Better B2B Email—10 Quick Tips

Could your B2B email campaign use a boost?  Mary Hart— senior writer, content marketing at life sciences supply chain solution TraceLink—shares 10 surefire tips to improve your B2B email marketing ROI.

Above all, marketers must test and keep the metrics in mind if they want to achieve email nirvana. “Track everything,” she says. “Know what people clicked and when they clicked. Track it all.”

1. Don’t goof up personalization. Make sure your data is accurate. Hart has entered her name on email sign-ups as “M. Hart” and subsequently gotten messages greeting her with Hello Mhart! “I’ve never called myself that,” she says. “Put the wrong name in a subject line and you’re going to get the wrong attention.”

2. Keep it snappy. In an A/B test she tried the subject line “How to retain your top IT workers” versus “6 Ways to Keep Top IT Workers From Quitting.” The latter showed a 30 percent increase. “I hate to tell you,” Hart says, “but clickbait works.”

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3. A good scare isn’t just for Halloween. Will you get a computer virus? Are your co-workers going to quit? We’re all human, and the threat of something bad will get people to pay attention. Create a sense of urgency in your B2B email creative. Is your email really the last chance someone has to sign up for something? Or, will there be 10 more “last chance” emails coming the recipient’s way? Don’t cry wolf—if you say this is a last chance offer, follow through and give them an incentive to take advantage.

4. Don’t boil the ocean. Test one thing at a time. Don’t change the footer—and the image, and the copy and the call to action—all that the same time. “Focus on one thing,” she says. “If you don’t, you won’t know what made a difference.”

5. Test images. Different audiences response to different things. Test to see if your audience wants product images, pictures of people using your service, or heck, cats. (Well, maybe not cats, but you won’t know until you test.)

Want to hear more? Mary Hart will be a featured speaker at LeadsCon’s Connect to Convert, Sept. 25-27 at the Westin Boston Waterfront. Join us!

6. Test text versus html. See which format works best to reach your audience. Not only may one increase response, but one may also be more effective in avoiding spam filters and actually getting to your recipient’s inbox.

7. The “from” line matters. Should you be sending from your company, or an individual? If a recipient has a relationship with the sender, such as a sales rep, they are much more likely to open.

8. Taste the rainbow. Consider color. Everything matters in your B2B email marketing design, down to the color of your call to action button. When it comes to CTA button, test the placement, size, style and different color combinations—everything can have an impact when it comes to catching your prospect’s eye.

9. Get to the point. No one has time to scroll through line after line after line of copy in B2B email. Start with a compelling headline, followed by a concise opening that leads into three to four bullet points explaining what your recipient will get if they clickthrough—the more you can convey how your product or service will solve their problem, the better. Then, close with a strong CTA.

10. Keep sales in the loop. Have your sales team involved in the process through Salesforce or whatever system you use to track leads. “Make sure they know what emails are going out, so they don’t look like idiots when someone asks a question about a campaign,” she says.

This article was originally published in October 2018 and is updated frequently.