Rehumanize Your Business

by Ethan Beute

  To functionally eliminate cold calls, follow his lead. Introduce yourself through video, then follow up based on the reply or on the video play alert. These tips for connecting with cold prospects are written toward video email, but you can apply them to social messaging if you've got that network connection or to text messaging if you've got her or his mobile number.

  To increase opens, write your subject line like you're writing to a family member, friend, or coworker. Don't capitalize the first letter of every word. Use less formal and more casual language. Yes, you can use emojis if it's something you'd normally do. If you do use an emoji or two, try to make them relevant to the theme or message rather than simply being cute or fun. And whether it's emojis or some other approach, mix it up. Don't do the same thing every time.

  Just as you want to make the subject line personal, the email itself should feel personal when your prospect opens it up. This means plain text instead of graphics-heavy HTML email designs. It also means concise, plain language rather than jargon-filled sales and marketing speak. Ideally (and sadly), it should be written to the 3rd grade level. When you do this, your video stands out more, especially if it's an animated preview that shows the person's name or another highly relevant detail.

  Almost any system can mail merge or slug in a [First Name]. You might even be able to fake a name or highly relevant detail into a video thumbnail image or animated preview in front of an evergreen video. Tricking someone into thinking an evergreen video is personal, something that's easily discerned, probably isn't the best start to a relationship. It's like those fake handwritten notes. You know what can't be faked? Saying the person's name and speaking in specific detail when your recipient clicks play. This is the difference between personal and personalized. It's a difference people can feel. Showing each person that you took the time to do two minutes of research and record a truly personal 45-second video will dramatically improve your response rates.

  A Personal Video to Every Prospect!?

  You might be thinking, I can't send a video to every prospect! And you may be right. Your contact volume may be too high. But before you write it off completely, let's look at this idea through a segmenting exercise. If you send an email to 1,000 people and get a 25% open rate and 5% click rate, you'll get 12 or 13 people to wherever the click points. But if you sent a more targeted and, in theory, more relevant email to 250 people and get a 40% open rate and 12.5% click rate, you'll get the same number of people to the destination while annoying or negatively training many hundreds fewer people.

  Now think about your quota, whether it's appointments set, appointments held, pipeline velocity, closed revenue, or another measure. Opens, clicks, and replies are all upstream. You can start with fewer people, but still exceed your goal simply by being more effective. Use your tracking, analytics, and alerts to follow up on your best opportunities in a truly personal way.

  As is the case in so many aspects of our lives, the answer here is probably somewhere in between—some truly personal sends and some canned or automated sends. Do you have a half-dozen prospects named Charles who have two or three characteristics in common? Make the video email once and use it for all six (we're only partly kidding). On those canned or automated video emails, send based on triggers. For example, when these three criteria are met, send this video email to that person. You can speak to the trigger in such a way that the video truly feels personal; you can also add those details to your whiteboard note. We've both sent and received emails like this; they can be very effective. From there, pay attention to your analytics and use that information to follow up with the right people, in the right way, at the right time. For a model around this follow-up, turn to the next chapter.

  NOTES

  1. Williams, Robert. “Study: Email Marketing Revenue Hits Record Growth.” Mobile Marketer. June 22, 2017. https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/study-email-marketing-revenue-hits-record-growth/445565/.

  2. Forer, Laura. Email Optimization: Case Studies and Actionable Tips [Infographic]. September 27, 2018. https://i.marketingprofs.com/assets/images/daily-chirp/180927-infographic-email-marketing-optimization-hacks-full.jpg.

  3. Waldow, D. J., and Falls, Jason. The Rebel's Guide to Email Marketing: Grow Your List, Break the Rules, and Win (Indianapolis: Que Publishing, 2012).

  4. Beute, Ethan. “Test Results: Animated GIF Delivers 48.9% Lift in Video Play Rate.” BombBomb. April 7, 2016. https://bombbomb.com/blog/animated-gif-video-play-rate-test-results/.

  5. “Principles of Persuasion.” Influence at Work. Accessed September 28, 2018. https://www.influenceatwork.com/principles-of-persuasion/.

  6. Weinschenk, Susan. “The Power of the Word ‘Because' to Get People to Do Stuff.” Psychology Today. October 15, 2013. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-wise/201310/the-power-the-word-because-get-people-do-stuff.

  CHAPTER 11

  So, You Sent a Video … Now What?

  You recorded a simple webcam or smartphone video and sent it to someone. Or you sent it to a list of people. Great! The more comfortable and familiar you get with this process, the more time you'll save by talking instead of typing. The more frequently your team connects with people personally, the more you'll accelerate sales and improve customer experience. Remember the OMG reply received by a software salesperson that we shared in the first chapter? No need to flip back, here it is again: “OMG that is the BEST email I have honestly EVER received! I mean no joke. It made me smile and I will give you any agenda you need! Wow! Totally made my day!”

