Email Marketing/Sales Sequence Strategy

I’ve been in sales and in the startup world for about 2 years now, and the writing and testing of email campaigns to produce leads has become second nature. In this project, I’ve documented my strategy on how to write a killer email sequence:

Purpose of Analysis: To gain an understanding of the thought processes behind an email sequence.

Purpose of Email Sequence within my company: To schedule meetings with potential clients to be conducted by my sales manager.

The sequence I use now using these thought processes was sent to over 1,200 recipients and achieved the following stats:

Open Rate – 56% (avg about 50% on our team)

Reply Rate – 28% (avg about 15% on our team)

Meeting Rate – (roughly) 5%-10% of sequences result in a meeting

Step 1 – The Subject Line

I use subject lines that I’ve seen success using in the past – subject lines that suggest a time to meet or are simple, yet not unrelated, to the content.

Using all lower case also seems to increase open rates because it appears less automated. You could use one suggesting a meeting next week, which is relevant to the CTA (schedule a meeting), and it poses a sense of urgency (namely, that you’d like to schedule a meeting for next week).

Or, you could try a vague, yet specific, subject line that suggests that you have a quick inquiry for them, which they are probably going to be inclined to open because it seems personable.

It’s important to note that while your subject line should entice people to click on your emails, you should never mislead people by creating a subject line that has nothing to do with the content of your email.

Step 2 – The First Email

The first line should be designed to (hopefully) catch the recipient’s eye and not have them dismiss it right away as a “sales email.” Some people have their email inboxes set up to view snippets of the first few lines of the email’s content, so you want the first line to be something other than pitching your company’s product or service.

The second section should first establish who you are and why you are emailing them. If you start off with what your company does and the services you provide, the CTA gets lost at the end of the email and they might not decide to read that far.

Next, you should create a sense of urgency by letting the recipient know that you’re going to be in their area next week (or that you will be available next week for a virtual call). People don’t like losing out on opportunities and may be more open to making something work because you’re going to be nearby/available at that time.

The third section should tell them who you are in some detail, but not too much detail. Including too much information in the description section reduces the need for a meeting, and I would rather have qualified prospects meet with a sales manager than just request info via email.

Lastly, you should restate the CTA and close with your question – “Can you meet with us?”, or “Do you have time for a call on Thursday?”

Step 3 – The Follow Up Emails

Email #2:

The second email can be structured mainly to remind them of your first email. I would say I get most of my meetings after this step gets sent.

It gets the recipient to read the first email if they previously dismissed it, or reminds them to respond if they did in fact read it the first time.

Email #3:

This time, back off trying to push for a meeting and ask them if you can give them a phone call to discuss your product/service further.

Also, you may want to offer them a little more information that will hopefully get them interested in what your service has to offer, so list a few popular bullet points that most people like to know about your company.

Email #4:

I usually make my 4th email incredibly short and simple…I use it to seem more personable by gently asking them if they’ve been able to read my other emails.

They don’t know you’re able to track opens and clicks, so this looks a lot like “hey, I wanted to make sure my emails were actually getting to you…can you let me know?” Also, even if they have briefly reviewed the email, you don’t know what their thoughts were (since they haven’t replied), and you want to generate a response.

Step 4 – The Break-Up Email

There are many variations of this email template…sometimes, I simply ask for feedback (“what would we need to offer to be valuable to you?”), and sometimes I send a template asking when would be the best time to reach out.

I will usually get one of two answers:

They aren’t interested or the services I provide aren’t relevant and they ask me not to bother following up.
They apologize for taking so long to reply and either tell me when to follow up or book a meeting. They realize that I’m pulling the offer away, and they don’t want to lose it.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, my sequences are structured to pique just enough interest to schedule a demo meeting so we can be as effective as possible in our sales process and push business through our funnel efficiently and productively.

For this particular sequence, I try to be as personable and real as possible, and stray away from marketing lingo and listing stats in every email. I want to stay focused on the goal of meeting and not cluttering my CTA with more and more information in every step.

My current email sequence has come from a few past trial and error attempts and some A/B testing. Here are some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past that I have had to learn from:

Giving too much information too early – If I give away too much info, people tend to see the suggestion of a meeting as unnecessary and will dismiss it. I want them to meet with us because they have a much greater chance of using our service if they meet with us face to face.

Not having a clear CTA – In order to reduce confusion, I must have a clear ask in my email and it can’t be hidden by a bunch of marketing fluff. Keep it to the point and be precise.

Being too lengthy and/or redundant – It is in my best interest to keep my emails short and convey my message in as few words as possible. It’s beneficial to resist putting every single value prop into my email – save the majority for later and highlight only the top one or two.

Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash