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B2B email-marketing

How to define the objectives of your email marketing strategy

In the vast world of B2B marketing, email marketing stands out as a powerful and flexible tool, capable of meeting a variety of strategic objectives. Whether you’re looking to acquire new customers, build trust, encourage referrals, or forge strong partnerships, a well-defined email strategy can help.

Here are just a few of the benefits e-mail marketing can offer any brand:

  • Email marketing is an immediate tool that enables companies to target specific customers and send them personalized offers.
  • The overall investment required is low, which means that even companies with limited budgets can still benefit from this type of communication with their customers.
  • Unlike traditional marketing campaigns, results can be measured very quickly. In fact, e-mail marketing provides you with a number of tools that enable you to measure the impact of the message in order to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your strategy. This makes it much easier to monitor your e-mail marketing objectives.
  • Email marketing also lets you create different messages with A/B Testing tools, so you can design several messages to send to your customers and find out which one will be the most successful among your customers.

With the right campaign, it’s possible to achieve the email marketing goals you want to set. Let’s find out together how to define the objectives of your email marketing strategy to propel your business to new heights. 🚀

  • Alignment with business objectives 🌟

Before launching your first email campaign, take a moment to think about what you really want to achieve. Your goals may vary depending on your company’s growth phase and the specific challenges you were facing. Here are some questions to help you clarify your vision:

  • Do you want to increase sales? 🛒 If your main objective is to boost your revenues, you’ll need to design emails that effectively guide your prospects through the sales tunnel, focusing on product demos, special offers, and testimonials from satisfied customers.
  • Do you want to improve brand awareness? 🌈 To increase your brand’s visibility, focus on creating engaging content that reflects your key values and differentiators, while encouraging social sharing to reach a wider audience.
  • Do you want to retain your existing customers? ❤️ In this case, the focus should be on personalization and added value, offering customers exclusive content, loyalty rewards, and interactions that reinforce the feeling of belonging to a community.
  • The contribution of email marketing to these objectives ✉️

Once you have a clear vision of your goals, it’s time to determine how email marketing can help you achieve them. Here are a few ideas:

  • To increase sales: Use automated e-mail sequences to warm up your leads, providing them with all the information they need to make an informed buying decision.
  • To improve brand awareness: Create regular newsletters that share your company’s latest news, industry insights, and success stories, helping to establish your brand as an authority in your field.
  • To build customer loyalty: Focus on targeted email campaigns that celebrate anniversaries, reward customers for their loyalty, and offer proactive support to anticipate and respond to your customers’ needs before they even arise.

By carefully aligning your email marketing objectives with your company’s overall goals, you not only maximize the effectiveness of every email you send, but also create a consistent and memorable experience for your customers and prospects. Remember, the success of your email-marketing strategy lies in its ability to integrate seamlessly into your overall marketing and communications efforts. 🌟

  • Setting SMART objectives ✅

When it comes to setting goals for your email marketing strategy, the SMART approach is your best ally. Here’s how to make your goals not only ambitious, but also achievable and aligned with your long-term vision. 🎯

3. 1. Specific 📌

Start by specifying exactly what you want to achieve with your email marketing campaign. A specific objective answers the questions: Who? Who? Where? When? Why?

  • Example: “Increase the conversion rate of newsletter subscribers into paying customers by 5% in the technology sector over the next quarter.”

3. 2. Measurable 📊

Make sure that each objective can be measured. This means defining key performance indicators (KPIs) that will enable you to track your progress and evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy.

  • Example: “Increase the number of subscriptions to the trial version of the software via emails by 150 per month.”

3. 3. Achievable 🏋️‍♂️

Your goals must be ambitious but achievable, given your current resources, such as your budget, your team, and your technological tools.

  • Example: “Generate 200 additional qualified leads per month from the email-marketing campaign, based on the performance of previous campaigns and available marketing resources.”

3.4. Realistic 🌍

Your goals should be practical and based on an accurate analysis of your capabilities and the market context. They should push you to stretch without putting you out of reach.

  • Example: “Improve email open rates for product awareness campaign by 20%, using personalized subject lines based on user behavioral data.”

3. 5. Temporally defined ⏰

Set a clear deadline for your goals. This creates a sense of urgency and enables you to plan your resources and efforts more effectively.

  • Example: “Achieve a 10% click-through rate on promotional email CTAs by the end of the second quarter.”

By defining your email marketing objectives with the SMART approach, you create a clear framework for your team, making it easier to plan, execute and evaluate your campaigns. This keeps you focused on what’s really important and optimizes results, making every email you send more effective and relevant to your audience. 💡

  • Know your audience 🎯

Knowing your audience is the foundation of a successful email marketing strategy. Without a deep understanding of who your subscribers are, it’s difficult to create messages that resonate and engage. Here’s how to dive deep into your audience segments to personalize your campaigns to the max. 🕵️‍♂️

4. 1. Identify your audience segments 🧩

Start by dividing your subscriber base into meaningful groups based on specific criteria. This can include:

  • Demographics: Age, gender, location, etc.
  • Behavior: Purchasing habits, email interaction history, frequency of visits to your site.
  • Customer lifecycle: new visitors, committed prospects, loyal customers, inactive customers.

4. 2. Understand their needs and preferences 💡

Once you’ve identified audience segments, it’s time to dig deeper to understand what motivates them. Use surveys, feedback, and analytics data to answer questions like:

  • What problems are they trying to solve?
  • What type of information or content are they looking for?
  • Which channels do they prefer for communication?
  • How do they prefer to consume content (videos, blog posts, case studies, etc.)?

4. 3. Personalize your messages ✉️

With this information in hand, you’re ready to personalize your messages so that they resonate with every segment of your audience. Here are a few ideas:

  • For new visitors: Send a warm welcome email that introduces your brand and offers immediate value, such as a discount code or exclusive content.
  • For loyal customers: Create personalized thank-you campaigns offering exclusive benefits or loyalty rewards.
  • For inactive customers: Launch re-engagement campaigns with surveys to find out why they’ve drifted away, accompanied by special offers to entice them back.

By focusing on in-depth knowledge of your audience and tailoring your content to their specific needs and preferences, you’ll significantly increase the effectiveness of your email marketing strategy. Every email thus becomes an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your subscribers, leading them to engage more with your brand. 🌟

  • Selection of relevant KPIs for email marketing 🔍

In email marketing, measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns is crucial to understanding what’s working, what’s not, and where there are opportunities for improvement. Here’s an in-depth exploration of essential KPIs and how to use them to your advantage.

5. 1. Open rate

The open rate represents the percentage of recipients who have opened an email in relation to the total number of emails sent (minus bounces). It’s a key indicator of the relevance of your subject lines and the timing of your emails.

Why is it important?

  • Measuring Attention: A high open rate suggests that your subject lines are attractive and that your e-mails arrive at an opportune moment.
  • Topic optimization: By analyzing the open rates of different campaigns, you can determine which types of topics resonate best with your audience.

