There’s this myth that once you have an inbound lead, you don’t have to do anything and they’ll magically convert all by themselves. The truth is you still have to nurture those leads. Even when people sign up for a trial of your service, a significant percentage won’t even bother to log in and try it out. Others will give it a quick glance then move onto the next item on their to-do list.

That’s why an inbound sales sequence is so important. When someone hands you their email, whether it’s in exchange for a demo, a webinar, or something else, that’s a sign of trust. It’s your job to not abuse that trust but, instead, use it to coach your prospects from marginally aware to raving super-fans.

For the first time ever, we’re going to give you a sneak peek at 5 of the sequences we’ve used ourselves over the years to help our trial users become happy paid customers.

Getting the top reply rate

We’ll start with our current sequence which is sent to prospects when they sign up for a demo of our software (see for yourself by signing up here ;)) It’s a simple 3-email sequence, but it’s outperformed all our previous sequences, successfully engaging with 57% of our prospects.

Sequence #1. 89% Open Rate, 57% Reply Rate



Email #1 [Option A] Subj: Your demo request of Reply… Hello {FirstName},

Thank you for your interest in Reply. I’ll be happy to jump on a call to give you an in-depth review of our platform. Please let me know what time works and I’ll send you a calendar invite. Meanwhile, could you please help me understand your situation better by answering these questions so I can tailor the call accordingly: 1) How are you currently doing your email outreach and what are the challenges that you’re looking to address?

2) How are you currently acquiring your prospects’ emails?

3) Are you looking for a single account or multiple users?

4) How many contacts are you looking to reach out to per month?

Best, Copy to clipboard

First of all we use a simple opener, quickly confirming the reason for the email. The subject line and the opening lines of the email tell the prospect straight away why you’re emailing them and reassures them this isn’t a cold email or worse, spam.

We follow this up with a simple request. Rather than being self-serving though, we’re asking them to help us help them. The four questions give us an opportunity to offer a tailored service, targeted to their specific requirements.



Email #1 [Option B] Subj: Reply Trial – Important note before you get started Hello {FirstName}, Thank you for signing up! My name is Meshelle and I’m your contact at Reply. I thought I’d drop you a quick note to introduce myself. I’m excited to help you get started. Most likely you’re looking for a way to automate and scale your emails (and follow-ups) but keep it personal, right? If so, I would love to share a set of best practices we’ve developed based on our customers’ experiences, as well as our own, that can increase your open/reply rates by up to 30%.

If you have 15 minutes for a quick call, I look forward to better understanding your needs and how we can help you grow your business. Much success, Copy to clipboard

Alternatively, you can use the first email to establish a strong customer relationship. Our rep introduces themselves and offers to act as a guide, helping with best practices that can increase their open rates and grow their business.

Email #2 Subj: Re: Your demo request of Reply… {FirstName},

As requested, are you still interested in automating your email outreach with Reply? With Reply you can spend more time doing customer facing tasks and let Reply generate those interested leads for you. Best, Copy to clipboard

All our follow-ups are sent as replies to the previous email, so they can easily see the original email without having to go searching. Our priority is to draw their attention to that first email. We accomplish that here with a simple two-part reminder. First of all, we remind them they were interested in our service, and ask if that’s still the case. Secondly, we remind them of why they were interested in the first place and spell out the key benefits.

Email #3 Subj: Re: Your demo request of Reply {FirstName}, I understand that things can get busy so wanted to discuss how our customers are freeing up their day by leveraging Reply and closing more business. Ask me how. Look forward to hearing from you, Best, Copy to clipboard

Empathy is important. Our customers are busy people, and it’s important to show we understand that. We finish the sequence with a final reminder of the benefits (freeing up their day) and a clear CTA (‘Ask me how’).

Emails with benefits

Our second sequence is designed to showcase the benefits of using our service, over four emails.

Sequence #2. 78% Open Rate, 20%+ Reply Rate

Email #1 Subj: Reply trial – important note before you start Hi {FirstName}, Thanks for signing up. I thought I’d drop a quick note to make sure you have a good understanding of what Reply is about and how it can make your life easier. Most likely you’re looking for a way to automate your emails (and follow-ups), but keep it personal, correct? If so, I just wanted to let you know we have developed a set of best practices based on our customers’ experiences as well as our own, with proven examples of how applying them can increase your open/reply rates by up to 30%. If you’re interested in learning how Reply can get you more booked meetings, I’d be happy to talk.

Thanks! Copy to clipboard

The subject line uses urgency to persuade the recipient to open up. The first paragraph opens a dialogue, while the second paragraph spells out the benefit simply and clearly: increasing their open/reply rates by up to 30%. There’s also the reassurance this is for real, based on proven examples.

Email #2 Subj: Reply trial – What can we do for you? Hi {FirstName}, I see you had a chance to get started with your Reply trial. In case you have any questions, I’d like to share with you our best practices on:

– Finding contacts

– Campaign setup

– Email templates

– Integrations P.S. Did you know Reply has a new Marketplace that allows you to get more leads based on your targeted search criteria? Copy to clipboard

Rather than going for the hard sell, the subject line for the second email is an offer of assistance. This time though, we highlight some of the specific areas we can help with. If our prospect is having problems with any of these, then replying to the email is a no-brainer. Finally, we use our P.S. (one of the most read parts of any email) to highlight yet another benefit, one we know would appeal to our typical customer.



