31% Reply Rate on Sales Emails [Case Study]

To increase email reply rate, stack five ingredients in every campaign: tight prospect segmentation, compelling subject lines, deep personalization, tailor-made content, and perseverance across 5 to 9 follow-ups. One Overloop customer hit a 30.95% reply rate and 78.57% open rate on a single tourist-office campaign by doing exactly this. No magic, just discipline applied to each touch.

And the good thing is, allergies to those are quite rare.

We at Overloop have a customer who offers a tool designed to make social media communication easier. It gives their users access to ready-made campaigns and scenarios as well as to a CRM in order to gather data about their own customers so as to really know them and create loyalty.

A while ago, their sales team was looking for a new customer segment to approach via email. So after doing some careful research, they decided to target tourist offices.

The result? They managed to generate a 78.57% open rate and, more importantly, a 30.95% reply rate in a single campaign. That's right, more than 30% of prospects actually bothered to reply.

So, what are the ingredients?

• Prospect segmentation
• Compelling subject lines
• Personalization
• Tailor-made content
• Perseverance

Let's break it down!

Prospect Segmentation

They didn't want to get in touch with just any tourist office. They decided to narrow it down to a specific region in France and to exclude ski resorts since those would require their own specific campaign and content. [HBR]

Personalized Emails and Content

We usually recommend to set up 5 steps... our customer did 9 -- yeah, perseverance! But it didn't get that far since most customers replied within the first 2 emails.

Let's check those out!

STEP 1

Subject: back from a weekend trip

Hi {{prospect_first_name}},

I'm writing to you because I just spent the weekend in your region. I thought of you because here at {{user_company_name}}, we've been working with several actors from your sector such as [EXAMPLE 1], [EXAMPLE 2] or [EXAMPLE 3].

In total, more than X partners are trusting us with their digital campaigns and operations. Our clients in tourism implement those through a complete engagement cycle that allows them to get closer to their visitors and keep in touch all year long. This why we can help:

• You have a beautiful region to promote. To that end, you'll get ready-made marketing operations that you can launch on your various platforms.
• You have residents and tourists coming back every year... but do you really know them? What kind of accommodations do they like? What kind of activities? Do they travel as a family? As a couple? Our operations will allow you to better know them and set up dedicated scenarios through our CRM platform.

I'd like to hop on a quick call with you for a demo, are you available shortly?

Have a nice day!
Kind regards,

[Signature]

Brilliant, right?

Let's see what they did:

Subject line: "back from a weekend trip"

Why is it good? Because it's: relevant to the target, as well as attention-grabbing and not salesy.

They use that pretext to write to the prospect and immediately put forward the similar companies they're already working with, to make it relatable and provide social proof.

Then, they explain what it is they do, without going into details and outline two big reasons why the product could benefit them, starting by the fact that they have great assets to promote.

They end by asking for a quick call.

STEP 2

The time has come to follow up. Here's what it looks like:

Subject: re: back from a weekend trip

Hi {{prospect_first_name}},

I hope you're doing great.

In my previous mail I evoked the case of [EXAMPLE 1]. Here's a more precise example:

Thanks to an online contest they created on our platform, not only did they offer the idea of a pleasant weekend with free access to lots of activities, they also qualified their visitors and communities in order to engage on a more personal level. This was set up in a few minutes thanks to our interface.

And thanks to data, they can now craft campaigns to incite specific segments of visitors to come and check out their city; because it's easier to engage them when you truly know them and their interests. If you'd like to know more, here's the case study.

Would you be available later this week for a personalized presentation?

Cheers!

PS: Maybe you're not the right contact at {{prospect_company_name}}, please let me know :)

This, right here: pure gold!

Some might advise not to use the "re:" in a follow-up email since spammers tend to use it a lot. But in this case, it clearly didn't affect the deliverability of the campaign because the rest was on point.

Not only does the company follow up, they also create consistency by referring to a previous example. And not only do they refer to it, they expand by giving a concrete case which also serves as advice; in other words: free tailor-made content.

And then comes the offer: a free personalized presentation.

They're not afraid of really putting themselves out there and put in the effort of making it even more personal in order to bring value. And that's how you boost that reply rate.

The Rest of the Sequence

The rest of the campaign consists either in simple follow-ups or in more targeted and free content, highlighting how their product can help the prospect achieve the strategy described in the content.

Conclusion

As I said before, the recipe is up to you and depends on who you plan on serving it to. But it must always taste of:

• Personalization
• Transparency
• Confidence and trust
• Competence
• Added value

And, depending on your target, a pinch of humor can do wonders!

Want to replicate these results? Check out our complete guide on how to write cold emails that get replies, or see our breakdown of best subject lines for sales emails to boost your open rates even further.