A procurement manager at a company in Riyadh sat through your presentation four months ago and said they'd come back to you once the budget was approved. The budget was approved last week, and the first name that came to mind was your competitor's, because your competitor had sent him something useful every month. That is what email does in B2B sales. It keeps you present through the long stretch between first contact and the buying decision.
How do you build an email list of business customers?
Build it from people who asked to hear from you. They're the ones who open your emails and reply. For a B2B company the natural sources are:
- A signup form on your website that promises something specific, such as a guide, a checklist or a monthly newsletter about your field.
- People who requested a quote or attended a presentation and agreed to follow-up.
- Visitors to a trade show booth or workshop, told clearly that they'll receive emails from you.
- Your current customers, for updates and news about new services.
Buying a ready-made list looks like a shortcut and usually backfires. Spam complaints run high and your domain's reputation drops with email providers. Saudi Arabia and Jordan both have personal data protection laws, so ask a legal advisor what applies to the way you collect addresses.
Should everyone on the list get the same email?
No. Split the list by what matters to the reader. A simple split is enough to start: current customers, prospects who haven't bought yet, and maybe a split by sector if you serve several. A hospital director and a factory manager read different emails even when the service is the same.
What should you write in emails to business buyers?
Write things that help the reader do their job, and keep the selling to a small share of your emails. Business buyers read to understand a problem or compare options, so the emails that work read like advice from an experienced colleague:
- An answer to a question that keeps coming up in sales meetings.
- A plain-language explanation of a market or regulatory change that affects their work.
- The story of a real project, including the difficulties, shared with the client's permission.
- An invitation to a workshop or a short Q&A session.
Keep the length right for a busy reader: short paragraphs, a first sentence that tells them why to keep reading, and a link to your website for anyone who wants the details. An email someone reads on their phone in a minute does more for you than a long report nobody opens.
Give each email one topic and one button. The subject line should say plainly what's inside. The sender should be a real person at your company, and the reader should be able to reply to them directly, which you can't do with a "noreply" address.
Which automated follow-up emails do you need?
The most important is a short sequence for anyone who asked you for something: a guide, a quote, or a presentation they attended. Three or four emails over two weeks, each answering a question they're likely to have, work better than one long email.
- Day oneWhat they asked for, plus a short intro to the person who will follow up
- Three days laterAn answer to the most common pre-purchase question
- One week laterAn example from a similar project
- Two weeks laterAn invitation to a short call, with no pressure
How do you make sure your emails reach the inbox?
Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your domain, and make unsubscribing a one-click action. Google and Yahoo require these from bulk senders and watch the share of recipients who mark your emails as spam. We explain how to set up these records in why your company email lands in spam.
Send campaigns through a dedicated email tool instead of your regular work mailbox, and clean the list of addresses that bounce or haven't engaged in a long time.
What should you do with subscribers who never engage?
Send them one or two emails asking whether they want to stay on the list, then remove anyone who doesn't respond. A small, interested list is worth more than a big one that doesn't read, because email providers look at how recipients interact with your emails when deciding where to deliver them.
Before you delete anyone, check whether the silence is your doing: too many emails, topics that don't concern them, or a list that was never segmented. Sometimes sending this group fewer emails that are closer to their interests is enough to bring them back.
Which numbers measure email marketing results?
Clicks, replies and the meetings your emails produced, followed by closed deals. Open rate has become less reliable, because some email apps preload messages to protect privacy and those get counted as opens. Add UTM tags to the links in your emails so you can see in Google Analytics who came from email and what they did on your site, as described in setting up Google Analytics 4 and conversion tracking.
Watch the unsubscribe rate after each send too. If it jumps after a particular topic, your list is telling you it doesn't want that kind of content.
We set up lists, emails and follow-up sequences for companies as part of our digital marketing service. Tell us who your customers are and how you collect their addresses today, and we'll suggest your first three emails.
Questions our partners ask
Is it OK to buy a ready-made email list?
We don't recommend it. The people on it never agreed to hear from you, so spam complaints go up, your domain's reputation suffers, and it may break the data protection laws in your country.
How many emails should I send a month?
For most B2B companies, one or two useful emails a month is enough, plus automated follow-ups for people who asked for something specific.
Why are email open rates inaccurate?
Some email apps, such as Apple Mail with Mail Privacy Protection turned on, preload messages, so they get counted as opened. Rely on clicks and replies more than opens.
Written by the Visual Innovate team, the people who build, host and follow up systems, websites and apps for our clients in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt.
