Building and Growing a Healthy B2B Email List Has Changed

What is a B2B email list?

Think of an email list as your brand's digital Rolodex. It's a collection of email addresses that businesses gather, but it's not just random. These are folks who've bought something, signed up for updates, or just wanted to stay in the know. 

Components of an Email List:

• Email Addresses: The foundational element. These are the direct channels to your audience.
• Subscriber Details: Additional information included in B2B email list records like names, locations, and sometimes birthdays. Helps in personalizing communication.
• Segmentation Tags: These are categories to group your subscribers based on their preferences or behaviors, ensuring content is relevant to them.
• Engagement Data: Metrics that show who’s actively interacting with your emails and who's less engaged.
• Opt-In/Opt-Out Info: Crucial for ensuring you're reaching out to those who genuinely want your content and respecting the choices of those who don’t.

Why is a Healthy B2B Email List Essential to Your Business?

At the heart of effective email marketing lies a healthy email list. In an era where new tools and platforms emerge every day, the humble B2B email list, especially a well-maintained one, stands out as an enduring pillar of digital marketing.

Acts As A Direct Communication Channel

Unlike the mercurial algorithms of social platforms, an email list offers a direct line of communication to your audience. There are no middle-men algorithms that deem your message “worthy” of appearing in a follower's feed. When you hit “send,” you're delivering your message straight into a subscriber's inbox, right where you want it.

Gets Higher Engagement Rates 

Emails typically have higher engagement rates compared to other platforms because people willingly exchange their emails for more information about your product or service, receive a discount, stay informed of future sales. And with proper B2B email list segmentation, your tailored messages can resonate even more profoundly, leading to higher open and click-through rates.

Brings In High ROI

Mailmodo’s State of Email survey found that over half of respondents saw their email marketing ROI improve by 2X improvement in 2022. That number is a testament to the cost-effectiveness of email marketing. 

With a healthy list, the return on investment (ROI) becomes even more impressive. Instead of casting a wide and (often expensive) net on other platforms, you're communicating with a refined group of interested individuals, which often leads to better conversion rates.

Speaking of ROI, ChartHop Got a 5x ROI on Their Annual Primer Spend — In Just Three Weeks.

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Enhances Customer Loyalty 

A robust B2B email list isn't just about gaining new customers; it's about retaining the current ones. 

Regularly reaching out with valuable content, updates, or exclusive deals keeps your brand on top of their minds. It fosters a sense of community, ensuring subscribers feel more like valued members rather than the relationship becoming purely transactional.

Offers Protection Against Platform Changes 

If you maintain and grow your B2B email list you’re no longer held hostage to platform changes or privacy updates. Since email marketing requires a customer’s consent to opt in, you're less vulnerable to such whimsical changes. 

Your list is yours. While platforms may come and go or change their rules overnight, your email list remains a constant, reliable asset.

Ensures Data Authenticity ‍

A healthy email list isn’t just about quantity but quality. A B2B email list filled with genuine, interested subscribers ensures you're not making decisions based on skewed data. 

On the other hand, a list bloated with disinterested subscribers, or worse, fake addresses, can paint a distorted picture of your engagement and effectiveness.

Why buying an email database is a bad decision

While growing a B2B email list organically might seem like a slow process, it's a journey paved by trust, relevance, and genuine interest. 

Buying an email database is a shortcut, but it's fraught with risks that can cost your business more than just money. For sustainable, long-term success, focus on building relationships with your audience – it's worth the effort and patience.

BTW, here’s everything you need to know about B2B marketing data.

1. Violation of Privacy Regulations 

Laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S. emphasize the need for consent before acquiring or using personal data. 

Purchasing a B2B email list doesn’t guarantee that individuals have given explicit consent to receive communications from your business. Non-compliance can result in hefty fines and a tarnished brand reputation.

2. Lower Engagement and Conversion Rates 

People who have willingly subscribed to your emails have shown an active interest in what you have to say or offer. 

Conversely, recipients from a bought list haven’t made this active choice. 

The outcome? Lower open rates for paid B2B email lists, minimal engagement, and dismal conversion rates. Your messages might land straight into the junk folder or be reported as spam.

3. Damage to Your Email Deliverability 

Major email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook have sophisticated algorithms to ensure users aren't bombarded with unsolicited emails. 

