Last updated on February 21st, 2025 at 01:30 am
Email marketing is still (even though it’s the 21st century) one of the most powerful marketing methods available today… even for B2B.
We know because we use email marketing here at ClickFunnels a lot. And we’re a software company that serves business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs.
But just because email marketing is powerful doesn’t mean it’s easy to succeed.
Here are 10 email marketing tricks you can use to make sales, increase retention, and reduce churn.
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1. Create a Soap Opera Sequence
This is one of our best email marketing tips.
A soap opera sequence is a series of emails that tells a story over several days or weeks. Each email leaves the reader wanting more and builds anticipation for the next email in the sequence. The emails are usually sent out at regular intervals and aim to create an emotional connection with the reader.
This technique is especially useful in B2B email marketing because it helps you stand out from the crowd and establish a relationship with your subscribers. By creating a story that resonates with your audience, you can capture their attention and keep them engaged. It’s a great way to showcase your brand’s personality and values and naturally guide them toward purchasing your front-end product.
The soap opera sequence is also effective in building trust with your subscribers. By providing valuable information, insights, and tips through the story, you can demonstrate your expertise and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. This can lead to increased brand loyalty, customer retention, and ultimately, more sales.
So how do you do it?
Here’s a great video that’ll help…
The story typically revolves around a problem that your customer is facing, and how your product or service can help them overcome it.
The idea is to keep your customer engaged by telling an interesting story that piques their curiosity, and then offering your product or service as a solution to the problem they’re facing.
For example, let’s say you’re selling a weight loss program.
Your soap opera sequence might look something like this…
- Email 1: The problem (e.g., “Are you frustrated with your weight loss efforts?”)
- Email 2: The story (e.g., “I was in your shoes not too long ago…”)
- Email 3: Introduce the solution (e.g., “This is what helped me finally lose the weight…”)
- Email 4: The offer (e.g., “Here’s how you can get started with my program…”)
- Email 5: The urgency/scarcity (e.g., “This offer won’t be available for much longer…”)
Soap opera sequences are a great way to keep your customers engaged, and they can be very effective in increasing sales.
2. Offer Support
If you’ve experienced bad support from a company before, then you won’t be surprised to learn that many people stop working with companies because of bad customer support.
Your existing customers are your most valuable asset.
And you need to make sure that they’re supported — you can do that with smart email marketing.
Here, for example, is an email from Buffer that shows how much they care about their members.
It says, “I’m guessing it’s not every day you sign up for a new service. That’s why I want to make sure everything is in place for you to feel welcome and at home. On the slightest whim, please drop us a line hell@bufferapp.com or Tweet us @buffer.”
That’s a great way to start off the relationship with their customers.
Facebook’s ad manager has been pretty good about this recently.
I get a lot of emails like this from the team over at Meta.
People aren’t going to reach out for support unless they need it.
But offering support right inside of your welcome email and telling people how to get ahold of you if they need it creates a ton of goodwill with the people who single-handedly hold the fate of your business in their hands (your existing customers).
3. Find Your Tone
There are a lot of different ways to do B2B emails.
You could create emails with beautiful designs and very little copy like Mailchimp does…
Maybe that’s what you think of when you think of B2B email marketing. But that’s certainly not the only option — in some cases, it’s the wrong option.
Just as beautiful design and modern copy resonate with some audiences, personal copy that feels like it’s coming from an individual can also be powerful with many business owners and marketers.
Let me show you what I mean.
For years I’ve written emails for Tyler Austin over at REISift.
REISift is a software company that serves real estate investors. And real estate investors, in particular, are scrappy. They don’t really like stuff that’s too polished.
So for REISift, we’ve opted to make their email marketing feel more real and personal… coming directly from Tyler himself (we also do this at ClickFunnels!).
Here’s an example of an email we’ve sent from REISift… and we’ve sent many others just like it.
Notice the tone?
It’s like you received it from a friend.
Many B2B emails feel like they come from a business. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if your target market prefers a professional vibe to a personal one.
But it’s important to at least think about your target market and the tone that will most resonate with them. If you’re not sure, then call a few of them and ask. Do they want a professional vibe in the emails they receive or do they want a more personal feel?
4. Upsell Through Education
Upselling is an important part of growing your business.
Maybe that means moving people to higher-tier plans. Maybe it means upselling specific products. Or maybe it means getting people off of your freemium subscription.
Whatever the case, upselling through your email marketing (and automating this process as much as possible) is critical.
How?
Educating your customers about why they need your next offer and what makes it so valuable is a step in the right direction.
Here’s how Grammarly does that…
They have a list of the features you’re missing out on by not upgrading.
This is an important selling point for many businesses — getting access to advanced features or benefits often allows them to do important things they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.
You just have to spell out how those features can actually help them (case studies are the best way to do that).
