Introducing Tout for Tout
We can make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill
Its a lesser known fact that we never started out building ToutApp to be a sales productivity tool or a email analytics platform. We never imagined that the software we build would end up helping salespeople be better at their jobs or marketing and sales work better together. Although we’ve grown up to do a lot of these things and are slowly becoming the leading provider of Sales Email Analytics, we started this company nearly two years ago with one simple goal: help people communicate better.
In that spirit, we’re more excited than ever to introduce the Tout for Tout program so that we can take helping people and helping people communicate to a whole new level.
Introducing Tout for Tout
Although the majority of our paying customers and our user base (we don’t consider those two things the same thing) are businesses and business professionals, we’ve always recognized that nonprofits could greatly benefit from our platform as well.
For nonprofits, outbound communication is of utmost importance. And what many profits don’t realize is how most of their recipients are super-receptive to their emails. People are more likely to open an email from a nonprofits than most industries combined.
But many nonprofits lack the resources and tools to take that extra step after they have hit send on their emails. They’re often run by volunteers that require re-training, have budgets that can’t always justify the fanciest tools and more importantly, can always use more help.
How does Tout for Tout work?
For Every ToutApp Enterprise Edition Sold, we’ll donate ToutApp, for free, to a nonprofit interested in improving their email communications and productivity.
We hope this model spreads to more startups
The “Tout for Tout” program is about taking our platform and making it available to the types of organizations that can’t necessary spend the big bucks but are out there every day actuating positive change in this world.
And its not about just our software either. Our Happiness Officers and Engineers have also pledged part of their time to help these nonprofits make use of these tools as well. We’re super excited about this program and we hope that over time this type of model gets adopted by other startups as well.
Check out more details of Tout for Tout here.
Join ToutApp today.
ToutApp Tip of the Week: Follow Up with People who Care
This best practice for how to use ToutApp is brought to you by one of our awesome users, Clint Berry, a developer at Weave Communications. Check out more best practices for how to use Tout here, or you can submit your own tip.
We have a small outbound call center with sales reps who call dentists and try to schedule times to demo our software to them. Many dentists will say, "Email me more info and I'll look at it." Sometimes that means "Go away".... but other times, dentists will actually look at the info.
I follow TK (ToutApp's founder) on Twitter because he is cool, and I have always wanted a reason to use Tout and finally saw my opportunity.
As we refined our sales process, I said "You gotta use Tout!".
So we signed up and started emailing dentists that wanted more info through ToutApp. Our reps then would keep a close eye on the real-time dashboard and see if anyone clicked on the links we sent over.
Day 1 of using the product, we saw that a dentist clicked our link... and then it got clicked again, like he was showing someone else. We gave him a call and whamo...! He was interested. We demoed the software to him and his staff, and we got a sale! It was epic.
182+ billion business emails are sent everyday. But which ones are effective?
The 182+ billion business emails sent every day show that email is clearly an important channel for communication. Email connects us not only to our co-workers, but also to key customers. Whether you’re in sales, customer service, product development, or marketing, you’ll likely need to interface with your customers on a regular basis. These users are the bread and butter of your business, so it’s important to communicate well with them. Our platform has processed millions of emails, so we know what types of emails are successful. Below are some tips we’ve come up with for writing effective customer emails.
Should you CC people?
Do CC the people on your team who are going to be working with your customers, as well as anyone on their end who should take part in the conversation. It is important for everyone to be on the same page.
Hi, Dear, Ello, Greetings...
How do you introduce yourself to new customers? Internally we use “hey” because that is part of our voice with users. We make it a point to be informal and accessible to our users. However, it’s up to to find your voice with your customers. Keep in mind that formal is effective, yet boring.
Be concise and to the point
Do not try and make your email longer than it needs to be. It is important the the first few lines convey the key message and anything after that is just supporting information. Do not create heavy content. Long and dense content often backfires because the purpose of the email gets lost. Minimize any non essential content when sending your emails.
Keep it simple, stupid
Communicate simply. Not only do you want to send a personalized email, but you’ll want to use user-friendly language. At ToutApp, we talk a lot as a team about email deliverability, workflow, and servers. In the end, our users want to know that their emails are going out - period. Don’t get too bogged down with internal terms or abbreviations. Your users likely aren’t familiar with them, and your message won’t resonate.
You is kind, you is smart, you is important
Know that you are dealing with actual human beings. You should have a basic background about this person or their company. Figure out and visualize what it would be like if you were actually talking to them person. Be cognisant of the language they are using and relay that into the content you are sending back to them. Show that you have a pulse, that your care about what you are sending and who you are sending it to and show that you aren’t just sending an email en masse. Don't even think about making your emails generic.
Don’t leave them hanging
Don’t be vague. When you send someone an email, you need to ask yourself what it is you would like them to do. Do you want them to reply to your email? Do you want them to join your service? If you need information from customers, make sure to list it out very clearly. Let them know how to get back in touch with you - whether that be via email, your phone, or setting up time for a meeting.
Are you using ToutApp for your sales, business development and business emails yet?
Start Touting Today!
Should you bother sending your Sales Emails on Cyber Monday?
After successfully avoiding Black Friday, my next challenge is Cyber Monday. There is no dodging this day as my email inbox is full with subject lines, “Tara we have a deal for you” and “Cyber Monday 50% off.”
If you’re a fan of email marketing and jump-for-joy deals today is your day. Inboxes are bound to fill to the brim and traffic on the email freeway is likely to get a little backed up.
On Friday I stayed inside, eating Thanksgiving leftovers shielding myself from the aggressive crowds at the local shopping centers. Even sad to say I did not part take in Small Business Saturday. Well, I obviously cannot boycott checking my inbox or sending emails today and so face-to face with Cyber Monday here I am.
Tips for Sending your Sales Emails Today
1) Schedule a follow up. Even if your subject line is incredible today, some emails are destined to get lost under a pile of others. Use Tout to schedule an automatic follow up email. After creating your template select:
2) Keep your eye on the Live Feed. The good news is your recipients will be glued to their email today. If you see someone going click happy engaging with your email jump on the opportunity to pick up the phone to call.
3) Use Tout to send your emails later. Avoid the Cyber Monday traffic hours. Don’t send emails between 12:00-2:00pm. Schedule your emails to be sent before or after the traffic.
User of the Week: Eric Wu from Bracket Labs
I'm one of the founders of Bracket Labs. We're a Boulder, CO startup building enterprise software apps for the Salesforce AppExchange. Our apps are TaskRay and Campaign Calendar, and together they're helping thousands of sales and marketing people around the world work more productively in Salesforce.
We're a small company, so as a founder I wear a lot of different hats. One of my primary roles is sales, so I spend a lot of time talking to customers who have found our apps through the AppExchange and are looking for more information so they can make a purchase.
I love ToutApp for three big reasons:
1) It helps me do more faster! We have a set of emails we send to new leads to help them understand the apps and determine whether there's a good fit for their team.
ToutApp has allowed me to send (and schedule) my emails in a way that has reduced my time per lead by about 30%.
2) The ability to deliver nicely formatted, trackable follow-up email responses from within the Salesforce Leads tab but sent from my own email address (rather than Salesforce's mailer) is great because I don't always trust the deliverability of the Salesforce mailer.
3) The Live Feed of activity on my sent emails is awesome and gives me new insight on customer engagement with my emails. I can prioritize my follow-ups based on their activity and interest level, timely response to an engaged customer is a big part of showing them you're paying attention and you are ready to help.
Every other week, we'll profile a different person who uses our app to improve their email productivity. If you would like to be featured in the future, you can apply here.