Really Need Some Advice

by yixar
29 replies
I started email marketing for my offline business about 4 days ago. I have been sending out 50 to 100 emails per day and have yet to receive any replies.

I think the subject isn't catchy enough to prompt a reaction to open the email. So just wanted some ideas on what you think I could write.

My current subject is around the lines of "Complimentary website for 'company name'.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
#advice #email marketing #emails #offline marketing
  • Profile picture of the author DesertSand
    Its probably going into a spam folder.
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    • Profile picture of the author yixar
      Originally Posted by DesertSand View Post

      Its probably going into a spam folder.
      I've considered this but I thought since the email was not coming from a free email provider, that might change things. Have any suggestions if it is indeed going to a span folder?
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  • Profile picture of the author yixar
    I'm sending emails to 50 to 100 different individuals. I'm not sending to a list. I'm trying to get some clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author Auzan
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      This gets phone calls, even from a national
      brand, as my client says.

      Yes on the first cold email!

      First enter into their internal conversation
      right at the very point he spots your message.

      Then hit him with clear undeniable proof
      of somebody else has got what they want.

      Tell of the costs of not taking action.

      Ask for the phone call.

      Give all your contact details and who you are.

      There are few subtle pieces to mix in
      as well as to match what you offer.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    You're not getting a response because of a few possible reasons:

    1) Spam - good answer, DC!
    2) You have not sent the emails to a targeted list (for your niche)
    - are they interested already?
    - do they have a website?
    - where did you get this list and what were your paremeters?
    3) They don't need your services
    4) The emails are old/closed

    Suggestions:
    1) Get a list with phone numbers and call it and ONLY go for email addresses of INTERESTED, qualified (to your ideal client), people. You can always try to set up the CB/appt there by doing the "great, I'll send this out tonight, will you be in on Thursday to go over a few key points?" If they are a no go, or an email only, there's a good shot they aren't interested, but still send it and follow up.
    2) Send them the email you told them you would
    3) Call them back in a few days to make sure they got it and discuss it

    Doing this guarantees that the emails you send are solicited and they have a much higher probability of being read and/or turned into a sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Quick question: are you tracking opens and click throughs (if applicable) on these emails?
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    You also need to spell Complementary correctly. I know if I get mail and it has numerous spelling errors I am more likely to delete it.
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    I stand corrected...and it is rare that I am wrong about spelling but thank you for that.
    I guess we are all human.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    I used to send a lot of emails looking for business. I learned that your webhost can and will ban you if you're using your domain email to send that many unsolicited emails. If you go with a service like gmail and you get too many bounces, non-replies, you could also have your account deleted. On top of all that, sending that many means that they really aren't personalized, so you really are wasting your time.

    I got quite good at them, testing various subjects and email copy by sending many hundreds per week. I got a lot of responses, but only a few clients, and for the amount of time I put in, it wasn't worth it.

    I started to get much better results when I sent out 5-10 personalized emails per day. I got really targeted with my message, going after those doing PPC, and it started to work well.

    I would also suggest going after ONE piece of business you know well, whether it's site redesign, email marketing setup, etc. Pick one thing and go for it to earn trust before putting yourself forward as a jack of all trades.

    I would also suggest you consider how you're presenting yourself - as a "company" or as a "person." I started by going after one vertical and making sure your my website reflected my expertise in that industry, but then started to do much better just presenting myself as a person with some skills. All website copy was written very personally, no professional rhetoric... I got a lot of compliments on that website and closed some nice business with it.

    Also... get a portfolio put together on your site. Make it easy to find and browse. Your week would be much better spent developing your first portfolio (even if it's only example sites) than sending out cold emails and directing people to a site that doesn't reflect the skills you have.

    I hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author danilion55
    may be your mails are going in their spam box
    first create a yahoo or google group add your email list their then send them emails this way emails will directly go in their inbox
    and try to make your email colorful and use catchy title like must read
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  • Profile picture of the author lukevdp
    Business owners get tons of emails like this and just ignore them. If you want to get your emails read, you need to be different.

