The world is too busy to reply to your boring and lengthy email. They’re too busy sending assets to x company, replying to their friends on Instagram, and politely not answering the account executive or blogger with less than 1,000 followers who reached out to collaborate. This is much the approach for most professionals today. But don’t get discouraged because as an editor constantly getting pitches, a budding new CEO of a media company, and after 10-years of the back-and-forth, I can officially claim myself a professional emailer. There’s only one tip that will ensure your email gets opened and it’s this: brackets.
See, I have a 95% success open rate. The other 5% of people who don’t reply probably deem themselves too important to do so. But, hey. What do they know about vision and manners anyway, right? See what I did there? It’s called confidence and deflecting.
Remember that rejection of any sort has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. And just because something doesn’t work out once, doesn’t mean you can’t revisit. To be in business, even if it’s just the email side of it, you have to be persistant, lose the shame, and understand rejection so it doesn’t affect you from getting what you want. If you’re always looking to be well-liked, you won’t ever get anywhere.
Anyone who’s ever received an email from me, can tell you I have a signature way of sending emails, and for the most part, they’ve opened it. Take a look at the world’s perfect email subject title:
[FROM TITA] International luxury lifestyle magazine
Though it may look simple and basic, often times simplicity goes a long way. Dissecting this email we see why it works: 1) the brackets stand out from other emails in the receiver’s inbox, 2) adding your name makes it seems like the receiver probably knows you, 3) the contrast between the capital letters and lowercase makes it noticeably prominent, and 4) keywords and copywriting.
When I was the newsletter editor at Nylon, I made sure to keep keywords in mind. The details of my letter are not listed but what this newsletter has done is create interest. You’re probably thinking “ooo, fancy.” It intrigues you: who this person named “Tita” is and what is her relation “International luxury lifestyle magazine?” Use words that dress up your copy. Had I used “lifestyle site” it would’ve had less of an effect to the receiver, but letting them know that CARRA isn’t just a lifestyle site but an international luxury lifestyle magazine gives it more flair and adds truth to the brand based off our CARRA media kit.
If you’re sending out a business proposal, an example header would be:
[FROM NAME] Their Business x Your Business
If you’re sending out a press release, this title could work too:
[FROM NAME] Artisinal Handcrafted Peruvian Pens
Your Turn
Using the tip I shared, craft your email header below and I’ll reply with an edit or a ready-to-send thumbs up . If you have any other tips for an email open-success rate, please share with us!
