A few weeks ago, my team sent out an email campaign to a list of targeted prospects who weād identified as āinterestedā in our services. It was a simple nurturing email that was designed to check on the prospect and evaluate where they stood.
The email was helpful and casual, highlighting an anecdote that was relevant to their situation. But that doesnāt mean every prospect was happy about receiving it. In fact, one person fired back a snarky response that caught me off guard. For a moment, I felt the urge to hit reply and send an equally snarky reply, but I resisted that temptation and took the high road instead.
Hereās why: Trading snark for snark would have undoubtedly killed the relationship. Showing patience and understanding, however, could have the opposite effect.
With all the emails people receive today, youāre bound to get complaints. But before responding to those complaints, itās important to consider the context.
If youāre using an email nurturing strategy, itās likely that youāre consistently sending emails. And if you donāt have a list of contacts who already know you, these people may not readily appreciate the great content youāre sending. Add in the fact that nurturing emails are often written in a more personalized style, and itās possible that prospects will assume youāve written them a 1:1 email.
One email like that isnāt likely to elicit an angry response from a disinterested prospect. But frequent emails asking for a meeting or sharing a specific article might cause confusion and, in extreme circumstances, anger.
Those are natural reactions.
Itās your job to help those prospects understand why youāre writing them. After all, you chose them to be part of your email list for a reason. Tell them why.
At the end of the day, thatās really the purpose of lead generation ā to start a conversation.
While youād obviously prefer that conversation to begin on more positive terms, itās still an opportunity you shouldnāt ignore. The sheer fact that the prospect responded proves your emails caught their attention and they read what you sent.
Use their response as permission to respond with a polite, friendly email that genuinely apologizes for any error. Then, wait.
If the prospect replies, you can gauge that response and determine if itās worth trying to set up a phone conversation. Either way, youāll likely avoid losing the contact entirely when they discover thereās a real ā and reasonable ā person behind the automated emails, which most certainly would have been the case if you hadnāt taken the high road.
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