5. 2. Click-through rate

The click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on at least one link in your email. This KPI is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of your content and calls to action (CTAs).

Why is it important?

  • Content engagement: A high CTR indicates that your message and CTAs are relevant and engaging for your readers.
  • Optimization guidance: Analyzing which content types and CTAs generate the most clicks can guide you in creating future campaigns.

5. 3. Conversion rates

The conversion rate is the percentage of recipients who perform the desired action after clicking on a link in your email. This can include purchasing a product, registering for a webinar, downloading a white paper, etc.

Why is it important?

  • Measuring ROI: Conversions are the ultimate objective of most email marketing campaigns, making this KPI crucial for measuring return on investment.
  • Understanding User Behavior: Knowing which emails convert best gives you valuable insight into your audience’s preferences and needs.
  • Do the A/B test 🔄

A/B testing, or split testing, is a method of comparing two versions of the same email to see which is better. It’s a powerful tool for optimizing your email marketing campaigns.

6.1. Test different elements

  • Subject lines: Test different formulations to see which attract the most attention.
  • Email content: Vary the content to determine which approaches are most likely to prompt action.
  • Design: Experiment with different layouts, images, and colors to identify what’s most engaging.
  • Calls to Action: Modify the wording, color and placement of CTAs to optimize click-through rates.

6. 2. Learn from every campaign

  • Data collection: Use the results of your A/B tests to gather valuable data on your audience’s preferences.
  • Continuous iteration: Apply lessons learned to constantly improve the effectiveness of your emails.
  • Analyze and adjust 📊

Monitoring and analyzing the performance of your email marketing campaigns is essential to adjusting and improving your strategies over time.

7.1. Monitor your performance

Use analytics and tracking tools to regularly review your KPIs. This will help you understand the impact of your campaigns and identify trends over time.

7.2. Be ready to adjust

  • Reactivity: Be ready to quickly adjust your strategy according to the performance of your campaigns.
  • Innovation: Don’t be afraid to try new approaches or ideas to improve your results.

By following these steps and remaining open to performance-based adjustments, you’ll implement a dynamic and responsive email marketing strategy, capable of adapting to changes and continually optimizing results. Remember, the key is to stay committed, be patient, and always seek to learn from your experiences. Good luck on your path to email-marketing success! 🚀

In conclusion, defining the objectives of your email marketing strategy is an essential process that requires reflection, analysis and adaptability. By following a structured approach based on SMART objectives, knowing your audience deeply, choosing the right KPIs, continually testing and optimizing, and analyzing and adjusting your strategy based on performance, you’ll set your campaign on the road to success. 🎯

Remember that aligning your email marketing objectives with your company’s overall goals is crucial to ensuring that your efforts support your organization’s overall vision and goals. Every email you send should be an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with your audience, guide your prospects through the sales tunnel, and ultimately contribute to your company’s growth.

Email marketing isn’t a magic formula, but with a focused approach and a willingness to learn and adapt, it can become one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. So, take the time to define your goals clearly, measure your progress, and don’t be afraid to experiment to find what works best for your brand. With patience and perseverance, you’ll see your email marketing efforts pay off. Good luck! 🌟

Remember, the world of email-marketing is constantly evolving, so staying on top of the latest trends and best practices is essential to keeping your campaigns fresh and engaging. Commit to continuous improvement and watch your email-marketing strategy flourish.

Categories
B2B email-marketing Miscellaneous

Targeted Email Marketing: Use Segmentation to Succeed 🌟

One of the great challenges for e-mail marketers is to find the perfect formula for sending branded messages. Your e-mails need to arrive at the right time, be addressed to the right people and say the right things.

Finding this balance involves many different factors, but it all starts with the use of email segmentation within your campaigns.📊

What is Segmentation in Email Marketing?

Definition and significance

Segmentation in email marketing involves dividing your subscriber list into smaller groups or segments based on specific criteria. These criteria can include subscriber behavior, personal preferences, geographic location, or purchase history. The aim is to personalize your messages so that they resonate more strongly with each segment.

However, your e-mail performance will suffer if you don’t target the right people with your messages. Email segmentation allows you to take your contact list and group your audience into smaller categories. Your groups will contain fewer contacts, but you’ll be able to send them more relevant information, improving the likelihood of them engaging or converting. 💡

Marketers claim that segmented e-mail campaigns generate 760% more revenue.💰

There are many different ways to segment your mailing lists

While there are many ways to segment your email audiences, some of the simplest methods involve grouping your contacts by:

  • Behavioral Segment according to interactions with your previous e-mails, for example, those who clicked on a specific link.
  • Demographics Age, gender, education level, etc.
  • Geographic Country, region, city.
  • PsychographicInterests, attitudes, values.
  • Purchase history Purchase frequency, average order value.

When it comes to segmentation in the context of BtoB (Business to Business) marketing, the criteria differ from those used in BtoC (Business to Consumer). Segmentation in BtoB is crucial to effectively target commercial communications and offers, taking into account the specific needs and characteristics of customer companies.

Business sector
  • Why it’s important: Understanding the customer’s business sector helps to tailor marketing messages and product or service offers.
  • Application: Customized messages depending on whether the company operates in technology, healthcare, education, etc.
email marketing segmentation
Segmentation by business segment on Ediware
Company size
  • Importance: The size of the company (small, medium or large) influences its needs, budget and decision-making capacity.
  • Application: Different offers for startups than for multinationals.
Geographical location
  • Importance: Geographical location can affect a company’s needs, particularly in terms of logistics, local regulations and corporate culture.
  • Application: targeted campaigns by region, country or even city.
Corporate Life Cycle
  • Importance: Knowing whether a company is starting up, growing, maturing or declining can influence how it responds to offers.
  • Application: Products or services adapted to the company’s stage of development.

How to measure e-mail segmentation

If you use e-mail segmentation correctly, you should notice an improvement in the performance of your core e-mail marketing metrics.

  • Open rate: A good subject line is still the best way to generate e-mail opens, but segmented audiences will be more likely to open the e-mail if the subject line indicates that it’s relevant to them.
  • Click-through rates: Email segmentation allows you to tailor your email copy specifically to your audience. Simply localizing the content of your e-mail can improve click-through rates up to 13%.
  • Unsubscribe rate: Contacts unsubscribe from e-mails when they feel that the content is not relevant to them, or is not what they expected to receive. You can use e-mail segmentation to ensure that the right people receive your messages.

All these metrics can be easily tracked using your messaging service provider’s dashboard and basic reporting tools.

Does it really matter?

Email segmentation is essential if you want to run a successful marketing campaign. You need to divide your audience into groups before planning an e-mail, so that you can tailor your strategy and message specifically to the problems and needs of that individual segment.

However, just because you segment your emails doesn’t mean you’ll have a winning campaign. Segmentation is only one piece of the puzzle. Even if you’re reaching the right people, you still need to make sure you’re sending them relevant messages at the right time. Focus on the customer journey for each segment when creating your campaigns.

Categories
B2B email-marketing

How to write high-impact, high-performance email subject lines?

