how to win at b2b email marketing

Adam Q. Holden-Bache @adamholdenbache

• Founded Mass Transmit in 1996

• Developed proprietary email platforms

• Sold to Striata in April, 2015

• 18+ years Email Marketing experience

• Author of “How to Win at B2B Email Marketing”

b2bemailmarketingbook.com

BRING  OUT  YOUR  DEAD!  

BRING  OUT  YOUR  DEAD!  

BUT  I’M  NOT  

DEAD  YET  

Emails are sent every minute

The average U.S. worker spends

of their time reading and answering emails

There are

emails sent to the average worker each year

• Increase revenue/sales

WHAT IS YOUR  

• Generate leads

• Reduce acquisition cost

• Improve conversion rates

• Increase retention

• IMPLEMENT TRACKING

GET RESULTS THAT MATTER  

• MEASURE SUCCESS

• IDENTIFY POINTS OF FAILURE AND CHANGE THEM

• UNDERSTAND HOW RESULTS CAN BE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE ROI

CONSTANTLY ESTABLISH AND REFINE BENCHMARKS AND TRY TO IMPROVE THEM FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN  

• Financially driven buyer

2 types of business buyers  

• solutions-focused buyer

• Existing Customers

Who is your audience?  

• Prospects

• Leads

• colleagues

• competition

• Media

68% rate email as “Good” or “Excellent” at generating ROI  

Most marketers allocate Less than 25% of their budget to email  

BUT…  

YOUR EMAIL MARKETING EFFORTS  

INCREASING EMAIL LIST SIZE SHOULD BE A TOP PRIORITY FOR B2B Marketers  

Attract the audience you desire  

1. Provide Value  2. Disclose Frequency  3. Give the Subscriber control  4. Ensure Privacy  

THE OPT-IN PROPOSITION  

1. WEBSITE  

WHERE TO COLLECT DATA  

2. SURVEYS  3. OFFLINE EVENTS  

4. ONLINe EVENTS  5. REGISTRATIONS FOR DOWNLOADS  6. Point of Sale  

7. Facebook  8. Twitter  9. LinkedIn  

10. Videos  11. Sweeps and Promotions  12. Email Signatures  

13. Print ADS  14. Direct Mail  15. QR Codes  

16. Mobile Apps  17. Mobile text subscriptions  18. Blog  

Allow users to manage their data Through preference centers  

1. You’ll Risk your Reputation  2. You’ll be labeled a spammer  3. Your deliverability will suffer  4. It’s not effective  

DO NOT PURCHASE AN EMAIL LIST  

EMAIL IS EXPERIENCED IN STAGES  

STAGE 1: The INBOX

EMAIL IS EXPERIENCED IN STAGES  

STAGE 1: The INBOX

GOAL: GET THE RECIPIENT TO OPEN

FROM NAME  

• business name or personal name? Test it.

• don’t exceed 23 characters

• be consistent with from name

• be consistent with from email

SUBJECT LINE  

• PUT THE MAIN POINT FIRST

• CREATE INTEREST

• CREATE URGENCY

• ADDRESS QUESTIONS/CONCERNS

• BEWARE PERSONALIZATION

• PROVIDE A CALL TO ACTION

The PREHEADER  

• GENERATE INTEREST

• SUMMARIZE

• ALWAYS SUPPORT THE SUBJECT LINE

THE PREHEADER

THE PREHEADER

THE PREHEADER (WHAT NOT TO DO)

STAGE 1: The INBOX

EMAIL IS EXPERIENCED IN STAGES  

STAGE 2: THE EMAIL BODY

STAGE 2: The EMAIL BODY

GOAL: GET the CLICK

• DON’T SELL, EDUCATE

HOW DO YOU GET THE CLICK?  

• SOLVE A PROBLEM

• SAVE, SAVE, SAVE

• ENTERTAIN

Subscribers respond POSITIVELY to messages that

inform and educate  

COPYWRITING  • Talk to your Customers, Not at Them • Start with the benefit • Be Helpful • Lead the Recipient towards a Decision • Make it long enough, but no longer

• MAKE IT SCANNABLE

DESIGN YOUR COPY  • USE Headers & Subheaders • Break Apart The Copy • Use Bullets & Lists • Use Bold, Italics & Font Size Variations • Use Color & Whitespace

STAGE 2: The EMAIL BODY

GOAL: GET the CLICK

STAGE 1: The INBOX

EMAIL IS EXPERIENCED IN STAGES  

STAGE 2: THE EMAIL BODY

Stage 3: The Web Site/Landing Page

ALWAYS DRIVE USERS TOWARDS CONVERSION

STAGE 3: The WEB Site/Landing page

GOAL: GET THE CONVERSION

STAGE 3: The WEB Site/Landing page

OF SMARTPHONE OWNERS USE IT TO READ EMAIL

(THAT’s more than use it to make phone calls)

will delete an email That doesn’t display correctly in a mobile inbox

Optimize for Mobile  

1. Less content 2. Easy to click 3. Stack content (no columns)

4. Remove or link to low priority content

RESPONSIVE EMAILS Will detect a reader’s Screen size and adapt their layout to optimize The viewing experience.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN  

< DEsktop  

Mobile >  

< DEsktop  

Mobile >  

Relevance = REsults  

ACHIEVE RELEVANCE THROUGH SEGMENTATION & PERSONALIZATION  

Personalized emails will improve:

EMAIL PERSONALIZATION  

• Open Rates 26%

• Click-through Rates 14%

• Conversion Rates 10%

EMAIL PERSONALIZATION OPTIONS:  

1. SUBJECT LINE 2. MESSAGE BODY COPY 3. IMAGES 4. DESIGN & LAYOUT 5. Content

LIST SEGMENTATION STRATEGIES  

1. MARKET SEGMENT 2. BEHAVIOR

3. DEMOGRAPHICS

4. PSYCHOGRAPHICS

5. Geography

6. Sales Cycle Stage

7. VIC’S 8. User History

9. Job Role/Title/Position

10. Size of Business

11. Acquired Data

12. Lead Source

Testing is your secret to success  

ALWAYS APPROACH TESTING WITH A GOAL IN MIND  

What do you test?  

• Subject line • Message • Layout and Images

• Call to action

• Time of delivery

• A/B Testing

Two types of Testing  

• MultiVariate Testing

Increasing Opens & Clicks should be secondary to increasing conversions  

How to improve ROI  

1. Know the value of your goals 2. Design campaigns to be measurable 3. Test and analyze results

4. Focus on decisions that improve ROI

DYNAMIC/REAL-TImE Emails  

•  Includes real-time information

•  Changes based on when/where opened

•  Hyper-personalized

Audio & Video  

FULLY PERSONALIZED EMAILS  

IN-EMAIL Transactions  

IN-EMAIL Payments  

RECAP:  

• Plan for success: HAVE A GOAL • KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE • Data: Quality over quantity • DRIVE TO CONVERSION ( Open -> click -> CONVERT) • optimize for mobile • Deliver relevance • testing is your key to success

b2bemailmarketingbook.com

Adam Q. Holden-Bache adam@B2bMarketingbook.com @adamholdenbache @B2bemailbook