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5 Rules to Effective Breakup Emails - Lift Enablement
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Sep 27, 2018 1:00:00 PM “Wait too long, and the prospect could easily forget about things or have their attention diverted to some new issue.” In putting together this post, I grabbed my email analytics and here’s how the breakup email performs in our prospecting cadence efforts (in a universe of 2,500 emails where breakup email account for just over 10% of the emails): 3x the click rate 5x the response rate For our active sales efforts (unfortunately the data set is too low and not every email is tracked so I can’t give comparison number) ,we get a 70-85 percent response rate on our breakup emails. Yet, despite this, breakup emails have a bad name, as my friend and podcast cohost Mike Donnelly shared in a Twitter exchange that prompted this post. To acknowledge Mike’s point, there are a lot of bad breakup emails that are used, but that’s because of the execution, not the tool. I promised Mike and others that I would share the rules we use to create effective breakup emails. The 5 Rules For Effective Breakup Emails 1. Have Good Conversations & Write Meaningful Emails In the First Place If you have a short attention span, this is the one rule you must remember - and, candidly, the primary reason that so many breakup emails suck. Before you can have a good breakup email, the emails you send before the breakup email must be good, valuable emails. So must your conversations and voice mails. If you’re sending out shitty emails, your breakup emails are going to be shitty - no matter what rules you follow. We spend an inordinate amount of time crafting our outbound and follow-up emails. There’s no cheating. 2. Be Genuine There’s one email--lovingly referred to as the "alligator email"--that is blamed for the “fall of the breakup email.” (Nobody explains why it’s so hated as well as my friend John Barrows; you can read his thoughts on it here). I’m willing to admit two things: I’ve used it. Today I hate it as much as anyone else. The reason everybody hates it is that so many salespeople used it. And the reason that so many people used it was because it worked…extraordinarily well.
In putting together this post, I grabbed my email analytics and here’s how the breakup email performs in our prospecting cadence efforts (in a universe of 2,500 emails where breakup email account for just over 10% of the emails): 3x the click rate 5x the response rate For our active sales efforts (unfortunately the data set is too low and not every email is tracked so I can’t give comparison number) ,we get a 70-85 percent response rate on our breakup emails. Yet, despite this, breakup emails have a bad name, as my friend and podcast cohost Mike Donnelly shared in a Twitter exchange that prompted this post. To acknowledge Mike’s point, there are a lot of bad breakup emails that are used, but that’s because of the execution, not the tool. I promised Mike and others that I would share the rules we use to create effective breakup emails. The 5 Rules For Effective Breakup Emails 1. Have Good Conversations & Write Meaningful Emails In the First Place If you have a short attention span, this is the one rule you must remember - and, candidly, the primary reason that so many breakup emails suck. Before you can have a good breakup email, the emails you send before the breakup email must be good, valuable emails. So must your conversations and voice mails. If you’re sending out shitty emails, your breakup emails are going to be shitty - no matter what rules you follow. We spend an inordinate amount of time crafting our outbound and follow-up emails. There’s no cheating. 2. Be Genuine There’s one email--lovingly referred to as the "alligator email"--that is blamed for the “fall of the breakup email.” (Nobody explains why it’s so hated as well as my friend John Barrows; you can read his thoughts on it here). I’m willing to admit two things: I’ve used it. Today I hate it as much as anyone else. The reason everybody hates it is that so many salespeople used it. And the reason that so many people used it was because it worked…extraordinarily well. “A prospect is not going to respond to your email because you want or need them to. They’re only going to respond because they feel it’s important.” A strong breakup email highlights the consequences (positive and/or negative) for responding/failing to respond. Be clear, and be personal. 5. Give An Easy Exit The last rule is to make it easy for them to say they want out. I shared earlier that we get a tremendous response to our breakups, but by no means are they all responses that the prospect wants to go ahead. Generally speaking, here is how the responses break down: About 55% (okay, you got me, this isn’t the actual rate; the truth is I don’t have that data accessible; my point is that it’s more than half) respond that timing is bad and they provide guidance to a better time to re-engage. About 30% re-engage in conversation by apologizing and saying they didn’t realize so much time had passed. Just under 20% tell us they’re not interested. We get these responses because we make it clear that it’s okay to say “no” and we make it easy. No, I’m Not Going to Give You A Sample (That’s The Problem) Now many of you may be thinking to yourself, “Doug, this sounds good. It makes sense. But, can you give me an example? Can you provide a sample breakup email that meets these rules?” As the subhead indicates, I’m not going to do that. You don’t need a sample breakup email; they’re the easiest ones to write. You may need some sample emails to use before the breakup, can you can see some here and here. Breakup emails are an important communication tool. Use them properly and you’ll create far more clarity in your sales efforts.