How Emails Can Ruin Your Chance to Get Leads

Earlier this week I received the following email, and because of their confidentiality notice I’m just going to paste the copy:

Subject: Additional Sales Leads

Hi,

Are you currently in need of help in generating leads or appointments for your business? We can help you through our Multichannel Marketing Solutions.

I’d be happy to talk to you and discuss our program. Please let me know the best way for us to connect.

Best,

NAME

Lead Specialist

Phone: ###-###-####

NAME@gmail.com 

It’s not new news that email marketing can bring in leads and new customers. It’s one of the things people use every single day. According to the State of Marketing report by Salesforce, 73% of marketers believe email marketing is core to their business. Emails are a highly effective way to nurture leads into becoming customers. Unless you do them incorrectly.

The example above is a perfect way to do a nurturing email about as incorrectly as possible! And here is why.

1. But I’m on the do not call list.

Having to opt into emails is very important. You don’t want to start spamming random lists you purchase or just emails you gathered. It’s almost the online edition of telemarketing. And we all know how much love telemarketers get.

Instead you should have other ways to get people to opt into your email campaigns. Calls to action on your website and asking through social media are two of the best. This could be an entire separate blog post, so I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty here.

2. Gmail isn’t really legit.

OK, OK, yes it is. But not from a company email? I would’ve been more annoyed if it had come from an AOL or Hotmail account. If you can even still get those email accounts anymore. Am I really supposed to believe she is legit or a legit “company” that offers solutions but doesn’t have an actual company email address?

Having your email come from a real person’s name gives it a higher chance of getting opened. It helps establish that human-to-human connection that people appreciate more than “noreply@mycompany.com.”  No one likes being around robots. So she had that going for her. Having a company email also helps establish legitimacy.

3. Company X?

There isn’t a company name OR website even listed in this email, let alone a direct link to a company website. In 2015, I’m not even going to believe you’re a real company if you don’t have a website. How am I supposed to search you on Google to learn more about you!?

Your email should be branded if possible and clearly state what company you are from. One, having your name or logo present helps with brand awareness. Two, it helps grow trust and establish that connection from the lead to your company. If they have seen your logo before and know you are a source they trust, there’s a higher chance they’ll read what you are trying to tell them. Finally – chances are people are more likely to visit your website to learn more about you before they even think about picking up the phone to call. So drive them to your website where you have more playing space to show them what you are capable of.

4. Why would I go to an overweight trainer?

Would you go to a personal trainer to get in shape if they couldn’t even do one push up? Am I really going to trust they can motivate me to get into shape if they can’t even do it themselves?

So why would I believe this email telling me they can get leads if they seem so bad at doing it for themselves? The only call to action in this email is to email or call her to set up a time to talk. Why? As far as I know you purchased my name from somewhere or are emailing me illegally (because I don’t remember opting into this!). And there aren’t too many things she can track from this email. Why spend the time writing the email if you have nothing to track. She’s going to know if I opened it and if I followed up contacting her. That’s it.

To do this correctly, you should have a nicely branded, well-thought-out email that contains an offer aimed at one of your buyer personas, making sure you have a call to action that makes sense. If you are offering them top-of-the-funnel content, don’t ask them to call you to set up a demo or appointment. They aren’t at that stage yet. You could measure things like, A/B testing the subject line, clicks on your website link, call-to-action clicks, open rate and the unsubscribe rate. All of these will tell you if your email is working or needs work.

Use email. Work to nurture leads into customers. Just make sure you are doing it right! Make a human connection, build trust, offer them something valuable and make sure you are set up to measure everything.

Think you need some more pointers on creating a successful email? This short e-book lays out the important pieces your email should have!