Email marketing is a powerful tool that businesses use to connect with customers, build relationships, generate leads, and increase sales. Statistics from 2024 show that there are over 4.55 billion email users and that more than 350 billion emails are sent and received worldwide every day.
B2B companies often hire B2B email marketing agencies to run their campaigns, and marketing experts use various powerful tools to do so. However, this power comes with risks. Cybercriminals are constantly seeking new ways to hack email accounts. Therefore, to protect your critical data and your company’s reputation, cybersecurity is crucial in B2B communications.
In this article, we will debate cybersecurity in email marketing, the types of cyber threats, and ways to protect your email. Keep reading to learn more!
What is Cybersecurity in Email Marketing?
When a company sends emails to another company (B2B), these emails often include links to documents, confidential offers, employee onboarding materials, and more. If this information falls into the wrong hands, the consequences can be severe. This is where cybersecurity comes in.
In email marketing, cybersecurity involves protecting your confidential information, such as your subscribers’ data, from cyberattacks. In B2B communications, you may encounter threats such as phishing, data breaches, malware, and email spoofing. These attacks can completely cripple your business in seconds, but cybersecurity protects you from them.
4 Common Cyberthreats in B2B Email Marketing
These are some of the common email marketing threats that a company may face:
1. Phishing Attacks:
In this attack, a fake email arrives in your inbox. It looks legitimate and tricks you into clicking on a malicious link, opening a document, or providing confidential information.
2. Email Spoofing:
Email spoofing is a procedure of cyberattack in which a hacker sends emails from your domain to other companies to deceive recipients.
3. Data Breaches:
This occurs when unauthorised individuals gain access to or steal your business correspondence or subscriber list.
4. Malware:
A cyberattack in which hackers use viruses or malware hidden in attachments or links to gain control of your email campaigns.
How to Protect Your B2B Communications from Threats
These are the essential cybersecurity steps that every B2B marketer or business owner should consider to ensure their email communications are secure:
1. Use Email Authentication Protocols
Email authentication protocols are fundamental pillars of email security. These protocols act as digital identity checks for your emails. Use the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) protocol to verify that the email you receive is sent from an authorised server. The Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocol adds a digital signature to your email so the recipient can be sure it hasn’t been tampered with. Similarly, DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) specifies how email service providers should handle suspicious messages.
2. Choose a Secure Email Marketing Platform
Your email service provider plays a central role in your security, so you should choose a platform that offers a high level of security. A good platform provides built-in encryption (such as TLS), supports SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and complies with laws like GDPR and CCPA. It also sends alerts about suspicious activity or login attempts.
3. Train Your Employees
Most cyberattacks are due to human error. When someone clicks on a link without knowing its content, they become an easy target for hackers. Therefore, it’s crucial to train your employees and educate them about potential security risks to business information. This training will help your team recognise phishing emails, use strong passwords, and report suspicious activity.
4. Avoid Buying Email Lists
When you start contacting potential customers, always build your email list organically. Remember that quality is always more important than quantity. If you buy email lists, they often contain outdated or fake email addresses, which can lead to legal problems. Furthermore, this could result in blocklisting or spam traps.
5. Thoroughly Review Links and Attachments
Another essential point to remember is to thoroughly review or scan all files and links for malware or phishing threats. Always use secure file-sharing services when attaching a confidential file. Avoid attaching such files directly to an email, as this poses a high security risk.
6. Update your email marketing software
To reduce the risk of cyberattacks, regularly update your email marketing software and plugins. Using the latest version of your marketing software provides strong protection against potential attacks and improves performance.
7. Conduct regular security audits
It’s important to conduct security audits of your email marketing campaigns every few months. This will help you verify the functionality of your SPF/DKIM/DMARC records, identify suspicious IP addresses attempting to access your system, and ensure that your data storage meets security requirements and is encrypted. If you discover any vulnerabilities, address them to protect your sensitive information from cybercriminals.
Ending Note
Email marketing is crucial, and even a minor data breach or a spam filter error can cost you customers, revenue, and reputation. Therefore, cybersecurity in email marketing is everyone’s responsibility. To ensure security, always use tools like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as well as a secure email platform. Additionally, train your team, avoid purchasing email lists, and carefully review links and attachments. Regularly update your marketing software and conduct security audits. In short, to build trust and grow securely, cybersecurity in your email marketing campaigns is not an option, but a necessity.