This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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So there's this new trend in emailing that you might have received some of these messages depending on your role at work or if you're self-employed, depending on the kind of emails that you get. And basically it's like automated follow-ups. You get an email asking for something and then if you don't respond, you get a follow-up which seems like it's personal but it's actually kind of automated. And it's like, hey, so-and-so just wanted to check in on this, you know, or like, here's another point I wanted to make in my first email. It's usually when there's some kind of pitch like the person is pitching something or they're trying to get a call set up.
And if you don't work in the kind of field where you get these emails, well, then that's probably good because they can be a little bit annoying. They're annoying, but they're also effective. That's why people do them. So let's talk a bit about it. How can you set up automated follow-up emails and potentially ones that are not annoying?
That's what Karen from Naperville, Illinois wants to know about. If you have a side hustle and you're trying to make appointments, generate leads, make sales, you know, there's all kinds of goals that might be applicable to these kinds of follow-up messages. So let's talk about how to improve your email marketing game without being annoying. Some tips and strategies. Her question and my answer coming right up.
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Hello, I'm Karen from Naperville, Illinois. I'm interested in setting up automated follow-up emails for my home sales business to follow up on potential leads. What are some best practices for creating effective automated follow-up email sequences? How can I make sure these emails are engaging and hopefully not too annoying? I'm noticing that it's harder than ever to get people's attention these days.
So I'm looking for any advantage I can find. All right, Karen, let's talk about how to do this in an effective way that is not annoying. So these automated follow-up emails, like I said, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine because I get so many of them and usually it relates to the fact that the pitch, the initial pitch was not good. And so if the initial pitch is not good, it's like I hear from people every single day, like a dozen people who are like, I've got a great guest for your podcast. I'm like, my podcast doesn't have guests.
We've never had guests in 2,800 plus episodes. We have content, we have listener submissions, but that's a little bit different than like bringing somebody on to tell their life story. And so every day I get pitches and then I get, hey, did you see this message? Hey, I still think so and so would be great to be on your show. And that's just negative value as opposed to like persistence, which can be rewarded.
So what are some best practices to make sure it's effective and not annoying? Segmenting your audience. Make sure that these people who are getting these automated messages are actually relevant and are actually like your target leads, whatever your industry is or your side hustle or however you're trying to reach people, are they the right people to be getting these messages? Second, personalization goes a long way. Just don't overdo it.
Like you get bulk messages that are like, hey, Chris, and then they're using my name multiple times in the email, what do you think about this, Chris? But it's obvious that it's some kind of AI tool. Like that's just not good. So a little bit of personalization is good. A little too much, not so great.
And then just think through the whole email sequence so that each message has a specific purpose and flows naturally from one to the next. So it's not just, hey, checking in again. Hey, checking in again. That's no fun. Next, schedule wisely.
Like time is crucial when it comes to follow-up emails. Like 48 hours later is good. Maybe 72 hours, maybe like a week after that. I wouldn't do it too much more than that. And if it's months apart, that doesn't really make sense either.
Next, test and optimize. Like if you're gonna try this, try different subject lines. Try different email content. Do some A/B testing so you can see what actually works versus what doesn't. And last but not least, which we've already talked about a little bit, respect their inbox.
I give people an easy way to opt out. Make sure each email actually provides value. Avoid this salesy content. It's just overly salesy, and I have nothing wrong with making sales, to be clear. It's okay to sell, but avoid overly salesy language.
Karen, good luck out there. It's a jungle, but I'm sure you're gonna do it the right way. Listeners, I'm cheering you on as well. Always wishing you the best. Let me know if we can be helpful.
sidehustleschool.com. Some resources, a notes page for every episode, and much more is coming up. This was 2,829. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
