I ran across a YouTube video by sales guru Marc Wayshak offering key tips for writing effective prospecting emails that decision makers want to open, read and respond to. The problem is most prospecting emails fail to engage the recipient because they are never opened.

How to Get Your Recipient to Open Your Email

The first key to successful engagement is to get the target to open the email and this starts with the subject line. Wayshak suggest using non-promotional subject lines. “Most people are actually checking their emails using their phones, so think about what’s actually showing up on that phone,” he says. “Who’s it from, the subject line and then the first couple of words in the email body.”

He says to use non-salesy language, personalize the company name and to keep it short. In my experience, if a prospect feels it is simply a cut-n-paste, they will ignore, delete or click spam. Think of the subject line and first few words in an email as you knocking on their door. The recipient is looking through the email key hole and assessing whether you’re worth listening to.

Personalization is Key

When anyone receives an email the first thing they assess is whether the email is bulk or personal. This is a key theme of Wayshak’s in all of his tips for increasing email engagement.

“If a prospect thinks that what you have just sent out is a copy and pasted email that’s going to really everyone, it’s going to be deleted immediately,” says Wayshak. “It’s time to make those emails hyper specific to their exact world. We want to show that we’ve done our homework, that we know about the organization and that we know about them and maybe some of the challenges that they could be facing.”

Keep Prospecting Emails Short

The goal is to get the recipient to respond, not tell them every benefit or feature of your service or product. Wayshak believes that keeping it short is imperative to obtaining engagement. “We have at the most 20 seconds for the entire email before prospect is going to delete even the most engaging email,” he says. “So that means 3-5 sentences and then we’re done.”

Also keep in mind that keeping it too short can in itself seem promotional and not truly personal. It’s key to keep it personalized to the potential customers needs with the words in your prospecting emails similar to a short elevator pitch that feels real and solution focused for their specific business. With every prospect email, you should be trying to light a fire of interest that compels the reader to want more information.

Offer a Value Propositon

The only way to make a potential customer become a customer is to convince them that your product solves a problem. Knowing the company is key to correctly making this pitch. What are their problems and how does your product or service solve them? Wayshak suggests giving them specific feedback on their company.

“I have a client who helps companies improve their YouTube channel,” noted Wayshak. “What he did recently is he went through some of his top prospects YouTube page and gave them specific feedback on different areas that they could improve on their YouTube channel. Immediately, he got lots of responses from people saying I want to meet with you.”

He says that most salespeople are looking to take when they are writing emails, so instead give value. “That’s going to help you stand out from your competitors.”

Don’t Forget the Hook!

Your email is personalized, not too long and boring, is clearly written with an understanding of the prospects business and their problem and offers your product as the solution, but it’s still often not read. That’s because your forgot to add the hook!

“Conclude those emails with a question that’s going to engage them,” says Wayshak. “The problem is that most emails end with something that sounds like this. Let me know if I can ever be helpful. That is a total waste of time and you are not going to get responses.”

“Instead, engage like this. Do any of these challenges ring true to you? Or, where can I send that book to? Something that is specific and easy to answer that is likely to engage them in a very quick conversation.”