You know the saying, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression”? While I’m not convinced this is always accurate—I have salvaged several relationships from awkward first encounters when my social graces fail me—there are a number of places where this saying absolutely holds true:
1. Speed dating
2. Job interviews
3. Mass email
No, I’m not kidding on the last one.
Mass emails are often your company’s first contact with a potential client—the all important first impression for online business networking. Therefore, the email template you use matters. You may think that simply having quality information in your email will ensure a good response, but you’d be wrong. Listed below are five qualities of successful mass email templates that can make mass emails one of your strongest professional networking tools.
1. Appealing Subject Line
Getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part. Nowadays, people have their internal spam filters on high alert. Anything even remotely resembling a mass email, an attempt to get personal information, or an unsolicited offer will be trashed before opened. Therefore, having a quality subject line is arguably the most important piece of the successful email equation. Make it short, personal sounding, and consider your objectives. Think about options such as “Quick Questions” to entice your audience and let them know your email won’t take much of their valuable time.
2. Short and Sweet
In a world with entertainment on demand, you don’t have a whole page to hold your audience. You’re lucky if you have a sentence or two. Be sure you understand this limitation and the consequences for pushing it. A lengthy email will at most garner you a brief glance and at the very least a quick move to the trash. But not to fret, the few sentences you have can make the desired impact if crafted correctly. See below for how make the best use of the space you’re given.
3. Leave Them Wanting More
While it’s tempting to use mass emails as a platform to widely distribute your message and every detail about your product, that’s not what it’s for. Mass emails should be used to garner attention or get to the right contact, not to be a Wikipedia page about your organization. Use a sentence or two to outline your company and your product then put the ball in the reader’s court with a clear call to action.
4. Call to Action
Even if your template manages to capture the interest of your contacts, without a call to action they may be at a loss for next steps. Be sure to include a simple and easy action item in your email. The request could be as straightforward as asking for the best contact for your business opportunity. This action item will give your contacts a clear path to move forward with you.
5. Careful, ongoing management
No mass email campaign, no matter how well crafted the template, will be successful unless it is managed properly. Executing the right campaign means following lead management best practices such as gathering the right prospects, running them through an outreach pipeline, and handling responses.
Save Time with an Inbox Management System
Download our free guide for creating an inbox management system that dramatically reduces the amount of time you spend on email and prevents important messages from slipping through the cracks. In it you'll learn:
- How to choose a sorting approach
- Best practices for creating clear sorting rules
- Tips for implementing your inbox management system + productivity hacks
- [Pro Tip] How to delegate your inbox management to an assistant