When you’re selecting a B2B email marketing software, you have a lot of options to choose from! The features that an email service provider offers matter! But trying to sift through them and make a decision about what’s right for you can really be tough!
No matter how large your business is, having the right features in an email service provider is really important! Your email list is the only platform (beyond your website and business, of course) you actually have complete control over. Whereas a social media platform could disappear anytime, you own your list. It’s a stable way to connect with your audience, provide value, and generate leads and revenue.
Why Is Choosing The Right B2B Email Marketing Service Provider Important?
If you’re going to focus on B2B email marketing as a strategy in your business, having the right email provider is essential.
Email marketing is incredibly effective for B2B businesses. It allows you to reach out directly to your customers (no algorithm shifts to keep up with, either!). In fact, email marketing is a strategy that often comes with a really high ROI.
Your email service provider is the platform you’ll use to create, send, and track the analytics of your B2B email marketing.
Choosing the perfect B2B email marketing software can be tricky. After all, there are so many choices out there that sifting through them feels overwhelming.
It’s important to focus on the features included with an email service provider. As a B2B business, there are a number of features you’ll want to consider as you choose your email service provider.
5 Important B2B Email Marketing Features
Let’s discuss some of the most important features you should consider when choosing a B2B email marketing provider. These five features are a great place to start, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the thought of choosing the perfect platform!
Lists
The first thing you should consider is the “lists” feature of an email provider. Lists are basically segments of your audience that you can differentiate between in the backend of your email provider. Once you’ve created lists, customers can subscribe to them or unsubscribe from them.
In marketing, segmentation means splitting your overall audience into smaller, more specific groups based on certain factors. There are lots of ways to segment your audience with an email service provider, and lists are the broadest way to do this.
You’ll want to start off by, at the very least, creating one list for your current customers and one list for your leads and prospects.
Related: Email Subject Lines that Inspire Opens
Types of B2B Email Marketing Lists
Let’s talk a little more about the customer and prospect lists (and some additional types of B2B email marketing lists you’ll want to think about implementing).
Your prospect list will contain any contact who’s currently considered a lead. Your customer list will include anyone who’s made a purchase.
You should always have a Master List that includes everyone in your system. Many B2B businesses also have suppression or exclusion lists to help you remove specific unique groups, like your competitors.
With B2B email marketing, the audience of each email really matters. Your audience should shape the language you use, the calls-to-action you include, and the tone of your email. The way you speak to leads you’re nurturing will differ from the way you speak to current customers you’re trying to upsell. That’s why it’s important to have different lists for each of these segments!
Tags
Tags offer another layer of segmentation. You can add tags to individual subscribers in order to categorize and segment them more specifically than just within a list. For example, you can create tags for specific products purchased, opt-ins subscribed to, and events attended.
Tags are also used to help you track participation in workflows. By adding a tag that tracks a contact who is currently in an automation workflow, you can exclude that group from receiving additional marketing emails. This helps you reduce the association with spam that your emails would otherwise attract.
With tags, you’ll be able to stay organized. You can create triggers for automation workflows. You’ll also be able to send out “conditional” content to specific audience segments based on behavior and interests.
Automations
Automations are another important B2B email marketing feature. You’ll be able to create an automated sequence of emails based on specific contact goals and actions. These are sometimes referred to as campaigns!
Lots of B2B email marketing professionals LOVE automation, and for good reason! They save you lots of time, keep things running smoothly, nurture your audience, and generate revenue practically on autopilot once they’re set up!
Automations are composed of a specific set of emails sent at particular intervals after being triggered by an event.
One example is the welcome sequence. If someone signs up for your email list, they could automatically receive emails introducing your business, and offers value. If someone makes a purchase, you might have an automation made up of emails requesting testimonials, referrals, and offering upsells.
You can also use automations with third-party apps. Some of these can connect you to physical marketing, like sending out a postcard or flowers. Imagine that when a contract is finalized, a welcome box is sent out automatically without you lifting a finger!
There are lots of ways to use automations! The right B2B email marketing provider will have seamless, easy-to-set-up, and effective automations.
Related: 5 Must-Have Email Sequences
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
What if you could have a CRM platform right within your B2B email marketing service provider? If you choose an email provider like ActiveCampaign, that’s what you’ll get!
I recommend ActiveCampaign for lots of reasons, but especially because of the sales CRM that’s built right in. You’ll be able to automate the way you manage contacts and nurture your pipeline. Plus, you’ll start to generate new leads and be able to efficiently monitor tasks and projects.
Ease Of Use
The final feature you should look for in a B2B email marketing provider is the ease of use. You have so much on your plate—your email marketing provider should be simple, not stressful.
Will you have access to convenient templates? How easy will it be to build out automations? Can you navigate and adjust your email marketing strategy as needed without having to get outside help? Do they have good customer service?
All of these factors matter as you think about which B2B email marketing service is right for you. Consider reading some reviews and seeing which platform is going to meet your needs the best.
Why ActiveCampaign Is The Perfect B2B Email Marketing Provider
Now, I’d love to share a little bit about my favorite B2B email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign. This is hands-down the best email marketing service. ActiveCampaign makes it so easy and quick to create powerful, effective email automation workflows.
I love that ActiveCampaign offers both tags and lists, as well as pretty advanced automations. There are great levels of functionality, especially considering the affordable price point.
Plus, if you do need support, this provider has friendly and fast customer service support on standby. You’ll get access to that incredible CRM. And there are SO many integrations with other software programs to make your life way easier!
ActiveCampaign may not be the right choice for every business. But it’s absolutely worth checking out as a strong option for your B2B email marketing.
Choosing the right B2B email marketing provider can be overwhelming. With these features, you’ll know what to look for…so that you can find the perfect provider for your needs!
