistles. The trick behind it: Pure text mails often remind readers of private mails, which are generally the most popular type of this form of communication for everyone.

4. Show personality - Personality is and will be one of the supporting elements in marketing, as well in email marketing. Personal branding is not without reason becoming an increasingly important topic on various platforms. So be approachable, in a casual tone (if you are on a first-name basis with your customers) and do not use no-reply addresses. Better are marketing@company.com or anne@company.com.

5. Appropriate address - Same goes for the address of your readers: Address them directly by name. Most mailing tools offer suitable features for this, so you do not have to do it manually for each person on the recipient list.

6. Take into account the dark mode - What do I have to do as a sender with the dark mode of the recipient, you ask yourself now. A lot! Nowadays a lot of email clients have retrofitted and introduced the dark mode. If your mailings are not optimized, white borders and spots will appear. This does not look really good to readers. Always use png images. These are transparent and are displayed optimally in dark mode. And as the statistics have shown you, most B2B people open their mails in a desktop app like Outlook.

7. What should the readers do? – Behind every mail there is a desire. Whatever your wish is, lead the readers to fulfill it. For example, if it is your desire that the recipients of your current newsletter come to your online shop, give them a reason. With a short text block and a call-to-action - both above the fold - you lead them there. But this requires a good reason, an interest on the part of the virtual counterpart, and for the mail to be opened at all. Subject, sender address, content quality, correct recipient addresses and style are therefore not irrelevant!

8. Test responsive design beforehand – Before a mailing leaves your premises, check it using email marketing software, whether it is displayed well on all devices.

9. Use automation for yourself – The more mailings you want to send and the more recipients you have, the more work you have to do. Be efficient by letting automation tools do the work for you. Many email marketing software for B2B master corresponding features.

10. Check the numbers – After each mailing sent, you should look at your statistics. How many mails have arrived, been opened and, in the best case, clicked on? Afterwards, the search for improvement begins and the testing starts again - an eternal cycle! For better feedback, you can also conduct surveys by mail. Encourage the participation of readers by offering them added value.

11. Listen to your inner Mr. Lawyer – Not since Mr. Lawyer has become legendary on TikTok, legal issues in email marketing have to be observed. But, for example, with the GDPR some legal topics have changed in recent years and will continue to change. Therefore, pay attention to all legal aspects concerning B2B email marketing and stay up to date. The websites of many newsletter tools are good sources for this.

Step by step into B2B email marketing

That you must remain in discussion with customers and interested parties also by mail should now be clear. But how do you start B2B email marketing when you haven't dared to take a step in this area yet? We provide you with a compact, but informative guide in 5 steps. For the details, the previously mentioned 11 tips are in charge.

Define goals

Before even one mail leaves your client, you should precisely know what the goal of the mailing should be. Should recipients be informed, come into your online shop, or take the first step to becoming a customer? As far as B2B email marketing is concerned, the same applies to every campaign in marketing: What do you want to achieve with your email marketing campaign? Whatever it may be, define it and write it down. How you measure your success afterwards, we have already explained.

Specify target group

In addition, it is relevant to know who you are targeting with your campaign. Accordingly, you have to set up, design and adjust your emails and newsletters. Consider that every detail should be well thought out, as the target groups are usually much smaller in B2B. But if your email marketing strategy is sound in the end, you will be able to celebrate your successes!

Fill recipient list

Wherever you get your email addresses from, they should be high quality. info@potential-customer.com is not helpful. Here marketing and sales must work together. A well-maintained CRM could do wonders. Sort the recipient list by industry, budgets and other criteria that are relevant to you. This creates target groups within your target group, all of which you can address differently. This requires more effort, but promises more results!

Create content and determine send times

This step is probably the hardest of all. Creating the right content and conveying your information in a few words can take some time. Don't rush anything! With the help of email marketing tools and our relevant guides, you will also get the necessary support for this.

In addition, you should pay attention to the sending time. Send at times when your target group is presumably at the computer. These are usually the typical office working hours nine to five. If you send at 20:00 in the evening, when most people have already arrived in their leisure time, you will be lost in the mass of mails waiting in the recipients' mailbox the next morning.

Create design

At the end, you just need to package the content attractively. You achieve this by using templates in newsletter tools or by creating your own templates that match your corporate design.

And action! Now where goals and target groups are defined, recipients are listed and the design created, you can start sending. Afterwards, it is time to test what is working and what is not (see tip 11).