What is email marketing lead generation? In essence, lead generation is the process of curating potential customers for a business’s and/or organization’s products and services. There are plenty of companies out there that provide this service, especially in the niche of B2B email marketing.
10 Email marketing best practices for 2023
Here is a list of ten best practices for your next B2B email marketing campaign.
- Pick the right service
- Build your email list
- Segment your new contacts
- Create compelling subject lines
- Create a stellar welcome email
- Create an onboarding sequence
- Personalize email content
- Add detailed calls-to-action
- Keep your copy clean and concise
- Measure your performance
Of course, one cannot even begin to engage in email marketing lead generation (or any type of email marketing, for that matter) without a list of emails. Some businesses choose to speed up the process of curating an email list by buying one.
There are some pros to this, like potentially reaching a new market, increasing the number of potential leads, accessing a wider pool of customers, and (if done correctly) potential business growth. There are cons, however, like the invasion of privacy and lower levels of engagement.
Here are some of the best place to buy contact data, email lists and lead generation services.
Each of these data providers has their own pros and cons, and a business will need to access its email marketing services carefully before committing to one of them.
- ViB
- BrightTALK
- TechTarget
- 6Sense
- SalesIntel
- Demandbase
- Bombora
- Zoominfo
- Linkedin Sales Navigator
- Leadfeeder
Get the full scoop in our review of the 10 best data providers to work with.
Email marketing lead generation refers to the use of email marketing to achieve the overarching goal of lead generation.
What is lead generation in digital marketing?
What does it actually look like? Top strategies for lead generation typically include leveraging chatbot conversations, creating gated content, and creating an appealing and eye-catching newsletter. With newsletters being one of the top tactics to use to achieve lead generation, email marketing becomes critical to ensuring that the right people see those email newsletters.
A business can buy leads for digital marketing and can buy email lists by industry too. Many businesses start with a sales email template for new clients. They draft an email based on the specific tone that the business wants to portray.
For example, a lead generation email example could include the “AIDA” formula: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This format dates back to the 1900s and is still used today because it walks a potential lead through the process of getting someone’s attention and finally calling them to action.
A sales email template for new clients may include the BAB formula: Before, After, and Bridge. This format allows the potential lead to see how their life is now (Before), where they could be (After), and how the product or service can lead them through that transition (Bridge).
Lead generation process
There are a variety of email lead generation tools available to assist in the lead generation process. One is a four-step process illustrated below
- Lead Awareness – how leads discover a potential business and its services
- Lead Education – how leads gain trust in that business’s products or services
- Lead Sampling – how leads test out products/services via demos and free trials
- Lead Conversion – how a lead becomes a customer that buys the product/service.
There is both warm and cold email lead generation. Cold leads refer to potential leads that have little to no context of the business or what it offers. That makes cold email lead generation more challenging and requires more investment and strategy.
Warm leads know a little more, having visited the company website or having answered the call-out email. A warm lead email template could have a compelling introduction and the more personalized there is, the better. No one wants to be another statistic in a company’s wallet.
Here is a list of four of the best email lead generation tools to create both warm and cold emails.
- Qualaroo
- Picreel
- ProProfs survey Maker
- Proof
See the 10 B2B data providers we trust
B2B email marketing
B2B email marketing is geared towards business-to-business interactions and sales. There are many B2B email marketing templates to choose from. Here is a list of some of the best B2B email marketing examples
- The new article email template
- The company announcement email template
- The curated content email template
- The video email template
- Inactive user email template
There are others, of course, but here is just a taste of how to approach potential leads based on any given context and relationship.
B2B email marketing trends have changed over time. Here are some trends that businesses should be aware of in 2022.
- User-generated content. User generated content makes your brand more trustworthy, real and of course you end up increasing the number of customer reviews on your page.
- Hyper-segmentation and personalization. 760% increase in revenue was recorded by marketers who segmented their campaigns. This is absolutely essential to increase your subscribers and user engagement. Ultimately leading to more purchase
- Omnichannel communication. This is an integral part of your marketing strategy. Omnichannel communication allows your audience to have access to you and an easy brand recall at the purchase moment.
- Mobile optimization. More and more emails are now read on mobile than on desktop and the key is mobile friendly email marketing. Keeping your message short, succinct and testing it multiple times is a necessity for more audience engagement
- Importance of data privacy. With strict laws in place, it is essential for email marketers to comply with them and at the same time have successful email marketing campaigns. This will ensure that your brand and customers are protected from falling into possible scams and cyber attacks.
Some people say that you should not buy email leads, but if done right with the appropriate tools and software, a business can experience potential growth.
A B2B cold email could include the recent news format, about an influencer if they have one and could use the same to promote services and products.
Lead generation examples
Lead generation examples is a broad topic – a few of them always bring in results, however few lead gen tactics may need some nurture and follow up process. A relevant nurture email example is a b2b lead generation email sample that focuses on trying to present the company and the service/product in a way that inspires comfort and peace of mind in the potential lead.
Above all, these lead generation examples try to be helpful, be a resource, and invite further discussion for the recipients of the email leads list.
One example of this is a Sephora advertisement that consisted of a video tutorial for one of its cosmetic products. They focused on the utility of the product without directly expressing pressure to buy the product, a smart move in the context of BeautyTube and Beauty TikTok.
UnCommon Goods once used the nurturing technique to display their product in a way that was more reminiscent of a Pinterest board rather than a direct ad of the product themselves, thus evoking soothing sentiments of nostalgia.
Cold email marketing
Cold email marketing is the most challenging, curating lead generation to those that possess the least amount of knowledge of a business and its services. The success rate is typically between 1-and 5%. As such, cold email marketing is an art in itself that requires a lot of thought and investment. After all, all warm and hot leads were once cold, and is an uphill battle.
B2B email templates are myriad and varied. A cold sales email template might include the “quick question” format. This is a successful example of a cold email to potential clients because it requests so little of the potential lead. People are also inclined to answer a direct question, especially when it does not appear to be attached to any advertisements.
Another example of a cold email template would be the “paint a picture” where the cold email calls upon the potential lead’s imagination to visualize how much better their life would be if they used the business’s product or service. Given the millions of novels that have been published over the centuries, no one should underestimate the power of imagination.
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Discover the latest trends and statistics — and the key actions B2B marketers and leaders need to take today.
B2B email templates
B2B emails are a pivotal part of modern digital marketing strategies. B2B email marketing strategy can range from cold, warm, to hot lead generation. How to write B2B emails will depend on whether a potential lead is hot or cold. Luckily there are a variety of B2B email templates to choose from, many of which were shown here in this article.
Different types of B2B email marketing campaigns can achieve different results, thus it is important to access and ascertain precisely what a business is trying to accomplish and select the appropriate b2b sales email templates accordingly.
Best practices include picking the right service, creating compelling subject lines, and keeping your copy short and sweet since the most successful email marketing campaigns contain between 50 and 100 words.
B2B email marketing lead generation techniques will continue to evolve. There are always best practices to keep oneself updated on as well as the most recent trends of B2B lead generation and marketing strategies.
