Through the years talking to clients, colleagues, friends , and leads; I’ve found there are quite a bit of misconceptions and bad information floating around about how B2B email campaigns, and B2B marketing in general is supposed to perform & how to effectively see results from your outbound efforts. This is especially an issue today, when the bulk of content around outbound email campaigns is from the B2C world, which makes sense.. As it is a much more populated industry.

We simply can’t compare the results/efforts/technique of an e-commerce store selling hoodies for $44.99 to a B2B service/product that has a LTV of $6,500. Not only can we not compare the results of these email campaigns, but, the only thing they really have in common is that they are both using the power of email. From the style of the email, content, sales goal, approach and follow up, it is a completely different game.

Each email you send to a B2B prospect in an email marketing campaign should be written with a clear objective or goal, and that objective or goal is rarely going to be the prospect handing over payment for goods & services on the first introduction. A very common mistake marketers and salespeople make is going for the killshot right away, as if they were in front of the client in person at their office. BUT the issue is..They aren’t! They are overlooking huge key factors. By the time you are in your leads office, they have already agreed to sit down with you, they are familiar with you & your company, they know they might need your product/service.. YOU ALREADY HAVE THEIR ATTENTION!

In a cold email, everything is the opposite…

You’re easily dismissed with a click to a new window, they lead doesn’t care to listed/read because they don’t know you.. YOU CANT SEND YOUR SALES PITCH IN A COLD EMAIL. STOP IT!

Often times, clients/leads come to me with the train of thought that email marketing doesn’t work.. Then they show me some email campaigns they have sent that follow this basic lazy formula:

Hi (prospect_name),

John here from {Johns_company). I looked into (prospect_company) and I think you would be an ideal client for as, there is a lot of synergy between our two companies!

We offer our clients:

— service 1 etc..

— service 2 etc..

– service 3 etc..

Our prices start at $xx.xx and we have an annual setup fee of $xx.xx, which can be waived if you reply to this email today!

Can I book you for an hour next week to discuss how we can do fill your (product/service) needs?

Thanks (prospect_name)

How could that work?

Maybe in 1995 before marketing automation was a known thing, but your ideal prospects are smart, they know better. You are lucky if this email makes it into their inbox, let alone gets read. You need to be better in order to have better results.

That being said, every company is different, so campaign structure may vary slightly. As a whole, our campaign & message objectives should all be the same. TO TURN A COLD RAW EMAIL CONTACT INTO A WARM LEAD & CONNECTION. Not to close the sale the same day they read the intro email.

In its most simple form, I like to break down the lifecycle goals of a cold contact into 4 main steps:

Identified as target market (based on my ICP)

Introduced into email marketing campaign

Lead familiarized with my company

Conversation / interaction started

When you stop looking at email campaigns as an end all to your sales funnel, but rather a connection tool, you will be infinitely more successful in your outbound campaigns.

Think about it from your own perspective. When you open your inbox, you see a half dozen offers from businesses that KNOW they can fix your problems.. But you ignore them, right?

Because you don’t know them, you don’t care about their prices, or their client list, or them.. You care about you and your business.

**Next installment will be on the key components of a cold introduction email. Read more on email marketing best practices at B2Bdataguy.com

If you are in the B2B space and have any questions about your marketing campaigns, or could use some b2b email lists, check us out at B2Bdataguy.com, ask for a free sample of 100 prospects within your target market! Or, email us: contact@b2bdataguy.com for a quick reply.