In the era of marketing automation, we fall into the trap of mass emailing — treating every potential customer as if they were exactly the same in the interest of saving time. This blog is going to show you a more effective tactic to nurturing your outbound leads, which is appealing to the individual.
Though it might take a little more time, treating your prospects like human beings will engage them more than a cookie-cutter template ever could. If you want to increase the number of replies going to your inbox, keep reading.
I want to share with you an email that was sent to me last month. I get at least five cold emails a day — each one offering some ‘amazing’ ‘must-have’ services. Most of them are annoying, some are cringe-worthy, but this one actually made me feel bad about not replying.
What stands out to you in this email? Is it different from the ones you write? I have to admit, I had to reconsider some of my own tactics after reading it. Take for instance, the subject line: “We don’t know each other, but we should”
It’s bold, but not aggressive; personal and definitely intriguing. It makes me want to open the email.
Once I get into the body of the text, I get the sense as though I am talking to someone real, someone familiar to me. I’ve heard people say that smileys and abbreviations are unprofessional, but in this instance it sets a friendly tone.
The tone might be my favourite part
It doesn’t sound like a sales pitch although that’s exactly what it is. Overall, the letter feels like it’s all about me. The sender engages me through our shared contacts, he asks me a relevant question, and gives me a chance to decline his services. I don’t even have to make up any phony excuses for why we do not need the product. All I have to do (according to the email) is send a blank reply and my moral duty is complete.
Finally we come to the last sentence, the call to action. This is the part where most outreach emails lose the prospect. Maybe we forget that consumers are intelligent people who are exposed to over 1500 advertisements a day. That means they condition themselves to turn away from CTAs like ‘see a demo’. After all, the prospect hasn’t even decided if they need the product. Notice that this email stays away from that ugly word.
Instead of ending on an ambiguous statement like ‘we should chat some time’, something I am guilty of doing in hopes of keeping it casual, they suggest a specific date. Now I am trying to remember if I am free on Wednesday or Thursday — clever.
I am not saying that this is the world’s most perfect cold email that you should copy word for word, but it sure had me impressed. And if you’re wondering, I did reply.
If we take one thing away from this — to build a relationship with a potential client you have to care about who they are and connect with them on a personal level.
Jesse Guild
CEO & Founder of Blitzen
