The Best Ways to Generate an Email List B2B

If you have generated email lists for email marketing purposes before, you are probably wondering what the difference is in generating an email list B2B?

B2B email marketing requires a little more contemplation because you have a limited list compared to if you were pitching to regular consumers - and there are several people involved in the sales process at times.

With B2B email marketing, your buyer persona is a company, though your potential clients are people and your job is to influence the decision-makers in the sales process as best as you can.

How do you do that? By adopting email marketing best practices; and the first of which is generating an authentic email list of ideal customers.

Generating a successful email list for your B2B company is key for converting leads into loyal customers. It’s not enough to just have a good product; you need to be able to reach potential customers in order to make sales.

Luckily, there are several strategies you can use to generate and maintain an email list that will help you attract new users and generate leads.

From collecting emails through website opt-in forms to taking advantage of referral marketing and leveraging social media, there are plenty of tactics that are proven to generate an email list for B2B companies.

In this article, we’ll discuss eight of the most successful strategies email marketers use to get other businesses to give them their email information.

Also Read: Content Marketing for Small Businesses - Dos and Donts

However, now, let's discuss email list generation and what it is - the first of email marketing practices.

What is email list generation?

When people want to join an email list, they typically provide their email address and name so that they can receive regular emails from you.

This is referred to as list generation, because you’re building up a list of people who have expressed interest in your company and its products or services.

However, sometimes, your desired audience may not be interested in your product or service yet but may be more interested in your engaging content and may provide their customer data in order to receive valuable content from you.

That doesn't mean you can't convert email subscribers into paying customers. You have to nudge them along the decision making process by providing relevant content. You can use a combination of content marketing and marketing emails to get the reader's attention and increase engagement so that they move along the customer journey.

However, let's go back and discuss how we find these prospects that will receive our email messages and engage with our brand's content.

Why is email list generation important for business-to-business (B2B) companies?

As mentioned above, B2B companies have fewer prospects than B2C companies and are usually serving a niche. Therefore, it is important for them to carefully generate a list of as many businesses as are relevant to their product/service. B2B email marketing is a lot about getting in touch with the right people in the decision making funnel and enticing them towards your call to action.

Companies usually receive many email campaigns and then it sometimes requires significant marketing efforts to engage potential customers in the sales cycle.

You need to ensure the customer experience is top-notch and most of the time it is better to send a personalized email or send educational content that can help leads convert.

Generating a relevant email list is imperative to ensure that you get in touch with the right reader immediately and your email marketing efforts are not futile. If your email recipient isn't interested in what you are offering, your email campaigns will be wasted.

Here are a few ways to generate a B2B email list.

1. Collecting emails through website opt-in forms

When visitors come to your website, you can encourage them to sign up for your email list. This is a great way to generate a large list of potential customers who are interested in your products - or may be interested in the content you produce.

You can include a CTA that says “Join Our Email List” in the top navigation section of your website.

You can also add an opt-in form that appears at the end of every blog post. When visitors scroll to the bottom of the page, they will see an opt-in form asking them to sign up for your email list.

Your opt-in form can also be on a landing page after a sales letter or once you engage in social media marketing, your opt-in form can be on your social profiles.

1. Utilizing referral marketing

Another proven way to generate an email list for your B2B company is by getting referrals from satisfied customers.

Referral marketing is effective because it allows you to reach new customers without having to spend money on advertisements.

You can set up a referral program to encourage your current customers to share your website with their social networks. When you offer rewards to your customers for referring new subscribers, they will be more likely to participate. You can implement several types of referral marketing loyalty programs and offer cash rewards, coupons, prizes, and giveaways.

Successful referral marketing campaigns often offer larger rewards in exchange for a smaller percentage of new subscribers. For example, you might offer a $100 reward for every new customer that your existing clients refer to your email list. This gives your current customers an incentive to share your website with their social networks and helps you get in touch with multiple contacts that may fit your buyer personas.

Referral marketing is a great example of an email list generation strategy that works and is most effective. Your current customer knows who else is likely to benefit from your product/service.

2. Leveraging social media

Another proven way to generate an email list for your B2B company is by taking advantage of social media.

You can collect emails from your social media followers by offering a special discount or another unique incentive.

You can also ask your followers to share your posts on their social media accounts. When you offer something in return for their help, your followers are more likely to respond.

When setting up your social media accounts, make sure to include content that is relevant to your target audience. When you post useful information about your industry, including links to your website, you’ll be able to collect emails from interested followers.

You can also use paid advertising on social media sites to drive new traffic to your website and collect emails at the same time. Social media is a great way to engage customers and you can also use email marketing as a means of re-engagement campaigns once your marketing email is not getting opened anymore.

3. Hosting webinars

Another proven way to generate an email list for your B2B company is by hosting webinars. Webinars are virtual seminars that you host online, typically through a live-streaming platform.

They are a great way to educate your target audience about your industry and promote your products and services. When you host webinars, encourage your attendees to sign up for your email list.

This will help you collect emails and stay top of mind with your target audience. You can also follow up with your attendees by sending them links to your latest blog posts, asking them to be trial users for your products and services. or sending them email content about a new feature.

You can use email marketing software for email automation to send email content such as welcome emails, an announcement email, and other marketing material on a timely basis to subscribers on your list.

4. Offering discounts and free trials

Another proven way to generate an email list for your B2B company is by offering special discounts and free trials.

You can offer a discount or free trial on your products or services to new subscribers. This is a great way to engage new customers and encourage them to sign up for your email list. You can keep them engaged with your brand by sending them visually appealing email marketing campaigns that entice them towards performing your desired call-to-action.

You can also offer a free gift to subscribers, such as a guide to your industry or a sample product. You can also give them free access to certain digital marketing tools or other previously paid content marketing material. For example, you can send them an infographic like the one below and tell them you will send them a free guide on how to be a better manager if they opt- in to your list.

Free gifts enhance customer satisfaction and you can immediately send this email once a subscriber signs up for your newsletter/ email campaigns.

5. Creating content upgrades

Another proven way to generate an email list for your B2B company is by creating content upgrades.

A content upgrade is a bonus piece of content that you provide to your readers after they finish reading one of your blog posts.

You can offer a free ebook, checklist, or other helpful resources to encourage more readers to sign up for your email list. As mentioned above, many subscribers are more interested in the content rather than the product/service initially.

However, your content can highlight customer pain points and adopt marketing strategies that will emphasize why your product or service is best for the reader's company.

Conclusion

After you generate a good email list, you need to have an excellent email marketing strategy in order to ensure that you are following all email marketing best practices and doing the very best that you can do to entice potential customers to click on your call-to-action.

Whether you are sending a personalized marketing email or sending your sales leads an automated email after a certain period of time, you need to make sure that your email subject lines are good enough to get opened. The subject line is the main component of B2B email marketing - or any type of email marketing for that matter.

Your subject lines must be enticing, thought-provoking, interesting, and value-adding. If your emails don't get opened, your email marketing strategy has failed.

Okay, now let's also examine the scenario when your subject lines are on point, your email content is perfect but your emails are not reaching the subscribers' inboxes.

This means your email domain is not warmed up and you need to use Pribox to ensure most of your emails go to the Inbox. Once they do, they will be seen and opened (if you have a great subject line) and then your email marketing processes will begin to generate dollars.

It's all about how you design your email marketing funnel and how much attention you pay to data points when redesigning or resetting your strategy.

Generate your email list, warm up your email domain, and start shooting out emails!