3+3 rules to write emails which get 40% response rate. By Ankur Chaudhary
It takes only 2.7 seconds for a reader to decide if they want to take action to an email (reply, forward or delete). Your one self-focused line can be blasted away into oblivion with one click from the reader.
With today’s crazy-busy buyers, how do you get their attention? Jill Konarth one of best sales-thought leaders who has years of research in buyers’ behavior, discovered that readers evaluate an email on four key questions:
- How simple is it?
- Does this person offer value to my business?
- Is this aligned with my objectives?
- How big a priority is it?
Critical factors you need to think about before you craft a message:
Length: 80.8% of prospects read emails on mobile screens. The shorter, the better. Keep your emails under 90 words.
Subject Line: Be precise and action-oriented. There has been enough debate on whether length of subject lines matters. My experience being: they don’t matter. If you have a referral or relevant name to drop, always mention that. Subject lines that address immediate concerns, company changes, or critical business issues are always highly effective.
Here are some example subject lines that get reads:
- Quick questions about next quarter’s sales targets
- Ideas for disrupting the top of sales funnel
- Sam Ribnick suggested I get in touch with you
- 3 steps to improve social selling ROI
Personalize: If I had to pick a single most critical factor to help get a response, I would chose personalization of an email. Work to surprise your buyer with your relevant research on their challenges and needs. If there is a reference point for you to mention, please do.
Pique curiosity: Present a compelling value to your buyer, you can do this in following ways:
- Refer prospect challenges. Example: If you are like most marketers today, you’re under a ton of pressure to increase your lead effectiveness.
- Refer similar customers. Example: I thought you might be interested in what we did with…
- Mention Trigger events. Example: The reason I contacted you is because I read about your (triggering event). Based on my experience working with other firms, when (triggering event) happens, it usually creates (problems/challenges) with …
- Refer to industry trend. Example:In researching your competitors, I learnt that one of the prime initiatives this year for (Blank) industry is…
- Direct Value Proposition. Example: We help large companies reduce cost of sales by …
- Refer the competition. Example: Hi Marc, I had a question about your competitor “XYZ”. Did you know they were looking to implement our software? If you have time next week, I can help you with …
Value Proposition:Buyers don’t care about your products and services. They want results. State your value proposition in clear business terms. Corporate buyers are particularly attracted to phrases such as: increased revenue, improved customer retention, higher ROI, increased competitor differentiation, decreased costs, etc.
Close graciously: Do this by inviting an action. It could be a meeting request or a question which could be replied to in a few words. Example: If you are the appropriate person to speak with, what does the calendar look like early next week? If not, who do you recommend I speak with?
I have experienced that when you follow these simple rules, prospects want to open a dialogue with you and share their business objectives, needs, and challenges. I used these rules to achieve more than a 40% response rate.
What are some of the best practices you use while sending prospecting emails to your buyers? I would love to hear what has been effective email response strategy for you.
If a colleague tells you they get too much email the usual default response is to nod sagely and carry on as if nothing was ever going to happen about it. This isn’t good enough for IBM’s Luis Suarez, who announced in 2008 that he was going to cope without it.