An effective B2B email marketing strategy is essential to long-term growth. According to Hubspot, email generates $42 for every $1 spent. An incredible 4,200% ROI makes it tough to not acknowledge the benefits.

Before we get into email marketing best practices for B2B, let’s get started with the basics.

What is B2B?

B2B is also known as business-to-business. B2B is the practice of sending a marketing email from one business to another. These are the emails that target other businesses and professionals instead of consumers. An example is an email sent from a payment service provider to a freelancer. Or even an email sent from a software company to a business.

How is it different than marketing to consumers?

Of course, with B2B you target businesses instead of consumers. With this, the content and tone tend to be different from a B2C email. More often, the messaging is direct and informative. These are emails that educate, engage, or inform customers and prospects.

What are the benefits of a B2B email marketing strategy?

Email allows businesses to generate leads and built relationships. It’s a direct line of communication with your customers. Emails can also increase traffic to your website and establish authority. And different from any other marketing channel, businesses own their email list. Unlike a list of Instagram followers, you have complete control over your email list. Even better, you aren’t subject to social algorithms that deprioritize your content.

Beyond sending an email, it is important to make sure your email is strategic to be effective. To help you get started, here are the top email marketing best practices for B2B.

A Short, Snappy Subject Line

Email subject lines are notorious for getting cut off, especially on mobile. It’s important to keep it short, remove fillers, and use keywords early on. This will help your reader skim and understand the message upfront. I recommend targeting less than 8 words or 48 characters.

Next, include a hook and pique your customer’s interest! Why is this email valuable? Does it include exclusive content? Or special offers? And even proven strategies? Whatever your hook- make sure it’s accurate and reflects your content. There’s nothing worse than turning off a customer through a bait and switch.

Last, add the first name if possible. Your customers want to hear from other people! Make it personal to them.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Your email content and expected action should be clear and stand out. A CTA is a next step your customer should take- usually through a button or link in the email (i.e. Learn More, Apply Now, etc.)

Above all, your email CTA needs to stand out. Your reader should understand WHAT the next step is and HOW to take it. Don’t embed it into your content or hide it with an image. Make it easy to read and clear.

One email marketing strategy to help make your CTA clear is through placement. I recommend having at least two of the same CTAs. One should be above the fold near the top. The other can be toward the bottom after your content and images.

The other way to make your CTA clear is by using action-oriented words. Communicate to the reader what they should do. Some examples are Download Now, Join Today, and Add to Cart.

Personalize Your B2B Email Content

Another email marketing best practice for B2B is to personalize your content. This requires effort but is a great opportunity to connect with your readers.

To start with, you can personalize your subject line. This can be as simple as adding a first name or last name. An email is more enticing if you know it’s meant for you! It can also increase the likelihood of opens and clicks.

Besides the subject line, you can also personalize the copy. Adding custom copy to a headline, like a business name, can increase relevancy to the buyer. It can also give context to the reader that it’s a solution built for their business.

Lastly, you can personalize body content to make it more relatable to subscribers. Adding information specific to their business is a great way to show you know the reader and what they need. For example, including information like previous purchases reinforces that you know the relationship. Alternatively, including geo-specific information like a city helps to further connect with customers.

Optimize for Mobile

As of 2022, mobile devices account for at least 50% of all read emails. It’s critical to design your email for mobile phone users. There are a few mobile optimizations to keep in mind when designing your B2B email.

First, you should look for a responsive design. This is a design or template that is set up to adapt to screen size or device. A responsive design will ensure email modules and text appear as intended on a phone.

Second, keep your text short. In the case of mobile, less is always more. As email content adjusts to fit into a phone, users won’t be able to see a full view of an email. To keep scrolling to a minimum, you’ll want to be mindful of the length of your content.

Last, use buttons instead of text links. Large buttons are user-friendly and provide a larger clickable area. Buttons are also linked to higher click-through-rate because they stand out to skimmers.

Send Your Emails at the Right Time

Your email marketing strategy should include the exact time and date of your deployment.

There have been many studies on the optimal time to send B2B marketing emails. While results vary, it’s encouraged to keep emails consistent with the hours of an office. Setting up an initial guideline of only sending on weekdays between 8 am and 5 pm is a good place to start.

With regard to days of the week, mid-week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays have shown stronger engagement. This will help set your email apart from cluttered inboxes and unengaged readers.

As far as timing goes, targeting between 10 am and 3 pm has shown increased open rates. Similar to days of the week, your recipient is more likely to work between these hours.

Use Targeted Landing Pages

Instead of driving customers to generic pages, it’s a good idea to have designated pages for your emails. Your B2B email marketing strategy should outline a clear customer experience journey. This will include where your customer will go from your email, landing page, and beyond.

A targeted landing page creates a cohesive journey from your email to the page. The messages will align and keep the reader engaged because they know where they’re headed.

Additionally, a targeted landing page helps convert customers because the goals align.

For example, if your email prompts a customer to enroll in a program and drives them to an enrollment page… then they can seamlessly flow through the process.

Alternatively, if your email prompts a customer to enroll in a program and you drive them to your home page… then they’ll have to navigate the next steps on their own (and will likely not move forward).

In summary, the top email marketing best practices for B2B include:

• A Short, Snappy Subject Line
• A Clear Call-to-Action AKA CTA
• Personalized B2B Email Content
• Optimized Content for Mobile
• Sending Your Emails at the Right Time
• Using Targeted Landing Pages

Your turn! What other best practices do you use for your B2B emails?

Comment below and let me know!