Sometimes, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. In many situations, email is the channel you use to introduce yourself, your business, or your offer. Read on to see how to create a winning first email message that captivates your audience’s attention and helps you grow your business!
If you start your message by saying “Dear Valued Customer, here are our fantastic products”, you will lose your prospect in under a second. Such an opening line is just terrible and will not get you anything. So, what should you do instead?
Create a great subject line
The subject line can make or break your message. It has to be to the point and focused on your recipient’s needs and interests. Talking about how great your products are is the biggest mistake you can make.
Instead, you should focus on things that are important to your audience. You can ask some valid questions, such as “Do you use all lead sources in your business?”. You can also go with numbers and try something that will grab your reader’s attention: “9 out of 10 business owners make this mistake”.
The subject line has only one purpose: To intrigue the recipient so that they are inclined to open the message. You can do so by asking the right questions or by showing an interesting number or fact.
Show that you know your recipient
First things first, never start with a generic opening line, such as “Dear Customer”, or “To Whom It May Concern”. Such introductions almost never work. Go with a personalized and more casual greeting, such as “Hello, Mark”.
Such an introduction is warmer and friendlier, and it shows that you know your recipient. That’s how you want to start if you want your recipient to keep reading.
Talk about your recipient
The entire message, whether it’s an email or a text message, should be about your recipient’s business and their interests. Don’t talk about your offer and how great it is. Talk about what your prospect needs to succeed.
The most effective opening messages focus on two things that are incredibly important to most business owners:
- How to get more clients (also, how to make your sales and marketing more effective)
- How to save time
If you can revolve your message around one or both themes, you’re on the right track!
Numbers, numbers, numbers
Yes, we told you earlier that you shouldn’t talk about your offer. But once you get your client intrigued, you need to provide them with some specifics, right? Here, success stories and case studies work great. But there is one condition – they have to be specific, which means you must include real-life numbers in those case studies.
General success stories, such as “we helped one client grow business in the last year”, don’t say anything. They are not intriguing; they are not effective. Try something along the lines of “We helped our client increase conversion rates by 5% in less than 6 months by implementing our service. As a result, they now have 20 more clients!”.
Such a message is more specific and gets your prospect to think “I want that, too!”. And what if you cannot show any numbers or specifics? Then, we have bad news. It will be extremely difficult for you to grab a cold prospect’s attention.
First, start by getting at least one good success story you can share, and then return to this guide. Generic and empty emails and promises don’t work anymore, and 99% of prospects will simply delete your message without giving it a second thought.
Be brief
An opening message should be brief. Don’t go beyond four or five sentences. The vast majority of people will not want to read a long email, even if it checks all the right boxes. Shorten your message so that it’s full of specifics and though-provoking questions. You can talk more about your offer and company once someone responds asking for more questions.
Remember this golden rule: The first message is 100% about your recipient and their needs.
Offer something for free
Of course, you want to sell, but you cannot be aggressive about it. This way, you will only scare your prospects away. You need something that’s easy from your prospect’s perspective, something that doesn’t require commitment.
Typically, freebies work really well. You can offer a free guide or a checklist that’s tailored to your prospect’s business. Many companies also offer a free initial consultation. It’s a great idea because it works in almost any B2B business (and some B2C as well).
You can encourage your prospect to jump on a quick 15-minute call with you (include the link to your calendar in your email). There’s no long-term commitment and no costs. If a potential client is seriously considering working with someone like you, they will be inclined to book such a session with you.
Wrapping up
Stick to these suggestions and you will see an increase in effectiveness of your opening message. Keep in mind to talk about the prospect, intrigue them, and provide them with something useful that’s available for free. A free initial consultation/strategy session is usually a great idea.
At this point, all you need to do is simply automate your email marketing strategy so that you don’t need to send those emails manually. And this is where iPresso steps in! Take a look at our email marketing offer. Email marketing is one of our core offerings, but we work with other marketing channels as well!
If you’d like to find out more, send us this short brief. We will reach out to you, schedule a free demo of our marketing automation platform, and prepare an offer that’s tailored to your business.
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