Continually sending emails to people who haven't opted in can result in a high number of bounces, spam reports, and unsubscribes. This unethical practice can severely harm your sender reputation, and over time, even your genuine emails (to willing recipients) might end up in spam.

4. The Risk of Alienating Potential Customers

There's nothing quite as off-putting as receiving unsolicited emails. 

For many, this is a breach of trust, and the association with your brand becomes negative. Instead of gaining a customer present in a purchased B2B email list, you're more likely to be remembered as a brand that intrudes upon personal inboxes without permission.

5. The List Might Not Even Be Relevant 

Purchasing a database doesn't guarantee the contacts are relevant to your business niche. 

You might end up with a list filled with individuals who have zero interest in your product or service, making your marketing efforts fruitless and wasteful.

6. The Risk of Harming Your Brand Reputation Online

If your unsolicited emails aggravate enough individuals, they might take to platforms like Twitter or Facebook to voice their grievances, warning others about your brand's practices. This public negative press can erode the trust and reputation you've worked hard to build.

7. The "Too Good to Be True" Factor 

If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Cheap databases filled with thousands of emails can be enticing, but remember, quality trumps quantity. These B2B email lists can be outdated, filled with incorrect or dummy email addresses, or even addresses harvested unethically.

If you are going to buy data, here’s how you can choose the right B2B data provider for your business.

7 Techniques to Help You Build a High-Quality B2B Email List

Remember: it’s about connecting with the right people in the right way. 

Let’s delve into some tried-and-true techniques to help you craft an email list that's not just extensive but also engaged and enthusiastic about what you have to offer

1. Using Facebook

• Lead Ads: Facebook’s Lead Ads allow you to collect email addresses directly within the platform. They're designed for mobile use and offer a pre-filled form with the user's Facebook contact information, making the signup process seamless.
• Groups: Engage in or create niche Facebook groups where you can provide valuable content and insights and gently encourage members to join your B2B email list.

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Also, check out: Hyper-specific B2B Targeting on Facebook

2. Using LinkedIn

• LinkedIn Posts: Share thought leadership content and include a CTA (Call to Action) in the comments to subscribe to your email list for more in-depth insights or exclusive content.
• Networking: Connect and engage with industry professionals. Once you’ve built a rapport, you can introduce them to your newsletter or resources, provided it's done respectfully and not as spam.

In case you’re wondering if there’s more to B2B marketing than LinkedIn and email, there is! Read our post on how you can move beyond crowded B2B marketing channels.

3. Using YouTube

• Video Descriptions: Utilize the video description section to include a link to your email sign-up form, especially if the video provides a teaser or part of valuable content.
• End Screens: At the end of your videos, incorporate visual CTAs encouraging viewers to join your email list.

4. Using Instagram 

• Instagram Stories with link sticker: Share a teaser of your content with a link to sign up for your B2B email list.
• Bio Link: Use tools like Linktree to create a multifunctional link in your bio, one of which leads to an email sign-up page.

5. Blog

• Content Upgrades: Offer bonus content in exchange for an email address you can add to the existing B2B email list. For instance, if you have a comprehensive article, provide a downloadable PDF version in exchange for a subscription.
• Engaging CTAs: After delivering valuable content in your blog post, add an in-line CTA or one at the bottom of the post to get readers to subscribe for more insights.

6. Partnerships

• Joint Webinars or Events: Partner with complementary brands or influencers in your niche for webinars or events, where both parties promote the event to their audience and share the resulting B2B email list.
• Collaborative Giveaways: Organize giveaways where one of the entry criteria is signing up for the email list.

7. Newsletter

• Exclusive Content: Promise (and deliver) exclusive content only to newsletter subscribers, making it a compelling reason to sign up.
• Spotlight Subscribers: Feature subscriber stories, questions, or testimonials in your newsletter to show the community aspect and value of being a part of your list.

Get your hands on a universe of B2B data: How Primer can help

Buying an unverified B2B email listcan be bad for your business in more ways than one. But luckily, you don’t have to painstakingly grow your email list or scramble for the email addresses of your ICP. 

You can turn to compliant B2B email data providers that follow GDPR policies and state laws. And what’s better than one data source? 10 of them!

Primer partners with the best data providers in the industry so you can have a wealth of data to target your ICP right down to their personal email addresses.

Check out the live demo to learn exactly how Primer works.

Need help turning unsolicited outreach into booked calls and demos? Read our playbook Setting Up a Scalable Outbound Engine. ‍