According to a 2022 study by HubSpot, B2B companies that use email marketing as an integral part of theirinbound marketing strategy generate on average 50% more leads and have 33% higher conversion rates than those who don't.
Email is often considered anoutbound marketing method, but in reality it can play a decisive role in your B2Binbound marketing strategy. In fact, e-mail can be used to attract, engage and convert prospects into loyal customers. This approach is very different from traditional email marketing, which often focuses on product promotion.
By understanding how email can strengthen your customer acquisition process, you'll be able to improve your inbound marketing strategy, accompany your prospects throughout their buying journey and maximize the results of your campaigns.
Inject new energy into your targeted email campaigns
Table of Contents
- 1 - Why integrate email into your B2B marketing strategy?
- 2 - Building an inbound email marketing campaign
- 3 - Best practices for optimizing your email campaigns
1 - Why integrate email into your B2B marketing strategy?
Email: a lead-generating tool
Email is one of the best ways to generate prospects or sales leads for your company. By sending personalized emails to sales leads, you can draw their attention to your company and your offer. By using registration forms on your website, you can also collect the email addresses of interested visitors and add them to your mailing list. Be transparent about your intentions: recipients need to know what they're going to receive when they subscribe to your mailing list. You should also make sure your emails are consistent with what you said when they signed up, to keep your target audience on board.
Email: a lead evaluation tool
Once you've collected email addresses from prospects, you can qualify them further by sending them targeted, personalized e-mails. These emails can contain information about your company and products, as well as content tohelp answer your audience’s questions. By providing relevant information, you can help build trust with the right prospects and increase your company's credibility.
Email: a conversion tool
Email is also an excellent tool for converting leads into customers. You can send personalized promotional emails that offer added value such as special offers, exclusive discounts or free trials. You can also send follow-up emails to encourage prospects to confirm a purchase or schedule a demonstration of your product.
Email: a customer loyalty tool
Once a prospect becomes a customer, email is an excellent way to keep them loyal to your company. You can send personalized emails to remind them of the benefits of your product, or suggest complementary products. You can also use satisfaction surveys to gather feedback and improve the quality of your offer.
Email: an inexpensive but effective tool
Email marketing is a cost-effective way of achieving results. Customizable templates make for greater efficiency and save you time. This method is also useful for reaching international markets without the cost or hassle of jet lag. Thanks to automation and more intelligent targeting of recipients, it is also possible to use emails with a more is less philosophy.
2 - Building an inbound email marketing campaign
Target selection and database segmentation
Knowing who you're addressing is essential if you want to personalize your content according to your audience's needs and interests. Segmentation enables you to divide your list of contacts into homogeneous groups according to criteria such as sector of activity, geographical location, recipient's function within the company, previous purchasing behavior, etc. This allows you to tailor your message to the specific expectations of each group.
Email subject lines and personalization
The email subject line is the first thing your contacts will see. It needs to be catchy and informative, as it determines whether or not they'll open your email. By adapting the subject line to the interests of your recipients, you increase your chances of conversion. Recipients are more likely to engage with timely, personalized messages that meet their needs. You can also tailor content according to where they are in the conversion funnel or their behavior history on your website. Delivering this relevant, tailor-made experience requires a real understanding of your target's challenges. It's up to you to find out more!
Email content: adding value and creating engagement
The content of your email should be clear, concise and interesting to your contacts. The idea is to provide useful information about your company or sector. To create engagement, favor content marketing tactics over aggressive sales methods. It's important to focus on the benefits your product can bring to your recipients, and to offer answers to their questions. By using clear language and creating a sense of urgency, you can also encourage your target to take concrete action.
The call to action (CTA) and its place in the email
The CTA is designed to encourage recipients to perform a specific action, such as registering for an event, downloading a document, making a purchase or visiting your website. To optimize the effectiveness of your CTA, it must be clear and concise to give recipients a clear idea of the action to be taken. The design and placement of the CTA button should also be taken into account to maximize visibility and engagement. It's also important to limit the number of CTAs in your e-mail to avoid distracting or confusing recipients. Finally, consider testing different CTAs to identify the most effective ones for your target and optimize them accordingly.
