Emma Brudner says, “You probably didn’t get into sales to show off your wordsmithing skills, but the best salespeople today tend to be solid writers. In addition to using the phone to prospect, reps are relying more and more on email — and getting a response over email requires writing chops.Unfortunately, many salespeople shoot themselves in the foot by making silly mistakes. Commit any of these nine errors, and your chances of getting a reply decrease dramatically.9 Deadly Sales Prospecting Email Errors1) Putting 100% of your focus on the subject line … and none on... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said, “Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”Like a headline for a blog post or news article, the subject line for your email needs to capture people’s attention and convince them to open your message. A subject line can make or break the performance of your email, so it’s important to spend extra time crafting one that’s memorable and effective.Good subject lines get to the point, create a sense of urgency... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “Crafting great content isn’t enough to get your content to go viral. In a world where sharing is social currency, social engagement is more important than ever if you want the world to see your content.And it could be the key to getting more eyes on your emails (more sharing = more website visitors and exposure to your email sign up forms).However, shareability is a skill that requires a lot of strategy and iteration. So we teamed up with our friends at AddThis to talk about social sharing. (After all, they are the experts.)Read on to see what to share,... [...]

John Thies says, “Conversion rates, clicks, and opens are just some of the metrics that email marketers spend ages analyzing and interpreting. Marketers frequently have the right tools to view this type of basic data regarding their campaigns, but they rarely go beyond such preliminary data to see more advanced information.Having the basic data in front of you is one thing, but acting upon the data and creating a new marketing strategy based on upper-level analytics is a step that all successful marketers have to take.To help you create email campaigns that influence your subscribers and... [...]

Tim Brown says, “You probably spend a lot of time pursuing leads in search of potential customers. When you’ve identified someone promising, you want to nurture that lead carefully. This means crafting a conversion funnel to slowly guide them towards a purchase, and emails are an excellent way to connect with an audience.Think of it this way:If someone signs up to receive emails directly from your brand, they’re at least somewhat interested in the products or services you provide.If someone opens an email you’ve sent, they’re probably at least considering a purchase.If someone... [...]

Emma Brudner says, “Even if you have a steady stream of inbound sales leads surging into the pipeline, odds are, you’ll have to supplement your funnel from time to time with outbound prospecting. And that’s totally fine … if you go about it in the right way, that is.Sales emails, when written well and sent to the right people, can be incredibly effective tools to generate new customers. But when they’re written poorly and devoid of value, nothing prompts recipients to flag a message as spam faster.Sending valuable, customized, personalized sales emails is a legitimate... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Econsultancy has published a new report titled The Fundamentals of Email Marketing.Subscribers can download the report in full. Here, I have picked out just a few slivers of wisdom.Some of these points are marketing 101, but with so much new technology on the market, practitioners must keep the fundamentals in mind.1. SMART objectives and a contact strategyIt’s worth going right back to the basics of setting SMART objectives. Email is often the get-out-of-jail-free tactic that marketers use when they’re in need of uplift in sales or conversions.But, as the... [...]

Aja Frost says, “Prospects are busier than ever. It’s hard enough getting them to open your emails. Getting them to read and then reply usually requires a combination of skill, good timing, and dumb luck. Once salespeople send an email, how prospects respond is out of their hands.One thing that’s definitely under reps’ control? The contents of their email.An entertaining, memorable message can dramatically increase response rates. The following six templates correspond with six common situations and are designed to stand out from the typical sales emails filling up buyers’ inboxes.How... [...]

Polly Allof says, “When done correctly, surveys (and polls) provide a way to quantify user opinion. Mobile app surveys can be used to gauge user satisfaction, get feedback on new functionality, understand why a feature isn’t being used, or simply to collect feedback quickly.Conduct surveys the right way comes down to aligning with these five best practices:1. Segmenting the audienceTo generate results that are useful and valuable, segment the users to survey. For example, if your survey is about feedback on a new feature, survey, only the users who use the new feature and initiate... [...]

Liz Willits says, “Sometimes, less is more. And when it comes to your email marketing strategy, this can absolutely be true.While some audiences love to receive a long, descriptive email, others may quickly become bored or overwhelmed by messages that contain a mountain of text.For these subscribers, a short, snappy, attention-grabbing email is both more engaging and more effective. And as you deliver content your audience wants, it can also mean higher open and click-through rates for you in the long run.If you’ve tried long-form emails and aren’t seeing results, it may be time... [...]