Aja Frost says, “Most of the time, we don’t realize trends are ridiculous until after they’ve faded away. Think: Pet rocks, shag carpet, Jazzercise, to name a few.These six sales email trends, on the other hand, are so atrocious that we’re not just recognizing how horrible they are — we’re calling for their immediate death. They’re worse than ineffective: They piss off prospects and immediately bring down your closing rate.Read on to see which six email techniques you should stow away with your MC Hammer pants.6 Horrible Email Trends That Need to End1) Using a Fake “Re:”According... [...]

Pete Caputa says, “Forty-two percent of salespeople report that prospecting is the part of the sales process they struggle with most. But as a sales professional, consistent prospecting efforts are arguably your most important activity. And these days, email is an essential part of an effective prospecting campaign.The hardest part of email prospecting? Efficiently making the right amount of high-quality attempts to each prospect with the right amount of time in between. The average rep only makes two attempts before giving up, yet the average sale requires eight attempts.It’s no wonder... [...]

Daniel Faggella says, “Building an email list is not an easy task in an e-commerce business. You need to create consistent content that resonates with your target audience. Then, you must actively promote that content to convert your readers into subscribers.But this is just the starting point of email marketing. You need to garner the trust of your prospects if you ever expect them to buy from you.Far too often, marketers employ antiquated email strategies that seldom provide value. Let’s use the fictitious company, “Golf Pro Magazine,” as an example.When someone subscribes to Golf... [...]

Kayla Lewkowicz says, “We spend hours planning out every detail of each campaign, crafting the perfect copy and agonizing over fonts, colors, and spacing. We talk through our personas, target audiences, and messaging. We build emails from scratch or lovingly modify templates so that we’re putting our best foot forward with our email marketing campaigns.With all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into our emails, there’s nothing more heartbreaking than finding out the message never made it to our subscribers. No matter how carefully we plan our campaign strategy, design, and development,... [...]

Rose Leadem says, “Tired of sending out five emails just to get a response from one or two? We’ve all been there, but as frustrating as it can be, the answer to eliciting more email replies is simple. Literally.According to a study conducted by email productivity software provider Boomerang, short and to-the-point emails are far more likely to be opened and responded to. So rather than crafting a lengthy message demonstrating your grammatical savvy, keep things short and sweet. Fifty-three percent of emails written at a third-grade reading level receive replies, compared to just 39 percent... [...]

Scott Paprocki says, “As marketers continue to examine the effectiveness of new channels and devices to incorporate into their marketing mix, your email list remains a key ingredient. Whether being used as a personal identifier across channels or as a tried and true channel for delivering marketing messages, marketers will continue to see benefits from maintaining an email marketing program, even beyond the inbox.Maintenance is essential to keeping that email marketing program moving and hinges on managing the overlap between sender reputation, large inactive email lists and driving return... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “As a marketer, you know how powerful email can be to generating leads and nurturing prospects through your funnel.But have you ever wondered if you’re really getting the most value out of the channel?If you’re not optimizing your emails for your mobile audience, you’re missing out. Over 50% of emails are opened on a mobile device, making it crucial for marketers to master capturing the attention of their mobile readers. If you’re looking to learn more about mobile email optimization best practices, tune into a live Google Hangout with email... [...]

Nash Riggins says, “Ever since its launch in 1983, Microsoft Word has been an integral part of daily office life for millions of workers. It doesn’t matter what sort of business you’re running or what type of industry you’re in — chances are, you’re going to need to use Microsoft Word more than a few times per day.But just because Word is the processor of choice for a vast majority of businesses does not mean the program is absolutely perfect. That’s why Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has opened the floodgates and allowed scores of developers and companies to develop their own plug-ins... [...]

Mike Renahan says, “Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”I’m going to bet he wasn’t talking about sales when he said that famous line, but the sentiment is still applicable to the field. If you’re writing an email that a prospect isn’t going to get any value from, why put the few minutes into writing it?However, it can be difficult to assess whether or not your email provides prospects something of worth. A good test is to look out for a few problematic phrases in your emails that signal a relatively worthless message.... [...]

Ben Davis says, “We’ve had lots of interesting ‘day in the life’ profiles so far. Most of them have looked at ad tech or content and social roles.For this feature, we delve into the world of email and chat to William Astout, deliverability consultant at SmartFocus.Please describe your jobAs an Email Deliverability Consultant at Smartfocus, I am the spammer’s worst nightmare.My job, in fact, is to ensure that our clients get their emails delivered. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to?Our Deliverability... [...]