The B2B SaaS Marketing Blog

The Email Marketing Campaigns Every B2B SaaS Needs

by 

Alan Silvestri

Last updated: December 20th, 2024

The Email Marketing Campaigns Every B2B SaaS Needs

In theory, email marketing is a cost-effective solution for B2B SaaS companies to nurture leads and earn more conversions.

The problem is that most B2B SaaS companies either don’t know how to get started with email marketing, or they have email campaigns that receive poor engagement and are therefore ineffective.

Email marketing still works – most SaaS companies simply haven’t identified the right messaging, structure, and funnel placement for each email campaign.  

In this post, we’ll discuss common B2B SaaS email marketing campaign mistakes and then present the process we use to build email nurture sequences that retain and convert prospects.

Why Do Email Marketing Campaigns For B2B SaaS Fail?

Here are a few of the common email marketing mistakes we see companies make that cause their email marketing campaigns to generate low engagement or fail to convert customers.

Mistake #1: Sending One-Off Emails Instead of Sequences

Nurturing a prospect requires time to educate them on the benefits of your solution and build a relationship with your company.

Building that knowledge and relationship takes time and often requires more than just one email. 

Therefore, sporadically sending emails won’t effectively engage and convert prospects. Similarly, consistently sending random, unstructured emails that fail to build on each other to lead the prospect to the point of sale will hurt your conversion rate.

Later in this post, we’ll explain exactly how we build nurture sequences that seamlessly answer objections and build customer relationships.

Mistake #2: Failing To Use Exclusion Lists (Correctly)

Most marketers know they should segment audiences and send targeted nurture sequences based on prospects’ interests and pain points. 

However, a prospect may download multiple lead magnets and thereby enter multiple email nurture sequences.

As a result, they may receive too many, conflicting emails, which can cause prospects to disengage and even mark your emails as spam.

Exclusion lists can solve this problem and ensure prospects never receive too many emails, though it’s also important to set up exclusion lists correctly. 

We’ve seen scenarios where B2B SaaS companies utilize exclusion lists incorrectly and unintentionally exclude right-fit prospects.

Mistake #3: Copywriting 

A perfectly constructed nurture sequence won’t convert if the copywriting doesn’t resonate with the audience.

Copywriting issues are common because they aren’t always immediately apparent. 

Specific copywriting issues we frequently see arise include:

• Uncompelling/Unclear subject lines: Many subject lines are generic or simply state the topic of the email without any suggestion as to the benefit the recipient will gain from reading the email. As a result, readers don’t click.However, some copywriters go too far to the other extreme and write a subject line designed to intrigue the reader, but ultimately make the value of the email unclear. If you have a low CTR, consider testing different email subject lines.
• Incorrect/generic pain points: Most copywriters understand the generic pain point a product solves (e.g., “drive traffic”). Though buyers want specific solutions for very particular problems (e.g., “increase qualified traffic from Google organic search for B2B SaaS.”) The more specific the copywriting addresses that problem and the buyer’s current pain point, the more effectively it will capture a reader’s attention and ultimately convert them into a customer.
• Speaking above/below the audience’s knowledge level: Beginner level content won’t appeal to a more advanced customer because they already know the information. For example, explaining the benefits of content marketing won’t capture the attention of a content marketing manager. Alternatively, speaking above an audience’s knowledge level, such as explaining tactical link building strategies to someone who has never heard of SEO, won’t work either. Instead, learn the prospect’s knowledge level and then explain the solution to them using vocabulary they understand. 

The sender of the email is also important. If the recipient doesn’t recognize the sender, they’ll likely immediately delete the email or mark it as spam. Instead, use a real person on your team that the recipient can connect with on a personal level.

Email Marketing Campaign Formats For B2B SaaS

A B2B SaaS company’s target audience can be bucketed into three main segments:

• Nurture: Nurture campaigns are designed to convert leads into MQLs.
• Activate: These campaigns address current paying customers, and you’re either upselling them to other products or educating them on how to use your products so that they continue to remain engaged customers.
• Revive: These are leads that demonstrated interest and then turned cold or customers who canceled.

