B2B Email Marketing and Lead Generation

Having trouble converting leads into customers? Consider the power of email marketing and lead generation.

It’s one of the best ways to nurture leads, earn their trust, and build meaningful relationships. 

Here’s how it works: You share a valuable opt-in offer. Then, you encourage prospects to sign up for your email list to receive it.

From there, you thank and welcome them, letting them know what they can expect from joining your newsletter. 

Over a few days or weeks, you’ll send out special offers, discounts, helpful tips, or anything else of value to get new subscribers to engage with your business.

That’s email marketing in a nutshell. In this article, we’ll go into more detail about how to create compelling email marketing campaigns that drive conversions. 

Email Marketing Lead Generation: 12 Strategies for Success

A2024 report says that half of consumers made a purchase from an email in the last 12 months—a clear reminder that email still moves people to buy.

However, always remember that success comes with strategy. Follow these tips to see amazing results from your email marketing campaign.

1. Offer Something of Value

Give potential subscribers something. They just have to have something that they’d feel like they couldn’t live with themselves if they turned it down.

This could be a discount on a surfboard for an avid surfer who broke their last one. It could be a free ebook about time-saving cooking tips for a busy family, or free shipping.

Alternatively, if your target audience is businesses, your special offer could be a coupon code to help them save on their annual subscription to your HR software.

Let’s take a look at how Custom Picture Frames uses this strategy effectively. A standout feature on their website is the use of a 50% off coupon as a lead generation tool. 

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This enticing offer is a powerful incentive for visitors to subscribe to their email list, driving conversions and fostering engagement with potential customers.

Remember, the valuable offer you present depends on your audience, business, industry, or the product or service you offer. So, research what your customers want and deliver them the value they desire. 

2. Tease Product Updates or New Arrivals to Build Anticipation

Use your promotional emails to keep subscribers in the loop about what’s happening with your business.

This creates a sense of exclusivity, making your subscribers feel special, like they’re part of a community.

For example, let’s look at StudioSuits, a renowned men’s clothing brand known for its striking collection of men’s green suits. 

Through strategic email campaigns, StudioSuits offers subscribers exclusive previews of new arrivals and irresistible deals. 

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3. Optimize Your Landing Pages

Getting subscribers to open your emails is half the battle. Getting them to click the call-to-action (CTA) in your email is another story. Which is why optimized landing pages are essential for email marketing and lead generation — They turn clicks into subscribers and subscribers into customers.

So, if your goal is to attract potential buyers to your website, ensure it’s polished and ready to go.

This means optimizing your landing pages for conversions. 

Start with your opt-in forms. Keep them concise and straightforward, and conclude with clear, compelling CTAs that prompt action. Write your copy in a way that shows your target audience how they’ll benefit from your product or service. (Tip: Show, don’t tell. Focus on benefits over features.)

Add a sticky navigation bar and magic links to ensure visitors can easily access and navigate your page. These unique, secure URLs streamline the user experience (UX) by eliminating the need for a password and can facilitate campaign tracking and personalization. 

By employing magic links, you can effortlessly guide prospects through a customized journey after registration on a platform, for example, from the initial click to the final conversion.

Now, onto the design. Make sure there is plenty of white space, headers, and bullet points, which also increase readability.

When in doubt, add images and videos to maximize engagement. 

Why? Videos are dynamic and provide a visually stimulating way to convey your message. You can even use AI text-to-speech technology within these videos to increase accessibility and personalization, helping your content resonate with a wider audience. 

Show social proof with testimonials, reviews, ratings, and well-known logos of clients you’ve worked with. Need inspiration? Take a look at how Wiz designs its landing page below. 

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4. Use Lead Scoring

Score your leads. This involves assigning a numerical value to the lead list. The higher the score, the more likely they are to convert.

These are the leads you want to focus on more closely. One of the key email marketing tips is to send them personalized offers and follow up strategically a few times to drive them to action without overwhelming them. Using a lead scoring tool that integrates with your email marketing platform helps automate this process, ensures timely follow-ups, and improves overall conversion rates.