In the world of email marketing, the subject line has become an essential lever for capturing subscribers’ attention and encouraging them to open a message. A well-formulated subject line can increase open rates, clicks, conversions and engagement. How do you design a subject line that attracts interest, stands out in the inbox and produces results? Here is some advice from Mathieu JAULIN, emailing expert and founder of blogdudigital.fr.

The importance of the subject line: A decisive factor for your campaigns

The subject line is the first impression you leave. Even before discovering the content, subscribers need to be intrigued by the subject line to open the email. Too often neglected, it must arouse curiosity and provoke immediate action. It’s also essential to adapt it to different platforms. For example, if the subject line is too long, it may be truncated, reducing its impact. The aim is to avoid the email going straight to the trash garbage can unopened. The subject line is therefore the first step towards a satisfactory open rate and an opportunity to maximize subscriber engagement.

Best practices for writing powerful subject lines

Writing attention-grabbing copy requires careful thought and is based on a few key principles:

  • Knowing your audience : Understanding who your audience is is imperative. Each subscriber segment has specific expectations. A segment reactive to promotions will respond to an object focused on discounts, while another segment prefers information or news.
  • Clear and concise A clear, direct subject line should not exceed ten words. For example, “-30% off our new collection this week” is short, direct and emphasizes the benefit.
  • Efficient structure Adopting a two-part structure maximizes impact. The first part can introduce the theme, while the second contains a clear call to action or promise of benefit.
  • Appeal to emotion or curiosity A good object should arouse emotion or pique curiosity, for example by playing on urgency or exclusivity.

Evaluating the effectiveness of your objects: indicators to track

The main indicator for evaluating the performance of an object is the open rate. For example, with an open rate of over 20%, a campaign can be considered successful. However, you also need to take into account click-through and conversion rates to assess the overall effectiveness of your e-mail.

Continuously optimize your objects

Emailing is an evolving practice. It’s essential to regularly test different versions of your objects and analyze the results.

  • A/B testing A/B testing: Perform A/B tests to compare the performance of two objects in different segments, and adopt the best-performing one.
  • Gathering feedback from subscribers Don’t underestimate the importance of direct feedback. Use surveys to find out what subscribers want.
  • Tracking long-term performance If your rates are stagnating or falling, it may be time to rethink your objects.

Don’t overlook the sender

The sender also plays a crucial role. Subscribers are more likely to open an email from an identifiable person, rather than a generic address such as “noreply@entreprise.com”. Using a personalized address builds trust and humanizes the relationship.

Conclusion: The subject line, the key lever for your email campaigns

A powerful subject line is essential to maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns. Listen to your audience, constantly evaluate your performance, innovate and test different formats to get the best results.

Categories
B2B email-marketing

Maximize conversions from your landing pages, the B2B guide 🚀

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, and landing pages play a key role in the quest for conversions.

For B2B companies, creating high-converting landing pages is crucial. It’s what generates leads, nurtures prospects and ultimately, generates sales. 📈

What is a landing page?

📌 A landing page is a standalone web page designed to collect info from a visitor in exchange for a specific offer (such as a white paper, e-book, webinar registration, or product demo).

The aim? Convert visitors into leads and initiate a relationship with potential customers. 💼

Key elements for optimal conversion

To create landing pages that attract and convert, here’s what counts:

1. Captivating title and subtitle

  • The title is your first chance to impress.
  • A clear title communicates the value of your offer.
  • The subtitle explains the expected benefits. 📢

2. Engaging content

  • The text must be persuasive and concise.
  • Highlight your audience’s advantages and pain points.
  • Use bullets, bold text and subheadings to highlight the essentials. 📄

3. Captivating visuals

  • Images, videos, infographics: these visuals reinforce the appeal.
  • Use relevant visuals to reinforce your message and win trust.
  • An explanatory video or customer testimonials reinforce credibility. 📸

4. Clear call to action (CTA)

  • The CTA must be clearly visible and indicate precisely what action is expected.
  • Use motivational language and create a sense of urgency.
  • “Download now”, “Get your free trial”, “Sign up today”. Experiment with colors and button sizes to increase conversions. 📣

5. Conversion form

  • Simplify the form fields to ask only for the essentials.
  • Long forms reduce conversions.
  • Find the balance between collecting valuable info and reducing wastage in terms of registrations. 📝

Tips for optimizing B2B landing pages

🔬 For B2B pages, optimization is key:

1. A/B test

  • Test various elements, such as titles, CTAs, forms and layout.
  • Gather data for informed decisions.
  • A/B testing is king for improving conversion rates. 📊

2. Mobile optimization

  • Your page must be mobile-friendly.
  • A significant proportion of users consult their e-mail on cell phones, including B2B customers.
  • A smooth mobile experience is crucial for conversions. 📱

3. Loading speed

  • Display speed is of the utmost importance.
  • Users want instant access to information.
  • Image compression, HTML/Javascript code minification and caching: tips to improve loading times. Aim for speed! 🏎️

Best practices for B2B landing pages

1. Minimalist design

  • Clean designs attract attention.
  • Use white space for elegance and professionalism. 🖌️

2. Social proof

  • Incorporate testimonials, case studies or customer logos to build trust.
  • The successes are convincing. 🤝

3. Customization

  • Tailor content to specific segments.
  • Show that you understand your target’s needs. 🤓

4. Exit pop-ups

  • Use them when visitors are about to leave.
  • Offer a last-minute incentive.
  • Encourage them to stay. 🚪

Conclusion

Creating high-converting B2B landing pages requires a strategic approach.

By following these best practices, you’ll optimize your pages for maximum conversions. A well-designed landing page is your trump card for capturing leads and boosting your B2B marketing. 🚀💼💰

Categories
B2B email-marketing

The Triangle of Trust in B-to-B Email Marketing

In today’s hyper-connected and competitive world, trust has become an invaluable asset. Particularly in B2B marketing, where building strong, lasting relationships is essential, trust is a currency that can make the difference between a campaign’s success and failure. In this world, the concept of the Trust Triangle – Authenticity, Transparency and Consistency – is emerging as a key framework for forging and maintaining trust in your email marketing campaigns.

But what is the Triangle of Trust and how can it improve your B-to-B email marketing efforts? This article is here to guide you through every aspect of this concept and show you how to apply it to your strategy. We’ll discuss each pillar of the Triangle, exploring their implications and sharing concrete examples of how they can be put into practice. Finally, we’ll illustrate these concepts with case studies of companies who have effectively used the Triangle of Trust to strengthen their email marketing campaigns.

On the road to building solid, lasting trust with your prospects and customers thanks to the Triangle of Trust in B-to-B email marketing! 🚀

Definition of the Triangle of Trust in B-to-B Email Marketing 📚

The Triangle of Trust in B2B email marketing rests on three pillars: Authenticity, Transparency and Consistency. These three elements, acting in symbiosis, are crucial to building and maintaining lasting trust with your B-to-B audience. Let’s take a closer look at what each of these pillars means.

