How Effective Are Your Email Templates When Prospecting?
Posted by
Jill Ryan on Wed, Jun 08, 2024 @ 03:13 PM
“Wow….Did I really write that?” -A Common question we ask ourselves in editing email templates. As a BDR, I used to come into work...Starbucks in hard, crank open my outlook and pray for a couple of activities to kick the day off. More often then not, I was left with bounce backs and spam. So there I was left thinking...“Man that stinks, after all of those emails yesterday not one person felt like answering me. Fail.”
This is not a trend to chalk up as a loss or get used to. When I listen in on calls as a Manager with the BDRs on my team, one of the first questions I ask them is “How is your email connect rate?” The typical answer is: “Um...could be better? Not sure, I haven’t looked at the emails in a while...” So, how do we solve this mystery? Simply rereading and rewriting!
When BDRs, Directors and Managers of Client Operations work together through the ramp up week on a new project, part of the learning process is developing messaging and email templates. Emails are drafted from the product education component of the weeks discussion on messaging and demo. Although extremely helpful, these emails don’t have the questions and concerns prospects are expressing. This comes from time and dials. It is our job to revisit the emails and highlight the issues and needs of the space we are calling into.
So, some important things to remember when evaluating your own email templates:
If the response rate is low, take a tally of how many replies you are getting daily. Make note of which email subject lines yield the most feedback.
-Look at each email and highlight the pains you are learning through prospecting. If they are common trends, odds are your prospects have them as well.
-Avoid sales/offer terms in the subject lines, as your emails may be finding their way to spam.
-Follow a plan. The topics you are addressing in your voicemails should flow into the email. i.e: If you leave voicemail one, then the prospect receives email one, with a subject line along the lines of: Voicemail Follow up, Jill with XYZ, a few minutes later. This flow of communication gives them the opportunity to listen to your voicemail and recognize your follow up.
-Express polite persistence and subject your emails in the order you intend to follow up in. Some examples below:
1. Voicemail Follow up, Joe from XYZ
2. Interested to connect, Joe with XYZ
3. Feedback Request, Joe with XYZ
4. Brief conversation with Joe from XYZ
5. Referral help?, Joe with XYZ
There are a million different thoughts written on the best subject lines for emails, I don’t position myself as an expert. I took my own advice, kept the weekly tally of inbound emails and stuck with what worked.
Ask yourself how many warm inbound emails you are getting each morning? If it's a low number, you might want to take a look and revamp those email templates.