We recommend that you wait at least ten days from the date that the items were mailed out before running any follow up campaigns.
The reason for this is that shipping takes between 1-5 days, and it is then wise to give the prospects a little bit of time to receive the item, as many will be away from the office, working hybrid etc. As you will be mentioning the item that you sent in your follow up campaigns, it won't do any good to send an email referencing an item if they have not yet seen it.
Overview
The purpose of this document is to offer some guidelines on how to structure a follow up email campaign which references these items, but it's important to remember that every use case is different. You will have your own style and tone of voice, but we just want to give some examples of how we structure our follow up campaigns at Leadable for inspiration.
Some general tips to help with deliverability:
Send 'plain text' only emails (this means no URLs, images or special formatting of any kind - including in your signature).
Turn off all open tracking and click tracking.
Make it easy for them to read (especially on mobile), so no long paragraphs.
Keep your sequence to a maximum of 3-4 emails. The days of lengthy sequences are over as the penalties for being marked as spam by recipients are much greater now than they once were.
Ideally, your technical setup should include:
Multiple domains to send from (not the primary domain), with each domain being at least six months old.
A premium warmup service like Warmy active on each account (not the free warmup services included with tools like Instantly and Smartlead).
Running inbox placement tests once per week on monitoring the results.
Sample Emails
Here are some sample emails, with colour coded explanations beneath:
Email 1
Subject Line: Your {{item}} from the future
Hi {{first}},
Hope you liked the book that we sent to your {{Address 1}} address before the holidays :)
We do this because outbound on the traditional channels is no longer as effective as it once was - I'm not sure if you have noticed a slow down on this front at {{Company}} over the past year.
If so, we can help you to get the attention of hard-to-reach prospects by creating wow experiences via creative direct mail campaigns.
Cost is reasonable. No long term contracts. You’ll see ROI on the first campaign.
Open to hearing more?
Email 1 (Explained)
Subject Line:
We recommend that you mention the item here.
First Paragraph:
We recommend that you mention the item which was sent immediately. You want this to be the first thing that they see when they read the preview before actually opening the email.
We also recommend that you reference that address which you sent it to, for a number of reasons:
If they have not yet received it for any reason, it feels more real that something has actually been sent.
If they have not been to the office for a while, they might phone reception to ask if it's there.
If you used an incorrect office, they might inform you of this.
Second Paragraph:
Focus this on the problem that you solve (don't talk about your solution here).
Third Paragraph:
Transition from the problem you solve into the solution that you offer. Keep it concise.
Fourth Paragraph:
This is not always possible (depending on your offering), but you will see a much higher positive response rate if you can preempt any doubts, fears or questions which a prospect might have.
Final Paragraph:
We recommend a soft and open ended call-to-action here.
Email 2 (3 Working Days Later)
Subject Line: RE: Your book (Doing the Impossible at {COMPANY})
Hi {{first}},
Did that {{item}} catch your attention or bring a smile to your face?
If so, I could record a short video explaining how brands like {CLIENT 1}, {CLIENT 2} and {CLIENT 3} are using Leadable to break into their Tier 1 target accounts with physical mail outreach like the book we sent you.
How does that sound, or would a quick Zoom chat be better?
Email 2 (Explained)
Subject Line:
We recommend that you 'reply in line' so it will automatically use RE: your previous subject line.
First Paragraph:
We started asking this question in Email 2 recently (updated April 22nd) and have seen a very positive increase in responses here.
Second Paragraph:
We want to make it as easy as possible for the prospect to say 'Yes' to something with a low-friction CTA.
We drop some client names to give social proof and credibility here, and explain the problem that we are solving for them.
Final Paragraph:
We offer an option with our CTA - to share a video, or host a quick call. Even though a video is offered, many will choose the call.
Email 3 (5 Working Days Later)
Subject Line: RE: Your book (Doing the Impossible at {COMPANY})
Hi {{first}},
I’ll take a step back for now, but as we had put a lot of time and effort into producing this {{item}}, would it be okay if I check in occasionally in the future?
Alternatively, if there is someone else in your commercial team at {{Company}} who has a bit more time to explore this, is it worth making a quick intro?
Cheers,{NAME}.
P.S. There are no long term commitments. You can start with a pilot campaign, and then continue once you’ve seen the results.
Email 3 (Explained)
Subject Line:
Again, we recommend that you 'reply in line' so it will automatically use RE: your previous subject line.
First Paragraph:
This is the 'break-up' email so we are letting the prospect know that we won't be following up for a while, and are asking permission to follow up again. We do this for three reasons:
To drive action as they know that the ball is in their court.
To discourage them to marking us a spam, as we have given them peace of mind that we are not going to be emailing any further.
By mentioning that we put a lot of time and effort into producing the item for them, we are applying a little bit of pressure to the prospect to give us some kind of feedback.
Second Paragraph:
We recommend asking for a referral from someone in a specific team or function.
Final Paragraph:
Reiterate the most compelling offer that you have - it is your final roll of the dice.