Writing a good email to get a response whether it is for a new job or reaching a new prospect is similar to a successful online marketing strategy, as different factors (such as on-page optimization, content development, social media, link building, etc.) come into play for the perfect equation.

Most emails have become like paper ads in the mailbox. People get a lot of them every single day and discard them without even looking at them. If your email is genuinely important and need a response, it has to be meaningful for the recipient and stand out from the rest. In this article, we review important factors to include in writing effective emails to increase response rate.

1. Use appealing subject lines and personalize them:

There is nothing more irritating but to receive emails titled as “Hi” or “How are you?”, as people may receive a large quantity of them or they might just be considered as spam by your recipient’s email hosting provider. According to ConvinceandConvert.com,, 35% of recipients just open emails based on the subject line only. As it is the first content recipients see on their device, subject lines needs to be attractive and concise. They also need to be meaningful. Deceiving subject titles is not an option, as they might be read but immediately discarded if the title completely differs from the email’s body. Including the first name of the recipient in the subject line is also a good attention getter. In case you are sending frequent newsletters, adding the date at the end of the line is a good idea for distinguishing them in searches from a recipient’s standpoint.

Examples using appealing subject lines and personalization:

• Peter, your view on my project would add tremendous value

• Bob, would appreciate if you could join my next conference

• Help connect with John Doe for business development

2. Email length

Depending on the nature of the email, its length plays a crucial role. As for the subject line, the email’s body needs to be concise but precise in order to trigger the intended reactions. Try to avoid single sentence or cluttered emails. Well-rounded correspondences are often divided in two paragraphs, as it is visually well-balanced and pleasant for the eyes to read.

3. Personalize your greeting line

Do your research in order to find out the name of the person you are trying to reach, as it will show that you actually put some efforts into reaching the right person. This “self-intuitive” technique is particularly viable when you are looking for a job. Instead of the usual “Dear recruiting manager”, start with the first name you found such as “Hello Kimberley”. Moreover, chances of getting replies are multiplied by almost 2 when there are more than recipients in the fields “To” and “CC”, according to Yesware.com. For instance, if you are looking for a marketing position, you could send your “motivation letter” along with your resume to the person in charge of recruitment and the marketing person supervising the department.

4. First Paragraph

It should engage the recipient so that he/she wants to keep reading the correspondence until the end like the first ten minutes of any good movie. Like the greeting line, some research needs to be done about the person you are contacting, as the first paragraph will talk about the recipient only in order to get closer to him/her in the following paragraph.

Example:

• It was enlightening to read your report about doing business in Thailand. I found out more about it in the article you just published and I believe you are the right person I can contact to advise on my business venture.

5. Second Paragraph – Straight to the point

As you already showed your research and recognition to the recipient, it is the perfect time to be direct and say what you need to convey in a precise fashion. Tell what you did or are trying to do and explain the purpose of your email.

Example:

• I want to open a marketing business in Thailand. I already contacted a few banks to open a business account but I am wondering how to proceed, as I have no tax id yet.

6. The ending part

Usually, the ending part is composed of one or two sentences that will recap the goal behind the correspondence in a well-mannered fashion.

Example:

I would love if you could share with me some legal advice on how to proceed so that I can start applying for my work permit.

Looking forward to reading from you!

Best regards,

<Sender’s name>

7. Pick the best time to send emails

Now your email is ready to send, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should send it right away. According to Yesware.com that conducted a study over half a million of emails in the first quarter of 2014, sending emails on the weekends increases response rate by almost 7 points. In other words, 45.8% of sent electronic correspondences got answered. A plausible explanation is that people tend to receive less emails on the weekends and that correspondences are more likely to stand out and get more attention.

However, in case you need to send emails on regular working days, the same research shows that while there is no best day to send emails, it is preferable to send messages early mornings and evenings when competition is low. Depending on the kind of emails and audience, this strategy might increase the chance of success in getting your messages replied.

See how your email response rate increase

While this strategy doesn’t guarantee 100% response rate, as it is ultimately up to the person who receives emails to reply, we found that using the described methodology can be helpful, as it increased our email response rate by 50 percent.

Please feel free to share your ideas and strategies in the comment section below. If you need marketing advice, you can contact the author of this article.