Building trust with skeptical email subscribers

Most B2B companies are sabotaging their email marketing from day one. They're copying e-commerce welcome sequences and wondering why their results are mediocre at best. After years of testing with dozens of service-based businesses, I've discovered something counterintuitive: the "best practices" for welcome sequences are actively harming B2B service companies with long sales cycles. ❌ They treat high-touch relationships like quick transactions. When your sales cycle is 6+ months, why would you use the same approach as someone selling $30 t-shirts? ❌ They prioritize immediate sales over deliverability. If your emails don't reach inboxes consistently for your full sales cycle, nothing else matters. ❌ They focus on single-channel communication. Once someone unsubscribes, you've lost them forever with no backup plan. ❌ They send generic "thanks for subscribing" messages. When everyone does the same thing, you become invisible. Take a different approach: → Email 1: Generate a reply, not just an open. The first email should be conversational and designed to get a response. This dramatically improves deliverability for all future emails. Our clients see 10-20% reply rates with this approach, many directly sales-related. → Email 2: Set clear expectations. Explicitly tell subscribers what types of content they'll receive and how often. This reduces unsubscribes and builds trust for the long relationship ahead. → Email 3: Connect on secondary channels. Establish multi-channel relationships early so that even if they unsubscribe from email, you haven't lost them completely. → Email 4: Gather critical intelligence. Use strategic questions to understand: What content do they want? How did they find you? Where else do they spend time online? This data improves all your marketing, not just email. → Emails 5-7: Provide soft pathways to sales conversations. Instead of aggressive pitches, create natural progression points that align with your sales process. The traditional welcome sequence works fine for consumer products with short sales cycles. But in the B2B service world, where relationships drive revenue and sales cycles extend for months, this approach is fundamentally broken. I've seen companies with mediocre products outperform superior competitors simply because they understood this difference and engineered their welcome sequence accordingly. The welcome flow is the foundation for a six-month relationship that may eventually lead to a conversation. Often the welcome flow is the highest-engagement touchpoint you'll ever have with prospects. It deserves a strategy as sophisticated as your services. What's one change you could make to your welcome sequence this week?

Every email you send either strengthens your relationship with your audience… or slowly erodes it. Most marketers obsess over short-term metrics while engagement quietly bleeds out. List fatigue and churn aren’t accidents. They’re the direct result of a poor email strategy. The real culprits? → Blasting irrelevant content (“Why am I getting this?”) → Sending at the wrong times → Getting frequency totally wrong... too much or too little → Treating every email like a sales pitch instead of building a relationship I once worked with a SaaS company that couldn’t figure out why their open rates and overall engagement rates were tanking. Their solution? Send more emails to “stay top of mind.” Spoiler: It only made things worse. The fundamental mistake? They were thinking about their needs, not their subscribers’ needs. How to fix it: ✅ Segment based on behavior and preferences ✅ Test send times for optimal engagement ✅ Find your Goldilocks frequency ✅ Deliver value first, sell second Your email list isn’t just a “marketing asset.” It’s a relationship with real people who gave you permission to enter their inbox. Respect that privilege. Because once trust is gone, no clever subject line or CTA will bring it back. 👉 Are you building a sustainable email strategy, or slowly killing your list?

If you have to “sell” hard… It’s because you didn’t teach well enough first. You’ve heard the advice: “Give value for free.” Most people think they’re giving value. They’re not. They’re holding back. The fix? Make your free content so good...it feels like it got leaked from behind a paywall. Here’s how I'm putting that into practice: --- (1) Outreach I don’t cold pitch. I do free consulting. For example, if I'm reaching out to a prospect: → I'd spend 30 minutes researching their site, funnel, and email opt-in → I'd send a 90-second Loom showing where they’re leaking leads (and how to fix it) → I'd end with a simple "Happy to help." Why does it work? Because I build trust before asking for anything. I'm educating without hard selling. (2) High-value lead magnets “Subscribe to my newsletter” converts at 1–2%. My educational email courses? 15–20%. Because the value trade is crystal clear: • you give me your email • you get a structured, 5-day lesson plan • you know what you’ll learn, when, and how it helps It’s a mini-product that educates and builds belief. Instead of... "Give me your email in exchange for me sending you emails whenever I want." (3) Content I give away what feels like the "secret sauce" for free. People don't pay for information anymore... They pay for: • implementation (done for them) • speed (faster than doing it alone) • customization (specific to their business) Give away the thinking. Charge for the doing. If your free content creates wins, the sale's already halfway closed. They already trust you. They’ve seen the value. Now they want you to help them execute on it. --- This is the game. Most businesses guard their knowledge. I use mine to build trust at scale. P.S. Like this breakdown? Follow me Aldis Ozols for more on social selling and building trust through your personal brand.