    Instead of talking about "Complementary Website for [name]", make your subject line address a pain point for the business you are going after. Something like "[name], some ideas on how you can improve your website to get more leads"
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  • Profile picture of the author karenloye
    Email sounds so painless -- and that's why everyone turns to if first. Including me. However, due to poor response when email prospecting, I ditched emails for personalized postcards. MUCH better response. Yes, there's a cost involved, and more time invested for sure. However, the response is so much better that in the long-run, it provides a very solid return on investment.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      I personally know and have worked with a guy who now gets
      a meeting with decision makers 90% of the time
      with cold emails.

      These have lead to $11 million in closed sales.

      After refining them, this is the winning subject line...

      appropriate person

      Just because people get bad response rates,
      doesn't mean others don't get outstanding results.

      Like I said earlier, my client got a phone caller from the owner
      of a national chain from a cold email I wrote.

      Best,
      Ewen
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      • Profile picture of the author yixar
        Thanks to everyone for their input and suggestions. I'm going back to revise my approach with the suggestions I've gathered. I'll make an update on my results later on.
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      • Profile picture of the author iain1066
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        After refining them, this is the winning subject line...

        appropriate person
        I read an article written by the 90% open rate person (could have sworn it was a woman though) and while that line will certainly get opens it violates the Can-Spam act and could lead to penalties of up to $16,000 per email.
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Can you post a link to that section in the Act?

          Emails landing in the hands of Proctor and Gamble,
          Home Depot, MacDonalds, Burger King, Western Union, Bank Of America
          and at MTV...

          Would think they would know the law and report
          the sender if they didn't like the email.

          Best,
          Ewen


          Originally Posted by iain1066 View Post

          I read an article written by the 90% open rate person (could have sworn it was a woman though) and while that line will certainly get opens it violates the Can-Spam act and could lead to penalties of up to $16,000 per email.
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          • Profile picture of the author iain1066
            CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business | BCP Business Center

            Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.

            I checked, it was a guy that wrote who sells email training, and he doesn't claim a 90% open rate, but a 90% appointment rate!!!

            You would think a guy that amazing would have more press about him, and more than 168 fans on his Facebook page.:rolleyes:

            You could make an argument that the subject line isn't really that deceptive, but with a $16K potential penalty per email I wouldn't take the chance. Especially based on the word of an online guru.
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            • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
              Ian, let's break this down.

              If you go back to my post, unedited,
              I said meetings, not open rates.

              Next, he asks who the appropriate person
              is in the subject matter, therefore the subject line matches the body.

              Best,
              Ewen




              Originally Posted by iain1066 View Post

              CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business | BCP Business Center

              Don't use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.

              I checked, it was a guy that wrote it (Bryan Kreuzberger) who sells email training, and he doesn't claim a 90% open rate, but a 90% appointment rate!!!

              You would think a guy that amazing would have more press about him, and more than 168 fans on his Facebook page.:rolleyes:

              You could make an argument that the subject line isn't really that deceptive, but with a $16K potential penalty per email I wouldn't take the chance. Especially based on the word of an online guru.
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              • Profile picture of the author iain1066
                A 90% appointment rate from unsolicited email. I have seen some pretty outrageous claims, but that takes the cake.

                Good luck with the FCC arguing that the subject line isn't deceptive.

                When confronted with situations like this I always take the skeptical approach. If there really was a magic subject line that got a meeting 90% of the time, why have I never once seen it in the pages of spam I get every day?
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                • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
                  IaIn, I don't fall for your beta trap.
                  You're a non believer. Why should we waste time on Kabuki?

                  Best,
                  Ewen

                  Originally Posted by iain1066 View Post

                  A 90% appointment rate from unsolicited email. I have seen some pretty outrageous claims, but that takes the cake.

                  Good luck with the FCC arguing that the subject line isn't deceptive.