As for when to upsell which products, think about your value ladder.
Make a list of your products and then try to place them, from right to left, in order of ascending value and price.
You can have an overarching value ladder for your entire product ecosystem as well as individual value ladders for every offer.
Here, for example, is what our value ladder looked like for our DotCom Secrets launch…
Maybe, for example, your business offers an ebook on the frontend for a lead magnet. Or perhaps a freemium plan. And perhaps your next product is a 30-challenge that costs $300 and introduces people to your software. So on and so forth.
If you understand your value ladder and how people travel through the offers in your business, then you can create email marketing automations that target the right people with the right offers at the right moment.
5. Create a Niche Newsletter
We’re talking about email marketing for B2B, but a newsletter can still be a powerful tool to engage with your audience and stay relevant.
Salesforce does this, for example.
Here are some benefits of creating a weekly newsletter…
Building and nurturing relationships: Newsletters provide a means for B2B businesses to stay in touch with their subscribers on a regular basis. By consistently delivering valuable and relevant content, newsletters help build trust and establish long-term relationships with potential and existing customers.
Increasing engagement and conversions: Well-designed newsletters with compelling content and call-to-action (CTA) buttons can increase engagement and encourage subscribers to take action. This can result in increased website traffic, lead generation, and sales.
Positioning the brand as an industry expert: By providing insights, trends, and best practices in their respective industries, B2B businesses can position themselves as thought leaders and experts. This can increase brand awareness, credibility, and trust, leading to more opportunities for business growth.
Personalizing the content: Newsletters provide the opportunity for B2B businesses to segment their email lists based on subscriber behavior, interests, or demographics. This allows for personalized content tailored to specific segments, which can lead to higher open rates, click-through rates, and engagement.
Newsletters can be a valuable component of B2B email marketing, helping businesses to establish and maintain relationships with customers, increase engagement and conversions, position themselves as industry experts, and personalize content to specific audiences.
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6. Re-engage Dormant Customers
As we’ve talked about, your most valuable customers are your existing customers.
But what about subscribers or customers who haven’t engaged with your business in, say the last 3-6 months?
The best thing you can do is periodically send re-engagement emails to those subscribers.
Here’s an example from HubSpot…
You could also send an email that offers a discount, or create a coupon system that rewards clients for their loyalty.
Either way, re-engaging dormant subscribers in B2B email marketing can be challenging, but there are several strategies you can use to revitalize their interest in your brand. Here are some tips.
Start with a reminder: Send a polite reminder email to your dormant subscribers, reminding them about your brand and what you offer. Keep it brief, engaging, and informative.
Offer an incentive: People love freebies and discounts. So, offer your dormant subscribers an incentive that would encourage them to take action. It could be a free trial, a special discount, or a sample of your product.
Share new and exciting updates: Update your subscribers with new and exciting developments in your business, such as a new product launch or a new service. Explain the benefits of these updates and how they can help the subscribers.
Ask for feedback: Send a feedback survey to your dormant subscribers to find out why they lost interest in your brand. This can help you identify the gaps in your strategy and make necessary changes.
Remember, re-engaging dormant subscribers is all about building relationships and offering value. Keep your emails relevant, engaging, and professional, and always keep your subscribers’ interests in mind.
7. Notify Support Tickets of Receival
I recently got lunch with a friend of mine who owns a few different online marketing agencies (one of which serves lawyers).
He’s been in business for a long time and his agencies are quite successful with nearly 300 clients.
As I took a bite of my delicious pulled pork sandwich, he said something that I thought was particularly smart.
He said, “I have this rule for my support team. And it is sometimes hard to accomplish but I think it’s super important. The rule is that whenever a client of ours opens a support ticket, a real person has to send them a reply within an hour just letting them know that we received their email and we’re going to be contacting them shortly with more details.”
I thought that was genius.
It’s par for the course to create an automation that notifies people their support ticket has been received… like this email I recently got from NordVPN.
In case you can’t read it, it says…
- Hello there,
- Thank you for contacting us. A support ticket has been opened for your request, and we will get in touch with you directly by email. To add any additional comments, please reply to this email. If you have not submitted any requests to our support team, please ignore this e-mail.
- In the meantime, we suggest you review our Help Center for frequently asked questions and the latest information about NordVPN: https://support.nordvpn.com/.
We all know these emails are automated.
And it took a long time to get a response from an actual human.
It’s a high-class move to have an actual person respond within an hour to every support ticket your business receives. And it creates a good feeling with your customers.
Maybe that’s not something your business can realistically do.
But it’s at least worth thinking hard about how you can make your email support experience more efficient and effective so that your existing clients feel like they’re in good hands.
This might not immediately seem like a “marketing” tactic.
But it’s no great secret that the vast majority of revenue for businesses comes from existing customers rather than new customers. And providing top-tier email support is an important part of keeping the ship afloat.