Email #3 Subj: Re: Reply – Optimizing your email campaigns Hey {FirstName}, At Reply, we’ve noticed that our customers who sit through a personalized demo based on their objectives usually get around 30% better results, because they know how to optimize their campaigns by using all the features to send highly personalized emails that maximize reply rates. Would you be interested in such a walk-through? Copy to clipboard

The third email repeats the benefit initially highlighted in the first email. This time we approach it from a different angle. We’ve seen other customers achieve 30% better results, and we’d like to help our new customers achieve this too. In effect, we’re telling them that if others have already benefited, why should they be the one to miss out?



Email #4 Subj: Re: Reply – Improving open/reply rates Hi {FirstName}, Awesome, so you’re on your way now and starting to get replies from your prospects (well at least I hope so). If, however, you’re not getting the results you want, it’s usually for one of the following reasons:

1) Your email database isn’t the greatest, i.e. inaccurate emails

2) Your content is not answering the fundamental question for your customer “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?”

3) You haven’t A/B tested your messaging to see what content and subject lines get the most opens and replies Not to worry, these are all things that can be quickly resolved as long as we address them early. Let me know if you’d like to have a chat. Copy to clipboard

Finally, for the last email we try another approach. We start by listing some of the common problems our customers face, then reassure them these are all things we can help them quickly solve, as long as they act now. Not only do we know the problems they face, but we also have the solution.

The webinar sequences

When a prospect signs up for one of our webinars, that’s just the first step. Those sign-ups need to be carefully nurtured, to take them from casual viewer to happy customer. As many people who sign up for a webinar may still end up not attending, it’s important to not rely solely on the strength of your webinar to motivate your customer.

Sequence #3. Open Rate 91%, Reply Rate 21%



Email #1 Subj: Your webinar signup – how to book more meetings Hello {FirstName}, Thank you for signing up for the webinar Reply.io held last week. We appreciate your interest and I’ll be happy to have an in-depth review of our platform with you and discuss how it can help you book more sales meetings, automate your processes and close more business. Please let me know if you’d like to have a call to discuss how Reply can help you grow your business. Looking forward to your reply! Copy to clipboard

The subject line spells out why they’re receiving this email, so they know it’s not spam (as in Sequence #1). We let them know we’re grateful for their sign-up and spell out the benefits of booking a call (as in Sequence #2). We use both general benefits (growing the business) and specific benefits (booking more sales meetings and automating processes).

Email #2 Subj: Re: Your webinar signup – how to book more meeting Hi {FirstName}, As requested, are you interested in learning how Reply can help you put your email outreach on autopilot? With Reply you can spend more time doing customer facing things and let Reply generate those interested leads for you. Best,

George Copy to clipboard

The job of the second email in this sequence is to remind them of why they signed up for the webinar; to spend more time on customer related tasks and less time on finding leads.



Email #3 Subj: Re: Your webinar signup – how to book more meeting Hi {FirstName}, I understand things can get busy, so I wanted to discuss how our customers are freeing up their day by leveraging Reply and closing more business. Please respond with one letter from the options below: A: I am interested in further discussing Reply for automating my email outreach

B: I am interested in Reply, but don’t have time to discuss it now. Let’s move it to 2 weeks later.

C: I am not interested in Reply at this time. Looking forward to your reply! Copy to clipboard

Our final attempt is all about making it as easy as possible for the prospect to respond. All it takes is one single letter in the reply. We also include an ‘out’, so if they’re not interested at the moment they can just select the last option. Having a response that they’re not currently interested is better for us than no response at all.

If you’re looking for another option, here’s a different sequence we used for webinar registrations. While it didn’t have as high an open rate, the sequence had a better reply rate and succeeded at getting conversations started with our prospects.

Sequence #4. 78% Open Rate, 29% Reply Rate

Email #1 Subj: Your webinar registration [Option A] / Last chance [Option B] Hello {FirstName}, Thank you for registering to attend our recent webinar on “How to Create 3x More Opportunities”.

If you are still evaluating ways to increase your sales efficiency, I would love to chat about your current workflow and how Reply.io can assist you in booking more meetings. With Reply, you can set your sales outreach on auto-pilot so that your sales professionals can focus their efforts on revenue-generating activities. Would you have any availability this Tuesday or Thursday? I look forward to any opportunity to be of assistance. Kind regards, Copy to clipboard

The email acts as a natural follow-up to a webinar, expanding on what was covered and showing them what they need to do next to benefit the most from what they’ve learned.



Email #2 Subj: Re: Your webinar registration [Option A] / Re: Last chance [Option B] Hello {FirstName}, I just wanted to circle back around on my previous email. Is there any interest in a consultation on how to optimize our platform to scale and automate your personalized 1:1 communications? If your schedule permits, I would love to chat this week. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Copy to clipboard

The follow-up is a simple reminder of the original email and the offer of a free consultation it contained.



