Mailchimp success story · B2B chocolate manufacturer

How a B2B chocolate maker doubled its industry open rate and cut trade show follow-up from days to hours.

Name: Overtop Media Digital Marketing
Address: 933 Louise Ave Suite 101-18, Charlotte, NC, 28204, US
Telephone: (704) 237-0707
Price range: $$

Totally Chocolate had never marketed to the distributors who sell its custom chocolates. Educational Mailchimp newsletters, synced with HubSpot, gave it a 40% open rate and turned trade show leads into same-day conversations.

Business: Totally Chocolate
Market: Washington, United States
Goal: Engage distributors and follow up on trade shows fast

The results.

The 40% open rate is double the B2B manufacturing benchmark of 19-20%; trade show follow-up fell from 3-4 days to 3-4 hours.

40%average email open rate
95%less time on trade show follow-up
10%year-over-year revenue growth in 2025

2025 was the first year the company actively marketed to the promotional products industry. Short product videos in the newsletter also lifted click-through rate by 55%. Figures as reported in the story; Mailchimp does not publish how they were measured.

The challenge.

Totally Chocolate has made premium custom chocolates for decades, sold through promotional products distributors who represent it to their own clients. Until 2025 it had never actively marketed to them, and everything ran through Outlook, with no segmentation, no automation and no regular rhythm.

The company also sells directly to businesses, and the two audiences must never mix: a distributor who sees a direct price could end the relationship. Syncing its HubSpot CRM through third-party tools would have cost about $800 a month, and distributors were already buried in supplier emails.

Capture at the showBooth leads go into HubSpot.
Sync to MailchimpThe integration moves them over automatically.
Segment by event and repDistributors and direct buyers never mix.
Follow up the same dayA targeted campaign within hours, then the monthly newsletter.

What they did.

HubSpot integration · Separate audiences · Segmentation · Newsletters with video · Analytics

HubSpot and Mailchimp in sync: Contacts from meetings and trade shows go into HubSpot and sync to Mailchimp through the built-in integration, with no manual data entry and without pulling anyone out of their HubSpot sales sequences.
Audiences that never cross: Distributors and direct buyers live in completely separate audiences, then are segmented by sales rep and by event.
Newsletters that teach: A monthly newsletter, built in the drag-and-drop editor, leads with a 30 to 90 second product video, a product of the month with selling tips, and flyers distributors can rebrand for their own clients.
Same-day show follow-up: Thousands of leads collected at an event get a targeted campaign the same day, while the booth is still fresh in their minds.

Why it worked.

Our read on the decisions behind the numbers, and what any business can take from them.

Useful beats salesy: Distributors open emails that help them sell. Positioning each newsletter as a resource earned a place in inboxes most suppliers never reach.
Speed wins trade shows: A follow-up the same afternoon reaches people before the next 50 suppliers do. Days later, the lead has gone cold.
Clean audiences protect partners: Strict separation of audiences protected the distributor relationships the whole business depends on.
Video adds personality: Short, one-take product videos lifted click-through and made a niche product easy to understand.

How we would run this play for your business.

You do not need a national budget to use the same ideas. This is how Overtop Media Digital Marketing puts them to work in our mailchimp email marketing.

Connect your CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce or your own system, synced with Mailchimp so sales and marketing see the same contacts.
Plan an event playbook: Booth capture, same-day follow-up, a short nurture sequence and a hand-off to sales, ready before you travel.
Write the newsletter buyers keep: Education first, offers second, a consistent format every month.
Reach decision makers beyond email: For B2B, we pair email with LinkedIn ads and Google search ads aimed at the same accounts, and tighten the site with our B2B conversion playbook.