One widely believed B2B email marketing myth is that it’s a dying channel. Let us be very clear that this is not the case.
B2B email marketing is thriving and will continue to do so as time passes. Interestingly, 79% of B2B marketers consider email as the most successful channel for content distribution.
Just because email marketing is effective doesn’t guarantee that your B2B emails will result in high opens and clicks. To help you execute powerful B2B email campaigns, we interviewed Adam Holden-Bache.
Why should you listen to Adam? Well, he wrote an award-winning book, “How to Win at B2B Email Marketing: A Guide to Achieving Success.” The latter is considered one of the best B2B marketing books of all time.
He’s also the Director of Email Marketing at Enventys Partners and the Lead Strategist at Email Industries. Working with top brands, like Johnson & Johnson, American Airlines, and JP Morgan Chase, proves that if you must follow any advice, it should be of Adam’s.
Let’s get started with the interview.
How vital is email marketing in today’s day and age?
Email marketing is vital to any brand. It remains the most effective marketing channel due to its ability to easily and cost-effectively reach a targeted audience.
How can emails contribute to a B2B company's success?
Email remains the most effective way to nurture leads and boost customer loyalty, both of which are vital to B2B brands.
What are 3 elements every good B2B email must have?
3 elements every good B2B email must have include:
A goal. In order for an email to be effective, it must work towards a business goal.
Relevant content. Increasing email relevance at an individual level will always generate better results.
An actionable CTA. In order to create engagement, an actionable call-to-action must be clearly stated and easily understood by the recipient.
How crucial is design in successful B2B email campaigns?
Design plays a role in B2B email campaigns, but in most cases, it plays a secondary role to content. A text-based email with hyper-relevant content and a great offer will outperform the most beautiful email with non-relevant content and an unattractive offer.
However, when creative and content work together to create a well-designed email with engaging content, you'll have your best chance at achieving your email marketing goals.
What is one email marketing pet peeve you can’t stand?
Misleading subject lines. If you do this, you may get more opens, but you'll likely create a negative experience for your subscribers, and it won't help you achieve your campaign goals.
What is one overlooked element when creating B2B emails?
B2B emails don't have to be boring! There are people reading your emails, and people like emails that are entertaining, animated, and fun.
What’s the biggest challenge that email marketers are facing today?
Now that most marketers have several years of email marketing experience, they have established processes and predictable results. However, most brands know that there is room for improving these processes and achieving greater success.
So for many brands, their biggest challenge is optimization, whether that's better data management, improving messaging and creativity, automating more communications, or improving deliverability.
What’s a good ratio of textual to visual content in B2B emails?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer for this. Test to see what generates the best results. It may be a text-based message, or it may be a fully designed email.
What's the ideal number of follow-up emails one should send in a B2B email marketing campaign?
This depends on the communication type and the importance of the campaign. For something critical, resending to those that did not engage with the first email is recommended.
Is email marketing in competition with other marketing channels, like social media, or can they be used together?
If you market in multiple channels, having them work together will generate the best results. Remember to cross-promote your channels too. For example, promoting your email content on social channels with a link to sign up will likely attract new subscribers.
How can small businesses with limited budgets benefit from email marketing?
Email marketing is extremely cost-effective, so brands with limited budgets should be focusing on email to generate positive ROI.
What’s one email marketing trend to look out for in 2022?
iOS15 is requiring brands to adapt to focus on conversions, rather than engagement, as their main KPI. Therefore, segmenting lists by iOS and non-iOS subscribers will be necessary to accurately analyze campaign results.
If you could give one piece of advice to email marketers just starting out, what would it be?
Always be collecting data. Your email marketing efforts are only as good as your list.
Wrap Up
Creating successful B2B email campaigns is no longer a difficult task after adopting the strategies put forth by Adam. If you’re looking for a user-friendly email builder that’ll enable you to create high-performing campaigns, then look no further. With 1,000+ premade templates, you can design B2B emails in a matter of minutes.
Who should we interview next?
