Email Marketing in 2025: The New Rules for B2Bs

Recently, I had the pleasure of catching up with Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact. I’m looking forward to his upcoming presentation at Experience Inbound — and I just couldn’t resist inviting him on The ChangeOver Podcast to share his insights about email marketing.

We had an insightful conversation about how email marketing continues to evolve, why personalization and AI are reshaping B2B marketing strategies, and what industrials must focus on to stay competitive. 

I highly recommend you take a deep dive into the entire podcast episode now, but if you’re pressed for time, scan through the blog highlights now and circle back for a full listen later.

Check out episode 21 of The ChangeOver now, then subscribe on Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Weidert.com, or your favorite podcast app.

Then vs. Now: The Evolution of Email Marketing

When marketing automation tools first launched, a “sophisticated” email marketing campaign included a basic list blast and {First_Name} personalization token. It got the job done, but looking back, the strategy was noticeably lacking.

Digital marketing has evolved a lot since then, but email is still just as important for B2B marketing because it supports ALL stages of your buyer's journey. It's also highly compatible with other components of your marketing plan, like social and digital ad campaigns. Plus, B2B buying cycles are often lengthy and include several decision makers. Consistent, helpful touches keep you top of mind.

Reflecting on his 13 years at Constant Contact, Dave commented on the more advanced role email marketing has taken on:

“Personalization to me is really about timeliness and relevance. You want to be getting the right messages to the right people, at the right times… If I’m taking an action on your website, if I'm indicating interest in something or I'm looking for something, you sending me messages about that thing to follow up or understanding where I am in that process is hugely valuable.”

In short, did that prospect or customer reply? Buy? Sign up? If they took the action you intended them to, that’s a win.

As customers demand more empathy and “humanness” in automated messaging, the first-name tag is no longer sufficient. That’s where strategic use of AI and segmentation is key in connecting in meaningful ways.

The Rise of Personalization, Segmentation, and AI

Email “personalization" now means sending highly relevant, timely communications based on a user’s behaviors and interests. Dave describes it as “treating the customer as an individual — not just part of a group.” 

To that end, AI has given B2B marketers an upper hand because so much can be learned from data, specifically behavior-based triggers and AI-driven predictive analytics.

Creating dynamic, individualized content journeys is crucial because customers want that recognition and that level of connection. Dave cautions:

“When you think about the control that your customers have today, if you are not treating them like they think they should be treated or you're not taking into account the cues that they're giving you to treat them in a more personalized manner, well, they can unsubscribe, right?”

With the help of AI, demonstrating to customers and prospects that you know them in real and meaningful ways is nearly seamless with list segmentation.

How you segment doesn’t have to be overly complicated — it can be as simple as grouping people by the products they like or the industry they’re in — the point is, you shouldn't send the same message to everyone. Using AI and automation puts the right info in front of the right people at the right time, all with a personal touch. 

Refocusing Metrics

Vanity metrics are feel-goods and, for quite some time, were the benchmark for marketing success. Clicks! Opens! Impressions! Do they truly translate to anything beyond bragging rights? No. They’re signals, not success.

Performance matters. Track the actions that are tied to your actual goals. Dave boils it down to focusing on “what is the thing that you want people to do” and how those actions brought them closer to your brand, a conversion, a purchase. These are the metrics that inform your marketing. They are directly tied to engagement quality over engagement quantity.

4 Tips for Empowered B2B Marketing

Large or small, any B2B company can reap the benefits of strategically implementing email marketing that aligns with and supports your goals, but Dave cautions that it could feel a little overwhelming:

“You don’t have to do everything. It’s really about starting where you are and taking baby steps. If you can, just focus on your immediate goal at the moment. That’s the big thing.”

Whether you’re adding a new email marketing component into your plan or sharpening your current efforts, Dave offers 4 tips to build and maintain momentum:

1. Start small: Focus on one immediate goal
2. Be consistent: Regular, helpful communication with prospects and customers  builds trust — but remember, keep it relevant
3. Use the tools you have: Align email, social media, digital ads, and your website to unify messaging and create a cohesive experience
4. Commit time: Marketing success requires dedicated effort, so schedule time on your calendar to establish a cadence (and a good habit)

Ready to Dive Deeper?

Email marketing is still relevant in 2025 — and it’s evolving. By purposefully combining  human empathy and  personalization with AI-driven triggers, B2B marketers can deliver messages that feel one-to-one at scale to connect deeper and win more business.

Want to drop in on more insightful conversations like the one we just had with Dave Charest? Find and subscribe to The ChangeOver on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or on our website to stay current with the latest in B2B marketing for industrials.