Nurture Campaigns

Nurture campaigns target prospects learning about potential solutions for a particular pain point  and introduce them to your brand and its solutions.

Therefore, an effective nurture campaign takes a problem aware prospect through the buyer journey and ultimately converts them into a paying customer. 

The main benefit of an email nurture campaign is that it improves your marketing funnel’s efficiency by allowing you to retain and convert a higher percentage of prospects who engage with your content. It also expedites the buyer journey and allows the sales team to close prospects faster. 

Here are three common nurture campaigns we implement for our B2B SaaS clients:

• Lead to MQL sequences
• Trial welcome sequences
• Pre-demo/pre-webinar welcome sequences

Lead to MQL Sequences

Lead magnets like calculators, templates, and reports are excellent for earning a prospect’s email and we use a 14-day email sequence to re-engage, educate, and ultimately convert them into an MQL.

This is the structure of the 14 day email nurture sequence:

• Asset Delivery: This email delivers their requested asset (the template, checklist, report, etc.) and it also includes an introduction to the brand.  
• 2-4 Hot Button Emails: Over the next several days, we send a handful of emails that address common customer pain points and introduce how the product solves them. 
• The Probing Question: We typically wait about five days after the final hot button email to send the probing question email. If you immediately send this email following the hot button emails, it can feel pushy and may turn prospects away. The email itself is just one line: “Would you like our help creating (solution)?”.
• The Breakup Email: This email acknowledges that right now might not be the best time for the prospect to convert, but they’re always welcome to reach out at a more convenient time in the future.   

Pre-Demo/Pre-Webinar Welcome Sequences

Pre-demo and pre-webinar emails typically just provide a link to the upcoming event. Yet this touchpoint is a great opportunity to educate the prospect about your solution and build that relationship before they get on the demo/webinar.

Providing resources and engaging with prospects beforehand through an email sequence also keeps your event top of mind and improves attendance rates.

The pre-demo/pre-webinar welcome sequence can also set expectations for the event and give prospects an overview of how to prepare so that you can immediately jump into the pain points and solutions on the call without wasting time giving context and discussing what will be covered in the webinar/demo.

If the event is in 24 hours, you can send just one email beforehand, or if it’s several days or weeks later, you can send a multi-email sequence. 

Trial Nurture Campaigns

If there is any friction after a prospect signs up for a trial that prevents them from using the product and realizing its value it’s unlikely they’ll convert into a paying customer. 

Assuming you’re attracting the right customers, an easy way to improve your conversion rate is by delivering a trial welcome and activation sequence. 

The first few emails of this nurture sequence shows prospects how to log in and navigate the dashboard. Once prospects feel comfortable navigating the dashboard, the second part of this nurture sequence shows them how to use the product to solve common pain points. 

We have a separate resource that provides specific email templates for the trial welcome and activation sequence, but here’s a brief overview of the structure:

• Personalized Welcome Email: This is a personalized note from the founder welcoming them to your community with tactical instructions for the next steps to get started with the product. 
• Proactive Email Support: This email nudges users to take action by proactively providing resources to get started and asking them if they need help. If they have already taken action, it also gives them next steps to solve other pain points. 
• New Lead Sequence (emails 3-5): Identify the three most important pain points your product solves, and then use each email to explain how to solve that problem with your product.     
• Unconverted/Unconverted Trial: If the prospect didn’t convert, this email offers to extend the trial and provides concise directions on how to use the product. Alternatively, if they did convert, you can let them know about additional features they can access.  

Within the trial welcome sequence, you can also incentivize customers to convert immediately by offering a discount with an expiration if they sign up before the end of the trial.

This offer creates some urgency that encourages users to take action immediately. 

Post-Conversion Campaigns

Increasing LTV of each customer is one of the easiest ways to improve the ROI of your marketing efforts and allow you to spend more to acquire new customers. 