8. Use Urgency
People — business people included — don’t want to miss out.
FOMO (fear of missing out) works just as well in the B2B world as it does in the B2C world. We use urgency all the time here at ClickFunnels (and most of our customers are business owners)…
The reason is simple.
Most people are procrastinators and they’ll make excuses for putting off buying something that they actually do need…
“I’ll do it later” is a common refrain.
When you introduce urgency — through, say, a discount with an end date or a limited number of seats — it pushes people to take action right now… for fear of missing out.
It’s a matter of pushing people to do the thing they need to do now instead of later.
Here’s an email from Grammarly, for instance, where they try and upsell customers to a paid plan by offering 10% off.
And as you can see, that offer is only good for 48 hours.
This is where the urgency comes in.
In fact, Grammarly sends one more email when the sale is almost over to try and increase conversions.
This is important.
When you use urgency, don’t just send one email saying “This goes away in 48 hours”. Send several emails leading up to the end of that discount letting people know the offer is almost over.
Again, people are procrastinators.
We just launched a product through my email newsletter, The Tonic, last week and a whopping 30% of the sales came in on the last day of the sale.
A lot of people will wait until the very last second to purchase – but you have to remind them that the sale is going to end.
9. Build Follow-Up Funnels
Helping people build sales funnels is our bread and butter here at ClickFunnels.
But with the launch of ClickFunnels, the game has changed.
Now our software doesn’t just build sales funnels. It builds websites, landing pages, blogs, online courses, and membership sites. It also includes a full-fledged CRM, email marketing, analytics, global products, and more.
Inside our email marketing software, you can also build follow-up funnels. 🙂
These are automated sequences of emails that trigger when someone takes a specific action (such as opting in for a lead magnet, abandoning their cart, or buying a product).
We call them “Workflows” inside of ClickFunnels.
These are super powerful.
You can use them to re-engage dormant customers (like we talked about earlier), ascend people up your value ladder, or craft follow-up funnels.
Say, for example, you want to send an email to every new subscriber you get promoting your front-end product one week after they subscribe… you can do that!
Or maybe you want to offer a personalized discount to every new subscriber one month after they’ve bought a certain product. You can do that, too!
You can also build a soap opera sequence to introduce new customers to your brand and get them to buy.
The opportunities are endless.
Use them to engage your subscribers, learn about your audience, and make sales.
10. Become an Industry Thought Leader
B2B email marketing is all about building trust and establishing a relationship with your audience. One of the best ways to do this is by positioning yourself as an industry thought leader. When your audience views you as an authority in your field, they are more likely to trust your brand and turn to you for advice, solutions, and products.
Here are some final tips to help you become an industry thought leader through your B2B email marketing efforts:
Offer Valuable Content: To establish yourself as a thought leader, you need to provide valuable content that helps your audience solve problems or gain insights. This can include white papers, case studies, blog posts, videos, and more.
Share Industry News: Stay up-to-date with the latest industry news and trends and share them with your subscribers. This shows that you are on top of your game and are invested in the industry.
Provide Insights and Analysis: Don’t just regurgitate industry news. Offer your own insights and analysis of what the news means for your audience. This demonstrates your expertise and positions you as a thought leader.
Leverage Social Proof: Share testimonials, case studies, and other examples of how your products or services have helped other companies in the industry. This helps establish credibility and shows that you are a trusted partner.
Host Webinars: Webinars are a great way to position yourself as an expert in your field. Host webinars on topics that are relevant to your audience and offer valuable insights and solutions.
Speak at Industry Events: Speaking at industry events can help you establish yourself as a thought leader and expand your reach. Attend events where the audience is likely to be offered to speak on topics that showcase your expertise.
Collaborate with Other Experts: Collaborating with other thought leaders in your industry can help you expand your reach and build your credibility. Consider co-authoring content or hosting joint webinars with other experts.
Be Consistent: Consistency is key when it comes to building your reputation as an industry thought leader. Make sure your email marketing efforts are consistent and aligned with your overall brand messaging.
Stay Engaged: Engage with your audience on social media, respond to comments and questions, and participate in industry conversations. This shows that you are invested in the industry and are committed to helping your audience succeed.
Measure Results: Track your email marketing results to see what is working and what isn’t. Use this data to refine your strategy and improve your efforts over time.
By following these tips, you can position yourself as an industry thought leader and build trust with your B2B email marketing audience. This can ultimately lead to increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, and business success.
Final Thoughts
Email marketing is a powerful way to connect with your audience, build relationships, and grow your business.
With the right strategy, great copywriting skills, and automation tools you can take control of your email campaigns and start making more money in no time.
So don’t be afraid to get out there and start creating amazing emails that will engage your subscribers. The best way to learn is through experience.
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