B2B Sales’ New Favorite Channel for Buyer Behavior and Engagement

Over the last decade, teams have invested in B2B sales tools for all stages of the funnel. There are some for the top, designed to help prioritize potential buyers who express interest and want to learn more. And then there are some for the middle, which might help deliver content to prospects and customers and signal if interest is growing. But what about the bottom of the funnel? Does the impact of these tools translate to success there too? Not always. That’s why it’s important to recognize what works best and when. And for the bottom of the funnel, during those crucial moments when deals are won or lost, there’s a channel that sellers rely on the most.

Say it with us. E-M-A-I-L. No, not your newsletter type of email to a list of subscribers. We’re talking the emails you and your teammates send every day out of Gmail or Outlook. Those one-to-one or one-to-few email interactions sellers have with their prospects and customers, especially as deal terms are discussed and contracts are out for review. Every email sent is an opportunity to promote the right thing, to the right buyer, and at the right time. And just like how marketers find value in identifying prospects visiting your website, sellers find value in knowing which buyers are interacting with their emails.

Yet, email remains the most underutilized B2B sales engagement channel that directly impacts buyers and buying committees. Why? Historically, there has been insufficient tooling in the market to help teams achieve accuracy, reliability, and scalability within this channel. For sellers today, however, the game has changed. But before we dive into why that is and what it means for B2B sales teams, we first want to take a moment to explain how we got here. And in order to do that, we need to start on the marketing side.

The Emergence of Employee Email as an Effective B2B Marketing Channel

The secret is already out with marketers, who are executing incredibly creative plays to leverage employee email as an owned marketing channel. How so? With on-brand email signatures and email ad campaigns. This piece of digital real estate allows marketers to promote their most important initiatives within every email sent by their employees. An email ad banner represents layers upon layers of use case, design, and targeting opportunities.

From driving event registrations to promoting relevant content, there are countless use cases and ROI numbers that prove employee email is an effective marketing channel. These resources will show you what we mean:

• Popular use cases
• Account-based marketing examples
• Case Study: Outreach Increases Event Ticket Sales 10%

If you’re a smart marketer taking advantage of this channel, you’re also probably aligned closely with your sales team, which explains why this is now becoming sellers’ new favorite engagement channel. Just like marketers, sellers want to prioritize the right buyers, say the right thing at the right time, and know when to follow up. This channel (along with email ad campaigns, insights, and analytics) can help with all of that when it matters most.

The Impact of Email Where Deals Are Won and Lost

Employee email is the only channel that takes center stage as buyers move closer to purchase. Here are a few reasons why:

• Everyone in the buying committee is engaging over the same email thread, reviewing case studies and contracts, negotiating the budget, and reviewing the vendor solution specs.
• More so than phone or in-person interactions, email provides documentation. Threads between sellers and buyers can be an ongoing record of what has been said, when it was said, and who said it.
• It’s vital for tracking objections, agreements, negotiations and overall deal closing.

As such, every email sent by the seller should be viewed as an opportunity to influence the buying committee and determine next best steps. Within this channel, teams have their buyers’ full attention, which is unique in today’s noisy digital world. So it’s time to use it strategically.

How B2B Sales Teams Can Take Advantage of This Channel

Email Ad Campaigns

Use email ad campaigns to influence deal velocity or get prospects un-stuck in the stickier parts of the buying journey. Think of these banners as targeted ads with 100% accuracy, but they just happen to live in your email. Target audiences at scale using CRM or marketing automation data and personalize email banners down to the account or contact level. By industry, vertical, customer segment, and sales stage, too. Here are a few examples from our own team that can serve as inspiration and idea starters.

Email Insights & Analytics

B2B sales teams also now have the ability to see how buyers interact with their email content, links, videos, attachments, and more. Email engagement data and updates - like an ad campaign click, attachment view, attachment replay, or website visit - can be sent in real-time, so sellers know who to talk to, what to say, and when to follow up. With the power of this channel and email insights and analytics from Opensense, teams can make informed, data-driven decisions that allow them to better understand buyer behaviors and ultimately deliver superior service.

Case Study: Five9

As a more efficient and responsive sales process became critical, particularly into larger enterprises, Five9 focused on B2B sales tools that increased productivity and delivered a better buying experience. Their sales reps previously lacked visibility into buyer behavior, but soon realized the potential of employee email and how it could help them overcome this challenge.

With the help of Opensense, Five9 is now using this channel strategically to drive sales efficiency and customer satisfaction. Click the link below to view the full case study and learn how employee email became their new favorite channel for buyer behavior and engagement.

Read the full case study here.