With the combination of call screening and voicemails, cold calling to support your business is an almost pointless endeavour. Many organizations are relying more on email marketing to bring in new customers and engage with the old ones. But sending emails, especially to those less familiar with your company, runs the risk of having them mistaken for spam and deleted without being opened. So how do you hook your audience and have them participate in sales? Here are some powerful ways to engage and marketing to your target audience.
Short and sweet subject line
Subject lines are the most critical part of catching a reader’s attention. It is the first thing they will see about your email and it is what will make them decide to either click and read more or just delete it. To keep your work from ending up in the trash, make your subject lines short. Emails are statistically more likely to be opened if the subject line has only one or two words; at three, open rates drop sharply and keep going down for each additional word. Subject lines should also be meaningful to the recipient and connect back to your organization so they know what to expect when they open the email.
First sentence front-loading
After the subject line, the next thing your recipients will see if the first part of the first sentence of your email. This can be viewed without even opening the email, so be aware of the space you have. Don’t waste it on platitudes or niceties; instead, front-load your first sentence with information that will mean something to the reader and compel them to open your message. They get more information upfront and you have more of a chance to engage with potential sponsors and clients.
A single call-to-action
Many organizations make the mistake of including multiple calls-to-action in their content in hopes that will increase response rates. Unfortunately, it does the exact opposite, making your organization look desperate and giving readers too many choices. By giving more than one call-to-action, you are forcing your audience to think about how they should respond, rather than just responding. Keep it simple for both company and your customers’ benefit.
Make responding easy
Many sales and marketing emails have overly ambitious calls-to-action, requesting callbacks or a meeting to discuss further opportunities with their business. Don’t ask your readers for a time commitment; just go for the easiest, most flexible response possible. A simple email reply can create a solid start of a conversation and potential engagement with customers. Meetings can be brought up further down the line when your recipients are more open to supporting and interacting with your organization.
