I’ve been in the email marketing industry for a long time, and I’ve been able to see many different strategies come and go. One thing that has never changed is that emails are still one of the best ways to communicate with your customers.
Email is also one of the most effective ways to grow your business because it allows you to build relationships with people over time without having to be present in person or on social media.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Reflect on personal experiences with email success rates. |
| 2. Consider factors that contribute to higher response rates. |
| 3. Analyze the effectiveness of different email strategies. |
| 4. Explore methods to optimize email content for better results. |
| 5. Understand the importance of continuous improvement in email communication. |
Tip #1: Always Try To Get Referrals
The first tip I have for you is to always try to get referrals. They’re a great way to find new customers and are very important for your success as an email marketer.
People who know you or like what you do are more likely than not going to buy from you if they hear about it from another source other than an ad or website article.
You can even incentivize them by offering discounts or something else similar in return for the referral, which will make them more likely to pass along their recommendation without hesitation.
When it comes to reaching out through emails, crafting the right approach can yield remarkable results. Learn the techniques I used to achieve a 5x response rate in my guide on A Simple Guide to Cold Emailing: How I Got 5x Response.
Tip #2: Work Your Database Every Day
Tip #2: Work Your Database Every Day
You need to keep your email list clean and up to date, so that you can have a better idea of what is working and what isn’t.
If you are sending a weekly newsletter, for example, and every week you get an unsubscribe email from someone who says “I haven’t read this in years” – that is a problem.
If you are sending out an autoresponder series about how important it is for people to take action on their goals but you never hear back from people saying “this helped me” – that is also a problem.
If there are problems with your database (say too many dead addresses) then fix those issues before thinking about how many new contacts are coming in each day or week!
Tip #3: Don’t Waste Time With Cold Outreach
Cold outreach is a waste of time. Cold outreach is a waste of money. Cold outreach is a waste of energy.
And this is your time, and it’s valuable so don’t waste it on cold outreach!
Tip #4: Personalize Each Email
The fourth tip for increasing your email success rate is to personalize each email. Personalization is key. This means using the recipient’s name in the subject line, body, and signature of your email. It also means using their name in your footer.
Imagine you are sending out a sales email to hundreds or even thousands of potential clients who have never heard from you before. How do you make sure that this message stands out from all others? How can you ensure that they will read and respond to it?
By personalizing every single email! Personalization shows that you care about each person on the receiving end and makes them feel like the only person who matters – because they are!
Remember: people love getting mail, especially if it’s handwritten (even though most people don’t get much anymore). When someone sees their name on an envelope or package, they’ll feel special; it’s as simple as that!
New to cold emailing? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Dive into the basics and essential strategies with our comprehensive resource: Cold Emailing 101: A Beginner’s Guide.
Tip #5: Don’t Be A Salesman
When you’re sending out emails, it’s tempting to want to sell everything that you’ve got. After all, isn’t that the purpose of email marketing? To make money? Well yes and no.
Yes, if your goal is to make sales and generate revenue; no if your goal is just to get people interested in what you have to offer them. When we send out an email with only the intention of making sales then we run into some problems:
- We lose credibility because our focus is on getting customers rather than serving them (we could have just made these products for ourselves!)
- It makes us come off as pushy or aggressive when we try too hard * And let’s face it most people don’t like being sold things!
Tip #6: Slow And Steady Wins The Email Campaign
Email is a marathon, not a sprint.
I’m sure you’ve heard that before and it holds here too.
If you think about email as something that takes time to build momentum, you will have more success than if you try to rush things along. One of the best ways to ensure your emails are effective is by scheduling them for specific days of the week or month.
And sticking with it! Don’t worry about sending too many emails; just make sure that the ones you do send have enough content in them (more on this below).
If your goal is simply increasing response rates over time rather than focusing on individual campaigns or messages then schedule out all of your future communications so they happen at regular intervals (e.g., once per week or once every other week).
This can help ensure people don’t forget what they signed up for and make sure everyone receives their fair share of contact from you over time.*
Tip #7: Be Persistent And Responsive
If you’re contacting people and getting no response, don’t give up. I know this is easier said than done but keep at it until they respond.
