Email Marketing Tips: Why Your Emails Are Being Ignored
Here are some tips for email marketing. Google “email mistakes” and you’ll find endless resources. But they all say the same thing:
- Include a first name in the email.
- Avoid using business jargon.
- Don’t forget to include a greeting.
- Don’t say “to whom it may concern.”
- Make sure you change the subject line.
- Spellcheck your work.
- Avoid emoticons.
And the list goes on. But all of these suggestions are common sense suggestions for beginner email users. If you’re a business professional today, what are the mistakes you’re not seeing, that aren’t obvious, and are preventing your emails from reciprocating a response? With the following email marketing tips, you’ll finally know the reasons your emails are being ignored:
Email Marketing – Your Subject Line Focuses on the Wrong Goal
It’s no secret that an effective subject line is needed to ultimately get an email opened. But when writing these subject lines, think about your true end goal. The goal of any email you send should simply be about getting a response. It shouldn’t be about closing a deal, finalizing a partnership, or hiring a candidate. Until you can get a response on your email, until you can truly connect with your recipient, you’re nowhere closer to your goal. Here are some example subject lines we’ve seen work:
- First Name], quick question for you.
- [Mutual connection] recommended I get in touch.
- Ideas for [what’s important to them].
- Question about [recent trigger event].
- Question about [a goal they have].
- Thoughts about [title of their blog post].
- Have you considered [thought/recommendation]?
You’re Sending All Your Emails at the Wrong Time
Most business emails are sent during business hours. But recent data from the 2014 Email Open Rates Report shows something slightly surprising.
The gray line shows the number of emails sent each day of the week. This line illustrates that most emails were sent on Monday, with over 1,000,000 sent that day. The least amount of emails were sent on Saturday and Sunday, of course, with under 200,000 sent on each of those days.
The black line shows the open rate of the emails for each day of the week. The worst days for open rates are Monday and Tuesday. However, the open rate gradually increases over the course of the week and then spikes on Saturday and Sunday.
Now we’re not saying that you should alter your strategy to send all emails on the weekend, but there should be some strategic balance. If you really want to capture the attention of someone important that isn’t getting back to you, try a Sunday night email. Otherwise, stick to your business hours.
Using a Generic Sender Address
While many one-to-one emails come from an individual account, you may need to send to a larger group if want to update vendors about an important policy or process change, or you work in support and need to contact customers regarding a new feature update that fixed many product bugs. Whichever the case, the name you include in the “From” field of your email can have a huge impact on your overall open rates. There’s been a number of studies that show sending emails from an actual person increases both the open and click-through rates. And it makes sense – customers and contacts feel a more personal connection to your email when they receive it from “Maggie Georgieva” than they do from Company X, or worse, some version of “donotreply.com.”
“Personalizing” Without Actually Personalizing
Personalizing in today’s business environment involves taking the time to learn about the individual you’re contacting. Let’s look at an example:
This email is personalized in a few ways:
- Relevance: Not only does it include the first name, it opens with a custom event in the recipient’s life.
- Connect: Connects the recipient’s expertise with your own as the sender.
- Next Step: Provides a specific timeframe to chat.
Ending the Email Without an Easy Next Step
You already know your email should have an end goal in mind, but you also need to ensure your email ends with that end goal in mind for your reader. Whether it’s downloading a piece of content, scheduling a time to connect, or sharing information for a job opening, every goal needs to be stated strategically with its respect next step. Let’s say the goal is to find a time to connect. Many best practices suggest finding an open spot on your calendar, and recommending a few. This may look like: “Are you free to chat at 10 AM, 2PM or 5PM Monday or Tuesday?” But here’s the problem with this—what if the recipient isn’t available at those times? Should we expect them to find an open time? Or do we think they’ll get too busy with their work and just ignore your email for now? Remember, the main goal of this email is to get a response—make it easy by saying something like: “Would you be willing to chat for ten minutes next week?” This accomplishes the following:
- It makes it super easy to get a response—it’s either yes or no.
- A light ask for “ten minutes” shows you’re not demanding too much.
- There’s a clear response the recipient has to give to show interest in engaging with you.
Well there you have it. If you follow these email marketing tips, you should start seeing a positive response instead of people ignoring your emails.