It’s now estimated that the average person spends 13 working hours in their inbox each week. How do you ensure your emails always get opened, read, and clicked? In this presentation, you'll learn practical email marketing tactics from 15 real-life examples of B2B email campaigns.

1. 15 Emails in 15 Minutes:
A Crash Course in B2B Email Creative

2. Ask us anything:
#B2BEmail
@AutopilotUS
@SpearMktg

3. Meet the Speakers
#B2BEmail
Howard J. Sewell
President, Spear Marketing Group
@hjsewell
Josh Fechter
Growth Evangelist
@joshuafetcher

4. 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

5. About Autopilot
Autopilot is visual marketing
software for automating
customer journeys
#B2BEmail

6. 15 Emails in 15 Minutes…Let’s go!

7. 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

8. Insightpool
#B2BEmail
Headline as image
Pre-header copy
“Read more”
No offer

9. #B2BEmail
Insightpool (images off)

10. #B2BEmail
What’s the offer?
Is the headline
describing the
image?
No offer benefits
3 different CTAs
(4 including social buttons)
Timetrade

11. #B2BEmail
BounceExchange
What, Why, How
Image of the offer
What you’ll learn
Only 53 words!

12. #B2BEmail
IBM Commerce
Offer up front
Really long set-up paragraph
Too much text; no bullets
No text link CTAs
Headline as image

13. #B2BEmail
Localytics
Avoid Yes/No questions
(“Did you know …”)
Large header pushes selling
copy down the page
Creative, action-oriented
button copy
Headline as image

14. #B2BEmail
Acquia
Headline is topic,
not benefit
Short set-up
paragraph
2 CTA buttons,
1 text link
Bulleted benefits
Needs an offer image
Offer and CTA
up front
Footer is
designed much
wider than the
body section

15. #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

16. #B2BEmail
Lookbook
Creative 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 busy
Too many
bullets; text is
too small
Reversed out type
difficult to read
Creative button copy
(“Save My Seat”)

17. #B2BEmail
Webroot
Headlines have no
relevance to value
proposition or
learning benefit
Leads with
Yes/No question
Features, not benefits

18. Topic vs. Benefit
#B2BEmail
IBM (#2)
3 long paragraphs of facts No CTA until the end
of the email
No visuals to
grab the reader

19. #B2BEmail
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…”)

20. #B2BEmail
Sales Hacker
What, Why, How
all 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

21. #B2BEmail
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”

22. #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

23. #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

24. 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

25. You’ve got email.
Now let’s automate it!

26. @joshuafetcher
@AutopilotUS
josh@autopilothq.com
Any questions?
@hjsewell
@SpearMktg
spearmarketing.com
spearmarketing.com/blog
autopilothq.com
blog.autopilothq.com
howard@spearmarketing.com