How to increase responsiveness of your emails?
November 17, 2024 10:41 AM Subscribe
My impression is that people read or at least open their emails, but don't reply anymore. How to increase reply rates?
I am US-based and contacting companies in the US for European firms looking for collaboration partners. You might call it cold calling or cold emailing, but at least some of these companies have significant value to offer. Ignoring this could be risky; if your competitor says yes, you might miss out on competitive bids. This industry relies heavily on bids and often uses external contractors for services.
However, my experience isn't industry-specific. It seems that nobody reacts to emails anymore. Many times, I receive "email read" confirmations but no replies.
For another project, I've contacted quite a few companies in Europe asking for prices. As a potential B2B customer wanting to make a purchase, I still receive no replies. I just don't get it.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom? I've had some successes with the BLUF I had some successes with BLUF in the past: https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-write-email-with-military-precision
I am US-based and contacting companies in the US for European firms looking for collaboration partners. You might call it cold calling or cold emailing, but at least some of these companies have significant value to offer. Ignoring this could be risky; if your competitor says yes, you might miss out on competitive bids. This industry relies heavily on bids and often uses external contractors for services.
However, my experience isn't industry-specific. It seems that nobody reacts to emails anymore. Many times, I receive "email read" confirmations but no replies.
For another project, I've contacted quite a few companies in Europe asking for prices. As a potential B2B customer wanting to make a purchase, I still receive no replies. I just don't get it.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom? I've had some successes with the BLUF I had some successes with BLUF in the past: https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-write-email-with-military-precision
In my experience, many people lately do not engage with emails longer than a text. If it's longer than one phone screen, it doesn't get read or acted on. There are exceptions, but that seems to be the way of things.
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:02 AM on November 17, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:02 AM on November 17, 2024 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: "Are you blasting out emails?"
No. Either by geographic restrains or by speciality we are talking about 30-50 targets per client.
I address these emails to a specific person in that company based on linkedin profiles.
posted by maloqueiro at 11:08 AM on November 17, 2024
No. Either by geographic restrains or by speciality we are talking about 30-50 targets per client.
I address these emails to a specific person in that company based on linkedin profiles.
posted by maloqueiro at 11:08 AM on November 17, 2024
You might call it cold calling or cold emailing, but at least some of these companies have significant value to offer.
The value they offer is a benefit for you, if I'm reading your intent right. But what are you offering them? And are you contacting someone in a decision-making capacity? Are you merely expecting a polite "No thanks" as a reply? Because that's not going to happen. Cold emails will have reply rates in the single digits (i.e., 5% or less), which you probably know. Are you significantly lower than that?
posted by axiom at 11:14 AM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]
The value they offer is a benefit for you, if I'm reading your intent right. But what are you offering them? And are you contacting someone in a decision-making capacity? Are you merely expecting a polite "No thanks" as a reply? Because that's not going to happen. Cold emails will have reply rates in the single digits (i.e., 5% or less), which you probably know. Are you significantly lower than that?
posted by axiom at 11:14 AM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: "The value they offer is a benefit for you"
Let's say for your services, you hire a subcontractor for part of your offer. This part is around 40% of the total price for the project. It's an unsexy part. My client can offer this cheaper, better, and faster. Let's say conservatively 30% cheaper.
So 30% of 40 percentage points would lower your total cost by 12 percentage points in a bid. Maybe I should attach this calculation in the email? But it should be obvious.
Sure, you can walk away from this offer. But as soon as one or two of your competitors bite, it bites you. At least that's how I see it.
"(i.e., 5% or less), which you probably know. Are you significantly lower than that?"
Yes. I will try cold calling now, but this is very difficult too. It's hard to reach people. Possibly due to home office arrangements, etc.
posted by maloqueiro at 11:21 AM on November 17, 2024
Let's say for your services, you hire a subcontractor for part of your offer. This part is around 40% of the total price for the project. It's an unsexy part. My client can offer this cheaper, better, and faster. Let's say conservatively 30% cheaper.
So 30% of 40 percentage points would lower your total cost by 12 percentage points in a bid. Maybe I should attach this calculation in the email? But it should be obvious.
Sure, you can walk away from this offer. But as soon as one or two of your competitors bite, it bites you. At least that's how I see it.
