By Jenna Hanington,
Unanswered emails — the modern epidemic.

It’s no secret that the digitization of our culture has started to impact our personal relationships, and our business relationships have not escaped unscathed. With the anonymity afforded to us by the internet, it’s much easier to hide behind our computer screens and hit “delete” instead of responding to the requests that land in our inbox.

If you’re in marketing or sales, this makes our jobs that much harder. Not only do we have to fight our way past our recipients’ cluttered inboxes(according to Return Path, subscribers receive 416 commercial messages a month, on average), our emails then become subject to the whims of our recipients, which more often than not, involve some variation of “I’ll respond to this later.”

While there’s only so much that marketers and salespeople can do to prevent their emails from being deleted or ignored, there are a few things we can avoid to make sure our emails aren’t disqualified right off the bat. Let’s take a look at some of the fatal flaws that often cause our emails to go unanswered, and see what we can do to remedy them:

"They're Sending Me Another Email??"

When was the last time you emailed the list you’re about to blast? Was it this week? Last week? A month ago? Depending on the type of email that you’re sending, you’ll want to be very careful about your email frequency. For example, Mathew Sweezey, Marketing Evangelist at Pardot,recommends that lead nurturing emails be sent no fewer than six days apart, while other communications like a newsletter can be sent on more of a monthly basis. Keep in mind, one of the biggest reasons that people unsubscribe from emails is over communication. 

"TLDR"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, your email recipients use the “too long, didn’t read” excuse just as frequently as teenagers do. There’s nothing worse than opening one of your emails only to be greeted by paragraphs of marketing copy. Your readers don’t want to waste time searching through your text to find the crux of your email — they want your message to be straightforward and clear. Use only as many words as you need to get your point across, and no more. 

"I Can Barely Read This On My Phone."   

Return path estimates that 43% of all emails are now being opened via a mobile device. This number is only going to increase — so if you’re not optimizing your email templates for mobile, you may be missing out on a huge chunk of your audience. Start thinking “mobile first” with your email design by creating a few simple, responsive email templates. Look at it this way: by making it easier to view your emails across devices and browsers, your open rates can only go up.

"Slow Down There, Buddy."

When you’re first getting to know someone, you tend to ease into the relationship, don’t you? You wouldn’t run through your family history and recent ailments with someone you just met — and the rules are no different for your email relationships. Be careful that you’re not overloading your email recipients with unnecessary information, especially if you’re still just getting to know each other. By offering too much information, you risk scaring your readers away, instead of positioning yourself as a helpful resource that they can come to with additional questions. If your email recipients want more information, they’ll ask for it.

"I Wonder How Many People Got This Same Email?"

A huge mistake that marketers and salespeople frequently make is neglecting to personalize their emails. If your message sounds like a generic sales email, chances are much higher that it will just get deleted. Personalized communications and web experiences, on the other hand, have been shown to increase sales by 19%, according to a 2013 study by eConsultancy. Today’s buyers are looking for more personalized sales experiences from businesses, and the companies that are able to deliver are leaving their competitors in the dust.