6 Reasons Decision-Makers Aren’t Responding To Your Emails

Cold outbound email writing doesn’t come naturally to many of us.

Sure, a select few have a knack of establishing connections with people they’ve never met, but being able to write a compelling email that generates a positive response is a skill as much as anything else.

What we tend to forget when reaching out to people, particularly those with the power to make decisions, is that they receive hundreds, if not thousands of sales emails per day.

The odds are stacked against you getting a response unless you find ways to stand out.

1. The subject title isn’t compelling.

This is the number one reason.

Your unopened email will undoubtedly head straight to the trash folder if your subject title doesn't generate intrigue.

Just look through the unopened emails in your own inbox. You’ll likely see the standard example “Introducing XYZ company” come up more than once.

Instead of being generic, try including the first name of the person and convey in the rest of the title why opening your email can help them solve a problem you know they are facing.

2. You haven’t shown any understanding of their business.

Decision-makers will immediately spot if you are sending them a canned message.

Don’t do it.

Are you genuinely serious about forming a positive, long-standing relationship with this person? If so, the least you can do is take the time to understand who they are, what role they play in their company, what struggles do they have on a day-to-day basis?

Once you know who they are, ensure the first few lines of your email speak to that. Be creative — complement them on a recent success, empathise with a challenge they face, provide your perspective on an interview they took part in.

3. Not aligning your company value.

Everything is great so far.

You have a compelling subject title that has generated interest. The introduction has expressed a clear understanding of their business. Now it’s your opportunity to talk about your company.

“At xyz company we do this, we pride ourselves on.., we have been in business for 10 years…” Nobody cares.

How is your company going to help their business succeed? That’s the only question you need to answer when describing your company. Ideally in a succinct sentence — what are their pain points and how are you best placed to fix them.

4. Where’s the trust?

Establishing trust is the main factor that will ultimately lead to a new business relationship.

Failing to include additional information that supports your company value proposition will reduce your chances of gaining trust in this first interaction.

This is a simple fix. Think of the clients you already work with. Who would this decision maker admire or identify with as a credible company in their industry? Name drop 2–3 of them.

Include a testimonial, or even better, a video testimonial link to one of your clients talking about how their business improved after they worked with you.

Another option. You could attach an article or insight piece you wrote relating directly to your target decision maker’s biggest pain point.

5. There isn’t a call to action.

The human brain is wired to conserve energy by choosing the task that requires the least amount of thinking.

When you end an email saying “Are you available soon?” or “Let’s catch up next week?” — you are causing the recipient to use up vital energy they don’t want to. Reducing your chances of a response.

So take all the guesswork out and aim for a simple yes or no.

“Are you available on xx date at xx time?” By being specific with the date and time, you are immediately making it easy to respond. They will either say yes, or by saying no, they will likely suggest another date / time as an alternative.

6. It’s way too long.

In today’s world, we are bombarded with information from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.

These days, very few people will read anything that is overloaded with information. They simply don’t have time or the available head space.

Consider these facts when crafting your email and aim for 3–5 easily digestible sentences. You can also mix in bullet points to make it even easier for the reader to decipher the key points.

Fine tuning your message into small bitesize chunks can be challenging the first few times. But keep going. Your efforts will be rewarded.