  That won't happen every time, but you can reasonably expect to receive more and warmer responses when you send personal videos in place of plain text. So, find your own top times to send video in emails, texts, and social. Figure out how video messages fit in with your phone calls, video conferences, text emails, and other communication. Start the practice and build the habit. And make the most of every second of video you record and every second of video that's watched.

  In other words, have an answer to this question: So, you sent a video … now what?

  What do you do if your email to one person doesn't get opened? What do you do if your video to a list of people only gets played by a few of them? What if your video email doesn't generate an immediate reply? We'll give you answers to all that and more. Adapt and apply these same tactics to your videos in text messaging or social messaging as needed.

  HOW TRACKING HELPS YOU FOLLOW UP MORE EFFECTIVELY

  You post a video, image, or a link on Facebook. They report 1,120 impressions. But your page has 18,705 fans. That's a 6% organic reach. Congratulations, you did better than average! But email would easily have reached four or five times more people. And you'd know exactly who each and every one of them was.

  You upload a video to YouTube. They report 1,673 views. Nice. But who are the viewers and how can you follow up with them? Were 194 of the views from your Aunt Peggy and another 317 from the employee featured in the video? Or were they 1,673 unique individuals who represent legitimate opportunities to connect?

  While we're at it, did anyone listen to those 64 voicemails you left yesterday? You'd have much better answers to these questions by mixing some video email into your outreach. So, pay attention to your tracking, analytics, and alerts. By knowing what a prospect, client, recruit, team member, supplier, or another stakeholder in your success did or didn't do with your video email, you're equipped with the information you need to follow up more effectively. You'll be better prepared to follow up at the right time and speak to what this person did or didn't see, experience, or do.

  WHAT TO DO IF YOUR VIDEO EMAIL DIDN'T GET OPENED

  To One Person

  Have you given the person enough time to open it? The line between persistence and annoyance is thin. Give people 48 hours to take a look at it. And if you get an out-of-office reply, take note of the date of return. Even though most of us check our work email when we're out of the office, some people don't. Some systems will remind you to follow up on
an unopened email or even resend it for you. For example, BombBomb allows you to set that reminder before sending, so it'll resurface the email in a day, a week, or whenever you want.

  As for resending, that's your next step. But don't just send the exact same email again. Especially if you're sending into a cold situation, think through the elements that encourage people to open emails. Are your displayed name and email address consistent with each other and easily identifiable? Did you make clear in your subject line that something specific, useful, or interesting awaits inside? Is there another subject line you've used in a similar circumstance that was effective? Change up the subject line on a resend to reiterate the value or opportunity and resend it.

  If your one-to-one video email didn't get opened, as in Figure 11.1, another option is to simply reply to the original video email and add a short line of text related to the value or opportunity; we'll detail this tactic in the discussion of what to do if your video doesn't get played.

  FIGURE 11.1 – If Your Video Email Didn't Get Opened

  To a List of People

  For an average mass send, one in four or one in five people will open your email. For a well-segmented send, you might get to one in two or three people. If you've got a great subject line and great targeting, you might get to a 70% or 75% open rate, but that's as rare these days as a 10% organic reach with a Facebook post.

  In a likelier scenario, more people will leave your mass email unopened than will open it. The first, most obvious question to ask in assessing who opened and who didn't is about how well targeted the email is. Did you send it to people who were unlikely to be interested? Did you just “blast” it out? Again, doing that for speed or from laziness is the fastest way to torch the value of the email addresses people have given you.

  Assuming you did a reasonable job of sending your video email to people who would find it timely, relevant, and anticipated, further segment the original list down to people who didn't open the email. Any email system or CRM worth its subscription price should make this easy to do. Some will even do it automatically by allowing you to write workflow rules with if/then statements—if a person does this, then send this follow up, add her to this list, or tag her with this tag. In BombBomb, you can create new lists based on action or non-action for email opens, link clicks, and video plays from the main email tracking screen. Your system should have a similar ability.

  From here, you have the same two options as above, but we recommend only one. You can get away with a reply and the RE: with your original subject line in a personal send but using RE: and FWD: can feel a little spammy on a mass email. Instead, take the other recommendation. Create a new subject line that has more curiosity or more specificity related to the value inside the email, then resend it to your segmented lists of non-openers. Prior to doing this, we recommend waiting an extra day—72 hours or 3 days for a mass send, rather than 48 hours or 2 days on a personal send.

