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Why Your Prospecting Emails Should Be Short

Why Your Prospecting Emails Should Be Short

Are you wondering how the digital age has affected email marketing? Well, we’re glad you are! As shown in HubSpot’s latest State of Inbound report, about 40% of salespersons claim that it is now more difficult to receive a response from prospects compared to two to three years ago. Crafting prospecting emails correctly is essential.

Now more than ever, people want to consume information faster. Not to mention, consumers only want to receive content that they care about. Hence, it’s better if you ditch those long-winded messages for brief yet relevant emails.

If you want to connect with prospects, now’s the time to get rid of the old approach and embrace a more productive one.

In this guide, you will learn why you ought to keep the word count low and how you can trim away all the content that doesn’t have anything to do with your purpose.

Why Prospecting Emails Should Be Short

  1. Mobile-Friendly

Mobile technology is changing the way we do business. As you probably already know, more and more consumers are using handheld devices to get to know brands and to look up products or services they want to purchase.

By keeping emails short, you ensure that consumers can read them well on their smartphones or tablets when they are on the go. That means your prospects are more likely to carry out the action you expect them to take.

A study conducted by Boomerang shows that the ideal length for your prospecting emails is between 50 and 120 words. Messages this long produced response rates above 50%, which was the highest in the group.

  1. Matches Executives’ Tones

If executives and decision-makers are part of your target audience, then you will find these short emails even more useful. For the same reason that they don’t send lengthy email paragraphs, you shouldn’t send them multiple paragraphs’ worth of content. They just don’t have the time to read them.

In a way, sending a brief email counts as a personalized approach. It’s your way of showing them that you understand what they do and that you respect their time. Sure, they might not want to connect right way. But the more you can engage with them at their level, the more likely you are to gain their trust.

  1. Personalization

As you’re reaching out to potential clients, other platforms are probably doing the same. If you all send the same template to the same consumers, they will notice. They will find it generic, and most likely, they won’t further engage.

Note that consumers are generally suspicious about any content they receive, even if you really did make the templates and you have no ill intentions. But if your prospecting emails are short and straight to the point, that will dispel their suspicions. They might even think you came up with the message just a few moments before you hit send.

A two-sentence email appears more personalized even when you’ve actually sent that exact message to a bunch of people who are at the same stage of the buyer’s journey.

  1. Encourages Action

Unlike lengthy content that often comes with multiple requests that tend to confuse prospects, a short email will have one clear message. Consumers won’t have to skim through paragraphs to make sure they did everything that you asked. It will motivate them to respond right away.

As a result, a short message should increase your chances of moving readers further down the sales funnel.

How to Make Your Prospecting Emails Short

In case you’re having a hard time making your emails short, try writing them down on your phone. This way, you can see it from your prospects’ perspective. Below you will find several other tips you can use to keep your message brief.

  • Remove all indirect phrases

Delete unnecessary phrases that just make your content long and chunky. For example, you can drop “just checking in” as the act of emailing someone already implies that you are checking in on them.

Another phrase you can cut out is “I wanted to follow up on.” Prospects likely already have a clear idea of what you might be following up on, so there’s no need to state the obvious. And even if they don’t, it’s best if you don’t inform them that your first attempt to reach them wasn’t a success.

  • Avoid questions that don’t have anything to do with your main purpose

You might be using questions in an attempt to convey friendliness or to establish trust. But if none of them affect the outcome of this campaign, then don’t bother asking them. An example would be, “How are you enjoying Friday night?”

Another question that you can do without is, “Did you get a chance to read . . . ?” If their answer doesn’t have anything to do with the purpose of the email, then drop it. Don’t sacrifice your word count to sound friendlier. In this case, getting straight to the point might be more helpful for your endeavor.

Questions like “Have you seen the latest update we released?” also have no place in prospecting emails. If their answer is yes, they’ll think they already know the content. And if it’s no, then they’ll think the email isn’t relevant.

  • Eliminate wordiness

Wordiness can often diminish the coherency of your writing. Plus, it will take prospects longer to finish reading the email.

Instead of using “in terms of,” you can use “in” or “for.” You can change “with the exception of” to “except.” And you can use “first” instead of “first and foremost.”

Takeaway

In the digital era, well-constructed and compelling chunks of text won’t matter if prospects won’t even bother to read it. But you can always woo prospects with only a few sentences. Since everyone’s too busy scrolling through their feed, it only takes a few seconds for prospects to decide if they want to read your email or not.

Make it easier for your readers to consume your emails. Keep the content as short as possible, and you should keep seeing more prospects move down the sales funnel.

 

Daniel Ross
Author Bio: Daniel is part of the marketing team at roubler.com/sg— a scheduling and payroll software platform founded in Australia. Their mission is to change the way the world manages its workforces.