👉The Real Reason People Ignore Your Emails ↠ How to Make Them Click Every Time In a world of overflowing inboxes, messages can easily be overlooked. From my experience in hospitality, real estate, and retail, I've learned that true success comes from delivering genuine value rather than just sending more emails. Let’s examine this idea further. ● Stop Competing for Attention, Start Owning It → Your email is a strategic tool, not just a notification. → People open emails to address important issues, not for personal reasons. → Focus on significant business moments, not just metrics. 💡 Unique Open Rate → Highlight valuable insights. → Use subject lines that emphasize business challenges and their value. ● Treat Subject Lines Like Paid Ad Headlines → The inbox is a free advertising platform, but only if your subject resonates. → Don’t let generic titles silently sabotage your efforts. 💡Open Rate + Preheader Clickability → Employ effective formulas: → Pain + Outcome → Number + Benefit → Case Study Tease ● Design for the Swipe, Not the Scroll → Remember, your reader is skimming, not analyzing. → Long blocks of text become dead zones. → Present your message in bold, clear, high-contrast chunks. 💡Scroll-through Percentage and CTA Visibility → Format every email using the 3-3-1 model: 3-line hook → 3 bullet points of value → 1 clear CTA button. ● One Email = One Job → Each email should focus on a single goal, like registration, booking, replying, or downloading. → Multiple calls to action (CTAs) can confuse recipients and reduce effectiveness. 💡 Click-Through Rate (CTR): → Define the desired action and structure your sentences to support it. ● Reduce Frequency, Maximize Value → Less can be more. → More emails may not improve results and can raise unsubscribe rates. → Fewer emails can increase revenue per send. 💡 Balance revenue per email with unsubscribes. - Focus on value-driven content. - Review performance and adjust as needed. ● Build Brand Trust, Not Just Clicks → Focus on building brand recognition, not just clicks. → Trust converts open rates into loyalty. 💡 Aim for a positive reply rate and time spent reading. → Maintain a consistent tone. → Offer valuable tools or stories, even without a direct sale. ● What’s Your Best Email Strategy? → We've all grown from our experiences. Let’s uplift each other! → What email strategies effectively engage your audience? 💡 Share your insights to inspire your team! 💭Key Takeaway: You're not just competing for inbox space; you're vying for attention, trust, and action. Great marketers value the reader's time and earn their trust. Thank you for reading. Let’s raise the ROI of every inbox! 💭 I’d love to hear your thoughts. 👇 What small change in your email strategy led to big results? ♻️ Repost if you found this helpful. 👉 Like | Comment | Share | Follow me for Daily Leadership Strategic Marketing Insights

I've generated over $20 million with emails. While working with the biggest 8 & 9-figure brands. Here are the principles we REFUSE to break for emails. 1. Convince, don't push Use your emails as a vehicle for influence. Show how your products meet their needs. If you're overly pushy about your products customers will tune you out (aka mark you as spam and unsubscribe). 2. Tailor-made, don't templatize Every brand is unique. So every single flow and campaign strategy we build is tailored to our clients': - Markets - Customer fears - Customer desires 3. Test, don't assume What works for one brand may fail for another. That's why we're always testing assumptions. Never assume something works well or doesn't. 4. Tell stories, not pitches Emotional connections drive sales. It's because stories resonate deeper than pitches. This is basic human psychology. So use this to your advantage in emails. 5. Sell the outcome, not the product People want solutions, not just another gadget. This means your emails have to demo your product. People should know how your product solves real problems. 6. Segment for quality, not quantity Sending to your entire list is outdated. Sorry that I have to break this to you. I thought everyone already knew this. But you'd be surprised how many brands don't. Target specific segments for relevance and impact. 7. Create long-term customers, not one-time buyers Build loyalty through transparency. Show people that you value them post-purchase. If you rely on short-term tactics like fake scarcity, you're never going to build trust with your audience. These principles aren't just suggestions—they're rules we live by. Following them has led to: - Driving $20M in incremental revenue. - Building strong, loyal customer bases. - Getting results and outperforming clients' email sales 10/10 times. Consider following these principles. They've served our clients (very) well.