"(i.e., 5% or less), which you probably know. Are you significantly lower than that?"
Yes. I will try cold calling now, but this is very difficult too. It's hard to reach people. Possibly due to home office arrangements, etc.
posted by maloqueiro at 11:21 AM on November 17, 2024
If you have a high open rate and a poor response rate, the answer is as simple as: write better emails.
A/B test as a starting point; a test group of 50, split, will give you some data.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:26 AM on November 17, 2024 [8 favorites]
A/B test as a starting point; a test group of 50, split, will give you some data.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:26 AM on November 17, 2024 [8 favorites]
90% of the content on my LinkedIn feed is about creating better cold outreach content. Just start following random sales / business development thought leaders on LinkedIn and see what they say.
posted by seemoorglass at 11:30 AM on November 17, 2024
posted by seemoorglass at 11:30 AM on November 17, 2024
You would never know if your email "worked" on me. For one, I don't do read receipts, just stop doing that unless you're my boss. Let's say for the sake of argument, I WAS just thinking to myself, I wonder how i can get part X cheaper. Then your email shows up. It better reference me to a website or some more information, and that more information should have a way to contact the company. I might look at that other source and contact someone. An email might optimistically be a pointer to information, it's not the information.
I'm NOT going to respond to your email. Un-solicited emails are presumed spam, scams and lies, and too good to be true. The best you're going to get is to pique my interest and motiviate me to check it out from a "real" source.
posted by ctmf at 11:53 AM on November 17, 2024 [31 favorites]
I'm NOT going to respond to your email. Un-solicited emails are presumed spam, scams and lies, and too good to be true. The best you're going to get is to pique my interest and motiviate me to check it out from a "real" source.
posted by ctmf at 11:53 AM on November 17, 2024 [31 favorites]
What ctmf says - also, I'm going to want references. Like, what jobs have you subcontracted on before, how do I figure out how it went, what's your cred? Cheaper isn't always better, and an unsolicited offer from an unknown is not who I'd want to base 40% of my bid on.
posted by restless_nomad at 11:57 AM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 11:57 AM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]
I receive emails like this a few times a week. I spend one or two seconds scanning an email seeing if they are relevant to my work and might be worth responding to. If they haven't made their case in that amount of time, it gets deleted. If that first 1-2 seconds clicks I'll read for another 5-10 seconds. At that point I'll either delete, respond to say "no thanks" or send an expression of interest.
Summary: make your case in 1-2 seconds. If you're sending a wall of text you've already lost.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 12:00 PM on November 17, 2024
Summary: make your case in 1-2 seconds. If you're sending a wall of text you've already lost.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 12:00 PM on November 17, 2024
Response by poster: "Cheaper isn't always better, and an unsolicited offer from an unknown is not who I'd want to base 40% of my bid on."
You have very solid points that I should address in my email. They design und build their own unique equipment for a very specific niche. Revenue in Europe for this company is around 5 million, for the other one maybe 100 million.
But the point is very valid. E.g. a car manufacturer is very unlikely to switch suppliers. I don't see this here at play. But I might underestimate personal relationships that they might have.
posted by maloqueiro at 12:02 PM on November 17, 2024
You have very solid points that I should address in my email. They design und build their own unique equipment for a very specific niche. Revenue in Europe for this company is around 5 million, for the other one maybe 100 million.
But the point is very valid. E.g. a car manufacturer is very unlikely to switch suppliers. I don't see this here at play. But I might underestimate personal relationships that they might have.
posted by maloqueiro at 12:02 PM on November 17, 2024
Conservatively, I receive a dozen targeted cold sales emails a day. A day. Sometimes they fall into my sphere of actual work, most times they do not (probably someone with my job title would make that decision, but where I am).
I don't respond to any of them. IF something looks interesting, I google it independently and check it out.
Some common things these emails do that make me roll my eyes:
- address the email to my last name; fix your software
- wild mismatch of fonts and colors
- giant wall of text
- obviously written by AI with no literate human doing a final edit
- and absolutely worst of all are the cold emails that are a calendar invite that show themselves up on my calendar without consent. gtfo!!!!
posted by phunniemee at 12:35 PM on November 17, 2024 [8 favorites]
I don't respond to any of them. IF something looks interesting, I google it independently and check it out.
