Sales email open rates are dropping. Use these templates to turn it around.

Have you ever wondered how much time it actually takes to document your simple processes? The answer: a few minutes.

Hot off the SMB press this week: 

• A template roadmap to achieving the elusive “inbox zero.”
• Sales email open rates are dipping. Here’s how to raise your stats.
• Why sharing your mental health story can make you a better ally to your employees.

STARTER PACK

Template of the week: Email Management, Achieving ‘Inbox Zero’

There are three types of email inboxes:

1. The “storage is no issue” inbox. People with this type of inbox don’t care how many emails add to that red bubble notification — they’ll let thousands of emails pile up and only open and respond when necessary.
2. The “things got out of hand” inbox. For those who go through the hundreds of emails sitting in their inbox and feel really good about themselves. That is, until life gets busy and email management goes out the window. A few months go by, hundreds more emails pile up — lather, rinse, repeat.
3. And finally, “inbox zero.” If you have this type of inbox, you practice the art of keeping the number of unread and unactioned messages in an email inbox at zero — forever (well, until a new email comes in).

Inbox zero may seem like an impossible dream for people who are more accustomed to inbox types 1 and 2, but when the pros of inbox zero include increased productivity and reduced stress, it seems like something worth fighting for. Good thing we’ve got a process to make your dreams a reality.

👉 Use our Achieving "Inbox Zero" Process template to set you and your team up for email management success. Get that dopamine hit from a clean inbox whenever you access your email — leaving you ready to tackle the more important tasks of your day (scaling your business, perhaps?).

‍Can’t wait a whole week for your next template? Check out our entire template archive of free, multimedia-enhanced, and customizable policy, process, and role starters. New to Trainual? Try for free.

IT’S RAINING DATA

How to up your sales email game (w/ templates!)

According to the data, (some) things are looking up!
Customer relationship management (CRM) software Hubspot recently provided a look at the 2023 Q1 trends affecting over 167K businesses across a variety of industries — and for the most part, the news is good.

Let’s talk numbers: Website traffic and inbound leads both saw significant improvements quarter over quarter (QoQ), increasing 14.08% and 20.04% respectively. Website conversion rates also saw a small bump, rising 3.21% QoQ. All together, these driving metrics hopefully indicate an increase in customers and revenue over the next year.

But, there is a potential roadblock: Sales email open rates took a huge dip (decreasing 13.37% QoQ).

Sales engagement ain’t what it used to be.
We hear that. In fact, a lot of businesses deal with that exact issue — nearly two-thirds state that they struggle with sales engagement more now compared to pre-pandemic. 

And if you add this to the downward trend in sales email opens, there’s a risk of blockages in your sales funnel.

So, now’s the time to pay attention to what your sales emails are doing.
If they’re still generating a healthy flow of customers, great! But if you notice email open rates are lower than usual, it’s time to revisit that copy. Focus on writing sales emails that prospects are almost forced to open (instead of deleting them in their pursuit of inbox zero). 

Take this as a reminder: Your subject line is crucial, especially when 47% of recipients open emails based on what they read there. If you can target your prospects’ pain points and peak their interest, chances are you can boost your sales email open rates and find some strong sales opportunities.

And here’s a little something to make your efforts easier: a collection of free sales email templates that can boost your open rates, click-through rates, and response rates.

YOU FIRST!

Why leaders need to share their own mental health stories

While celebrities and athletes have been normalizing mental health talk for years, organizational leaders are just getting started. And one of the most powerful ways leaders can encourage employees to prioritize mental wellness is by talking about their own mental health journey at work.

When leaders go first to share their personal experiences with mental health challenges, it reduces sigma and helps employees feel comfortable discussing the topic and seeking help when needed. Plus, seeing leaders get vulnerable can inspire employees — showing them that they too can succeed and thrive in the face of mental health challenges. 

What if it’s too hard to tell my story?
Deciding whether or not you want to discuss your mental health journey with employees may not be an easy decision — especially if it may resurface past traumas. So, consider talking to a friend, partner, or therapist to help you make your decision.

If you’re not ready to share yet, that’s okay! Don’t force yourself to (your well-being is more important!). But if you choose to share your experience — which can range from something like high stress or burnout to a medical diagnosis — we can help you speak to it in a way that benefits your team the most.

Yes, please! How do I begin to tell my story?
Here are some tips for crafting your mental health story to share with your team:

• Speak in the first person. Using “we” language can reinforce the “us vs. them” narrative. Instead, you want to use “I” language to demonstrate how you relate to personal struggles with mental wellness.
• Strive for inclusion. If you’re comfortable, delve into your identity and how it’s shaped your experience — such as any systematic barriers or added stigma to seeking help. This can help your story resonate with colleagues that share your background.

👉 More tips for sharing your story at work.

TL; DR

This week's highlight reel

• They went to prom in what? We all used to envy Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2 as we watched him get chauffeured around New York in a stretch limo eating piping-hot pizza. But limousines might soon be a thing of the past. After all, they’re a bit cliché for Gen Z — the generation that thrives on the element of surprise. Example A: These students skipped the limo, rolling up to prom in a WWII tank.
• Looking for tech talent? Professional network AfroTech is fighting against the narrative that there’s not enough black talent in the tech industry with its first software: Talent Infusion. Enterprise locations can pay a monthly fee to access tech employee resumes. Even cooler? The communal platform is looking to expand services to other industries in the future.
• For me? Amazon has clearly been taking notes from the growing social media platform to create their new, TikTok-esque shopping feed: Inspire. The mobile app-exclusive experience showcases products in photos and videos, based on the customer’s interests and engagement. Calling our endless social media scroll and raising us shopping? Well played, Amazon.
• Keep up, Google. According to Microsoft, nearly half of all web searches go unanswered — resulting in billions of searches missing the mark. But they promise better search results, answers to your questions, and more in the new Bing and Edge platform experiences — equipped with AI. And in other AI news: ChatPDF has made its debut, showing off its ability to search through PDF documents for information and answers. Where was that when we were in school?