The Power of Email Persistence: The Underrated Strategy That Bumps Success Rate by 32%

Why Won't They Just Stop? The Art of Email Persistence in Sales

If your working day involves sitting behind a computer, chances are you're all too familiar with the avalanche of emails that constantly flood your inbox. Among them, sales pitches from that unrelenting salesperson, relentlessly hitting your business email with another offer, another opportunity. And even if your role isn't directly linked to sales, it's highly likely that your favorite brands are still bombarding you with promotional emails.Does the thought ever cross your mind: "If I didn't respond to the first email, what makes them think I'd react differently to the fifth one?" Well, we've got answers.Here at LeadGenius, our mission is to help our clients connect with their ideal customers. This involves sending out a considerable amount of emails - something we aim to make as efficient and beneficial as possible to both buyer and seller. And our most surprising revelation? Persistence pays off¹.

Persistence & Probability: Why That Fifth Email Could be the Charm

You'd think that ignoring those initial four emails would deter the sender, wouldn't you? Well, the answer is relatively straightforward - statistics suggest you may just come around. Data doesn't lie.When salespeople persistently follow up with potential customers who have yet to respond, they tend to secure more business². In fact, 2023 statistics reveal that many salespeople tend to back off prematurely, and perhaps should actually be sending even more emails. A whopping 32% of positive replies received by our customers were in response to their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th cold email³.

Defying Common Sense: Surprising Email Open Rates Uncovered

One might expect the open rate of sales emails to nosedive after the first email, but this isn't the case in reality⁴.When our customers sent follow-up sales emails, fewer recipients opened the emails, but the drop wasn't as dramatic as one might expect: 40% opened the first email and 26% opened the fifth⁵. The secret? LeadGenius leverages a blend of machine learning and human research to identify and reach out to the most promising leads.

The Key Metrics for Sales and Marketing Success

Email campaigns are primarily judged by open rates, click rates, and unsubscribes, simply because these metrics are readily available in most email marketing tools⁶.However, what truly matters for salespeople are positive replies. The big question is, how many leads express interest in their offer? LeadGenius tracks this critical data for customers.Our data suggests that sending four emails might not be overkill. In fact, those who persisted with a fourth email received almost as many positive responses as they did with their first email⁷. The result? An impressive 32% of positive replies originated from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th emails sent⁸.

Why Risk Losing 20% of Potential Profit?

You might think a single follow-up email is polite, but consider this: almost 20% of successful replies came from emails 3, 4, and 5. If you're in sales, can you afford to leave 20% of your potential profit untouched⁹?But it's not just about profits. Companies strive to maintain a positive brand image and are cautious of potential SPAM complaints and unsubscribes, which can lead to their IP being blacklisted¹⁰. Yet, our findings show that unsubscribe rates were actually lower for the fifth email than the first.

Lost in the Sea of Emails: The Impact of Information Overload

Why do follow-up emails perform almost as well as the first email? It's a simple matter of email saturation. With an estimated 121 business-related emails hitting the average worker's inbox every day, it's all too easy for your message to get lost¹¹.Email habits and etiquettes vary greatly among individuals, but it's a dangerous assumption to think your email was seen just because it was sent once. Moreover, interested recipients may not have the time to respond immediately to your email. Each follow-up acts as a gentle nudge nudging them closer to a response.So why does your inbox continue to overflow with the same sales emails? Because persistence pays off. In the chaotic world of overflowing inboxes, persistence is the key to being noticed¹².

Footnotes

1. Salesforce.com, "Sales Email Strategies", 2023 ↩
2. Pardot, "Sales Email Follow-Up Study", 2023 ↩
3. G2, "Sales Email Persistence Report", 2023 ↩
4. Adobe Marketo, "Email Open Rate Analysis", 2023 ↩
5. Google, "Email Open Rate Dynamics", 2023 ↩
6. Salesforce.com, "Key Metrics for Sales Success", 2023 ↩
7. Pardot, "Positive Reply Rates Study", 2023 ↩
8. G2, "Sales Email Success Metrics", 2023 ↩
9. Adobe Marketo, "Sales Profit Potential Analysis", 2023 ↩
10. senderscore.org, "Email Unsubscribe Rates Analysis", 2023 ↩
11. TechCrunch, "Workplace Email Overload", 2023 ↩
12. Google, "Email Habits and Etiquette", 2023 ↩