Some common things these emails do that make me roll my eyes:
- address the email to my last name; fix your software
- wild mismatch of fonts and colors
- giant wall of text
- obviously written by AI with no literate human doing a final edit
- and absolutely worst of all are the cold emails that are a calendar invite that show themselves up on my calendar without consent. gtfo!!!!
posted by phunniemee at 12:35 PM on November 17, 2024 [8 favorites]
Your assumption that people read or scan their work email is pretty bold. My
company sends all actionable communications in Slack, I hardly ever read my email. I certainly would not open a solicitation. If you need to get attention in my company, you have to send a text message.
You could do all the email optimization in the world and not get around these patterns. I think it’s time to re-examine your assumptions on business communication.
posted by shock muppet at 12:49 PM on November 17, 2024 [2 favorites]
company sends all actionable communications in Slack, I hardly ever read my email. I certainly would not open a solicitation. If you need to get attention in my company, you have to send a text message.
You could do all the email optimization in the world and not get around these patterns. I think it’s time to re-examine your assumptions on business communication.
posted by shock muppet at 12:49 PM on November 17, 2024 [2 favorites]
Sorry to say I'm 100% with phunimee. I get hundreds of these a month. It's getting worse. Basically I'm just not interested in doing business with a cold email. That's it. There's no technique to get me. I'm indisputably the person you want and my firm and I can assure you, this will have 0.00000% chance of working regardless of your perceived value of my response.
If you meet me in person at a conference or whatever then I will absolutely listen until I'm bored or interested.
I'm not going to apologize. I didn't break the world. This just is what business email is now.
posted by chasles at 1:04 PM on November 17, 2024 [18 favorites]
If you meet me in person at a conference or whatever then I will absolutely listen until I'm bored or interested.
I'm not going to apologize. I didn't break the world. This just is what business email is now.
posted by chasles at 1:04 PM on November 17, 2024 [18 favorites]
I am dramatically less likely to respond to emails that try to get me to send read receipts, because I find them obnoxious, and I don't want to deal with obnoxious people or obnoxious companies.
And if your emails have the same tone as your post here, I'd read it and assume it was a scam. False urgency and pressure tactics like that are usually scams.
posted by decathecting at 1:25 PM on November 17, 2024 [10 favorites]
And if your emails have the same tone as your post here, I'd read it and assume it was a scam. False urgency and pressure tactics like that are usually scams.
posted by decathecting at 1:25 PM on November 17, 2024 [10 favorites]
I have my work email separate out stuff from external senders in its own folder, and the company additionally tags external mail in a way that is extremely obvious. We have yearly security training that drills into our head that external email is generally untrustworthy. Mail from such senders automatically starts with -100 interest and +100 chance of scam in my mind. If you have the utter gall to ask for a read receipt, multiply those numbers by 10 (and frankly it wouldn't surprise me if company policy outright blocks read receipts for external senders, but I don't know specifics). Embedding a web-bug in the email doesn't work either as work email is configured to block images from external senders as well. I have no problem marking email like what you describe as spam and I imagine the same is true for many of my colleagues, which could also make it even more difficult to further contact anyone at that company as it adapts its filters to include your style of messaging or your sender domain.
This is the sort of environment your email is ending up in, and frankly I'd find it amazing if you get any traction whatsoever, even if you are careful to pick your targets.
posted by Aleyn at 1:46 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
This is the sort of environment your email is ending up in, and frankly I'd find it amazing if you get any traction whatsoever, even if you are careful to pick your targets.
posted by Aleyn at 1:46 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
I address these emails to a specific person in that company based on linkedin profiles.
This jumped out at me, and I may be able to illustrate why this really isn't a good idea -
A year ago I was doing some contract office manager work for a construction company. That only lasted a few months, but I still put it on my Linkedin profile so as not to have a big gap in employment on my resume. I later went on to other positions.
However, after a few months - and still to this day - I started getting cold call emails from people, sent to my personal email, offering me their services for construction project estimation and suchlike. I finally called one to say that a) he'd emailed my PERSONAL email, and b) I wasn't in construction. So maybe he could tell me how the heck he'd gotten my email? He said he was doing exactly as you had done - he'd searched on Linkedin, found that I had been with the construction company, and got my email from Linkedin; he hadn't taken the time, however, to confirm I still worked there.