Authenticity 🎯: Authenticity refers to the authenticity of your brand and your message. Being authentic means that you’re true to your brand identity, your values and that you’re sincere in your communications. This translates into emails that clearly reflect your corporate identity, and a tone of communication that’s uniquely yours. Authenticity creates an emotional connection with your audience, which fosters trust.

Transparency 🌐: Transparency concerns the clarity of your intentions and actions. In B-to-B email marketing, transparency is essential when it comes to the collection and use of your contacts’ data. It’s imperative to be transparent in your privacy policies, as well as in your intentions for using the information you collect. This openness builds trust, as it shows your audience that you respect their privacy and are trustworthy.

Consistency 💡: Consistency refers to the idea of being consistent in your actions and communications. In email marketing, this manifests itself in sending regular emails, consistency in the design and tone of your emails, and consistency between your promises and your actions. A brand that is consistent in its communications reinforces its credibility, which in turn builds trust.

Together, these three pillars form the Triangle of Trust in B2B email marketing. By relying on authenticity, transparency and consistency, your company can build lasting trust with your audience, which is essential to the success of your B2B email marketing strategy.

Authenticity in B-to-B Email Marketing ✅

The first pillar of the Triangle of Trust, authenticity, is a fundamental quality that every B-to-B brand should seek to incorporate into its email communications. Here’s how you can bring authenticity to your B-to-B email marketing campaigns:

Know and respect your brand identity 🏷️

Authenticity starts with a clear understanding of what your brand is and what it stands for. What is your mission statement? What are your values? What sets you apart from your competitors? All these questions must be answered if you are to build an authentic message.

Align your content with your brand identity 📝

Authenticity also means aligning your content with your brand identity. This means that every email you send should reflect who you are as a brand. For example, if you’re an innovative technology company, your emails should convey an image of modernity and innovation.

Be sincere and honest 💬

Authenticity also means being sincere and honest in your communications. If you promise something in your e-mails, make sure you deliver. What’s more, don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes. This will only reinforce the perception of your authenticity.

Humanize your brand 👥

People tend to trust other people rather than anonymous entities. That’s why it’s important to humanize your brand. For example, you can sign your emails with your first name, use a friendly, personal tone of voice, or even share stories from your company’s employees.

Authenticity in B2B email marketing isn’t an option, it’s a necessity. By being authentic, you’ll build a relationship of trust with your audience, making your email communications more effective.

Transparency in B-to-B email marketing 🌐

Transparency, the second pillar of the Triangle of Trust, is essential to building trust in your B-to-B email marketing strategy. Here’s how to implement a policy of transparency in your email marketing campaigns:

Clarity in data collection 📊

Make sure you clearly explain why and how you collect your customers’ data. When a customer signs up for your newsletter or fills in a form on your website, make it clear exactly what data is being collected and for what purposes.

Confidentiality 🛡️

Respect the confidentiality of your contacts and keep your data protection promises. Make sure you comply with all applicable laws and regulations, such as RGPD in Europe.

Transparency in data use 🔍

If you use the data collected to personalize your emails, let your contacts know. Personalization can be a great way to improve engagement, but it must be used ethically and transparently.

Open-mindedness about intentions of use 💡

Be open about how you intend to use the data you collect. For example, if you plan to use your contacts’ email addresses for retargeting campaigns on other platforms, let your contacts know.

Transparency in B2B email marketing is not just a question of ethics, it’s also a question of respect for your contacts. By being transparent, you show your contacts that you respect their data and their privacy, which reinforces their trust in your brand.

Consistency in B-to-B Email Marketing 💡

The third pillar of the Triangle of Trust is consistency. An effective B-to-B email marketing strategy requires consistent and constant communication with your audience. Here are a few ways to incorporate consistency into your email marketing campaigns:

Consistency of style and tone 🎨

Every email you send is a representation of your brand. So it’s crucial that you maintain consistency in the style and tone of your emails. This includes everything from the colors and fonts you use, to the tone of your speech.

Regularity of communication ⏰

It’s important to define a regular sending frequency for your emails, be it daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. This helps build a relationship with your audience, who know when to expect to hear from you.

Message consistency 📝

Your messages should be consistent from one email to the next, but they should also be in line with your other communication channels. If your brand is committed to sustainability on social networks, for example, this commitment should be reflected in your emails.

Promise follow-up 🤝

If you make a promise in an email, make sure you keep it. For example, if you promise a special discount for subscribers to your newsletter, make sure that the discount is actually applied.

Consistency in B2B email marketing builds your audience’s trust in your brand, while establishing your credibility and improving brand recognition. When your communications are coherent and consistent, your audience knows what to expect from you, which reinforces the feeling of trust.

Case Study: How these Companies used the triangle of trust to strengthen their B-to-B email marketing 🏆

OVHcloud : Authenticity in Communication 🏅

OVHcloud, one of Europe’s largest cloud service providers based in France, has been very authentic in its email communication. The company has always strived to remain true to its values and mission, particularly when it comes to data protection. For example, in their newsletters, they often share blog posts explaining their security and privacy policies, demonstrating their commitment to authenticity.

Le Slip Français: Process Transparency 🎖️

Le Slip Français, a fashion company well known for its innovative marketing approach, uses transparency in its B-to-B emails. For example, in its communication with retailers, the company shares details about the production process of its products, including the origin of materials and the working conditions of its employees. This creates a transparent and credible image of the brand with its partners.

Doctolib: Consistency in Communication 💪

Doctolib, one of France’s leading online medical appointment booking platforms, demonstrates consistency in its email communications. Whether in its newsletter for healthcare professionals or its updates for patients, Doctolib maintains a consistent tone and style. What’s more, the company regularly communicates updates on its services and initiatives, ensuring constant communication with its users.

These three French companies are perfect examples of how the triangle of trust (authenticity, transparency and consistency) can be used to reinforce aB-to-B email marketing strategy. By integrating these three elements into your own email marketing campaigns, you can strengthen your customers’ trust and improve your results.

To conclude

In short, the Trust Triangle – made up of authenticity, transparency and consistency – is a fundamental concept to integrate into your B2B email marketing strategy.

Authenticity helps you stay true to your brand and create a deeper connection with your audience. Transparency helps you build trust with your customers, showing them that you have nothing to hide. Finally, consistency strengthens your credibility and brand recognition, ensuring that your audience knows what to expect from your communications.

Looking at the case studies of OVHcloud, Le Slip Français and Doctolib, we see how these French companies have successfully applied the Triangle of Trust in their B-to-B email marketing strategies. By following their examples and putting these three principles into practice, you too can strengthen your customers’ trust and improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Never forget that the ultimate goal of any business communication is to create and maintain trust. By building your email marketing strategy around the triangle of trust, you’re well on your way to achieving that goal. 🎉

Categories
B2B email-marketing

A start-up guide to B2B prospecting with Email Marketing

In the B2B world, email marketing is an essential strategy for reaching, engaging and converting your prospects. Properly executed, it can deliver excellent ROI, reinforce brand loyalty, and help you achieve your sales objectives. However, like any marketing strategy, B-to-B email marketing requires a thoughtful approach and precise execution to succeed.