The last thing you want to do is come across as a pest although if that sort of thing comes naturally to you (I can be a bit of a stalker myself), then by all means go for it! Just don’t let them go without hearing from you for too long.
The best way to contact someone who doesn’t respond is through email or social media—both have their advantages. If I try and phone someone who doesn’t answer their phone that often, then I won’t put much effort into trying again later.
However, with email or Facebook messages, there’s always the chance that they might see your message later on in the day or week when they check their inboxes or profiles respectively, and then hopefully respond!
Tip #8. Be Patient, Trust The Process And Enjoy The Ride
It’s important to be patient with your email campaign. The process isn’t linear and it will take time before you start seeing results.
I know what you might be thinking: “But my subscriber list is small, I need to get more people on it!” Don’t worry about that right now. Even if you have 1,000 subscribers on your list, don’t worry about adding more right away.
If you try to grow your list too quickly or send too many emails at once (like daily), then they won’t read or engage with any of them because they’re bombarded by so much content coming from one source all at once.
You want them engaged in a meaningful way over time – not overwhelmed by information overload!
Discover the nuances of a successful cold email strategy – from content to engagement. Learn more in-depth insights in my article: Cold Email Strategy: What Do I Send, How Do I Make Them Care?.
Tip #9. Focus On What You Can Control
It is easy to get caught up in the minutia of your email list and forget what matters most. You have a limited amount of time to write emails, so it’s important to focus on the things that will move the needle for your business.
You could obsess over the number of subscribers who haven’t opened an email from you in 6 months.
But this won’t do much good for your business unless you’re able to do something about it (and if there are people who haven’t opened an email from me for months, they probably aren’t going to be purchasing my services).
Instead, focus on those who have engaged with an email recently. These are the people that matter most because they’ve demonstrated some level of interest in what you have to say or offer them and these are also customers that are likely ready-made and ready-to-buy!
Tip #10. Provide Value First, Sell Second
The 10 tips above are all things I’ve done to increase my email success rate. But don’t forget that there is one important thing you should do at the beginning of every email – provide value.
We live in an age where most people are not willing to take action on something unless they perceive it as valuable.
And if they don’t perceive it as valuable, then even if you eventually lead them over the line, you’ll have lost a lot of potential business by getting their attention with something that wasn’t perceived as a good deal for them.
Tip #11. Use Calendar Tools More Than Email (Videos)
A lot of people do their scheduling and follow-ups by email. I find that this is a bad idea because then you have to worry about keeping track of everything and making sure things don’t get lost.
Instead, use calendar tools like Google Calendar (or whatever you prefer) for scheduling and follow-up reminders.
Then use email as the main communication tool. When someone sends you a message, check your email inbox only once per day so that it doesn’t become overwhelming and distracting.
Then go through your inbox quickly and respond right away to anything urgent or important, just like with most other messages in life (texts from friends or family members).
After responding quickly to any urgent items in your inbox, archive any non-urgent ones that require further response later on (the “follow up” part).
This will help keep clutter out of both your inboxes–your actual one at work/home as well as the one on this computer screen–and make sure nothing gets lost along the way!
Looking for the ultimate guide to effective cold email outreach? Explore proven tactics and techniques to maximize your outreach efforts: The Ultimate Guide to Cold E-mail Outreach.
Tip #12. Programming Is An Excellent Form Of Content (Videos)
Another way to create content for your email is by using programming. You can use programming as a form of content that allows you to showcase your product or service in an exciting and new way.
For example, if you sell clothes, then maybe a video could show the process behind how they are made. Or if you sell pet products, then perhaps there are some hidden features of your product that people have never seen before.
The key here is to be creative with this type of content because it has the potential to be very effective depending on what kind of product or service you’re selling!
Tip #13. Reach Out Beyond Silicon Valley (Videos)
If you’re trying to reach out beyond Silicon Valley, it’s important to think about how you can connect with people who don’t speak English as their primary language.
There are lots of ways for you to do this in the video space (you can look into subtitles and dubbing) but if that doesn’t work for your audience or business model, consider sending a PDF version of your message instead.
Also, keep in mind that not everyone has time to read email every day as we do here in the Valley even if they love getting them!
So when reaching out through emails, make sure it’s short and easy-to-read: no more than 2 sentences per paragraph maximum, and make sure there are no long paragraphs at all (a good rule is three lines max).
