The Email Strategy That Increased My Click-Through Rate By 10% and Converted Cold Leads

Imagine you’re walking through a crowded market with tents full of vendors trying to lure you in to browse their wares. If hundreds of sellers were trying to win your attention, what would make you stop walking and enter a tent?

Would it be the line “Look at this, it’s 50% off!” or “Come into my shop, and I’ll give you a free gift?”

The email inbox is much like a full bazaar that’s hard to navigate when so many businesses are screaming for your attention. Recent research reveals that the number of emails sent and received globally has increased every year since 2017, totaling a 33.9% increase. And in another study, respondents ranked email as the most annoying marketing channel.

Personally, I agree that sorting through hundreds of emails every day is a drag. However, email’s utility for fast communication is undeniable, so it isn’t going anywhere.

At my business, PostcardMania, we only use email as a follow-up tool for leads and never use it for cold outreach. We send tens of thousands of emails every week, and we closely track performance to ensure we’re getting everything we can out of every email.

Last year, we averaged 631 replies to our funnel emails per week and — more importantly — 95 calls per week (and that’s just the people who call in on the call tracking number we use in our email communications). We even increased our overall click-through rate by 10% last year.

Here’s what we focus on to reach those numbers and continuously improve our email game.

Keep your subject lines snappy, simple and straightforward

The subject line is the most important aspect of the email because it has to get the prospect to open it.

The subject line that works best for your business may not work for another, depending on your industry, but there are some elements all good subject lines include: simplicity, directness and spunk.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Create curiosity. Example: This is the number-one secret that made me a million dollars…

• Be direct. Example: Biggest Sale of the Year! 50% Off Everything

• Tell a story. Example: What happened when Google stopped this ad trick…

• Ask a question. Example: Have you tried this #1 workout before?

• Personalize the subject line with their first name. Example: Open for a free gift for Mark!

For my business, personalizing the subject line is a great tactic. Our personalized emails elicit 60% more first-time callers than other emails!

Just make sure you track your results and keep working to improve your response numbers. What works for your business will emerge as long as you track!

Keep the content of emails short and simple

Getting someone to open an email is the hardest part — so once they’re reading, long blocks of text can lose them fast. People are busy.

In fact, one of our shortest emails — just three sentences long — gets about twice the response of our standard email blasts, averaging 514 replies every time we send it.

Think of it this way: You want a prospect to spend more time on your website, not in their email box. So send them there fast, or prompt them to call you for a conversation.

Include a clear call to action at the end of the email

Recipients need to know what to do next, so make it as easy as possible for them to reply.

Here are some examples from our top-performing emails:

• Are you available this afternoon to discuss this?

• When is a good time to reach you?

• Do you have a few minutes this afternoon?

Whatever your goal, be as direct as possible with that prompt.

Include case studies or testimonials to build credibility and trust

Customer stories build trust, cut through sales noise and give you an edge over competitors.

Include a recent Google review or bullet-point metrics to show off your success. We have 1,168 case studies at our disposal, and we use them frequently in our emails. Here is a quick example of a case study email we send:

Subject: How consistent mailings grew a business to $5 million

Want to see how regularly scheduled postcard mailings grew a business from $120,000 a year to $5 million a year?

Watch this video case study here for the full story.

The owners of this law firm said:

“If I was talking to another law firm about potentially using postcards, I would tell them, ‘Do it right now and start right away. Stick with it because you will definitely get results!” — atCause Law Office

If you are looking to increase revenue, we can run a similar campaign for you! What time could we schedule a call to discuss your marketing?

Keep the conversation going offline, where it can’t be missed

Email isn’t a magic trick — you can’t click send and expect leads to pour in. It’s a relationship-building channel, which is why one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work.

A powerful way to extend the conversation is by following up with direct mail. Studies show direct mail delivers higher response rates than email, up to 300% better among prospects and 800% better among household/internal lists.

Thanks to automation, direct mail is now as easy to send and personalize as email, often delivered within 24-48 hours. By connecting your customer relationship management software (CRM) to an automated direct mail platform, you can trigger postcards when leads convert, when they go cold, if they don’t answer a call — virtually anything can be a trigger.

Our favorite approach is hyper-personalized. If a sales rep can’t reach a prospect, they leave a voicemail, shoot off a short email and then send a postcard that references the prior conversation and that they tried to reach them, sent directly from the CRM.

When used together, email and direct mail are far more powerful than either channel alone — helping you drive revenue, reinforce your sales funnel and build long-term customer loyalty.