Lead generatie - E-Mail marketing in B2B sales
I can hear you thinking it: why in the world do I need a mailing list? I have enough spam in my inbox as it is.
Email marketing, when done right, is anything but spam. From small start-ups to the biggest multinationals, email marketing sees large-scale use for the purpose of acquiring new customers.
How do people in the Netherlands use email? This was the question addressed by the National Email Survey in 2017. The survey turned up a number of interesting conclusions:
- 93% of Dutch people subscribe to email newsletters.
- Most Dutch people check their email one to six times a day.
- 75% of Dutch people have purchased a product as a result of a promotional email at least once.
Email marketing in the B2B market is a little different than B2C; rather than general newsletters (targeted or mass-market), it can be more effective to establish a process for nurturing leads. With the help of the right tools, you will be able to set automated follow-up actions based on behaviour. Is your company not yet using B2B email marketing? Here are a few tips on getting started:
Phase 1: Get prospects onto your website and make sure they have multiple opportunities to subscribe to the newsletter (in connection with the new GDPR legislation, it’s important to have the prospect clearly indicate their consent).
Phase 2: It is crucial to demonstrate to the prospect why the email is relevant, from the very beginning. Make sure to include different welcome messages for different industries.
Phase 3: This is where things really get interesting: it’s time to automate and optimise the campaign. Monitor the subscribers’ behaviour. Does a certain prospect often open your emails? Has another one clicked a specific link? Do they forward the emails to one of their contacts? Has the response to emails improved when you tried a different style? For any action, using the right tools, it’s possible to automate follow-up actions so that every subscriber receives a personalised experience.
Phase 4: Is it obvious that there is plenty of interest in the newsletter, but the prospect hasn't contacted you yet? Pick up the phone and contact them yourself. Your chances of acquisition are much higher than they would be for a cold call.
Of course, all this is only the beginning; setting up an effective and fully-automated campaign requires a great deal of time and effort. Yet in our digital era, fewer and fewer businesses can afford to neglect email marketing as a strategy.
Tipu Khan