I get it. You’re tired of writing outbound emails that don't generate responses. It takes up a lot of your time. It’s hard and difficult to manage. Luckily there are ways you can improve. Copyfactory offers a done-for-you copywriting service but if you are just getting started these 10 tips should you tweak your sequences. Below are 7 tips for writing successful outbound emails.
It goes without saying but ensure you are targeting relevant people. There is a strong correlation between the strength of your data and the success of your messaging. Before writing an email ensure you have a goal for this campaign. Is it to generate a demo? Get them to engage with a piece of new content. Avoid mashing together several goals as this will confuse both your messaging and effectiveness. There is no one perfect tone when writing as this depends largely on the audience you are focused on. Your message might be best written in a combination of styles (tone, voice, formatting, etc.) Before you write your outbound email, try to get an understanding of what your ideal audience is thinking when they read your email.
Before you send your email, you should do one of the following: Review your subject line and preview the text. The preview text is the first sentence that can be seen after your subject line. It's often the line you want to personalize as this will increase open and engagement rates. During this review process, you should also be looking at the spacing of your email on mobile and desktop.
Another quick win is to avoid having 4-5 sentences that are stitched together as this will seem overwhelming to the reader.
By making the content more digestible you increase the chances of your prospect reading the entire email and ultimately taking your desired call to action. Speaking of call to action, take a look at your email and make sure that your email has a logical flow starting with an intro and ending with a call to action. When previewing, if you can't tell what the end action should be you are likely hiding it with other sentences that are not relevant or casting a shadow.
When you send an outbound email, you aren’t sending it to your entire list. This is not a marketing email sent through Mailchimp or a tool of the sort. Put yourself in their shoes and use a conversational tone that is personable and helpful - exactly as you would have sent it if you were sending it manually. Ultimately you are asking for someone's time and sending them a cold email. You must respect their time. Take a look at your email sequence and look out for multiple calls to action that are similar, not enough days in between each step (Don't send emails every day with the same message to the same person), and subject lines that don't match your email body. As a final note here, remember you are likely not the only person making an ask of your contact that day so be mindful of their day-to-day and adapt your email accordingly. One way of adapting is to limit the number of words in your email. There is always room for improvement and this usually comes through by being concise in your word selection.
One of the things you have to watch out for is tone. Your tone should match the industry you’re targeting. Avoid using the same tone for all of your verticals. The way you communicate with potential startup clients versus big enterprises should be different.
It's also worth mentioning that your tone can largely depend on the titles you are looking to communicate with.
People tend to be wary of messages that are largely too 'salesly' and don't show enough research done for the end recipient. Look at your sequence and ask yourself if you find any of the sentences too aggressive in their asks or if they assume too much. By striking the right balance between your tone and call to action your email will be more inviting to read and ultimately lead to more responses.
One of the best ways to stand out from your competition is to share a personal story. It helps to build a relationship with your prospects. Personal details are not as interesting if you have to explain them, and you can do this by using your unique position in the company as an anecdote. Let your customer know that you are excited to help them and want to give them a quick tip to help them solve their problem. When you build a relationship with your reader, they will feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts with you. Of course, the main message can't be about you as this will distract the contact from your main objective.
Rather, you should include a personable fact in your sign-off or as a "P.S." message in your email. Don't start your email with a personal fact as your first objective in writing an outbound email is to hook your contact.
As you start writing your sequence, you will need to find a way to stand out and demonstrate why your contacts should be interested in your service or product. This means focusing on the benefits of the offer. What benefits can they get from signing up for your product or service? What is the end goal they are trying to achieve? Focus on something other than the nitty gritty and the 'how' of getting there. This will come once they are a user or customer. Focus on the benefits and you’ll attract interested prospects that are excited to learn more.
Often, I see folks write an entire sequence on how someone can use the product without tying it to an end goal. Remember, your email should never be a product 'how-to' but rather identifying how you can help an existing problem or goal that your contact has.
First, if you’re going to send an outbound email, you need to deliver on your objective. In the first few paragraphs, you’ll need to make a case for yourself. But, don’t overload your recipient. Make sure your copy is relevant to your purpose and ask a short question as a call to action. During your copywriting process think back to the list that you have and find relatable case studies, testimonials, and problems that they all have in common. This will also help with ensuring your contacts don't mark you as spam since you are mapping relatable content for them. Don't be shy to include a blog article that can help them and that is aimed at educating or making the contact problem aware.
Find a balance between selling and educating throughout your sequence. If a contact is not responding to your third email and is opening it's likely because they require a bit more education before committing to a response.
Focus on your one objective. Ensure your emails are highly actionable and don’t overwhelm people with too much information. I usually always have as a guiding star to have one email containing one idea with a maximum of one link.
Introducing too many ideas or links will distract the contact and only add confusion to your message.
The saying 'less is more' is even more applicable when it comes to outbound since you only have a few seconds to prove why your email should be considered.
Writing your first outbound emails can seem daunting. But if you can follow these steps, you’ll get better over time. Most importantly, you’ll get better at building relationships.
If you struggle to generate responses or engagement with your emails spark up a conversion using the chat in the bottom right or by taking a look at how Copyfactory can help your outbound email conversion rate.
