5 Business to Business Email Marketing Dos and Don’ts

Business to business email marketing is a little bit different than when you are directly approaching individual consumers. Of course businesses and organizations are interested in different things and have different needs, constraints and desires than an individual person or household does. It’s therefore important to connect to the needs of your target market, which in this case are other businesses that are interested in your products or services.

Dos and Don’ts for Business to Business Email Marketing

1. Don’t be afraid to personalize your emails – Just because you’re sending out an email to another business doesn’t mean you have to turn off all signs of personality. In fact, injecting a little bit of personality into your emails will help you stand out from the crowd and will make your messages more compelling.

It’s important to remember that whether your list is built for business to business email marketing or anything else you should be able to come across as friendly, approachable and interesting.

2. Do use some restraint – With that being said, you don’t want to go overboard and flood your list’s email boxes with just anything. Considering you are sending out messages to other businesses, you have to be wary of the fact that they are receiving their messages at the office. Their email system probably has stricter SPAM controls that could block even whitelisted addresses if there is inappropriate language or restricted content. Therefore use your best judgment to not cross any boundaries.

3. Do emphasize cost savings and deals – Whether you are sending messages out to individual households or you are communicating with businesses, emphasizing the bargains and deals you provide is always important.

I think it’s especially important for business to business email marketing however, when the people making purchases have extremely rigid purchasing guidelines and often don’t make any purchases unless there is a special bargain or discount. Be sure to keep your list updated with your latest sales, deals and discounts to help see more sales and repeat business.

4. Don’t send excess emails – You want to keep in touch with your customers and prospects but you don’t want to border on harassment. We all know that even when we want to be receiving email from a person or group, when they send us too much, or more than we bargained for, we end up ignoring the messages. Therefore don’t send out more emails than is necessary and inform your list upfront how often they can expect to hear from you.

5. Do send emails at the right time – People don’t respond to messages the same way when they are received at different times. Monday morning is the worst time to send out an email because inboxes are swamped from the weekend and people have the week to prepare for. Friday afternoons are equally bad because people leave the office early and are eagerly anticipating their workday release.

Send your emails in the middle of the week – studies show that Tuesdays and Wednesdays receive the best responses. Late mornings are a good choice, since emails are often checked and responded to both before and after a lunch break.

Additionally, get to know your customers and keep tabs on their budgeting cycles. If you know the majority of your clients all get their budget together in April, or that the 15^th of month is a big buying time, then clearly you want to be sending your messages in these time frames to maximize the response you receive.

These 5 dos and don’ts will get you start down the path towards more successful business to business email marketing, enjoy!

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