Relying on LinkedIn to have an accurate and up to date depiction of who is with a particular organization may not be the best way to go.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:09 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
This jumped out at me, and I may be able to illustrate why this really isn't a good idea -
A year ago I was doing some contract office manager work for a construction company. That only lasted a few months, but I still put it on my Linkedin profile so as not to have a big gap in employment on my resume. I later went on to other positions.
However, after a few months - and still to this day - I started getting cold call emails from people, sent to my personal email, offering me their services for construction project estimation and suchlike. I finally called one to say that a) he'd emailed my PERSONAL email, and b) I wasn't in construction. So maybe he could tell me how the heck he'd gotten my email? He said he was doing exactly as you had done - he'd searched on Linkedin, found that I had been with the construction company, and got my email from Linkedin; he hadn't taken the time, however, to confirm I still worked there.
Relying on LinkedIn to have an accurate and up to date depiction of who is with a particular organization may not be the best way to go.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:09 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I only email to company emails. Not to gmail or something. I may switch to cold colling but my impression is people are totally overworked and overhelmed. This was the only reply I got:
"Thanks for reaching out, however XXX does not perform the type of work you are describing."
Extremely professional.
I got several good points in this thread, e.g. not requiring a "read confirmation". But some arguments sound good but fail to explaint why I don't get replies when I want to buy something. Just last week I followed up by phone to a Polish company, a lady connected me, I a nice and short conversation with the lady in charge and she told me to email her the exact specifications. I did and again got no reply. I will call again in the future but stuff like this makes me worry engaging into a business relationship with such a company.
posted by maloqueiro at 2:20 PM on November 17, 2024
"Thanks for reaching out, however XXX does not perform the type of work you are describing."
Extremely professional.
I got several good points in this thread, e.g. not requiring a "read confirmation". But some arguments sound good but fail to explaint why I don't get replies when I want to buy something. Just last week I followed up by phone to a Polish company, a lady connected me, I a nice and short conversation with the lady in charge and she told me to email her the exact specifications. I did and again got no reply. I will call again in the future but stuff like this makes me worry engaging into a business relationship with such a company.
posted by maloqueiro at 2:20 PM on November 17, 2024
I feel like I use this phrase a lot these days... "email is where things go to die".
I get cold called (email) for my rinky-dink personal websites and from people who figured out my work email (its not rocket science) looking for collab opportunities and the volume is stupid. Cold emails are simply ignored. Unless the email subject catches my attention, the email short and concise, there's a connection of some sort, content is clearly personalized and not a generic template and shows why responding benefits ME and it takes less than 30 seconds of effort on my part to reply, it's going to get ignored. Even hitting all those points, there are still MLB batters with much better stats.
Other means of contacting me might even be more successful - IG for example.
Marketing folks have been trying to solve this problem for decades. Follow the ones who are successful.
posted by cgg at 2:32 PM on November 17, 2024
I get cold called (email) for my rinky-dink personal websites and from people who figured out my work email (its not rocket science) looking for collab opportunities and the volume is stupid. Cold emails are simply ignored. Unless the email subject catches my attention, the email short and concise, there's a connection of some sort, content is clearly personalized and not a generic template and shows why responding benefits ME and it takes less than 30 seconds of effort on my part to reply, it's going to get ignored. Even hitting all those points, there are still MLB batters with much better stats.
Other means of contacting me might even be more successful - IG for example.
Marketing folks have been trying to solve this problem for decades. Follow the ones who are successful.
posted by cgg at 2:32 PM on November 17, 2024
I am pretty much never going to encourage a cold-emailer or cold-caller; I don't like being contacted that way and don't want to give anyone the impression it's a good way to reach me. On the exceedingly rare occasion when such a contact does sound vaguely interesting, I'm going to go research the company/contact and reach out directly to them via other channels.
I don't care if another business says yes and I've missed an opportunity - it's an opportunity I wasn't looking for in the first place, and I'm not in some sort of cutthroat high-stake business where any given collaboration is going to make-or-break my workplace's success.