That’s where our guide comes in. By bringing together the knowledge and expertise of professionals from different fields, we’ve created this comprehensive guide to help you master the art of B-to-B email marketing. We’ll cover everything from creating an email marketing strategy to understanding your audience, writing persuasive content, the importance of SEO/SEM, complying with data protection regulations, and analyzing your campaign’s performance.

Whatever your level of email marketing experience, our guide is designed to provide you with the tools, tips and best practices you need to launch and optimize your own B-to-B email marketing campaigns. So get ready to dive into the fascinating world of B-to-B email marketing and discover how it can transform your business. 🚀

Develop an effective B-to-B email marketing strategy 💡

In the world of B2B marketing, a well-defined email marketing strategy can be the key to effectively reaching your target audience. Email remains a powerful communication tool with a remarkable return on investment, if used correctly. Let’s take a look at how to create a successful B-to-B email marketing strategy.

Define your goals 🎯

First and foremost, it’s essential to clearly define your objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your email marketing campaign? This can range from raising brand awareness, to generating leads, to strengthening customer relationships. Having clear objectives will help you focus your efforts and measure your success.

Know your target audience 👥

To connect with your prospects and customers, you first need to understand who they are. What are their needs, their challenges, their expectations? The more relevant information you have about your target audience, the more you can tailor your emails to be relevant and engaging.

Create a unique value proposition 🏆

What makes your product or service unique? Why should your prospects choose your company over another? Answering these questions will help you create a unique value proposition that you can communicate in your emails.

Plan your campaigns 🗓️

The frequency with which you send emails can have a major impact on your results. Too little and you risk being forgotten, too much and you can annoy your subscribers. Find a balance and make sure that each email brings value to your recipients.

Measure and adjust 📊

To know whether your strategy is effective, you need to track the right metrics. Open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates are all important indicators of email performance. Analyze this data to continuously adjust and improve your strategy.

Every element of your email marketing strategy needs to be tailored to your audience and your objectives. There’s no magic formula that works for every business. The email marketing expert at your emailing platform can guide you through this process to create a strategy that will be truly effective for your business.

Understanding and targeting your audience 🎯

Understanding and effectively targeting your audience is the key to turning prospects into customers. By knowing your audience well, you can personalize your content so that it really resonates with your recipients, increasing the effectiveness of your emails. Here’s how.

Define your buyer persona 👤

The buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on real data and some educated guesses. It includes information on demographics, behavior, motivations and goals. Having a well-defined buyer persona will help you personalize your communication and make your emails more relevant.

Segment your email list 📋

Not all your prospects have the same needs or the same challenges. That’s why it’s important to segment your email list. This enables you to group together prospects with similar characteristics or behaviors and send them personalized emails. Segmentation criteria can include industry, company size, prospect’s role in the company, buying behavior, etc.

Personalize your emails 💌

With a good understanding of your audience and a segmented email list, you can now personalize your emails. This can range from using the recipient’s name in the subject line to sending specific content based on the prospect’s interests or behavior. Email personalization can greatly improve the open rate and click-through rate of your emails.

Use appropriate language 🗣️

In B2B, the tone and language you use in your emails are very important. You need to be professional yet engaging. Avoid technical jargon unless it’s relevant to your audience. Remember, even if you’re communicating with a company, it’s a person reading your email.

Test and optimize 🔄

Test different aspects of your emails (subject line, send time, content, CTA) to see what works best with your audience. Use this information to optimize your future campaigns.

Understanding and targeting your audience is an essential part of your B2B email marketing strategy. Our B2B sales specialist can help you better understand your target audience and develop strategies to reach them effectively.

Persuasive Email Content ✍️

Writing content for B-to-B email marketing is a real art. You need to be able to capture the recipient’s attention, communicate your message effectively and persuade the reader to take action. Here are a few tips to help you write persuasive emails.

Writing eye-catching objects 🎣

The subject line of your e-mail is often the first thing your recipient sees. If it’s not eye-catching, your email can easily be ignored. Try incorporating a sense of urgency, curiosity or a clear value proposition into your subject line to encourage opens. Test different formulas to see what works best with your audience.

Keep the message clear and concise 📝

In B2B, people are often very busy. Make sure your message is clear and concise. Get straight to the point and avoid unnecessary jargon. Use headings, bullets and short paragraphs to make it easier to read.

Customize content 🎁

As we mentioned earlier, personalization can greatly improve the effectiveness of your emails. This can range from using the recipient’s name to sending specific content based on the prospect’s interests or behavior.

Include a clear call to action 🖱️

Every email you send should have a specific purpose. What do you want your recipients to do after reading your email? Make sure your call to action is clear and easy to follow.

Adding Value to Your Content 📚💡

In the B2B world, where purchasing decisions are often considered and involve large sums of money, providing value-added content in your emails is essential to build trust, reinforce your credibility and keep your prospects engaged.

The idea here is to give your readers something valuable that goes beyond simply promoting your products or services. Value-added content helps solve problems, informs about the latest industry trends, gives practical advice or offers unique information based on your specific expertise. This type of content helps position your company as a valuable resource for your audience, which can enhance your reputation and strengthen brand loyalty.

Here are a few examples of value-added content for B-to-B:

1. How-to guides and tutorials: This content can explain how to use a product, implement a new strategy, or solve a common problem in your industry. For example, a CRM software company might send out a how-to guide on “How to improve customer relationship management with data mining”.

2. Case studies and testimonials: Sharing success stories of customers who have benefited from your product or service can help demonstrate its value in a tangible way. For example, a professional training company might share a case study on how one of its training courses helped a company increase productivity by 20%.

3. Webinars and virtual events: Inviting your prospects to webinars or virtual events where you share valuable knowledge can help strengthen relationships and demonstrate your expertise. For example, a digital marketing company could host a webinar on the latest SEO trends.

4. Industry reports and analysis: Sharing relevant, up-to-date information about your industry can help your prospects stay informed and make better decisions. For example, a strategy consulting firm might share a quarterly report on market trends in a specific sector.

By regularly delivering value-added content to your audience, you can stand out in your prospects’ inboxes, build trust and ultimately improve your chances of conversion.
Writing persuasive emails is a day’s work. You have to test, learn and adapt constantly. But with a good content writer on your team, you can create emails that capture your recipients’ attention and inspire them to take action.

SEO/SEM for Email Marketing 🔎

Although email marketing itself doesn’t directly affect SEO, it can play an indirect role in improving your SEO by increasing traffic to your website and boosting user engagement. In addition, SEM (Search Engine Marketing), which encompasses both SEO and paid advertising, can be used to promote your email campaigns to a wider audience. Here’s how these two elements can work together.

Increase traffic with email marketing 📈

When you include links to your website in your marketing emails, you encourage recipients to visit your site. If your emails are relevant and offer value, this can increase traffic to your website, which is a positive signal for search engines.

