James SpillaneThis is the first of a series of posts that will deliver five of the best email prospecting tactics I’ve come across that will help you significantly improve your prospecting effectiveness.
The first email prospecting tactic on the list:
Crafting Engaging Subject Lines
The subject line of an email is one of the most important pieces of the email. It is the first part that people see when they receive your email, and it is the only part they see sorting through their inbox trying to decide what to open and what to delete.
I recently watched an excellent web clinic that was done by the MECLAB Marketing Experiments research group on optimizing email subject lines. In the clinic they explain that the role of the subject line is not only to grab people’s attention, but to convert that attention into interest in order to get them to keep reading. They continue to explain that a truly engaging subject line is inherently connected to the value proposition, and that by using research about our prospects we can maximize the force of the subject line and value proposition. They also outlined the four criteria of a successful subject line:
- Clarity
- Appeal
- Exclusivity
- Credibility
While the science behind their findings is truly impressive, when it comes to sales prospecting, as opposed to mass email marketing, I believe that there is a lot more art involved. If you are reading this as a sales person or outbound prospector, then your goal is slightly different than that of an email marketer. You are trying to setup a call, not get someone to click on a call to action. You may also already have rapport with many of the people who you are emailing. You know how they will react to certain things, what their tone was like on the last call, and what their attitude is toward you and your company. These are things that are not captured in a database, but that you can leverage to increase your success.
Consider these tips for crafting engaging subject lines:
- Use all lower case letters: Think about a casual email from a friend that you would open — what does the subject line look like? It’s usually all lower-case letters.
- Be brief and to the point: “Do you have 5 minutes?” is a subject line that I have seen work successfully in a number of different companies and selling environments for getting a call back.
- Include their content in the subject line: If your prospect has a blog use the title of one of their recent posts in the subject line. Most people who write blogs don’t have that many readers, and they get really excited when one of them actually reaches out to them directly about their post.
Understanding the concepts laid out in the Marketing Experiments web clinic, and combining them with some of these other tips will help you craft engaging subject lines that will have more people reading and responding to your emails.
Stay tuned for more examples of best email prospecting tactics in my upcoming posts.
photo by: alexander_witt
Sign-up for our Free Weekly Newsletter to get the best new ideas for building technology companies.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
Learn how to publish your content on B2C
Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
Add B2C to your Google News Feed
Hi Ori,
You present some great tips in this article – and I will have to check out that web clinic you mentioned! As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about email marketing and effective subject lines, its always helpful to hear some new input and suggestions. Your 4 criteria are definitely good to keep in mind. Also, I try to present a clear benefit to prospective readers, so that they can tell what the email will provide.
Also, A/B email testing has worked well for us to determine what our prospective customers respond to. It’s not always what you’d expect!
– Jessica at Marketo
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for the comment. I actually wrote a whole five parte series on this topic that you might like: http://blog.openviewpartners.com/the-best-email-prospecting-tactics/
A/B testing is also a great tactic that I encourage my teams to use frequently, and the results can definitely be surprising. However it can sometimes be tough to get a really good sample sending one off prospecting emails, as opposed to mass email marketing where you have a much larger sample to work with.
Best,
-Ori