Email is one of the most important sources of information for B2B target audiences.

The most influential sources of information within B2B are recommendations from personal circles and suggestions from knowledge leaders [2]. Email follows in third place. Yet only 40% of B2B marketers indicate that e-mail marketing is essential for their success in content marketing [3].

Email is not only indispensable to any marketing plan, but also plays a crucial role in sales and customer retention. For instance, nearly 60% of marketers surveyed say that email delivers the greatest Return on Investment (ROI).

2. Effective email marketing earns back every euro spent over 40 times.

The average ROI for email marketing is 42:1. This ROI can be higher or lower based on your approach, region and sector and can be as high as €60 return per euro invested [4] Only 61% of marketing professionals say they measure email marketing ROI properly; the rest barely measure at all [5]. Statistics like these are a good reason to start email as well as to start measuring.

Email marketing ROI goes up to €60 return per euro invested Campaign Monitor

3. The highest interaction with B2B email marketing is found in unexpected sectors.

The assumption that B2B target groups are not susceptible to online communication remains wildly popular. Certainly professionals in 'traditional' markets like manufacturing and construction are assumed to be little receptive to the usually irresistible signals of marketing. Nothing could be further from the truth: sectors such as construction, manufacturing and agriculture and animal husbandry actually observe high digital engagement in all areas, including e-mail [6]. Certainly there is no reason to be left behind anymore.

4. The AVG (GDPR) and double opt-in are good for email marketing.

Contrary to marketers' fears, strict handling of email turns out to have a positive effect on email performance [7].

Indeed, regulations such as the AVG and mechanisms such as Double Opt-In (a double confirmation of a subscription) ensure a higher quality of your email file. After all, that then consists of people who have consciously opted in to the information you provide. When it comes to your e-mail list, it's cool to have a big list, but what you can do with it is equally important.

Tuesday is the best day to send emails Litmus

5. Quality and size of your email list are almost equally important.

Simply put, a large list of email addresses is good for email marketing. You have more recipients, more data, more insight and you can segment audiences more easily for relevant and dynamic content [8]. Don't lose sight of the quality of that list, though.

For instance, the ROI is significantly higher for a list compiled with a double opt-in than with a single opt-in (see also point 4). Manage and respect unsubscribes too. The quality of your email file drops just as much if you continue to email an unsubscribed person anyway.

6. Personalised content also delivers better results with e-mail.

A marketing lead with a confirmed subscription is not immediately a customer. Especially in B2B, decision processes take a long time. During that process, e-mail is the channel of choice to keep reaching prospects and apply lead nurturing until they are ready to buy. During the nurture programme, you get to know more and more about your prospect. Think about his or her background, company, job title, areas of interest and buying intention.

With personalised and dynamic content, you increase your chances of converting these leads into customers, because you continuously fine-tune the content of your e-mails to the recipient [9]. The ROI of personalised emails is therefore over 20% higher than for generic content [10].

The ROI on controlled emails is 25% higher 99 Firms

7. You'll find the fastest gains in spam-proofing and quality control.

16% of sent e-mails -- even with explicit consent -- fail to reach the intended recipient's inbox [11]. At the bottom line, this is a direct loss. Among 16 out of 100 recipients, there may just be a few customers ready to buy. So test your e-mails for technical and content spam resistance.

In addition, a general checklist before sending is essential. This seems obvious, but quality checks are regularly skipped. Does the subject or content of the e-mail contain spelling mistakes? Does the e-mail display properly on all devices? The ROI on checked emails is a quarter higher than that of emails that went out the door without a check.

8. 'Free' is not a good addition to your email subject line.

You would expect juicy words like 'free', 'money' and 'reminder' to be a strong tool to catch your target's attention. Unfortunately, recipients tend to prefer relevant content they can actually use [12].

Moreover, these kinds of words are more likely to trigger a spam filter (see point 7). So make sure you always e-mail your target group with concrete, valuable or even personalised content that meets their needs.

9. Tuesday is the best day to send e-mails, but also counts the most unsubscribes.

The optimal number of emails you can send per month is between 5 and 8 [13]. Although in all cases it is better to test different days and times yourself, it doesn't hurt to schedule a few on Tuesdays between 10 and 11am. That's when they usually give the best results on open and click rates. Do note that you can also expect more unsubscribes at these times [14].

10. Only A/B testing guarantees higher ROI on email marketing.

Here comes the catch. No tip or statistic in this article guarantees success. Ultimately, you have to work on your own to compile a quality email database of your B2B target audience, write relevant emails, conduct performance metrics and incorporate your insights into your approach.

The highest chance of smooth success is the A/B test, as it allows you to gain new insights quickly and thus optimise faster with the insights gained [15]. This is clearly reflected in benchmark results: the ROI on emails after intensive A/B testing is over 33% higher than when no A/B testing took place.