Email Sequencing and Account Research
Discover the difference between generic automation and targeted, human-like email sequences. We'll discuss new sequencing processes that combine AI's efficiency with a human touch for booking meetings
Today, every company is leveraging automated email sequences to warm prospects through a combination of value and follow-up emails at a frequent intervals.
But there are too many questions floating around:
How exactly does the email sequence work?
What are the current outcomes?
How can we use AI with email sequence?
What’s the new workflow of email sequence with AI for higher conversions?
We are going to cover all these questions below…
Traditional Email Sequence: Step-by-Step Workflow
1. Marketing and Sales Setup
- Value Message 1: Start with a strong value proposition.
- Value Message 2: Reinforce the benefits.
- Follow-Up: Check-in and show interest.
- Value Message 3: Add more value to the conversation.
- And so on...: The sequence continues with a mix of value and follow-ups.
2. Reply Triggers
- Stop the Sequence: If the person replies or books a demo, the automation stops.
- Enter the Funnel: The sequence is stopped manually if they engage through other means.
Email Sequence - Typical Use cases
Sales Leaders use different approaches for different scenarios.
They customize email sequences to specific use cases for higher engagement and results.
Lead Nurturing Sequence
Use Case:
- Industry: SaaS
- Customer Type: Mid-market companies
- Motion Type: Product-led
- Goals: Educate leads, build trust, and move them through the sales funnel
Sequence:
1. Welcome Email:
- Introduction to the product
- Highlight benefits
- Solve industry-specific problems
2. Educational Email:
- Share a blog post, whitepaper, or case study
- Ensure relevance to the recipient’s industry
3. Product Demo Invitation:
- Invite to a webinar or live demo
4. Customer Testimonial:
- Share success stories from similar companies
5. Product Update:
- Highlight new features or improvements
6. Follow-Up:
- Personal note checking in
- Invite any questions
Cold Outreach Sequence
Use Case:
- Industry: Manufacturing
- Customer Type: Enterprises
- Motion Type: Sales-led
- Goals: Introduce the company and product, and secure a meeting or call
Sequence:
1. Introduction Email:
- Brief intro to the company
- Solve a specific pain point
2. Value Proposition Email:
- Detail the unique value proposition and benefits
3. Case Study Email:
- Share a case study demonstrating success in a similar industry
4. Follow-Up Email:
- Ask if they reviewed the previous emails
- Suggest a time for a call
5. Reminder Email:
- Gentle nudge for discussion
6. Last Attempt Email:
- Final attempt to connect
- Offer a limited-time offer or exclusive insight
Re-engagement Sequence
Use Case:
- Industry: Professional Services
- Customer Type: Inactive customers
- Motion Type: Sales-led
- Goals: Re-engage inactive leads or customers and bring them back into the sales funnel
Sequence:
1. Reintroduction Email:
- Remind them who you are
- Highlight your service's value
2. Special Offer:
- Provide a discount or special offer
3. Value Reminder:
- Highlight key benefits and new features
4. Case Study:
- Share a recent success story
5. Personal Check-In:
- Personalized note asking if they need anything
- Address reasons for disengagement
6. Final Reminder:
- Last chance to take advantage of the special offer
Current Outcomes
The current outcome?
Disappointing.
Many sales teams are frustrated with declining outcomes from email sequences.
The Problem
- Everyone is automating.
- Emails are generic, not personal.
- Prospects are blocking these emails.
Why It's Happening
1. Over-Automation
- With everyone using automation tools, emails start to look the same.
- The personal touch is lost, making it easy for recipients to ignore them.
2. Generic Content
- Lack of personalization means the emails don't resonate with recipients.
- People can tell when an email is part of a mass blast.
3. Personal Filters
- Prospects have become savvy, using filters to auto-delete generic sales emails.
- Keywords like “Follow-up,” “Demo,” and “Missed my message” are red flags.
Common Phrases Triggering Filters
Here are the top 10 phrases commonly used in sales prospecting email sequences:
1. "I noticed that..."
- Example: "I noticed that your company recently launched a new product..."
2. "As someone in [industry]..."
- Example: "As someone in the tech industry, you might be facing challenges with..."
3. "I wanted to reach out because..."
- Example: "I wanted to reach out because we have a solution that could significantly improve your..."
4. "Many companies like yours..."
- Example: "Many companies like yours have found success using our..."
5. "Are you struggling with..."
- Example: "Are you struggling with managing your sales pipeline efficiently?"
6. “I'd love to share how we..."
- Example: "I'd love to share how we helped a company similar to yours increase their revenue by 30%."
7. "Can we schedule a quick call to discuss...?"
- Example: "Can we schedule a quick call to discuss how we can help streamline your operations?"
8. "How are you currently handling...?"
- Example: "How are you currently handling customer onboarding?"
9. "I think we could really help you with..."
- Example: "I think we could really help you with improving your lead conversion rates."
10. "Would you be open to exploring..."
- Example: "Would you be open to exploring how our solution can benefit your team?"
These phrases were meant to grab attention and show relevance.
But have become so common that prospects have started setting filters with rules to ignore mails with these phrases.
Email Sequences and AI
What if every part of your email sequence is hyper-personalized and feels genuinely human?
Here are the ways how AI can evolve email sequences for better outcomes.
Personalized Human-like
1. No Common Phrases
- AI can help craft emails that avoid overused phrases.
- Each email feels unique, not like a template.
2. Latest and Relevant Insights
- Incorporate personalized insights about the prospect.
- Use recent and relevant information to make emails stand out.
3. Human Touch
- Emails that sound like they’re coming from a real person.