Technical elements to optimize email deliverability
To maximize deliverability, it's best to use a professional email address, avoid generic addresses and ensure that the email content is relevant, coherent and personalized, so that the message isn't treated as spam. You can also use automation tools to manage contacts and send emails at relevant times, with Thursday being the best day to send. Some recipients may have specific display preferences, so remember to optimize the size and format of your email for easy viewing on different browsers.
Visual elements
The design of your email is crucial to capture the attention of your recipients and encourage them to read it. First of all, use high-quality images that are relevant to your content. Images should be optimized for fast loading and accompanied by an alternative description for recipients who are unable to see them. For ease of reading, we also recommend a clear, hierarchical layout. Create headings and subheadings to structure content and add visual reference points. Use colors, fonts and style consistent with your brand to strengthen your graphic identity, but bear in mind that too many visual elements can make your email too heavy and slow to load. Finally, make sure your email has a good balance between text and images, so that the content remains attractive. Graphics can make your CTA stand out and encourage the audience to click to find out more.
3 - Best practices for optimizing your email campaigns
Perform A/B tests
A/B testing is one of the best practices for optimizing B2B inbound marketing email campaigns. This technique involves sending two slightly different versions of your email to different groups of recipients, then analysing the results to determine which version gets more engagement. A/B tests can be used to test different elements such as the subject line, images, call-to-action buttons, layout, content and sending frequency. By regularly testing different elements of your email, you can constantly improve the performance of your campaigns and increase open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates and customer loyalty.
Favor responsive emails
Responsive emails are emails that are designed to adapt to the screen size and resolution of the device on which they are viewed. By adopting a responsive design, you ensure that your email will be readable and navigable, whatever device the recipient is using: computer, smartphone or tablet. This can improve open and click-through rates, and guarantee an optimal user experience.
Regulatory compliance
When you send emails, you must ensure that you comply with applicable laws and regulations on confidentiality and personal data protection. Here are a few best practices to follow:
- Obtain consent: before sending an email, be sure to obtain your recipient's explicit authorization and to store his or her data in accordance with the law, protecting it from unauthorized access.
- Respect the anti-spam rules in force in your country: don't use dubious marketing practices such as buying email lists.
- Include an unsubscribe option: every email you send should include an easily accessible "opt-out" option for those who no longer wish to receive your emails.
Adhering to these practices will help you avoid legal hassles and boost your target's trust.
Measuring the results of your email campaigns
Here are the key metrics to monitor to measure the performance of your emails:
- Open rate: this represents the percentage of recipients who opened your email, and can be used to estimate the appeal of your email's subject line and the quality of your mailing list.
- Click-through rate: this is the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email. It allows you to evaluate the quality of your content and the relevance of your offers.
- Conversion rate: this is the percentage of recipients who have carried out the desired action, such as filling in a form or making a purchase. This measures the effectiveness of your offer.
- Unsubscribe rate: this is the percentage of recipients who have unsubscribed from your mailing list. A rate of more than 1% can indicate a loss of interest in your content, too much marketing pressure, audience destabilization due to a change in design or content, etc.
By reflecting on these figures, you can make adjustments to your emails to increase their reach.
For a fully successful overall marketing strategy,email should ideally be used in conjunction with other B2B inbound marketing channels, such as social media, website content and events. Good coordination of all these resources will ensure a consistent experience for your prospects and customers.
No doubt about it... "Email is the hardest worker on your marketing team. It works 24/7 to promote your business and generate qualified leads." This statement by Ian Brodie, Marketing Consultant, still applies today. While marketing technologies and channels continue to evolve, email inbound marketing remains an important pillar of any online marketing strategy. By combining effective segmentation techniques with relevant content, you'll be able to build lasting relationships with your prospects and customers, and leverage the high sharing potential of email. What's more, with emerging technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence, the future of email marketing is promising.
At VirtualExpo, we offer a targeted email service. With advanced segmentation features and a large database of business contacts, we can help you design personalized emails to maximize your return on investment.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to leverage email marketing to boost your business. Our experts are here to advise you on the best email marketing and sales strategy to develop your business internationally.
