8 Essential Time-Saving Email Automations for B2B Marketers

In B2B marketing, time is a precious commodity. Email automation can help businesses streamline communication, nurture leads and maintain a strong relationship with clients - all while saving time and effort. 

Here are eight email automation strategies that can significantly boost your efficiency and ensure you're reaching the right contacts at the right time. In this blog post, we’ll also highlight HubSpot’s many email automation tools that can help you simplify your workflows and drive better results.

Automated Lead Nurturing Campaigns

Nurturing leads requires delivering the right information at every stage of the buyer's journey. Setting up automated drip campaigns allows you to send targeted, personalised emails based on a lead’s actions - whether they've signed up for a webinar, downloaded an eBook, or requested a demo etc. By automating this process, you can ensure that each lead receives the information they need without manual follow-ups.

For instance, if someone downloads a whitepaper, you could trigger a series of follow-up emails offering additional resources or guiding them towards a sales conversation. These automations keep leads engaged and moving through the sales funnel while minimising the workload for your team. 

HubSpot’s Workflows tool makes it easy to set up automated lead nurturing sequences. This feature allows you to build customised drip campaigns based on user behaviours, actions, or stages in the buyer’s journey.

Welcome Emails for New Contacts

When a prospect subscribes to your newsletter or fills out a form on your website, they expect a timely response. Automated welcome emails are a great way to introduce them to your brand, share valuable resources, and set expectations. This series can include:

- A warm introduction to your business.

- Key resources such as case studies or whitepapers.

- An invitation to connect with a sales rep for more detailed enquiries.

A well-structured welcome email sequence not only engages new leads from the get-go but also sets the tone for future interactions. It not only saves time but ensures a consistent and professional first impression for all new contacts. HubSpot lets you personalise these messages based on the lead's actions, making each interaction feel tailored and relevant​

Lead Scoring Notifications

In B2B, prioritising leads based on engagement and behaviour is crucial. Many CRM systems, like HubSpot, allow you to set up automated lead scoring. When a lead hits a certain threshold (e.g., opening a certain number of emails or visiting key pages on your website), automated notifications can alert your sales team that it’s time to reach out.

This automation ensures that no lead slips through the cracks while saving your sales team from wasting time on cold leads.

For example, when a lead consistently opens emails and visits your pricing page, the system will flag them as a hot lead, prompting the sales team to reach out. This ensures your team prioritises high-intent prospects while automating much of the lead qualification process​.

Re-engagement Campaigns

Sales cycles in a B2B environment can be much longer than in B2C. Instead of manually sorting through your database to identify inactive contacts, you can set up automated re-engagement emails. These emails could include content such as:

- A special offer or incentive to re-engage.

- Relevant industry news or resources.

- A reminder of how your product or service can solve a common pain point.

If a lead hasn’t interacted with your emails in six months, you can automate a workflow that sends a re-engagement email with updates, new features, or content relevant to their industry​. Automating this process saves time and allows you to focus on leads that show renewed interest.

Automated Event Invitations and Follow-ups

In B2B marketing we often rely on webinars, conferences and networking events to generate leads and build relationships. However, automating the entire email workflow around these events can save significant time. You can automate:

- Invitations and reminders for registrants.

- Follow-up emails thanking attendees, with links to recordings or additional resources.

- Surveys to collect feedback after the event.

This ensures timely communication at every step without overwhelming your marketing team.

Post-Deal Follow-ups

Once a deal closes, the communication shouldn't end. Automated post-purchase email sequences can be used to maintain a strong relationship with clients. This could include:

- A thank-you note for the purchase or partnership.

- Onboarding information and resources to help them maximise the value of your product or service.

- Ongoing check-ins to ensure satisfaction and prevent churn.

Newsletter Automation

Sending regular newsletters is a great way to keep your brand top of mind and share valuable content. However, manually curating and sending newsletters can eat into your productivity. With automation tools, you can set up workflows that deliver newsletters at specific intervals based on customer segments or behaviours. For example:

- Monthly updates for existing clients with industry insights or product updates.

- Special offers or content for leads who have shown interest in certain topics.

For example, in HubSpot you can set up a workflow that sends a monthly newsletter to all subscribers who fit a certain demographic or engagement level, ensuring that content is relevant and timely.

Automating your newsletter process ensures consistency while freeing your team from repetitive tasks.

Automated Feedback Requests

Gathering client feedback is crucial for improving services and maintaining strong client relationships. 

Automating feedback requests, such as sending surveys after a certain period of using your product or completing a service, is a great way to gather insights without manual intervention. Automated feedback loops allow you to continually improve the customer experience while ensuring you're not missing critical insights.

HubSpot makes gathering client feedback simple through survey automation. After a client interacts with your product or service, you can trigger an email requesting feedback, either via a simple survey or a more detailed Net Promoter Score (NPS) request.

And finally…

Email automation is a game-changer for B2B marketing teams. By automating repetitive tasks such as lead nurturing, follow-ups, and feedback requests, your team can focus on high-value activities that drive growth. With the right tools, these automations can increase your team's efficiency while ensuring that no opportunity is missed in your lead nurturing process.

If you’re wondering which CRM is right for you and how to decide, you might be interested in reading our guide ‘The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Right CRM’.

You can also read our blog ‘The benefits of using HubSpot workflows and automations’.