Tip #14. Read Emails Aloud Before Sending (Videos)
It’s a good idea to read the email you’re about to send aloud before sending it. It might sound silly, but this is a great way to make sure your email makes sense and doesn’t sound awkward.
If your email is long and complicated, consider breaking it up into two shorter emails or even three shorter ones (if necessary). Use bullet points for lists instead of just typing out the entire list in one long sentence.
Don’t use contractions (e.g., don’t) unless they’re used throughout the rest of the document (e.g., “We don’t.”). Don’t overuse exclamation points either!
Tip #15. Follow-Up Patience Is Not Needed From Your Recipient (Videos)
I know, I know. It’s hard to follow up with people who haven’t responded to your first email. But don’t worry about it! Follow up anyway and you’ll be surprised how often the second email turns into a response from someone who didn’t reply to the first one.
I’ve sent out emails where I’ve asked for a response no later than the end of the day and then followed up with an email if they didn’t get back to me by then (without being pushy).
This has been effective in getting replies because even though they were busy, they still wanted to respond but just didn’t have time at the moment (or forgot).
Don’t be afraid of following up! It may seem annoying or pushy but it will help ensure that you get responses from everyone instead of only those who are willing enough on their own accord 🙂
The right words can make all the difference in your cold email copy. Discover tips to craft compelling and converting cold email copy in our guide: Cold Email Copywriting That Converts.
Write Emails In Google Docs And Copy/Paste them Into Gmail (Videos)
- Google Docs is a great place to write emails.
- Copy and paste into Gmail.
- Use Gmail’s “send and archive” feature, which means that you can see your sent messages in the Sent Mail folder of your inbox, but they won’t clutter up your inbox.
This is helpful if you’re like me and have more than one email address (because I’m an international speaker). You can also use this feature when you want to send an important message without worrying about someone opening it before it arrives in their inboxes.
Use Gmail’s “snooze” feature, which lets you delay sending an email until a specific amount of time has passed or until some other condition has happened like when someone replies or opens the message, for example:
Tip #16. Use The “Inbox Zero” Philosophy (Videos)
The Inbox Zero philosophy is all about keeping your inbox clean and empty. It’s quite simple: when you receive an email, either delete it or archive it. Don’t leave the emails in your inbox it makes it harder to find what you’re looking for later on.
Delete: Delete any emails that are not important or require action, like newsletters and promotional offers. If you don’t want to read them later on, there’s no reason for them to stay in your inbox!
Archive: Archive any emails that require action and/or contain information that might be useful later on, but aren’t necessarily urgent enough to deal with immediately.
For example, I keep all my receipts in a “receipts” folder so they’re easy to find if I ever need them again; however, some of those receipts are several months old now so I wouldn’t necessarily consider them urgent!
Conclusion
This is just the start. I’m always looking to improve my email, and hopefully, this post has given you some ideas for how you can do the same with yours. If there’s one thing I want to leave you with, it’s this: keep trying!
Don’t get discouraged if people don’t respond right away or if they don’t give you feedback in person when you ask them about their experience with your email (even though it would be nice).
Keep sending out your emails and experimenting with different strategies until eventually, something works. Good luck!
Further Reading
7 Tips for Getting More Responses to Your Emails with Data: Discover data-driven insights on improving your email response rates.
Follow-Up Email Strategy: Tips for Effective Follow-Ups: Enhance your follow-up game with practical strategies for more impactful email communication.
5 Quick Thoughts About Email: Gain insights into email communication with a concise exploration of key considerations.
FAQs
How can I improve my email response rates?
Improving email response rates involves crafting engaging subject lines, personalizing content, and timing your emails effectively.
What are some effective follow-up email strategies?
Effective follow-up emails should provide value, address the recipient’s needs, and be spaced appropriately to maintain engagement.
How can I make my email communication more impactful?
To make your email communication more impactful, focus on clarity, conciseness, and delivering value to the recipient.
What role does data play in enhancing email success?
Data can provide valuable insights into recipient behavior, helping you tailor your email content and approach for better results.
How can I maintain professionalism while writing emails?
Maintaining professionalism in emails involves using proper language, addressing recipients respectfully, and being mindful of tone and context.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.