Using email marketing to boost user engagement 👥

If you succeed in attracting email recipients to your website, this can also increase user engagement, such as time spent on the site, number of pages visited, etc. It can also benefit your site’s SEO.

Promote your newsletter or email campaigns with SEM 📣

You can use SEM to promote your newsletter or email marketing campaigns. For example, you could create a paid ad targeting keywords related to your field of activity to encourage more people to sign up for your newsletter.

Reuse email content for SEO ✍️

If you create quality content for your emails, consider reusing it on your website or social networks. This can not only help you grow your content, but also improve your SEO if the content is optimized for relevant keywords.

Although email marketing doesn’t directly improve SEO, it can play an indirect role by increasing traffic to your website and boosting user engagement. In addition, SEM can be used to promote your email marketing efforts to a wider audience.

Compliance with Data Protection Regulations 🛡️

In today’s digital world, data protection is of paramount importance. This is particularly true in B-to-B email marketing, where you handle the personal data of your prospects and customers. Ensuring compliance with data protection laws isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also a legal obligation. Here’s how to make sure your email marketing practices are compliant.

Understanding applicable regulations ⚖️

Depending on your location and that of your recipients, different data protection laws may apply. For example, if you are based in Europe or communicate with individuals based in Europe, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Other jurisdictions may have their own laws, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States.

Provide an unsubscribe option 🚫

All your marketing emails should include an option for recipients to unsubscribe. This option must be clear and easy to find. What’s more, you need to honor unsubscribe requests promptly.

Protecting customer data 🛡️

You need to take steps to protect your customers’ data. This includes securing your systems and networks, and limiting access to data.

Accountability and transparency 🌐

You need to be able to demonstrate that you comply with all data protection regulations. This includes keeping appropriate records, carrying out audits and being transparent with your customers about how you use their data.

Compliance with data protection regulations is a crucial aspect of B-to-B email marketing.

Analyze the performance of your email marketing campaign 📈

Once you’ve launched your B2B email marketing campaign, it’s essential to analyze performance to understand what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve your future efforts. Here are some key metrics to monitor and how to use them to optimize your campaigns.

Opening rate 👀

The open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened your email. A low open rate may indicate a problem with your subject line, the time of sending, or an uncommitted mailing list.

Click-through rate 🖱️

The click-through rate is the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your e-mail. If your click-through rate is low, you may need to improve your call to action, the relevance of your content, or the design of your email.

Conversion rate 🛒

The conversion rate is the percentage of recipients who perform the desired action after clicking on a link in your email. This could be purchasing a product, registering for a webinar, downloading a guide, etc. A low conversion rate may indicate a problem with your landing page or an unclear value proposition.

Churn rate 🚫

The unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribe from your mailing list after receiving your email. A high unsubscribe rate may be a sign of irrelevant content, too high a sending frequency, or deliverability problems.

Return on investment (ROI) 💰

Return on investment is a measure of the effectiveness of your campaign in financial terms. It is calculated by dividing the profit generated by your campaign by its total cost. ROI helps you determine whether your email marketing campaign is profitable.

Analyzing the performance of your email marketing campaign allows you to understand what’s working, identify areas for improvement, and optimize your efforts to achieve better results. Your Ediware customer consultant can help you track these metrics and interpret the data to guide your email marketing strategy.

To conclude 🎯

In this guide, we’ve explored the B-to-B email marketing landscape, detailed its essential components and highlighted its potential as a powerful prospecting tool. With a well thought-out email marketing strategy, a precise understanding of your audience, captivating content, a respectful approach to data protection regulations, and careful performance analysis, you’re now ready to propel your business to new heights.

Far from being obsolete, email marketing remains a direct and effective communication channel for building lasting relationships with your prospects and customers. As we’ve shown throughout this guide, its success lies in careful implementation and continuous attention to improvement and optimization.

Remember, B2B email marketing isn’t a one-off effort, but a long-term commitment to your audience. Every email you send is an opportunity to deliver value, build trust and bring your prospects closer to conversion. By following the tips and best practices in this guide, you’re well on your way to making the most of B-to-B email marketing.

So don’t hesitate, embark on this rewarding adventure. We’re convinced you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results. Good luck, and don’t hesitate to come back to us if you have any questions or need further advice. 🚀🎯💼

Categories
B2B email-marketing

Customer focus: How to optimize your B2B email marketing strategy by creating a customer avatar

Email marketing is an essential tool for developing and maintaining strong business relationships in the B2B sector. To take full advantage of this strategy, it’s crucial to focus on your customers’ needs and create a customer avatar, which represents your ideal client. In this article, we’ll guide you through the different steps to optimize your B2B email marketing strategy by focusing on the customer, gathering their needs and creating a suitable customer avatar.

🗣️ Talking about your customers’ needs

Analyze B2B market trends 📊

To fully understand the needs of your B2B customers, it’s essential to start by analyzing market trends. This will help you identify the opportunities, challenges and expectations of companies in your sector. To do this, consult research reports, market studies and expert articles. Also keep abreast of new technologies, innovations and regulatory changes that could affect your sector.

Identify the challenges and issues facing your business customers 🎯

Once you have an overview of market trends, it’s time to focus on the specific challenges and problems your customers are facing. To do this, it’s important to talk to them, analyze feedback and follow online discussions on professional social networks or specialized forums. This will enable you to identify common pain points and better tailor your offering to meet their needs.

Tailor your communication to meet corporate needs 📝

Now that you’ve identified the needs and expectations of your B2B customers, it’s essential to adapt your communication accordingly. This means adapting the content, tone and frequency of your emails to better address their concerns. For example, if your customers are concerned about data security, be sure to include information about the security measures you have put in place in your communications.

📚 Gathering your business customers’ needs

📋 Use of B2B surveys and questionnaires

One of the most effective ways of gathering your B2B customers’ needs is to ask them questions directly. To do this, you can use B2B-specific surveys and questionnaires. Be sure to include open-ended questions that allow respondents to express their concerns and expectations in detail. Then analyze the responses to identify common trends and needs.

Setting up focus groups with professionals 🗣️

Focus groups are another effective way of gathering the needs of your B2B customers. Invite representatives of target companies to take part in discussions on topics specific to your sector. These exchanges will enable you to gather valuable information about their needs, expectations and concerns. Focus groups can be organized in person or via videoconferencing platforms.

Analysis of feedback and customer opinions in the B2B sector

Feedback and customer reviews are a valuable source of information for identifying the needs and expectations of your B2B customers. Analyze comments left on your website, professional social networks or specialized review platforms. Take note of recurring problems and suggestions for improvement, so you can adapt your offer and communication.

Exploit professional social networks and specialized forums

Professional social networks such as LinkedIn and forums specialized in your sector are invaluable sources of information for gathering the needs of your B2B customers. Follow discussions, publications and comments to identify trends, issues and expectations. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and seek feedback to better understand your customers’ needs.

🎯 Create a B2 customer avatar

Determine company sector and size 🏭

When creating your B2B customer avatar, start by determining the company’s sector of activity and size. This will help you target the companies most likely to be interested in your products or services, and tailor your communication to their specific needs.

