A second wind?
With the rise of social media in B2B marketing strategies, many of us thought B2B email was dead and buried. The thorny issue of deliverability, made worse by the sometimes reckless behaviour of certain large advertisers wedded to aggressive mass marketing, did little to help.
Today it is clear that practices have matured, driven by more measured, more sustainable marketing. Yet whether you rely on Marketing Automation or Sales Automation, B2B email list rental remains, in reality, more essential than ever.
The average professional receives 48 emails a day, 15 of them promotional (according to the study published by the SNCD, “EMA B2B: Professionals and emailing”, 2018). In that context, how do you stand out, and what are the best practices?
Here are 5 good reasons not to overlook B2B email list rental in your marketing strategies.
Reason 1: New targeting criteria that open up fresh opportunities for B2B email campaigns
The days of old-school targeting, cleverly cross-referencing an NAF code with turnover and postcodes, are long gone. Traditional B2B data players have been looking rather glum since the rise of new technologies and sourcing methods: big data and algorithms have reshaped the field, making it possible to unearth, cross-reference, match and validate new data, and ultimately to offer far more granular criteria.
A tool like Mixdata.com gives you access to more than 800 targeting criteria and filters to build perfectly tailored company lists: semantic filters, technologies, recruitment, B2B activities, international activity, online retailers and more.
To discover all the criteria at your disposal, we invite you to read this article
Even more B2B targeting ideas for you here, or simply over there https://www.mixdata.com/en/fichiers-prospection-b2b/
Got a B2B targeting idea in mind, or thinking about renting B2B emails? Send us your questions here!
Reason 2: New tools for making the most of B2B emails, marketing automation vs sales automation
Beyond traditional email routing platforms, new tools are now available to sales and marketing teams to automate campaigns and get more out of the emails they rent. These are Marketing Automation and Sales Automation tools.
In a nutshell, a Marketing Automation tool lets you push a marketing message to a fairly broad segment of people and trigger specific actions based on how recipients behave. The sender and IP address are usually shared across all sends, and the general idea is to nurture your group of prospects so as to generate qualified leads in the end. Given how technical these campaigns are to create, the success factors to master and the content marketing (inbound) effort involved, we see this as more of a job for marketing teams.
Sales Automation tools are aimed more at sales reps and automate the sales cycle while personalising the one-to-one approach as much as possible.
Emails are sent straight from the sales rep’s own mailbox, having first been synced with the tool. This means sending small volumes of email (typically segments of fewer than 200 per campaign) but highly targeted ones, with the messages scripted across several sequences.
The result is a highly personalised email that looks for all the world like an ordinary message the rep sent by hand to a single recipient.
>> Either way, none of these tools will run without fuel, that is, without renting responsive prospect emails rich in personalisation criteria.
Reason 3: Smart Data B2B platforms increasingly well integrated with Sales Automation tools
Today you can, for example, build highly precise, targeted lists on a Smart Data platform. Then you export them straight into your preferred Sales Automation or Marketing Automation tool. There is no need to “reconnect”. You automatically pull the data source along with all the contact, B2B email and company information. No re-keying, no rebuilding!
To name a few, Mixdata plugs directly into tools such as Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Prospect.io and Datananas.
Reason 4: Tangible statistics and results, fast
B2B email campaigns are 100% trackable and measurable, provided you have the right tools and, above all, the right data!
What other channel gives you as much to analyse as B2B emailing? You get deliverability, primary engagement (opens, multiple opens, clicks, clickers, form completions, unsubscribes, post-click journeys) and the most responsive segments and targets, with the date and time of each reaction. Set-up is quick, and the budgets for designing, creating and developing the message are more than competitive compared with, say, a postal mailing (design, creation, printing, postage and so on).
It is also a channel that allows exceptional agility. Campaign not working, or a little slow? You can tweak its content and steps in a few clicks, or adjust your scenario for the next sends if you are running automation.
Reason 5: A clear, stable legal framework in France
We are fortunate to enjoy a legal framework in France that is favourable to B2B emailing. And the GDPR has not undermined that exception.
The key point is that current legislation (the LCEN) and the GDPR in no way require prior consent in B2B. On the contrary, it is the opt-out regime (honouring unsubscribe requests) that applies to Business-to-Business email prospecting, not prior opt-in.
So do not confuse the duty to inform (which does apply to us in B2B) with the requirement for prior consent (which does not apply in B2B).
Mixdata explains it all here and if you still have doubts, the CNIL’s guidance should set your mind at rest!
So those are the reasons not to overlook B2B email list rental in your strategies.
Mixdata makes life easier for marketing and sales teams thanks to a simple, powerful tool. It is built around a company search engine that enables fine-grained, “smart” targeting. In a few clicks, you select the contacts with B2B emails that match your message and your market. Mixdata.com integrates with the market’s leading Sales Automation tools. That way, you can run your targeting on Mixdata and engage new contacts in the tool of your choice.
As an agency, Mixdata also rents email databases and supports its clients in crafting bespoke messages and email sequences.
Want to find out more and explore all this with Mixdata ?
Prospecting lists, company lists, lead generation, B2B sales efficiency and more.
We are here to help on 01 41 10 58 40 and via our website!
