In sales, fully maximizing your potential to convert leads into customers is important. Reaching out and nurturing prospects through multiple channels – email, voice, web, mobile, social and chat is the best way to do it.

Unfortunately, I have to admit, not everyone is doing it.

According to statistics by Forrester Research, among all the channels mentioned, at least 89% of marketers use email as their primary lead generation channel. 86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes.

While at least 86% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they want to do business with and 15% of them would want to get it daily.

This goes to show that direct mail marketing is still a relevant tool, both for B2C and B2B purposes.

Sad but true, while email is said to be a widely used lead generation platform, not all email lead generation campaigns are successful. Many marketers still struggle in attaining a higher response rate. Well, except those who have nurtured and streamline their email components.

There are several factors to blame to such as; the title, the headline and the quality of the content delivered.

If you are leading a business that confronts similar issues, consider these tips for creating emails that go straight to your audience’s heart – and not their spam folders.

#1) Email often but NOT every day.

For a business to become more profitable, you must get your prospects and customers to trust you. In order to do so, you have to slowly develop a bond and build rapport with them.

Just like when you meet new friends. You constantly build a bond and relationship with them in order for them to trust you. Who would you trust more? A friend you talk to at least once a month or a friend you get to speak with 3 or 5 times a week?

I’ve managed a lot of campaigns and have seen amazing results when we start emailing our prospects more often. The more often we emailed our prospects, the more leads we’ve generated.

But, you have to be smart about it.

DO NOT email blast your list every day. Why? They’ll surely label your email as spam. Instead, treat them like a friend. How? By sending information such as problems they can relate to and make them feel like your product or service is the only solution.

Related: 5 Things Every Prospecting Email Must Have Before Hitting ‘Send’

#2) Personalize your emails.

The Aberdeen Group showed that personalized emails, or messages that take into account the needs of specific groups of decision-makers, “improve click-through rates by 14%, and conversion rates by 10%.”

So, don’t write boring emails. Different prospects have different needs. Regardless if you’re talking to a teenager, a new grad or a CEO of one of the biggest companies in Singapore, the fact is, they’re all people.

And what do they all want?

They want to deal with real people. They want to be engaged. They want a little drama. Give them something they can relate to.

So, the next time you email your prospects, be sure to remember that before clicking “send”.

#3) Create a sense of urgency.

When a prospect feels a sense of urgency, they are more likely to make a quick decision. But why should your prospects open and respond to you in the first place? It has been revealed that people react more to messages that present certain issues. For example; “Having trouble with poor sales? Talk with us.”

How to create a sense of urgency in your emails?

Set a deadline. For example, “Offer is good for today, only.”

Use time-sensitive language. For example; “Here’s your last chance, offer expires tomorrow.”

These tips will help you grab the attention of your prospects that will make them act immediately.

Related: 40 B2B Sales Email Templates for Every Situation [Free PDF]

#4) Simplify your language.

The tricky part of email marketing is constructing compelling calls-to-action in as few words as possible. So, to get prospects to take actions, use a clear and direct call-to-action. This way, it’ll be easier for your readers to know what you want them to do.

You may want to provide your prospects with all the information they need, but it’s best to reserve that part of the sales appointment.For now, provide your emails with simple and clear language. Sticking to this principle will help keep your audience to listen.

#5) Do split testing.

Before you decide to blast, it is best to split your list into 2 portions ( or more depending on the size of your list). Create different emails – short teasers or longer emails with more information, a negative or positive subject lines. Then, start testing to know what can give you insights into what your prospects want and who responds to it.

Each test will give you insights that you can use in the future as to what works best depending on the behavior of your prospects. Over time you’ll seem to develop a 6th sense – the ability to “predict” what your market will respond to, which leads to higher profits!

“To open or not to open?” or “To respond or not to respond?” These are the dilemmas all of us are going through whenever we open our inbox or reading an email. But over time, the tips mentioned above will help you develop the ability to predict the behavior of your prospects which leads to higher response rates and conversion.

Grab a FREE copy of 40 B2B Sales Email Templates for Every Situation! These 40 examples have all been hand-picked from a variety of sources that tested these templates in terms of opens, click-throughs, and replies