Identify the main needs and motivations of target companies

Next, identify the main needs and motivations of the companies you’re targeting. What problems do they face? What goals are they trying to achieve? What motivates them to seek a solution like yours? By answering these questions, you’ll be in a better position to understand your customers and offer them appropriate solutions.

Define the major problem your product or service solves for B2B customers ❗

To create a relevant B2B customer avatar, it’s essential to determine the major problem your product or service solves for businesses. This will enable you to focus on the most important aspects of your offering and communicate its benefits effectively.

Describe the profile of your ideal customer, taking into account the specific characteristics of the B2B market.

Finally, describe the profile of your ideal customer, taking into account the specifics of the B2B market. Think about the size of the company, the sector of activity, the specific needs and motivations that drive them to seek a solution like yours. This avatar will guide you in adapting your B2B email marketing strategy.

How to use B2B customer avatars to improve your email marketing strategy

Email personalization and segmentation based on company characteristics

Using B2B customer avatars enables you to personalize your emails and segment your lists according to company characteristics. This means you can send messages tailored to each segment, taking into account their specific needs and context. Personalization and segmentation are essential for improving customer engagement and satisfaction.

Let’s imagine you’re a company providing project management software. You’ve created a B2B customer avatar for the healthcare and technology sectors, and you’ve identified specific needs for each sector. Here’s how you could personalize your emails and segment your list according to the characteristics of these companies:

Segment your subscriber list by industry:

* List A: Companies in the healthcare sector
* List B: Technology companies

Create personalized content for each segment:

* For List A (health) :

Discuss the challenges of complying with specific healthcare regulations (e.g. HIPAA) and how your project management software helps them stay compliant.
Share case studies or testimonials from healthcare customers who have successfully improved their project management efficiency thanks to your software.
Inform them about the features of your software specifically designed to meet the needs of the healthcare sector, such as the management of sensitive patient information.

* For List B (technology) :

Focus on the integration of your project management software with other tools commonly used in the technology sector, such as development platforms or human resources management systems.
Share tips and tricks on how technology companies can get the most out of your software to manage complex, collaborative projects.
Showcase the specific features of your software that help technology companies track and improve their product development processes.

Adapting content and tone to the B2B customer avatar

Based on the customer avatar, adapt the content and tone of your emails to better meet the needs and expectations of your target companies. For example, if your customer avatar is a company in the healthcare sector, you could include information on regulations specific to this sector, or address issues related to data confidentiality.

For our example above, we would have :

* For List A (healthcare), use a professional, formal tone, emphasizing the importance of compliance and data security.
* For List B (technology), adopt a more relaxed and dynamic tone, emphasizing innovation and collaboration.

Monitor results to adjust your strategy in real time

To monitor results and adjust your B2B email marketing strategy in real time, it’s important to track a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and use appropriate tools to measure them.
The most commonly used key performance indicators include :
* Open rate: percentage of emails opened in relation to the total number of emails sent
* Click-through rate (CTR): percentage of clicks on the links contained in your emails in relation to the total number of emails opened
* Conversion rate: percentage of recipients who carried out a desired action (purchase, registration, download, etc.) after clicking on a link in the email.) after clicking on a link in the email
* Unsubscribe rate: percentage of recipients who unsubscribe from your email list compared to the total number of emails sent
Then adjust your strategy in real time according to the results obtained.
By analyzing the data collected using the tools mentioned above, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your email marketing strategy and adjust your actions accordingly. For example, if you find that the open rate is low, you could test different email subject lines to attract recipients’ attention. If click-through rates are low, you could work on improving the relevance and quality of your email content.

Continuous experimentation and optimization in the B2B context

Finally, don’t forget that optimizing your B2B email marketing strategy is an ongoing process. Test different approaches, content and formats to identify what works best for your target audience. Learn from your mistakes and successes to refine your strategy and continually improve your performance.

Implementing a customer-focused B2B email marketing strategy can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and sales performance. By talking about your customers’ needs, gathering their requirements, and creating an adapted customer avatar, you’ll be able to personalize and optimize your communications to better meet business expectations. Don’t forget that optimization is a continuous process: monitor your results, learn from your experiences and adjust your strategy accordingly to achieve your business objectives.

Categories
B2B email-marketing

The disadvantages of emailing and how to overcome them

Emailing can generate a negative brand image

For many Internet users, receiving spam from an advertiser is a real turn-off. The Internet user forms a negative opinion of the brand, and is unlikely to become a customer in the short or medium term.
But this statement needs to be qualified. What is spam?
By definition, this is unsolicited e-mail. But, in reality, it’s the recipient who subjectively decides whether it’s spam or not. In fact, most Internet e-mail providers base their decisions mainly on their users’ reports of spam, and don’t look to see if an e-mail is legitimate or not.
Moreover, legitimacy varies from one country to another. In France, for example, it is legal to send an unsolicited e-mail to a professional without his or her consent, as long as the message relates to his or her business.
On the other hand, a perfectly legitimate e-mail addressed to a private individual who has agreed to receive e-mails from a brand may be flagged as spam. All it takes is for the user not to feel concerned by the message, for the message to be badly targeted, or simply for the advertiser to send too many e-mails.
Please note that we do not advise you to send an unsolicited e-mail to a private individual. However, an appropriate and interesting message (both in terms of the offer and the added value of the content) sent to a professional without his or her consent will have no negative effect in most cases.

Internet users are in high demand

Open and conversion rates have tended to fall in recent years. Internet users, whether individuals or professionals, are receiving more and more e-mails every day. Competition in the mailbox is only increasing. Nevertheless, B-to-B email prospecting remains the most affordable marketing acquisition channel compared to other marketing channels. There’s still plenty of room for improvement before we consider abandoning it. This encourages us to improve the quality of the e-mails we send, both in terms of content and form, and to remain creative in order to stay ahead of the game.

Base quality can wipe out all efforts

A good message sent to the wrong target won’t produce good results. The same applies if half the addresses in the database are obsolete. Whether addresses are collected and managed in-house, or purchased, it’s important to keep your database up to date. Bad addresses must be removed from future mailings. Unsubscriptions must always be taken into account. And it’s crucial to take a few precautions before [purchasing a B2B prospecting database].

An emailing file loses its value over time

Individuals sometimes change their email address. Professionals change jobs. Over time, part of a database becomes unusable. The solution is to maintain a constant effort to collect new email addresses and compensate for this natural erosion. In concrete terms, 1 to 2% of the addresses in a database disappear every month. If a continuous effort is made to collect new contacts, this volume of contacts can easily be compensated for.

