How to engage B2B executives by email

30 March 2021

The average email open rate for B2B marketing emails is 21.33 percent. This means that nearly four out of five B2B marketing emails go unread. All that hard work goes into crafting an email, and it doesn’t get opened!

While it’s never going to be possible to get a 100 percent open rate across large numbers of emails, there are several different tips that you can put into play to engage B2B executives. Use these tips, and you’ll be able to boost your open rate and get better results.

Here at Kompass International, we’re experts in marketing and can help you bring your emails to life. Ready to get started and learn how to improve your B2B emails? Then read on!

1. Create B2B personas and put them into practice

Sales personas are a common strategy in B2C marketing. In short, they’re fictional representations of your customers. Each one is representative of a segment of your customer base.

These can help you engage with your customers as you have a clearer idea of who you’re talking to. The same strategy works in B2B marketing too.

The B2B executives you’re talking to will all represent different businesses with different key characteristics. Create personas for different companies based on:

• the size of the business
• its particular industry
• the industry’s pain points
• specific budgets
• where the business is based

No two businesses are identical, but many share similarities. Creating B2B sales personas lets you tailor your emails without having to spend a disproportionate amount of time on each one.

To create these personas, you need to access the essential data that will inform them. Speak to people in different industries and understand their specific needs and objectives when it comes to B2B sales! A B2B directory service can also help you greatly when reaching the right people.

2. Think about your email design

It’s easy to think that every B2B email can be the same. After all, they’re all going to be sent to business executives, so surely they don’t need to be custom. This couldn’t be more wrong.

Depending on the industry you’re going to be targeting, you’ll need to use a specific design. An email that you send to an IT company will be very different from the one you send to a furniture company.

This doesn’t mean that you’re going to need to go overboard on graphic design. Instead, we’d recommend aping the industry’s style in other areas.

For instance, you could look at industry publications to see the typical writing style prevalent in that particular industry and then write your emails accordingly. Competitor research can also go a long way to helping you figure out the right tone. Look at what B2B industry leaders in your sector are doing and take inspiration from their work.

3. A compelling lead magnet is vital

What do you offer the recipients of your email? If it’s something overly generic like an email list that promises “great tips,” then there’s very little reason for the recipient to subscribe to your mailing list. This means that they’re going to see fewer emails from you, and you won’t have as many chances to make an impact.

You need to offer your recipients something actionable, and that will have a distinct and noticeable impact on their lives if you want them to subscribe to your emails.

You’ll need to brainstorm and create innovative and interesting lead magnets that are industry-specific. Create something that will make B2B executives excited, rather than something they’ve seen a thousand times before.

4. Your subject line matters

A subject line is the first thing that the recipient sees. If it’s a dud, there’s very little reason for them to open it, which means that the rest of the email has gone to waste.

So what do you need to do to make sure that your B2B marketing emails’ subject lines are top quality? The tip that we mentioned earlier about customer personas can help you a lot here.

Think about the customer and make them open an email from you. It’s also worth tracking the emails you send and seeing which ones interact with the recipient. This way, you can craft subject lines that are specific to individuals.

This kind of data-driven marketing may seem complicated. Still, thorough research is fundamental to succeed in B2B marketing in the 21st century; you need to use data as part of your marketing strategy actively.

5. Keep track of your results

The best way to see whether your strategies are working is to keep track of them. This means checking open email rates and campaigns’ performances. This way, you can see what works and what doesn’t, which means that you needn’t have as much wasted time and effort sending out emails that aren’t going to succeed in their objective.

Keep records for every campaign and analyze them periodically. It takes time but will save you a lot more of it down the road.

Emailing B2B executives: how we can help

Ensuring that your emails to B2B executives are read and acted upon can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. Here at Kompass, we’re experts in business data and digital marketing and can help you send better emails.

For more information about how we can help you, take a look around our site or get in contact with us!