A lead might receive a higher score if they:

• Previously purchased from you or showed interest in the past, but didn’t convert
• Open your marketing emails frequently (even if they haven’t converted)
• Visit your website, product page, or pricing page
• Closely match your ideal customer profile (ICP)
• Request for a demo, trial, or consultation
• Add an item to their cart

5. Personalize Your Emails

71% of consumers want personalized interactions with brands. 

One way to do that is to segment your email list. Add them into different groups based on factors like:

• Demographics (age, gender, location, income)
• Psychographics (goals, motivations, interests, preferences)
• Behavioral data (email open rates, click-through rates, website visits, content downloads, purchase history)
• Customer life cycle stage

Armed with this data, you can send personalized offers that are relevant to your unique needs, preferences, and interests. This makes it more likely for your target audience to engage with your emails.  

To increase your open rate, include personalized offers and even your subscribers’ first names in your emails and subject lines.

6. Automate, Automate, Automate

Set up email automation that includes the following:

• Thank you and welcome emails when a potential customer signs up for your newsletter
• An introductory series of emails that acquaints new subscribers with your brand, products, or services
• Abandoned cart emails when a lead adds an item to their cart but hasn’t made a purchase
• Re-engagement emails when a subscriber hasn’t interacted with your emails in a while
• Post-purchase emails are sent after a customer has purchased one of your products or services

As productivity statistics say, the key is to continually analyze and refine your workflows based on data and engagement levels. That way, you can effectively nurture leads, engage subscribers, and drive desired actions throughout the customer journey.

7. A/B Test Subject Lines and Content

Split-testing (or A/B testing) allows you to compare two versions of your emails to determine which one performs better. 

Test subject lines, headlines, CTAs, images, or even send times. For example, try a direct subject line (“Save 20% on Your First Month”) versus a curiosity-driven one (“What’s Inside Will Surprise You”). Over time, you’ll learn what language and design elements drive the highest opens and clicks.

8. Optimize for Mobile Devices

Most emails are now opened on smartphones. So, if your emails don’t render cleanly on a small screen, you’ll lose engagement fast. 

Use a single-column layout, keep subject lines under 50 characters, and make buttons large enough to tap with a thumb. Always send test emails and preview them in different email clients to ensure images load quickly and text remains legible.

9. Incorporate Interactive Elements

Interactive content—like polls, surveys, image carousels, or countdown timers—can boost click-through rates by making your emails more engaging. 

For instance, embed a one-question poll (“Which feature do you want most?”) that updates in real time. Not only do you capture attention, but you also gather valuable feedback you can use in future email campaigns.

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10. Fine-Tune Send Times and Frequency

Bombarding prospects with daily emails can lead to unsubscribes, while overly infrequent touchpoints can leave your brand forgotten. Use your email analytics to identify when your audience is most active (e.g., Tuesday mornings) and set a consistent cadence—whether that’s weekly newsletters, bi-weekly product updates, or monthly thought-leadership digests. Then monitor unsubscribe and engagement rates to adjust frequency as needed.

11. Leverage Behavioral Triggers

Set up automated, behavior-based workflows that fire when subscribers take (or don’t take) specific actions. Examples include:

• Download follow-up: A series of tips and case studies sent after someone downloads your white paper.
• Trial engagement: A drip of tutorials delivered throughout a free trial period to encourage feature adoption.
• Dormancy reactivation: A “We Miss You” email for contacts who haven’t opened in 60 days, offering a special incentive to re-engage.

12. Monitor Key Metrics and Iterate

Your email campaign’s success hinges on data. Track open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, unsubscribe rates, and spam complaints. Set benchmarks (e.g., a 20% open rate, 5% click rate) and compare each send against them. Use dashboards or your ESP’s reporting tools to spot trends—if click-throughs dip, revisit your copy or offer; if unsubscribes spike, you may need to adjust your frequency or targeting. Continuous improvement is the name of the game.

Takeaway

Attract, retain, engage, and nurture leads with email marketing and lead generation strategies that actually move prospects closer to a purchase. But don’t forget to personalize your messages, provide value, and implement A/B testing to see what's working and what needs to improve.

Make leads an offer they can’t refuse, and they’ll eventually engage with your brand, listen to what you have to say, and ultimately, make that well-earned purchase.

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