Send Better Email to Your Prospects and Clients

Email is good. Yes, we all receive a lot of it, and perhaps, we'd rather not get a lot of it. The reality is however that we do read our email. In fact, over 50% of respondents say they read most of their emails (source: HubSpot). That's a pretty good chance your note will be read. 

As a home remodeling contractor, landscape design/build owner, custom pool builder, or home builder - you have a lot that you can be sharing with your prospects, current clients, and past clients. The easiest - a blog recap. Some others include discounts, reading guides, holiday gatherings. In exchange, emails allow you to stay fresh on your prospects' minds (so that they remember to choose you when they're ready), help increase your referrals, and help you win a bid. All you have to do is make sure the emails are sent to the right people and with the right info. Related: 5 Reasons you should change your target customer now.

Who is your email reader?

Don't buy email addresses. No one wants spam. No matter how good your product, people won't care if they're completely unfamiliar with your company or you. 

So how do you get the volume of people? First, stop focusing on volume. As with all great things, think quality first. In the case of inbound marketing, in which selling means that you always communicate with people that are at least slightly interested, the best way to think about your email list audience is with getting interested ones.

And the best way to do this is with people who visit your website. Get more people with high quality content on your blog posts. Then allow these website visitors to give you their email addresses by offering blog email subscriptions as well as email/content exchanges (e.g. get this free guide in exchange for your email kind of thing). And there's great reason to care about spending time on this since 95% of those who opt into email messages from brands find these messages somewhat or very useful (Salesforce).

What

Just like quality content, you know - writing about stuff people care about, emails need to do the same. 

This all starts with getting people to open your email. Definitely use a personal name in the "from" field. Studies, over and over again, prove that a person's name, rather than a company name, increase email opens. For your subject, choose something personal. Include a first name, something about the receiver (like location, weather, recent website visit - you get it).

Don't forget the email preview area! Many of us scan this before reading an email. This section will help increase your open rates by your homeowners, as well as build up interest to make sure they spend a couple of extra seconds reading through your email. If you're sending an email directly from your mailbox (outlook, apple mail, etc.), the previous is the first couple of lines. If you're using Mailchimp or something similar, you have an option to enter in your preview message. Spend the time and write something interesting there.

Now, on to the juice - the body of the email. Keep it useful. Just like every blog post on your website, make sure this email includes something valuable to the reader. How wonderful you are, the number of awards you've won, a recent publication you were included in, is not interested to your potential clients. Stop bragging about yourself - its about the reader. What do they want? 

Interesting isn't enough. Make sure its concise. Most people will only skim through an email. Accept this reality and make it easy for them to do this while still accomplishing your goal. Images are a great way to help call attention to points or calls to action, so consider using one or two.

Speaking of goals. Stick to the objective and make certain its consistent - from your subject, preview, and the body of your email. 

Happy emailing!