For the case where you're reaching out, yes, I think this is just how it works. I've been through a couple of rounds of getting bids/quotes for things lately and some people just don't reply. I assume those people have enough business, or can tell from my initial contact that my job is going to be too small/weird/uninteresting/whatever to be worth their time, or maybe they're just very sloppy and let things fall between the cracks. I move ahead with whoever does respond and don't stress about the rest. I don't think there's a magic trick, I think this is just how it works - everyone is understaffed and overworked and getting a million emails a day.
If truly no one is getting back to you then sure, I'd ask a friend or colleague to take a look at an email and tell you if it's super wordy or unclear or your tone is really weird or whatever.
posted by Stacey at 2:58 PM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]
I don't care if another business says yes and I've missed an opportunity - it's an opportunity I wasn't looking for in the first place, and I'm not in some sort of cutthroat high-stake business where any given collaboration is going to make-or-break my workplace's success.
For the case where you're reaching out, yes, I think this is just how it works. I've been through a couple of rounds of getting bids/quotes for things lately and some people just don't reply. I assume those people have enough business, or can tell from my initial contact that my job is going to be too small/weird/uninteresting/whatever to be worth their time, or maybe they're just very sloppy and let things fall between the cracks. I move ahead with whoever does respond and don't stress about the rest. I don't think there's a magic trick, I think this is just how it works - everyone is understaffed and overworked and getting a million emails a day.
If truly no one is getting back to you then sure, I'd ask a friend or colleague to take a look at an email and tell you if it's super wordy or unclear or your tone is really weird or whatever.
posted by Stacey at 2:58 PM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]
It kind of sounds like you are spamming people. I wouldn't expect a particularly high response rate for that type of communication, and have no advice to offer on how to improve it.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 4:02 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Juffo-Wup at 4:02 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I am not sure if a few hand creafted email where I address the person by name can be called "spamming". I assume my current target group is around 50 companies.
"- address the email to my last name; fix your software"
I am not sure what this means. If you get the email, the email is correct. I address the person by giving name because they are US based. In other languages and cultures, this would be a big no no.
posted by maloqueiro at 4:14 PM on November 17, 2024
"- address the email to my last name; fix your software"
I am not sure what this means. If you get the email, the email is correct. I address the person by giving name because they are US based. In other languages and cultures, this would be a big no no.
posted by maloqueiro at 4:14 PM on November 17, 2024
It's spam. You're a spammer. People aren't replying because they don't want to be spammed.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:49 PM on November 17, 2024 [12 favorites]
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:49 PM on November 17, 2024 [12 favorites]
Yes, this is definitionally spam, sorry. If you were sending these messages to Australian firms, you would absolutely be breaking the Spam Act 2003, which in short is that:
• Unsolicited commercial electronic messages must not be sent.posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:56 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
I am not sure if a few hand creafted email where I address the person by name can be called "spamming".
"Targeted" spamming maybe, but spamming none-the-less. It's unsolicited, I don't know you, and you're trying to sell me something. It's spam.
I might STILL get the idea I want to re-evaluate what part X costs and look into it, but I would look at every supplier, and the spammer would start out with a mental strike against.
posted by ctmf at 5:06 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
"Targeted" spamming maybe, but spamming none-the-less. It's unsolicited, I don't know you, and you're trying to sell me something. It's spam.
I might STILL get the idea I want to re-evaluate what part X costs and look into it, but I would look at every supplier, and the spammer would start out with a mental strike against.
posted by ctmf at 5:06 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
You need to be able to start your email with something like "it was good to talk to you earlier", if you can't do that you shouldn't be sending the email, for all the reasons outlined above.
posted by deadwax at 7:30 PM on November 17, 2024
posted by deadwax at 7:30 PM on November 17, 2024
nthing a lot of what's been said above - if your company is desperate enough to be cold-emailing me, I don't want to work with you. When we're in the market for new vendors we work with vendors we've heard of through other means: referrals from our peer institutions, people we've met at conferences, even people who post interesting and thoughtful content on LinkedIn or social media that I've read and remembered. Cold-emails start with one foot in the grave.
