My B2B customers are on Quickbooks - how can I market them?

Hi @smileyrox 

Thanks for your question! I agree with @stephen.trumble and you, that your approach sounds like the best option.Many would argue that since they have purchased from you and provided an email, they have implicitly consented, which in the US, is enough to start emailing them. This is very common on the B2C side. However, given the nature of these customers, I think your plan is great!

For your B2B customers, they’ve likely purchased large orders, so maintaining a good reputation with them feels like the most important aspect. I think if you send them a personalized email based on their past orders, that sets good context.

In your email, you can thank them for being a valuable customer and propose the idea of starting a program to offer your loyal business customers additional opportunities to purchase with you and save with an exclusive B2B newsletter/email program. I think even mentioning you value your relationship and wanted to ask them to opt-in if they were interested, will go a long way. 

Good luck!

@In the Inbox 

Thanks for the shoutout @stephen.trumble!

So, depending on your region, the common convention is that B2B emails are usually OK to send marketing emails so long as that type of communication seems appropriate to how they conduct business with you.  I’m not a lawyer, so you should check carefully with your own terms of agreement, privacy policy, and local regulation (e.g. GDPR, CCPA, VCDPA, etc) to be sure they are aligned.

However, my general philosophy is that it’s always better to get marketing consent (opt-in) even for B2B contacts so you can manage their expectations of what type of marketing they will be receiving, the benefits/reasons for subscribing, and in some cases you may want to even mention the frequency (weekly, monthly, etc).  This just sets expectations across the board so when they start getting these emails, they know the reasons why.  

I think the idea of building an a opt-in form specific for B2B contacts, and then asking them to sign-up would be a sound approach to do all of the above. If you want it to be more “organic” - one suggestion is to put a link to the email opt-in page (or in your Quickbooks receipts?) in your business email signature whenever you send day to day emails to your business contacts.  That way, every time you communicate with them via email, it’s an opportunity (and reminder) that they can sign up for marketing updates from your company.

Looking forward to see what others think on this topic as well!

Joseph Hsieh // retentioncommerce.com // twitter: @retenion  

Honestly guys, you always help me the most. 

Thank you for taking the time to write to me and think through this approach with me. Truly appreciate it. 
 

I don’t touch base with them often so will go with my suggested approach and use it as a touch base type email and an offer to join for exclusive quarterly deals. 

Have a great day ahead everyone! @retention @In the Inbox @stephen.trumble