Email #3 Subj: Book 3x More Meetings [Option A] / Free 14 Day Trial – Sales Auto-Pilot [Option B] Hello {FirstName}, I have reached out a few times but haven’t heard back. I know things get busy but I’m hoping to assist you with automating your sales outreach efforts in order for you to focus your energy on revenue-generating activities. If interested in testing Reply for your needs, please click on the following link to download your free 14-day trial, Reply.io I look forward to any opportunity to be of assistance.

Kind regards, Copy to clipboard

If we still haven’t had a response at this point, along with repeating how they’d benefit, we also give them an alternative; rather than getting on a call, they can sign up for a demo and try out our service for themselves.

Can I have your attention?

Our original sequence (before sequence #1 took over) was designed to grab the recipient’s attention with a combination of benefits and questions:

Sequence #5. 87% Open Rate, 30% Reply Rate



Email #1 [Option A] Subj: Re: Reply trial account – access verified emails/direct #’s] Hi {FirstName}, Thank you for your interest in Reply I’m available to go over your requirements and show you how to best leverage Reply to maximize your results. In addition, I can show you how to access verified emails/contact #’s based on your targeted search criteria. What day works best for you? I will send a meeting invite accordingly.

I look forward to hearing from you. Copy to clipboard

Here we highlighted the benefits of Reply, on the general level (maximizing results) as well as the specific (accessing verified contact data). We finish off by asking what day works best for a meeting, rather than asking a question with a yes/no answer.



Email #2 Subj: Re: Reply trial account setup Hi {FirstName}, I hope all is well. By now you’ve probably uploaded a list and started creating templates to start emailing potential customers. Did you know you can A/B test using Reply? If you would like to learn how I’d be happy to jump on a call with you. I want to make sure I can answer all your questions during this trial period. Let me know what days and times work best for you and I will send a join.me meeting invite accordingly. Copy to clipboard

The first paragraph reminds them of what they could be doing with our service, and if they haven’t already started, this could be a good time. We also ask a direct question, about whether or not they knew about a particularly helpful feature in Reply. If they haven’t used the software yet,

this can give them a helpful nudge toward getting started.



Email #3 Subj: Re: Reply pricing Hi {FirstName}, Are you interested in learning how you can preview and customize the emails on a contact level within a campaign before the next step goes out? If so, I’d be happy to jump on a call with you to show you how. In addition, we can review a pricing plan which works for you and schedule a demo of Reply if needed.

Thoughts? Regards, Copy to clipboard

We open the third email with an immediate question, again highlighting a specific feature to grab their attention.



Email #4 Subj: Re: Reply trial accounts ends in 2 days Hi {FirstName}, I emailed you a few times wanting to chat more about Reply and I understand things get busy. However, your trial is ending soon so now would be a good time to answer any questions you may have with Reply and discuss a pricing plan that works best for you. What day works for you? I’ll send a join.me meeting invite accordingly.

Look forward to hearing from you. Copy to clipboard

The subject line for this email is a reminder that time is running out, and the email itself expands on why they need to act now. Using a sense of urgency is a great way to grab someone’s attention and motivate them to take action.



Email #5 Subj: Re: Come give us another try Hi {FirstName}, A few weeks ago you signed up for a trial of Reply. With Reply, it’s easy to set up your campaigns and follow up like a rockstar. Unfortunately, it looks like you didn’t get the chance to test our system out to its full ability. I understand it can be hard to find the time, so I’d like to welcome you back for another trial. I can always reactivate your trial account for another week or two for a test run. Copy to clipboard

The trial’s over and they’ve still not signed up, even after four emails. Game over, right? Wrong. We use the opportunity to invite them back for another go, so if they missed out on the demo the first time around they still have another chance.



Email #6 Subj: Re: Reply email engine Hi {FirstName}, At Reply, we attracted customers using our own software to follow up on leads for outbound.

In six months we received thousands of inbound trials and hundreds of customers because we did one simple thing. We automated the outbound process and tested messaging until we saw the results of our campaigns. If you’re still sending emails manually, come back to Reply and give us another try Copy to clipboard

If the prospect hasn’t taken us up on our offer to extend their trial and still hasn’t replied, we send one final email. We try a different approach, telling them a brief story about the one simple thing we did to grow our business; everyone is looking for the one simple thing that’ll make all the difference. We finish by inviting them to come back so we can help them do the same and get the results they deserve.

Conclusion

To make the most of your hard-won inbound leads, it’s absolutely essential to have an effective email sequence to nurture them in place. As you can see, we’ve tried different approaches over the years with varying results. However, as a rule, we’ve found that simple emails with a focus on benefits work best. Please, use our templates as you see fit, adjusting them to fit your particular product or service. Just be sure to let us know how you get on!

Of course, if you’re looking for a platform to automate your sales sequence, Reply is designed for you. Whether it’s inbound leads or outbound cold emails, Reply is jam-packed full of features to make the whole process as easy as possible. Learn more and sign up for your free trial today. At the very least, it’ll give you an opportunity to see our latest inbound sequence in action ;)