We’re always learning something, but the last couple of weeks have been especially productive.

Steve Burnett introduced us to the 9 Word Email, a tactic designed and proven to engage your email list.

We used it last week to shake the tree during this unseasonably warm February, and got some excellent results.

What it is and how it works.

The nine word email is exactly that -- a nine word message. A question to your email lists, based on your relationship with the people in the list. The 9-word email was developed for a re-engagement campaign for the real estate industry by Dean Jackson.

So to a list of inactive prospects you might ask:

“Are you still planning to get air conditioning this spring?”

That’s it. Four possible things will happen:

1. They reply and say no, or that they have already done the project. At least you now know and you can clean up your list.
2. They open the email but don't respond. (We plan on sending this group another email with an offer to see if they just needed a little more of an incentive.)
3. They don't do anything. No big deal, you're no worse off than before the email.
4. They reply and say yes!

No links in the email. No calls to action. Just your straightforward question.

Studies have shown that as more and more people are using their phones to text than to actually talk, emails that resemble texting are having more success. People appreciate that you respect their time and get to the point.

I know I do.

You’ve heard that a compelling subject line is critical to achieving better than average open rates. According to MailChimp, average open rates for email in the home and garden sector is 23.8%. ¹

Here are the results from three 9 Word Emails we did this past week.

What was so compelling about our subject line that got them to open?

Their name.

We used the personalization feature of the email marketing software to pull the recipient’s first and last name into the subject line. That’s it.

People saw their name in the subject, opened the email, and before they could decide they didn’t have time to read the email, they were finished reading.

The Bottom Line

• 643 emails sent
• 60+ responses directly from the customer
• 6 estimates scheduled
• 4 requests for financing and rebate information
  
• 1 installation scheduled with a prospect quoted but not closed from last summer

It’s no surprise that 70% of people opened these emails on their mobile device, and while this was a very simple, text-based message, all your emails should be designed for the mobile phone user experience.

Action Required

Segment your lists. - Break your email list into groups that represent your relationship with the person, for example, you might have the following lists:

• Air conditioning prospects
• Heater prospects
• Customers
• Service Plan holders
• Oil Customers
• Prospects who went dormant after receiving a quote and didn't reply to normal follow-up
• Tire kickers that downloaded a product guide, but never scheduled an estimate

Create the right 9 word question for each list. Unless you only do one thing, you know that a question you ask a potential air conditioning install prospect will be very different from a question you would ask an oil customer. Think this through for each of your segments and come up with a list of questions you can ask them whenever you need to fire off a 9 Word Email.

Break your lists up into manageable numbers. There's nothing more painful than executing a successful marketing tactic, only to overwhelm your staff resources resulting in a poor customer experience. You can prevent this by sending out smaller batches of emails over a number of days. This also gives you an opportunity to experiment with your messaging. Measure the results of two 100 name emails, then go all-in on the best performer.

Create a Process. Select the person in your shop who will receive replies, and make sure you have a process in place to deal with the possible outcomes. Some people will request information, some will schedule. If your CSR has to communicate with 20 or 30 people inside a 24 hour window, it's nice to have template emails in place that your CSR can simply trigger to send automatically.

Pull the Trigger! Do not become paralyzed by self doubt. Put quality time into coming up with your questions, but then make a decision about the wording and get it done! I can't emphasize this strongly enough. On a day when you need the phone to ring, this is a super simple tactic you can deploy quickly to make a difference immediately.

Send your email early in the morning, Tuesday through Friday. If you keep Saturday hours, Saturday works too. We see our best overall results sending emails out between 6:00 and 6:30 am.

If you've ever used this tactic or you give it a shot, we'd love to hear about your results. 

¹ Resources / MailChimp Research - Email Marketing Benchmarks