5 Ways to Email Like a Boss
With an average ROI of 1300% for their diverse list of clients, San Francisco-based email marketing agency CodeCrew knows a thing or five about lighting up an inbox. And, as co-founder Alexander Melone explains, some of the principles of email marketing can also help you level up your personal email game.
Tip 1: Personalisation
Many marketers still stumble across email personalisation issues. Instead of addressing the email to whomever it may concern, take a moment to find the name of the person in the department you’re trying to reach. If that’s not possible, simply starting an email with “Hi there,” is a viable second option.
People love feeling like they matter and taking the extra step of addressing the person by name or adding a friendly greeting helps establish a personal connection, and it makes the reader more likely to give your email their full attention.
You can also include a warm line such as, “Hope you’re well” or ask the recipient how their weekend was (if you’re contacting them on a Monday). It’s a small touch that can have a huge impact.
Tip 2: Subject Lines
CodeCrew spends a lot of time crafting the ideal subject line and continually pores over the latest data to see what works best. While no two customer bases (or colleagues in your address book) are the same, a few basic tenets have proven to be invaluable:
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Keep it short: Think of the subject line as your “elevator pitch”. You want to grab someone’s attention and get them to open the email in no more than five words. Adding the person’s name in the subject line, as discussed above, will also help.
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Be intriguing: Remember, you don’t have to state the email’s purpose in the subject line. All you have to do is get the reader to open the email and engage with it. Use your subject line to entice them and pique their interest. But try to avoid using clickbait, especially in an office setting, when you’re emailing colleagues you have to see at the team meeting every day.
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Framing: This is relevant to all cold emails or business pitches. By framing your subject line in a way that puts the recipient’s needs first, your email will immediately show value. Simply saying something like, “I want to sell you XYZ” is ineffective as it offers nothing to the recipient. Whereas phrasing your solution as, “XYZ could solve your specific problem” shows true value.
Tip 3: A/B Testing
In email marketing, A/B testing is key to getting reliable data on user preferences. CodeCrew continually tests every single aspect of its email strategy and pays close attention to the data.
As a business professional, you can use this same concept to improve your cold emails. Plus, you’ll be able to rely on hard data instead of intuition.
It’s fairly simple: You have two versions of the same email, with only one difference between them - that’s your A/B test. Now you send both and see which one yields better results. Apply this new data when you contact leads in the future, and repeat.
Some basic things you can test:
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Send times: See if recipients respond quicker in the morning or afternoon.
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Subject lines: Have the same text, only add the recipient’s name to one of them. Or try a long vs short subject line test.
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Images: If you’re mentioning a product, include an image of it in one version of your email to see if it makes a difference.
Tip 4: Call-to-Action
Although obvious, many emails don’t specify what’s expected of the recipient. You got their attention with a short, intriguing subject line. Now they’ve read your email and it’s time to direct them to phase 2.
Should they email you back, book a call, or visit your website? Decide what you’d like your recipient to do and make this clear at the end of your email.
If a recipient clicks on a link in your email, it will drive them from the email to that site. Should they decide to purchase, they’ll continue their buying journey from there. This might be a problem if you want the sale to happen through you. So, instead of using a link, describe your product or service in the email and ensure the only link leads to you.
Tip 5: Brevity
Respecting a recipient’s time is not just polite, it’s also good for business. After all, no one wants to read a 600-word email essay. Ensure that your email contains only the info the recipient needs to move to phase 2. You rarely need to spell out the finer details from the get-go, so use your email as an opportunity to pique interest and connect.
This is also true in a work environment - keep your team emails to-the-point and your colleagues are far more likely to read them, rather than just marking them as read.