However, about this But some arguments sound good but fail to explaint why I don't get replies when I want to buy something
I'd wonder if a) its clear you actually want to buy something (or are you just using this as a way to get your foot in the door to sell me something later, and b) are you contacting the right person in the right way?
posted by anastasiav at 10:23 PM on November 17, 2024
However, about this But some arguments sound good but fail to explaint why I don't get replies when I want to buy something
I'd wonder if a) its clear you actually want to buy something (or are you just using this as a way to get your foot in the door to sell me something later, and b) are you contacting the right person in the right way?
posted by anastasiav at 10:23 PM on November 17, 2024
Maybe I should attach this calculation in the email? But it should be obvious.
You should include it.
posted by knobknosher at 11:00 PM on November 17, 2024
You should include it.
posted by knobknosher at 11:00 PM on November 17, 2024
It seems that nobody reacts to emails anymore.99.99% of unsolicited email offers I receive are not relevant to my situation or needs, either not at that point in time or not ever. I am not going to respond unless your email is in that 0.01%. You can increase the likelihood of engagement (which still may not be via email) if:
- You show that you did your homework on my product line and area of work
- You can demonstrate some kind of active personal or referral connection
- You make it very easy to see what positive value you are offering. Stuff like "Ignoring this could be risky; if your competitor says yes, you might miss out on competitive bids." does not count and I find this tactic ("you're making a big mistake by not doing business with us!") irritating.
"I will try cold calling now, but this is very difficult too."
Be careful with this. Email is easy to triage on my own schedule. On the phone, you just actively interrupted my day to try to sell me something that almost certainly isn't relevant to my needs (see above).
posted by 4rtemis at 4:22 AM on November 18, 2024
"Thanks for reaching out, however XXX does not perform the type of work you are describing."
Extremely professional.
This probably should not have happened. As in, you clearly emailed the wrong company or the wrong person and they told you so. I'd check your list to see if your other addressees actually do perform the work you think they perform! It's very kind of them to give you a heads up, but a mistake like that usually catapults you straight into spam purgatory.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:53 AM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]
Extremely professional.
This probably should not have happened. As in, you clearly emailed the wrong company or the wrong person and they told you so. I'd check your list to see if your other addressees actually do perform the work you think they perform! It's very kind of them to give you a heads up, but a mistake like that usually catapults you straight into spam purgatory.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:53 AM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]
I am sorry -- I'm sure this is literally your job and you have no choice but to keep spamming into the void, so I get that it must be frustrating to have people tell you "just don't do your job, your job is bad!"
Nonetheless, I also get a million of these per day and they are zero percent ever getting opened. Too likely to be an active phishing attempt, actual garbage, or some other thing that is not relevant to my day. Unless you're a company we already currently use as a vendor you're just going to spam immediately. And even if we do use you as a vendor, I'm not the person responsible for that decision! So you'll never get a reply from me.
You might get a separate contact from my boss's boss (that's how off-base the email is! Two entire levels of org incorrect) if it happens that I think the information is relevant to the department. This has happened a grand total of once. But that email wouldn't register as a "reply" in your metrics, I'm afraid.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:47 AM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]
Nonetheless, I also get a million of these per day and they are zero percent ever getting opened. Too likely to be an active phishing attempt, actual garbage, or some other thing that is not relevant to my day. Unless you're a company we already currently use as a vendor you're just going to spam immediately. And even if we do use you as a vendor, I'm not the person responsible for that decision! So you'll never get a reply from me.
You might get a separate contact from my boss's boss (that's how off-base the email is! Two entire levels of org incorrect) if it happens that I think the information is relevant to the department. This has happened a grand total of once. But that email wouldn't register as a "reply" in your metrics, I'm afraid.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:47 AM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]
"- address the email to my last name; fix your software"
I am not sure what this means. If you get the email, the email is correct. I address the person by giving name because they are US based. In other languages and cultures, this would be a big no no.
I think what they mean is that if my name is Jane Doe, and the email begins "Dear Doe,"....you have a problem.
Just anecdotally, I work in academia, and about 95% of our work is based on cold emailing all day long asking for info, resources, papers, names, data, etc. No sales, of course.
posted by tristeza at 10:52 AM on November 18, 2024
I am not sure what this means. If you get the email, the email is correct. I address the person by giving name because they are US based. In other languages and cultures, this would be a big no no.
