10 Tips To Get People To Read Your Emails

Here’s a harsh reality. Your carefully-crafted email is likely to land in the recipient’s Spam folder, or remain unread in the Inbox—unless you do something different.

Here are 10 tips to get people to read your emails:

1. Stop the hype. The days of turning on the internet marketing machine are over. You can no longer send 10,000 emails and expect 22% will open and 1.7%-3.4% will buy. If you can’t stand the “Hey Friend” emails that you receive, you shouldn’t be sending ones yourself. Rather, focus on designing unique verbiage for your business that showcases and demonstrates the value you bring. Do less, target it properly, and be very clear.
2. Treat people as people. And by that I mean be respectful, honest, and compassionate. Most people try hard to manage the onslaught of what appears to be perma-bad news (just turn on your TV), deal with financial limitations, and stay upbeat and in control of their lives and businesses. Acknowledge their concerns from the get-go and offer real solutions, not fake promises. And don’t waste anyone’s time with junk.
3. Most businesses attempt to sell hope. What we offer is making something better, easier, faster, or simply more enjoyable. Make THAT your main focus. What type of hope you are offering? And how does this help me? This is a crucial part of your growth strategy.
4. Follow good email protocol. Use short, catchy headlines that say what the email is about.
5. Refrain from clicking Reply All unless it is absolutely necessary.
6. Keep it as short as possible or use bullet points. Professional emails are meant as a quick way to transfer information, not for novels. Famous advertising writer Roy Williams recommends removing all unnecessary words.
7. Do not use email as your project management tool. This is a common mistake amongst Entrepreneurs and one that will drive you (and everyone around you) completely insane.
8. Always tell your recipient what you want them to do. For example, say: “Please reply with yes or no,” or, “Please let me know whether Tuesday at 10 AM or Wednesday at 4 PM works for you,” or “Please acknowledge the receipt of this email.”
9. Listen to your clients and answer them in the same language they use. If they use bullet points, so do you. If they say Hi, so do you. If they sign Jeffrey instead of Jeff, you refer to him as Jeffrey. (Here’s a practical article about formal versus casual correspondence.)
10. Segment your target lists. The more segmented and clear you are about your ideal client types (what we call an Airtight Avatar), the better your responses can be because you speak to them in their own language. Wishy-washy copy is written when we try to appeal to everyone—and we end up saying nothing.

Let me know how these tips work for you. If you are unsure of how to speak to your ideal client, or worse—you’re not sure who your best fit client (Airtight Avatar) is, please take our free training. Your email open rate will thank you.

Beate Chelette is The Growth Architect and a results-oriented businesswoman with an entrepreneurial spirit and a proven track record in growing, building and scaling women’s businesses. Once $135,000 in debt and a single mother, she successfully sold her business to a global entertainment media company owned by Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal.

Through her online courses, one-on-one training programs and live speaking events, she mentors women entrepreneurs with her 5 Star Success Blueprint, developed with the knowledge gleaned from her growing, scaling and selling her own company. Beate has a deep commitment to supporting women.

She is the creator of The Women’s Code, the fourth step of Growth Architecture that is focused on Supporting Balanced Leadership. Her proprietary methods specifically address women’s obstacles and she leads from experience, having survived in business in a highly competitive male-dominated environment.

She is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the book “Happy Woman Happy World How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome”, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.”