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Are your emails getting rejected or worse going unnoticed?

by | behavior, communication skills, sales, tips

Are your emails getting rejected or worse going unnoticed?
Are your emails getting rejected…

 

Email is tough way to communicate:

Email is actually a fairly reliable means of delivering communication. As long as you didn’t get a bounce back notice in your email that you had the wrong email address, the chances are that it was delivered to the person intended. The problem is that it is really difficult to get a response.

There are several reasons for this:

  • You went to junk mail.
  • You were collected in a spam filter until tomorrow.
  • You were 1 of 200 emails in their inbox.
  • They didn’t want to respond.
  • They didn’t read the email.
  • They didn’t check their email.
  • They were too busy…
The list goes on and on… but one thing is for sure. Email is a pretty unreliable way to get a response.

Are your emails getting rejected or worse going unnoticed?
or worse, going unnoticed?

Here are some tips to get your email opened and read by your prospect:

First, you have to get into their inbox. If you have not previously emailed each other, there is not much you can do, but I do have a few tips. 
  • Use your domain name email address. 
  • Avoid mass emails
  • Don’t use spammy language.
  • Make it plain text or limit pictures and links.
Have you noticed the state of your junk mail folder lately? It is probably full of fake accounts created on gmail, yahoo, or hotmail. Most of them also mention prescription drugs, dating sites, or “adult” content. And chances are they have some kind of special, sale, discount, free offer, or promotion. Many of them have just a picture or link.
Once you are in the inbox, you have another second set of problems. You are going to need to get noticed, opened and read. Your email is only 1 event in hundreds or thousands in your prospect’s day, so it is going to need to be quick, memorable, and easy to deal with. Here are some tips:
  • It’s all about the Subject line.
  • Give them a context about how they know you or why they should.
  • Make it short. 3-5 sentences should be good.
  • Make it a simple message with one theme.
  • Make it super easy to respond, and don’t rely on it.
KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. The longer, more complicated, harder to read, harder to respond, and harder to relate to, the worse your chances of getting read and replied to. People are busy, distracted, and generally not interested in you. They are interested in themselves and the 157 other things on their plate. Keep it simple and don’t require a lot of work to respond. In fact, don’t require a response at all, if possible.

 

Here is an example of a good prospecting email:

Subject: Question
Body:

Hi Steve, 

Have you ever had anyone talk to your sales staff about how to use social media and email correctly?  

I got your name from Tom Jones at the Chamber event, and he said you were concerned about your teams internet behavior. 

If you think it makes sense, we can talk it out. I am available on Wed at 10am, and I will call you then. If that doesn’t work, shoot me back a better time or have your secretary reschedule with me. 

Thanks, 

Mike Montague
From Click To Close
[email protected]
(816) 505-2500

Would you open it, and would you respond? It’s not perfect, and makes a couple of assumptions, but overall it should get read and responded to. First, who doesn’t want to know what the question is? Plus, it may be from a client or prospect of theirs  Second, it is personal and shows that I know the person by name and was referred. It is only 4 sentences so they can read it in a few seconds. I connected with his business concerns and not what I wanted to sell, and I didn’t ask him to respond unless it was a negative.
Finally, I set it up so that I can follow up by phone. I don’t want to get into a long back and forth with email, talk about price, or have the sales conversation over months of emails. Also, I don’t want to put the responsibility on the prospect to be required to take action. Right now, Steve is only obligated to take my call on Wednesday or reschedule. That is pretty easy.
Bonus: You save yourself a lot of time and energy too! You can plan out your whole week’s prospecting calls by sending these emails a week early or on Monday, and you have effectively booked yourself solid with productive calls.
If you have any other tips that you think might work better, or any concerns about this approach, please leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!