                  When confronted with situations like this I always take the skeptical approach. If there really was a magic subject line that got a meeting 90% of the time, why have I never once seen it in the pages of spam I get every day?
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  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    Originally Posted by yixar View Post

    I started email marketing for my offline business about 4 days ago. I have been sending out 50 to 100 emails per day and have yet to receive any replies.

    I think the subject isn't catchy enough to prompt a reaction to open the email. So just wanted some ideas on what you think I could write.

    My current subject is around the lines of "Complimentary website for 'company name'.

    Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
    Hi,

    Are you making sure that the businesses you're sending the emails to actually could do with a new website?

    How is your email campaign structured? Is it niche-specific or do you have different structured email content per target market/niche?

    For instance, 'speaking' to the attorney would be a different approach to speaking (communicating) with a dentist or chiropractor. If you use the same language for all your campaigns I'm pretty confident that it might be one of the key problems you need to overcome.

    BAYO
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Hi Rahel,

    Nice looking website; however, the content does not make me want to get a website from you because it does not establish your credibility and Uniqueness.

    These are some questions your site shoud answer for a prospect:
    1) Did you decide to be a web developer yesterday, or do your have training and experience?
    2) Why should I hire you over all of the other web dev people? What makes you and your firm the best? What makes you different? How will your service benefit my business?

    --------------------------

    Sell via networking and face to face. If you need a portfolio, do a complimentary or reduced rate website for a local charity or small town (a lot of the other businesses in that town become prospects as do those involved with the charity). Make money on the rest at a competitive rate for the market and your experience.

    ----------------------------------
    Study prospect's websites which could use improvement and are in markets where they need a good web presence and it looks like they have and will spend money on web design, dev, and marketing.

    CALL them with a simple call. This Rahel with ... and I have studied your website (or web presence...) and noticed some things which will help you get more business from the internet (web design, google places, FB ...). And I was wondering if I could email a report (or video) with my ideas to you and then maybe we could meet and talk more.

    IF yes, promptly create said report or video and email it to them and ask for the meeting....

    Dan




    Who
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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  • Profile picture of the author hayfj2
    If they don't know you, like you or trust you, why would they open your emails?

    Maybe consider a bit of targetting on Linkedin.

    Join say 10 niche related groups on Linkedin with reasonably high memberships

    Start a post with a leading, qualifying question in the headline/subectline, and link out to your website.

    Monitor the Click thru rate

    Your post will be included in the group mailing that goes out to all members listing activity in the group for that day so the more interesting you can make your headline
    the more chance, you'll get a response. Bare in mind if you are a member of say 10 groups with an average 50,000 members in each group, then thats 500,000 inboxes your message is going to and they've opted in to receive it, as well them visiting each of the groups to read it

    Hope that makes sense.
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by iain1066 View Post

      A 90% appointment rate from unsolicited email. I have seen some pretty outrageous claims, but that takes the cake.

      Good luck with the FCC arguing that the subject line isn't deceptive.

      When confronted with situations like this I always take the skeptical approach. If there really was a magic subject line that got a meeting 90% of the time, why have I never once seen it in the pages of spam I get every day?
      And you're right... we all know people who have said this and that, but show me proof. Most will never even have 90% deliverability and most will never even have a 20% open rate. How can you get 90% meetings, when only 15-20% even read it?

      I do a bit of email marketing and it works... however, it doesn't work when you're expecting unrealistic results. I would challenge anyone to disprove what I said, even the best copy in the world isn't going to increase the deliverability of the email...

      The fact is, email marketing is more about staying in the face of your prospect and working the list. For finding clients... if you have a list of 10,000 you will end up with a sale each time you send, but that is only until you end up blacklisted. Email marketing is better when used in a combination of methods, not exactly by itself.
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  • Profile picture of the author brik2500
    I would say your leads aren't targeted enough, if you find more focused leads, for example, Craigslist or Linked In, you'll find that your response rate will be higher.
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  • Profile picture of the author sucipto
    all have givn you a good suggestion!! never retreat and keep going !! wish you luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author igl0w
    Test if you are inboxing at all
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