Four Email Marketing Tips to Engage Your B2B Audience

Email marketing is king at providing a cost-effective method for marketers to communicate directly with their prospects. They can be molded to fit any occasion, from simply promoting a product to educating leads on relevant industry updates, and best of all, they offer you a guaranteed mode of entry into the inbox of your target audience.

Long story short, email marketing works. Period. And if you feel as though your efforts aren’t working, chances are you’re doing something wrong. To help rectify this, read on to learn about why email marketing just works, common pitfalls to avoid, and tips every marketer should be mindful of. 

What Makes Email Marketing Effective

While there are probably as many different marketing channels as grains of sand in the Sahara, email marketing often stands out.

Here are some key reasons why this is the case: 

• Email marketing has an extremely high ROI. One study by Litmus found that for every $1 spent, $36 was generated in exchange. 
• Nowadays, especially in the business world, almost everybody uses email. Recent surveys found that over 4 billion people around the world use email on a frequent basis.
• Over 80% of B2B marketers utilize email marketing as one of their main channels due to its power to get their foot in the door of prospects.
• The majority of younger audiences, especially millennials, claim that emails are their preferred mode of communication with businesses. 

What Causes Email Marketing to Fail

Just because email marketing is effective doesn’t mean it’s easy. Simply owning a loaded gun doesn’t make you a trained hunter after all! That said, to help you avoid missing the target too, here are some common causes of failure:

#1: Weak Subject Lines

First impressions make or break in business but especially so in email marketing. The unfortunate reality is that your email will probably be one of the hundreds in a prospect’s inbox, so it’s crucial that you hook them from the get-go. One way to do this is by crafting a compelling email subject line as most readers will only skim the subject without actually opening the email.

Ensure your subject is concise, snappy, and relevant. Avoid filler phrases, symbols, and other redundancies. And if time permits, consider A/B testing multiple subject lines to better optimize your process.

#2: Sending Too Many Emails

The average person receives roughly 100 work-related emails per day. Yes, 100. So it’s safe to assume that because of the sheer volume, the vast majority of emails in anyone’s inbox will be left unread. 

Likewise, to the email marketer, let this be a warning. If you tend to bombard your recipient list with a barrage of emails, expect several blocks and unsubscribes to come your way. Resist the temptation to focus on quantity. In the B2B world of email marketing, the adage less is more rings absolutely true. Trust in the quality and value of your emails and let your message speak for itself.

#3: Not Understanding Your Audience

Alas, the above only holds true so long as the message you craft resonates with your intended audience. To achieve this, you have to start by understanding your audience, and what better way than by answering some fundamental questions?

Ask yourself which stage of the buyer’s journey your prospect currently sits at. Conduct research into your readers’ demographics, preferences, location, and even language, and use your findings to segment your audience. Based on this, you can then send specifically tailored emails to certain groups, which will also add a touch of personalization almost akin to individually written emails.

4 Tips To Engage Your Email Marketing Audience

Now that you know why you should consider email marketing and what to avoid, it’s time to focus on more practical matters. Here are some tips we’ve come up with based on our experience: 

#1: Timing

Timing is everything to the email marketer. While figuring it out can be a tricky process, knowing when exactly to send an email can seriously pay off, so make sure your data analytics skills are on point. It can help to imagine yourself in the shoes of your target audience. 

When do you think they’d want to receive an email? Could it be after work hours or right in the middle of a hectic day at the office? How about after a relevant event or webinar? Don’t be afraid to experiment and get things wrong. Timing is a learning process!

#2: Personalization

Prospects these days are often bombarded with hundreds of emails from all sorts of businesses vying for attention. Standing out from the crowd has never been tougher, but it isn’t impossible. One proven way is to simply personalize your email for the recipient as it’s a great way to make your reader feel valued.

Don’t believe it? Consider this: one study conducted by HubSpot found that emails that used a personalized Call To Action (CTA) performed over 200% better compared to emails that used generic, copy-and-pasted CTAs.

#3: Usefulness

It’s safe to assume that everyone in the B2B space is incredibly busy with their day-to-day work. From meetings to networking, time is scarce. So why then would they spend their time opening up yet another email that doesn’t provide them with any value save for a sales pitch? 

This is why adding value for your reader is key. It demonstrates both your knowledge of the field and your willingness to provide your readers with something useful. Consider providing your own insight into a particular industry trend. Share a tip or two about a product you know your reader uses. Or maybe shoot out a humorous joke to brighten their day a little. Just remember that email marketing is a two-way street and that it takes two to tango.

#4: Automation

Email marketing is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Crafting, optimizing, and managing marketing efforts is exhausting, so not making the effort to invest in automation is begging to be left behind. 

For instance, automation takes away the hassle of sending emails to prospects, and based on defined triggers, you’ll be able to send specific emails based on specific situations. From welcome emails to follow-ups, you can leave the burden to the system, thus improving your efficiency, increasing your productivity, and saving time that could be better spent elsewhere!

Engage with Emails

Email marketing has proven itself to be one of the most effective tools in the B2B marketer’s toolkit. However, email marketing isn’t a short-term effort that’ll garner instant results. It’s a long-term investment that should be finetuned as you go along; occasional failure is to be expected.

A good email marketing campaign requires expertise, experience, and industry know-how. At Brighttail, we’ve curated cutting-edge email marketing campaigns that drive results for our clients. To get a taste of what we can do for your business, why not reach out to us today?