Let us let you in on a little secret: one of the best places to be in marketing is business-to-business.

We don’t mean to offend our business-to-consumer friends, but it’s easier to do some things when you know what the real business needs of the people you’re marketing to are. At their core, all businesses face the same problems with productivity, scalability, and growth, and they all want to find new, creative ways to help their business succeed. As a business-to-business marketer yourself, you are in a great position to meet those needs.

Because of this, 68% of B2B marketers say that email is their best digital marketing channel. And this is exactly why B2B email marketing is so interesting and fun (or at least, it should be once you get the hang of it), because you’re not just sending emails into the void; you’re sending them to people who are looking for a solution to their problem.

The basics of how to write better B2B email marketing copy

We’ll bet that you already know how to talk to other businesses face-to-face and how you can help them and how they can help you. To turn this into effective email marketing copy, you need to keep in mind the same B2B ideas:

As a business owner, they care about these problems.

How your business can help fix those problems.

How you can both reach your goals with each other’s help.

When writing B2B copy that sells, the best place to start is with these relationship points. If you forget why you work with another business, it won’t matter what else you say in your message—you’ll have already lost your reader.

But if you’re sure about these ideas and excited to share your thoughts with them, you’re ready to learn how to write better B2B email copy. Let’s go over a few things you should and shouldn’t do in your emails to make them better:

Don’t: Write to make money.

Yes, it’s likely that you want to sell something in the end. But you don’t want to sound like that when you’re writing copy. Your subscribers will see right through your sales pitches, especially if you’re writing to other businesses.

Avoid sales phrases that sound like spam, like “Great deal,” “big discount,” or “product is selling fast—get yours NOW!” Also, don’t use caps-lock too often. You don’t want your readers to feel like you’re shouting at them!

2. Write to get people to trust you

This is important in all copywriting, but when you’re writing for business-to-business (B2B), it’s a chance to show how much you care and understand. And, as we’ve already said, you do have a real advantage in this case. The same is true here: you’re more likely to trust someone who has been in the same situation and can speak from experience.

Businesses that have worked hard to give their customers solutions will notice how you’ve done the same for them. When you write copy with the goal of gaining trust rather than making a sale, you let your expertise shine through. (And more purchases mean more trust. Win-win.)

3. Don’t: Pay attention to yourself

Your business does have a lot to offer. When you really believe in your product or service, it’s natural to want to sell it to everyone you meet. But no one likes the party guest who only talks about themselves.

You want your business to be the kind that doesn’t just offer great solutions, but also cares about how those solutions make customers feel. So, let’s move on to the next point…

4. Pay attention to the reader.

Since you know your reader’s name (make sure you ask for it when they sign up! ), use it to show that you care about them as people as well as customers.

Campaign Monitor found that personalizing emails makes them 26% more likely to be opened. When you write with the reader’s needs in mind, they are much more likely to listen.

Asana does a great job of taking business needs into account:

5. Don’t: Tell irrelevant stories

You may have heard that telling a story is one of the best ways to market something, and that’s true. People have more power and motivation when they hear stories. At least, they do in good stories. If your story is too long or doesn’t make an emotional connection with the reader, it might hurt more than help.

Less is more when it comes to email marketing. Don’t send a message the length of a novel and expect the person to read it all during their lunch break. As a business, we don’t just tell “he said, then she said” stories. “Everything you do tells a story, so choose your actions carefully.

6. Do: Tell intentional stories

Why do you do what you do? What gets you up in the morning to go to work? You should be telling these kinds of stories. They don’t all have to be play-by-plays, but every message you send should show who you are and where you’re going.

There are a lot of great B2C companies that tell intentional stories that we can still learn from in B2B, like Jeni’s:

7. Don’t forget about the subject line and preheader copy text.

As long as we’re talking about stories, the subject line and preheader text are like the book cover and first page of your story. They tell the reader whether or not your message is something they’d be interested in, so make sure they fit with the rest of your email.

Do: Be clear and to the point.

There are places and times for SAT words and poetry, but email marketing is not one of them.

You might not think this, but the best length for an email is between 50 and 125 words, or about the size of this paragraph. Since your message won’t be the only one in a reader’s inbox, you need to grab their attention right away and keep it by being clear and getting to the point quickly.

We can learn from how RealTime Board’s email is put together:

Wrap up

It doesn’t have to be hard to write better B2B email marketing copy. In fact, it’s likely to become one of your best tools for building relationships with other businesses and helping you keep in touch with them. Even though grammar is important and personalization is everything, neither will work if you don’t show that you understand and want to build a relationship. When businesses see that you’re on their side, they’ll want to join forces with you, too.