Email marketing in B2B niches works differently than in B2C. The main reason for the differences is that audiences choose products differently and make purchasing decisions. This article explains the differences between consumer and business email marketing and shows how to write b2b sales email.

What’s the difference between B2B and B2C email marketing

There’s no global difference between B2B and B2C mailings. They are similar in format and content but different in approach, strategy, frequency, and depth of the sales funnel. This is due to several factors.

• The complexity of the product. Of course, there are exceptions like water delivery for the water cooler or office supplies where everything is simple. But in general, products in the B2B market are usually more complicated than in B2C. To take even one example: loans for businesses have more conditions and nuances than those for individuals;
• Products for businesses are usually carefully selected: compare features, benefits, price, and conditions. CRM-system can be searched for a couple of months until you find one that will fully meet the needs of the company. This is important for email marketing because you need to maintain communication with the potential client throughout and take this into account when calculating profitability. The money you invested in a sale in May may not pay off until September, and May reports will show a negative ROMI;
• Decision criteria. Whereas in B2C, the choice is often influenced by emotion, even if one buys an expensive apartment or sofa, in B2B, rational criteria prevail. Even when buying a huge aquarium in the office, the business client thinks about how he will benefit from a more expensive and status interior and considers whether his maintenance will fit into his budget. Take this into account when choosing email topics and the specific facts and meanings that you will broadcast in your newsletters.

How do email newsletters work in B2B

In B2C, it’s often enough for a user to read one email with a good offer or the right product, and they’ll make a purchase. In B2B, a person may read the newsletter for months or even years before buying something.

So for an email newsletter for a business audience to work, it’s important to:

• build a long-term strategy;
• create an image of an expert through letters;
• build trust;
• work off objections;
• show how the product solves users’ problems and challenges;
• educate customers.

This can be done in two ways: through regular content mailing and a planned chain of emails that will consistently lead a person to purchase. In the first case, a company sends useful content to subscribers once every period, demonstrating expertise and natively promoting its product. Readers become customers when a need and trust are built.

The chain option involves running a script for each new subscriber that consistently reveals benefits and works through objections. The offer to use the product arrives when the recipient is ready to buy. The script can be branched out: which letter is next depends on how the subscriber reacted to the previous one: opened, clicked on the links, and performed targeted actions. 

For example, a company sells CRM on the SaaS model: with online access in a browser and payment by subscription. The landing page offers to send a lead magnet – a checklist for maintaining the client base – in exchange for an email. By subscribing, the user first receives a promised bonus, and then they receive periodic emails that reveal the capabilities of the service through useful content. If a person doesn’t open a particular email, it is duplicated with a different header to increase the Open Rate. At the end of the chain, the subscriber is offered, for example, demo access with full functionality, an online demonstration of the product, or a discount. The goal is to convince the user to test the product and help them understand.