The two best strategies to increase customer LTV is by reducing churn and increasing the profit of each customer by upselling them (when it’s the right fit).

Here are two email nurture sequences we use to increase the LTV of each customer.

Product Activation

After a prospect completes the trial and converts into a customer, they already understand the product’s basic value and how to use it, but they may have unlocked new features.

This email sequence shows them how to use those new features to solve common pain points. Additionally, while the trial activation emails show prospects how to tackle low-hanging fruit, the product activation emails provide an opportunity to show prospects how to incorporate the product into their workflow and tackle long-term strategies. 

Additionally, if paying customers have access to additional support, make this known to prospects in the product activation email sequence.

Upgrade 

Customer retention is often considered customer success’s responsibility, though if the marketing team can increase the LTV of a customer, it will reduce customer acquisition costs and justify more marketing budget. 

The upgrade email is a perfect opportunity to not only continue educating customers how to use the base features of the product, but also introduce premium features and their benefits. 

Revive

Cold leads and churned prospects are another often overlooked opportunity to win new leads. These people already demonstrated interest in your solution, and they may not have converted because the timing wasn’t right or other circumstances unrelated to your product or brand.   

The revival email sequences re-engage cold prospects and churned customers.

Re-engaging cold prospects and churned customers is often more profitable than attracting and nurturing new leads because these people already know your brand and the value of your solution.  

Note: Only send revival emails to prospects/customers that are a good fit for your product. Instead, place customers/prospects who weren’t a good fit for your product on an exclusion list to ensure you don’t contact them. If you do reach out to these customers again, they may mark your emails as spam. Similarly, if the customer had a negative experience with your team, it’s best to avoid contacting them again.

No Show

If a lead scheduled a demo or signed up for a webinar and didn’t show, they may have had other more pressing matters arise. Rather than immediately writing them off, use the no show revival email to remind them of your solution and offer another time to reschedule. 

You can also send them a resource to add value and offer to communicate via email, as some people simply prefer avoiding calls.

Dead Lead Reviver

If a person attends a demo or trial, they’ve already invested time and effort into solving their problem and building a relationship with your brand.

These leads are therefore more valuable than cold prospects and often convert in less time, yet many B2B SaaS companies overlook this opportunity.

We have a separate resource that discusses how we set up dead lead revival sequences, beginning with capturing the right data in your CRM to ensure you’re targeting the right prospects. 

The email itself is a simple line: 

“Are you still aiming to (solve problem) without (negative impact)?“

Here’s an example:

“Are you still aiming to scale your outsourced support without increasing costs?“

Then, we schedule the dead lead revival email to send at a cadence that aligns with the buying cycle.

For example, if the buying cycle is about 60 days, we’ll send a reactivation email at the 60 day mark. 

Expired Trial Winback

Prospects who signed up for a trial and never converted are another opportunity to retarget with a revival email sequence. 

Send expired trial winback emails immediately after the trial ends while your product is still top of mind, and you can also send them periodically in the future to re-engage prospects as their circumstances may have changed.

Within the email, offer an incentive for them to convert into customers. This can be a discount or a value offer, like a case study or alternative resource that helps them solve their problem.  

Canceled/Churned Customer

When a customer initially cancels or churns, it’s customary that a customer success team member reaches out to learn why they churned. 

However, many customers churn simply because of budget constraints and other circumstances outside of that decision maker’s control. 

In these cases, sending them an email several months after the cancellation is a great way to win back right-fit customers as their circumstances may have changed.

How To Take Your Email Marketing Campaigns To The Next Level

Email marketing is a great way to capture traffic higher in the funnel at a lower cost and move them through the buyer journey.

If you want more personalized help identifying opportunities to improve your email marketing strategy, reach out to our team of B2B SaaS experts today.

We can analyze your current email marketing strategy, assess inefficiencies, and devise a plan to help you close more leads in less time. 

Reach out to our team today to improve your email marketing strategy and reduce customer acquisition costs.