  WHAT TO DO IF YOUR VIDEO DIDN'T GET PLAYED

  To One Person

  When you get started building trust and relationships through personal videos, you might feel shocked and disappointed that your play rate isn't 100%. You took the time to record it, so why wouldn't someone play it?! Feel free to linger in that moment, but don't wallow in it. (for simply “100% is perfection.”). It's worth aspiring to, but you can't beat yourself up when you fall short. And you shouldn't quit the practice over it, either. Depending on how well you put together the elements shared in the previous chapter (targeting, subject line, email body, etc.), you might expect something more in the 50–75% range. But, again, experiencing you in person is an extremely high level of email engagement.

  When you send a one-to-one video email that gets opened but that doesn't produce a video play, take a look at it. Did the subject line include the word “video” or make clear the value contained in the video? What did the static thumbnail image or animated preview of your video look like? Did you use a whiteboard or another device to make clear that it was truly personal and highly relevant? Or did you make a screen recording and start with something very specific and recognizable? Did you use a line or two of typed-out text above or below the video to further promise value and compel the click to play?

  When someone understands that your video is truly one-to-one, it will stand out in his inbox and beg for a video play just like a handwritten note jumps out from all the junk mail in your traditional mailbox. The subject line, preview, and supporting text should work together to provide that understanding.

  So, if your video doesn't get played, follow the steps for a non-open. Reply to the email and add a line or two of text reinforcing the reason you recorded and sent the video and reminding them of the opportunity (consider using the word “because” in asking for the play!). Or resend the email with a similar subject line, but better supporting text. An additional step is to go to the phone or another channel besides email. You know she knows you sent the video email, because she opened it. Leave a voicemail and refer to the video you sent and value it represents. Ask her to play the video and give you a call with a question about a specific detail or aspect of the video to create that curiosity gap, value assurance, and fear of missing out.

  The video play should be closely linked in time to the email open, but consider giving another 12 to 24 hours after the original email open before reaching back out about the video play. A recipient may be excited about your video email, take a look at it during a meeting or appointment, but can't yet watch the video. This will result in an open, but no play. And you know how the day goes sometimes; even with the best intentions, he may forget to go back to it right away after getting tied up in other things after the meeting or appointment that prevented a video play concurrent with the email open. Let it sit. Be patient. Then follow up the next day if he's not played the video, as seen in Figure 11.2.

  FIGURE 11.2 – If Your Video Didn't Get Played

  If you're open to adding another step to your process, you can run your video through a transcription app like Apple's Clips to add a text transcription over your video, so people can read along without having the sound on. Search the App Store or Google Play for something like “video transcription app” to review options. If you go this route, be sure to include in the text that supports your video that people can watch with the sound off if they prefer. Obviously, this option is available to you when you send to a list of people, as well.

  To a List of People

  You might look at a 12% or 18% or even 24% video play rate on a mass email and think, This doesn't work. But it does. Click-through rates on mass emails are typically below 5%. And a video play is a much higher level of engagement. The people who clicked play experienced you in person. You created another trackable behavior. You helped drive the ultimate call to action with your very best and most persuasive asset … you! Your face, smile, expertise, enthusiasm, and all those qualities lost when you rely on text and static images to represent you. Still, as with email opens, you're not going to reach 100% on mass sends. And, as with email opens, it's difficult to get up over 50% except when it's extremely well targeted.

  So, what do you do with the people who opened your email, but didn't play your video? Think about your video's relationship to the mass send. Was the video primarily a means to a separate, higher end? Or was the video an end in itself, the ultimate goal of the send? If it's a means to an end, your follow-up should be to focus on the broader opportunity, not on the video play. Segment the non-plays, then send another email or video email—or use a different communication channel.

  If your mass video email has the video play as the desired outcome, segment the non-plays, then proceed with one of these two techniques (or blend them to create your own solution). First, you could duplicate then modify the original video email. Double-check the subject line. Strip out of the email body any friction or distraction from the video; everything should drive to the video play. Double-check the supporting text in the email body to make sure
it's aligned with that goal. Then, send that updated email to your non-play segment.

  As a second option, something we like to do that works really well is to send a completely new, lightweight email that links back to the original mass video email. This is like the inline reply to the unplayed video sent to one person but altered to accommodate mass sending. Most systems, whether an email marketing platform, a CRM, or another mass sending tool, should give you a link to your email. Get that link for the original video email you sent. Think of it as a click-through landing page for this new, text-only email. Promise the one or two most compelling or valuable things each person will get by playing the video. Write that into a short email and provide one clear link to your original video email. Consider using a subject line similar to your first send, because these people chose to open that original send. Make sure it's aligned with the value of the video, though, so that it works together with the contents of the email to deliver your desired outcome … more video plays.