15 Emails in 15 Minutes: A Crash Course in B2B Email Creative

Ask us anything:

#B2BEmail @AutopilotUS @SpearMktg

Meet the Speakers

#B2BEmail

Howard J. Sewell President, Spear Marketing Group

@hjsewell

Josh Fechter Growth Evangelist

@joshuafetcher

About Spear Marketing Group

• Full-service B2B agency specializing in demand generation and lead management

• 90%+ B2B technology clients across a range of categories, audiences, target buyers

• Headquartered in Bay Area with 40+ clients nationwide

• Named to list of Top US B2B Agencies for 2015, 2016, 2017 (Chief Marketer Magazine)

#B2BEmail

About Autopilot

Autopilot is visual marketing software for automating customer journeys

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15 Emails in 15 Minutes…Let’s go!

B2B Email Creative: Key Principles

• What, Why, How

• Sell the Offer, Not the Product

• Shorter is Better: Avoid Redundancy

• FOCUS: 1 Offer, 1 Message, 1 Call to Action

• Drive Action, Don’t Just Relate Facts

Insightpool

#B2BEmail

Headline as image

Pre-header copy

“Read more”

No offer

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Insightpool (images off)

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What’s the offer?

Is the headline describing the image?

No offer benefits

3 different CTAs (4 including social buttons)

Timetrade

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BounceExchange

What, Why, How

Image of the offer

What you’ll learn

Only 53 words!

#B2BEmail

IBM CommerceOffer up front

Really long set-up paragraph

Too much text; no bulletsNo text link CTAs

Headline as image

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Localytics

Avoid Yes/No questions (“Did you know …”)

Large header pushes selling copy down the page

Creative, action-oriented button copy

Headline as image

#B2BEmail

Acquia

Headline is topic, not benefit

Short set-up paragraph

2 CTA buttons, 1 text link

Bulleted benefits

Needs an offer imageOffer and CTA up front

Footer is designed much wider than the body section

#B2BEmail

Localytics (#2)

Starbust!

Opening paragraph too long; recitation of facts

“You’ll learn” vs. “This report covers”

Copy above the CTA button is unneeded (redundancy)

Offer front and center

#B2BEmail

LookbookCreative use of header space (but still an image)

“20 Minutes” call-out

“7 things” delivers benefit, not just a topic

Opening paragraph too long

Body section too busyToo many bullets; text is too small

Reversed out type difficult to read

Creative button copy (“Save My Seat”)

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Webroot

Headlines have no relevance to value proposition or learning benefit

Leads with Yes/No question

Features, not benefits

Topic vs. Benefit

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IBM (#2)

3 long paragraphs of facts No CTA until the endof the email

No visuals to grab the reader

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Bluewolf

Confusing image

“Decemeber”

What’s the offer? (“Live Webcast” is buried)

Click to Register vs. Register Now

“Now, more than ever, you are responsible …”

Avoid the first person (“We are bringing you…”)

#B2BEmail

Sales HackerWhat, Why, Howall in the header

Great pre-header copy

First paragraph tells me what I already know

Bold type!“What You’ll Learn” bulletsToo busy; needs color

block or bullets to break up text

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BlueJeans

What’s the offer?

Sells the product, not the offer“As an IT leader

you want to get the most…”

Download what exactly?

Competing CTA: “Speak to an expert”

#B2BEmail

Certify Great pre-header copy

“See why Certify is #1” diminishes value of the offer

Needs a text link in the body copy

Button copy should be consistent (View, Get)

What, Why, How all in the header

#B2BEmail

Janrain

Headline is a topic, not a benefit

Pre-header copy needs to be more specific

Long first paragraph, recitation of facts

Need stronger, more compelling bullet points

Key Takeaways

#B2BEmail

No longer than absolutely necessary (avoid redundancy)

Think mobile-friendly (CTA buttons)

Repeat the CTA multiple times in button and text (link) form

Make your offer and CTA clear, specific, and concrete

Keep paragraphs short & scannable(1-2 sentences max)

Don’t take too much time to “set up” the offer

Don’t tell the reader what he/she already knows

You’ve got email.

Now let’s automate it!

@joshuafetcher @AutopilotUS

josh@autopilothq.com

Any questions?

@hjsewell@SpearMktg

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