Deliverability can be a drag on results

Between unsolicited mass mailings without any targeting, and malicious e-mails such as phishing, Internet mail providers have equipped themselves to protect their users and clean up their inboxes. As a result, it has become almost impossible to get a large number of e-mails through to the inbox if the campaign is of poor quality.
Conversely, e-mail traffic of good quality will not be penalized.
Here is a list of points to consider before sending out a campaign.
Sending parameters must be well configured. The IP addresses used must be authenticated to have the right to send emails from the domain name of the sending address. These are settings to be made on the DNS of the sending domain name: SPF and DKIM. If you use an emailing platform, your service provider will manage these technical settings for you.
An anti-spam test before sending ensures that your IP addresses, the domain name of the sending address or the domain names of the links in your message are not listed in an anti-spam blacklist (or RBL for Realtime Blackhole List).
A thorough analysis of the error messages received when sending your campaign enables you to detect any problems and resolve them. When an e-mail is rejected by a mail server, the associated error message is often very instructive. The email address may no longer be valid, but the message may also have been refused for other reasons: it is considered spam, a blacklist has responded positively, there are too many reports of spam by users of a particular email provider, etc. Here again, if you use an email marketing platform optimized for prospecting, your service provider will take the necessary actions to maintain the best possible deliverability according to the quality of your email traffic.

Emailing is not suitable for certain targets

Some targets are less responsive to email marketing. These include individuals under the age of 25, who only use their email address for service messages. For most of them, social networks such as Snapchat are more appropriate.
Similarly, for certain ultra-competitive activities with little differentiation between service providers, it will be more difficult to make an email marketing campaign profitable. Here are just a few examples: pet insurance, window sales, employee luncheon vouchers, etc.
This disadvantage can be compensated for by building brand awareness through advertising. A brand with high brand awareness systematically has a lower ratio of spam reports. We have very clear statistics on this subject. For example, we have twice observed that a TV advertising campaign (for a car manufacturer) reduced spam reports by 50%.

The lifespan of an email campaign is short

Once a campaign has been sent out, a flow of visitors is sent to the landing page or website for a few days. Mainly the first two days. A week later, there’s no impact at all. Some users may archive the message for later processing, or bookmark the website. But these are in the minority. An email campaign therefore has a lifespan of just one week.
Don’t panic, the solution is simple if you want a constant flow of traffic or leads: send every week. To the same recipients, provided your e-mails contain information that’s relevant and instructive for your target audience (e.g. educational content), or to a different target if you’re addressing a wider audience.

There are a number of technical constraints, and setting up an emailing campaign is relatively complex.

There are many things you can’t put in an email message: scripts, a video player, original fonts, etc… Or rather, you can, but the result is random depending on the recipient’s email environment.
Correct display on computers, tablets and mobiles requires a message that is either ultra-simple or responsive (adapts to the user’s resolution).
But there’s no need to learn HTML and CSS coding. If you’re using a full-featured email marketing platform, you’ll have access to a responsive editor that lets you design beautiful responsive messages without any special knowledge. You can also delegate the creation of responsive emailing to professionals.

Emailing, the essential channel for developing B-to-B business

Categories
B2B email-marketing

Emailing isn’t dead

Since 2007, we’ve been seeing press articles and bloggers pitting email against social networks (Facebook in the lead) and announcing that email is outdated. But it has a huge advantage: it doesn’t depend on any organization like social networks, and it’s universal.

Emailing is far from obsolete

Despite its age, email is far from obsolete for B2B use. Corporate employees have been using email since the 90s, and its use became widespread in the early 2000s.
While consumer usage changes regularly; instant messengers like Snapchat have taken market share, particularly among younger people; communication patterns are relatively stable for professionals. Corresponding by email with colleagues, customers or suppliers is perfectly natural in the workplace.

It’s an effective communication tool that has the advantage of being much less intrusive than the telephone and more formal than instant messaging. With an email, there remains a written record of a communication, whereas this is not the case with Slack or a phone call. With the rise of telecommuting in the wake of the health crisis of the 2020s, the number of emails exchanged has exploded.

So it’s certain that email will remain the primary mode of business communication for decades to come. Statistics show that there are 3.9 billion email users worldwide, compared with 40 million Facebook users. Prospecting by email therefore makes it possible to potentially contact almost all professionals (and all those with an office job).

On the negative side, professionals are very much in demand by email. As it’s a cheap prospecting channel, it’s widely used, and a communication email can easily be drowned in the mass. Not to mention deliverability problems (the fact that an email arrives in the inbox), which also degrade performance. It’s not uncommon to hear marketers complain that the return on an email campaign is falling every year.

It’s true that people are very solicited. There’s more wastage than there was 10 years ago, both in terms of the rate of completed e-mails, and in terms of opens and clicks. And the ever-increasing number of new regulatory constraints is also increasing the complexity of email marketing campaigns.

But there are always people interested.

Emailing is the most profitable outbound marketing channel

And at Ediware, we’re convinced that the B2B email prospecting channel remains the most profitable outbound marketing channel for a long time to come.

Professionals will continue to use email as their preferred means of communication. Social networks will continue to develop, but not necessarily to the detriment of email marketing. Rather, as a complement.

You simply have to work harder than before and optimize every aspect of your email marketing strategy to stand out from the crowd, despite the ever-increasing number of e-mails received by Internet users.

Despite over-solicitation, email open rates remain stable

The DMA (Data Marketing Association, formerly Syndicat National de la Communication Directe) has published the figures for the 15 leading routers in France in 2021. The 15 companies providing emailing routing services have communicated their figures for both prospecting and loyalty. Ediware took part in this study, as it does every year.

  • 139.87 billion emails were sent, an increase of 12.01% on the previous year.
  • Internet users receive an average of 7.44 e-mails per day
  • The average open rate for these 139.87 billion emails is 18.15%.
  • The average click-through rate on this same volume is 5.35%.
  • Email routing is a channel with the highest return on investment of all marketing actions. Marketers consider email to be the most important strategic channel (91%), ahead of social media (83%).

The DMA France publication on e-routeurs 2021 figures is here.

If we compare the evolution of the opening rate over the last few years :

Year
Volume of emails for the
study
(in billions)
Average opening rate
Average click-through rate
2016
131
18,65%
6,41%
2017
133,79
17,20%
5,24%
2018
131,3
18,15%
5,51%
2019
128,25
17,40%
5,63%
2020
143,65
18,01%
5,30%
2021
139,87
18,15%
5,35%

(figures from the e-routeurs survey published each year by DMA France)

The performance of email marketing campaigns has remained stable over the last few years. The over-solicitation of Internet users and regulatory constraints have not reduced the performance of email marketing campaigns.

Emailing remains the preferred marketing channel for businesses

The DMA UK’s “Marketer email tracker” survey comes to the same conclusions:

“Email-marketing remains the primary channel for the majority of marketers (75%), although social networks (55%) and online advertising (35%) are effective in supporting acquisition campaigns.”

The same study indicates that despite the adoption of the RGPD, the return on investment for email-marketing campaigns remains stable overall each year. This is despite the increase in the number of emails received by each Internet user. This can be explained by the widespread adoption of best practices by companies to comply with regulatory constraints. These good practices compensate for the drop in yield induced by the growing number of recipients being solicited.

In the next article, discover the advantages of B-to-B emailing

Emailing, the essential channel for developing B-to-B business