You wake up in the morning and check your email on your phone, tablet, or laptop. You get to work and you check your work email. You delete some emails, save some for reading later, and reply to others right away. But what makes you stop and read some emails versus saving them and forgetting to come back to them until a week later? There are a few things you can do to help your emails get noticed by prospects.
The people you are trying to connect with receive a lot of prospecting emails, and a few of those emails definitely compete with what you are trying to discuss. Everyone has reasons why their product is the best or why their service deserves your attention, but it is not always the content of the email that catches prospects' attention, although content is important. I would say the most important tips to remember are keeping your emails short and creating relevant subject lines.
I believe you need to keep prospecting emails short no matter what. If a prospect responds to you with questions or shows interest in speaking with you, then go ahead and attach some information and go into more detail if need be. But for a cold email or an introductory email, you need to be aware of length. Your email should be short enough to be read on the screen of a smartphone. Since most people have access to their email on their mobile device, remember that if they receive an email that they find too long, they will either delete it (thinking it is spam) or “save it for later,” meaning they will likely forget about it.
Creating a strong subject line is also important. It should not sound “salesy,” and be comprised of a quick one-liner regarding your product or service. This is an easy way to introduce a prospect to your organization. In the first line of your message, try to reference a whitepaper or an event that the prospect may have attended. If you are sending a cold email, keep the introduction simple and to the point. If you have left them a voicemail earlier, mention the voicemail in the email to show that you are putting in the effort to follow up. Introduce yourself and ask if they would be the appropriate person within their organization to discuss your product or service.
I like to keep the signature of my emails consistent in order to help prospects remember me. I include my full name, position, office line (cell phone if you want to) and company website. This information is helpful for the prospect to have handy in case they have a few minutes to check out your company website or look you up on LinkedIn. If you choose, it may be helpful to include a brief company description or something along the lines of a mission statement below your signature. This is another way to add information into your email without making the body of the email too long.
Along with a short and organized email format, persistence is also necessary when trying to gain qualified leads. You can send short emails hoping that prospects read the content, but you also need to check in with them by phone every few days to ensure a response given due to their busy schedules.
What other tips do you have for creating prospecting emails?
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