AI Engaging on LinkedIn
1. Automated LinkedIn Engagement (along with sequence)
- AI can engage with your prospect's posts on LinkedIn.
- This adds a personal touch and shows genuine interest in their activities.
Monitoring Intent Signals
1. Trigger Personal Outreach
- AI can monitor intent signals and account insights.
- When it detects high intent, it can alert a sales rep to stop the sequence and reach out personally.
Leveraging Insights for Personalization
1. Relevant Content
- Share insights related to the prospect's LinkedIn posts, comments, or recent news.
- This makes your emails more relevant and engaging.
Sequence Generation vs. Sequence Frameworks
AI is changing email sequencing, but not in the way you might think.
It's not just about generating emails. The real power of AI lies in its ability to analyze vast amounts of data and extract relevant insights.
Let's look at why using AI to create sequence frameworks, rather than generating entire sequences, is a smarter approach.
The Negatives of AI-Generated Sequences
1. Generic and Impersonal
- AI-generated email sequences often come across as robotic.
- They lack the human touch and can feel templated and impersonal.
2. Turn Off for Prospects
- Receiving a series of AI-generated emails can be a huge turn off.
- Prospects can quickly spot the lack of genuine personalization.
The Power of AI in Sequence Frameworks
Instead of relying on AI to generate entire sequences, leverage it to create insightful, personalized frameworks. Here’s how:
1. Analyze and Infer
- AI can analyze thousands of documents to infer relevant insights.
- Use these insights to fill your email templates with valuable, contextual information.
2. Personalized Insights
- Create email sequences that are templated with AI-driven insights related to business milestones, priorities, linkedin posts reference, news reference.
- This approach personalizes each email as it is written by a human.
3. Contextual Relevance
- Use AI to extract data that is specific to the prospect’s industry, role, and needs.
- Incorporate this information to make your emails
How Does It Fit in Your Workflow?
Here’s how you can seamlessly incorporate AI-driven insights into your workflow to create effective and personalized email sequences.
Avoid Generic Tools
1. Skip the Generic Email Sequencing Tools
- Don’t rely on generic email sequencing tools or AI email generation tools.
- These often require plugging in multiple components for research and monitoring, making the process cumbersome.
Leverage AI for Insights
2. Use an AI Tool for Insights
- Choose an AI tool that can generate relevant insights and easily integrate these insights into your email sequences.
- This approach ensures your emails are personalized and contextually relevant without extra manual effort.
Quality Control
3. Monitor and Audit for Quality
There might be initial doubts about the quality of insights automatically pulled in by AI.
Here’s how to ensure high-quality personalization:
Initial Monitoring:
Have a team member oversee the sequence personalization initially.
Audit the insights and their integration into the email sequences for efficiency.
Positive Outcomes:
The outcome of having an additional team member review and personalize these sequences can be significantly positive.
This step ensures that the emails feel genuinely personalized, leading to higher engagement rates.
Step-by-Step Integration
1. Choose the Right AI Tool:
- Select an AI tool designed to generate insights and integrate them into your email sequences.
2. Generate and Plug Insights:
- Use the AI tool (Evabot) to gather relevant insights based on the company performance and milestones, prospect’s industry, role, and recent activities.
- Automatically plug these insights into your pre-designed email templates.
3. Monitor and Audit:
- Have a team member review the sequences to ensure the personalization is on point.
- Make adjustments based on feedback and audit results to continually improve the process.
What's the New Process of Sequencing Look Like?
The evolution of email sequencing is all about leveraging AI for hyper-personalization. Here’s a step-by-step look at the new, more effective process:
Step-by-Step Process
1. Input a List of Accounts
- Start with a comprehensive list of target accounts.
2. Pass Accounts to an Account Research Tool
- Use an AI-driven account research tool.
- This tool will analyze each account based on business milestones, social activity, and news.
3. Get a Prioritized List with Top Insights
- The research tool will provide a prioritized list of accounts.
- Each account will come with top insights tailored to the prospect’s current context.
4. Create a Template of Email Sequence
- Develop a flexible email sequence template.
- Include various components to ensure personalization and relevance:
Business Goal: Address the prospect’s key business objectives.
White Paper: Share relevant white papers or case studies.
Social Post Reference: Refer to recent social media posts by the prospect.
Follow Up: Include follow-up emails to maintain engagement.
Business Goal Insight: Provide insights related to their business goals.
Social Post Reference: Another reference to their social media activity.
Follow Up: Additional follow-up to reinforce your message.
5. Review and Personalize for Each Account
- For each account, integrate the specific insights into the email sequence.
- Here’s the process:
1. Review: Look over the insights provided by the research tool.
2. Add: Incorporate these insights into the email template.
3. Finalize: Make any final adjustments to ensure the message feels personal.
4. Send for Sequence: Schedule the emails to be sent in the sequence.
Human Touch enhances effectiveness
Although this process involves an additional step for human review, it significantly boosts the effectiveness of your outreach:
- Hyper-Personalization: Each email feels uniquely crafted for the recipient, increasing engagement.
- Prevents Spam: By avoiding generic, automated messages, you reduce the risk of your emails being marked as spam.
- Boosts Meeting Bookings: Personalized emails are more likely to result in booked meetings and meaningful conversations.
Conclusion
We just discussed the power of AI in transforming email sequences, making them personalized and engaging. By leveraging new sequencing techniques and account research tools, you can boost engagement and book more meetings.
If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you missed earlier:
Subscribe to get access to our weekly posts on Prospecting, Automation, AI, Revenue Growth and Lead Generation.
Ready to implement email sequence with account research using AI? Book a meeting slot on the link below.