Desperate email marketeers often resort to technique where a subject line starts with “Re:” for their first email campaign.
Don’t do this!
Not only is this subject line deceptive, it destroys the trust between you and potential customer even before they open the email, here’s why:
Follow up emails play a critical role as it gives your cold emails a chance to make a second impression to pitch your product and score a deal.
There are multiple articles on the web that talk about how subject line is extremely critical and should make a lasting impression. That said, as you compose a follow-up campaign, given below is the thinking framework you can adopt to get opens like a pro!
What is your open rate for current email campaign?
This is the most critical question that we need to answer. An opened email is like a gold mine and should be treated accordingly. If your campaign has had a healthy open rate, anything greater than 20% is healthy, then it means that your messaging is super crisp and should not be changed.
Now that you have cracked the most difficult piece of the puzzle, here are two items to think about:
With a successful first email open, why do you want to start with a completely new subject line?
A new subject line not only resets your “open” rate because you now need to find a catchy and enticing line that works, aka you are starting from step 0.
Re-using the same subject line helps in two key areas:
- Email clients such as GMail, iOS, Outlook, all offer a “threaded” view that is beautifully displayed on desktop and mobile clients. With just a single glance, you are building trust with your customer as they know you are building a relationship and are persistent by sending legit follow-ups.
- You can also use your previous emails as a reference item pointing back to the previous thread, something like, “As mentioned in my earlier email….” and bam!, you have now built trust, cadence, reference and relationship, all by using an out of box, standard “Re: ” approach.
One final tidbit, Don’t send too many follow up emails 🙂 A common mistake people usually make when sending out their follow up email is sending too many of them. If you haven’t had an open or reply in first 3 follow-ups, the potential lead has probably gone cold and its better to move on.
At MagicEmails, we have built our chrome extension from ground up with core focus towards simplicity.
You can create first email campaign within 30 seconds, and see stats laid out clearly, there is also a “follow up” button at bottom right that allows you to:
- create a follow up campaign at push of a button.
- use the friendly compose window interface to compose the email.
- decide your interval (now, 1d, 2d or more)
- choose exit criteria, aka stop sending drips if customer replies or email bounces.
Now, the most interesting part.. When the email first appears in customers inbox, s/he will see it as a new row on GMail desktop..
Summing up, re-using the same subject line is the best way to send a follow up email campaign as it will:
- Build trust between you and potential customer, thereby fostering a life long partnership.
- Increase your email score as ESPs will understand that you are using white-hat cold email techniques.
All this and more is part of MagicEmails, the worlds best Chrome Extension to send emails. We are live on the Chrome Webstore, click here to download it and rate us 5 stars on the WebStore!
-anurag