I think what they mean is that if my name is Jane Doe, and the email begins "Dear Doe,"....you have a problem.
Just anecdotally, I work in academia, and about 95% of our work is based on cold emailing all day long asking for info, resources, papers, names, data, etc. No sales, of course.
posted by tristeza at 10:52 AM on November 18, 2024
But that email wouldn't register as a "reply" in your metrics, I'm afraid.
That. EVEN IF, extremely optimistically, your email catches my interest, I'm not replying right away during my inbox xcan. It would go into a "check out later" folder and I'd get back to it and read it at my leisure, maybe many days later. So even if it did reference me to a website, you can't predict when I'm going to hit the website and match it to your email campaign (if you measure such things).
Also don't bother embedding some tracking code in a link. For one, my company's system tries to strip those. But also I've received enough mandatory security training in my life to never ever click your link. I'll type the domain in manually if I want to look.
Sorry for your "metrics", but to quote chasles upthread, "I didn't break the world."
posted by ctmf at 12:09 PM on November 19, 2024
That. EVEN IF, extremely optimistically, your email catches my interest, I'm not replying right away during my inbox xcan. It would go into a "check out later" folder and I'd get back to it and read it at my leisure, maybe many days later. So even if it did reference me to a website, you can't predict when I'm going to hit the website and match it to your email campaign (if you measure such things).
Also don't bother embedding some tracking code in a link. For one, my company's system tries to strip those. But also I've received enough mandatory security training in my life to never ever click your link. I'll type the domain in manually if I want to look.
Sorry for your "metrics", but to quote chasles upthread, "I didn't break the world."
posted by ctmf at 12:09 PM on November 19, 2024
I am not sure if a few hand creafted email where I address the person by name can be called "spamming". I assume my current target group is around 50 companies.
If I don't already know you, I see this as spam. I'm sorry. I know this is your job, but think about it from my perspective: I'm the person you want to reach. I literally went into my inbox and counted my emails for you. Here's what it looks like:
- I get 350-500 emails a week.
- Around 150 of those (~30 per day) are from people that I know, that I'm already working on something with, that need an answer. That's already 1-5 hours of email per day, depending on the complexity of the requests.
- 200-350 of those (40-70 per day) are unsolicited emails that I didn't ask for, from people I don't know, requesting responses on things that I haven't chosen as priorities.
- And all this is even before we count emails my system flags as spam, Slack messages, phone calls, and other inbound communications.
If I were to answer or even pay attention to unsolicited emails, it would be an enormous waste of my time -- it would eat up my entire day, leaving no time for my actual job. I would expect to be fired if I prioritized my time this way.
TL;DR: email is broken. Expect extremely low response rates. Find different methods. Talk to someone you know (not a cold contact), at a company like the ones you want to reach, to find out how they actually seek out bids -- there may be a marketplace or other standard practice that you are overlooking.
posted by ourobouros at 8:15 AM on November 20, 2024
If I don't already know you, I see this as spam. I'm sorry. I know this is your job, but think about it from my perspective: I'm the person you want to reach. I literally went into my inbox and counted my emails for you. Here's what it looks like:
- I get 350-500 emails a week.
- Around 150 of those (~30 per day) are from people that I know, that I'm already working on something with, that need an answer. That's already 1-5 hours of email per day, depending on the complexity of the requests.
- 200-350 of those (40-70 per day) are unsolicited emails that I didn't ask for, from people I don't know, requesting responses on things that I haven't chosen as priorities.
- And all this is even before we count emails my system flags as spam, Slack messages, phone calls, and other inbound communications.
If I were to answer or even pay attention to unsolicited emails, it would be an enormous waste of my time -- it would eat up my entire day, leaving no time for my actual job. I would expect to be fired if I prioritized my time this way.
TL;DR: email is broken. Expect extremely low response rates. Find different methods. Talk to someone you know (not a cold contact), at a company like the ones you want to reach, to find out how they actually seek out bids -- there may be a marketplace or other standard practice that you are overlooking.
posted by ourobouros at 8:15 AM on November 20, 2024
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posted by Omnomnom at 10:47 AM on November 17, 2024 [4 favorites]