BASHO email

It’s a known fact for marketers and salespeople that personalized content increases the email open rate. But even though such emails deliver six times higher transaction rates, 70% of brands fail to use them. 

When it comes to sales, the main challenge is: how is it possible to send a highly personalized email to a recipient with whom you are not in personal contact? The strategy has been found — now sales reps, especially in the SaaS world, use a BASHO email.

What is a BASHO email?

A BASHO email is a personalized B2B message commonly addressed to decision-makers and aimed at getting the first phone call or meeting with them. Being a type of cold email, it helps a sales rep get a prospect’s attention by showing their understanding of the prospect’s needs and pain points.

The term ‘BASHO email’ emerged owing to Jeff Hoffmann, a world-renowned sales trainer and entrepreneur under the Basho brand, hence the name. Now, this innovation is in the toolkit of many sales representatives due to its high efficiency.

Why use BASHO emails?

The one-size-fits-all approach in marketing and sales is not what today’s reality calls for. 88% of users are more likely to respond to an email if it looks like it’s been specifically created for them. With this data in mind, using a BASHO email comes as the best cold outreach strategy because:

It rockets conversion
Some companies that used BASHO emails as a part of their sales strategy were able to get up to a 65% response rate. Even if you don’t always convert a lead to a customer, you will be able to leave a good impression, which may be later paid off with re-engaged or referral leads.

It helps you reach top decision-makers
It’s not easy to reach people of influence by phone. You may spend lots of time on a telephone conversation with representatives, but with a BASHO email, chances to get right to the CEO are higher.

You may use it not only for sales
A highly personalized BASHO email strategy may be applicable among B2B marketers for collaboration offers or guest blogging. 

It’s not difficult to start
If you have not incorporated a BASHO email into your strategy, you don’t need to have special skills to try it. That’s the case when the experience comes with action. You just need to understand the basic principles of composing such an email. 

How to write a top-quality BASHO email?

You are going to reach out to people whom you do not know in person and who most likely hold managing positions. This is why you should arrange your BASHO email so that it will stand out among the rest in their busy inbox and catch their eye with its content. We provide you with 5 tips on how to create your BASHO email step-by-step.

Research

The first important step of writing a good BASHO email is the research you are to do in advance. Without it, your email has all chances to be deleted by the recipient. Think of a person whom you will write. 

Find their social media profile — LinkedIn or Twitter will be helpful in this case. Pay special attention to personal information and their activity. It’s also recommended to look at their company’s profile. You may find valuable data about a brand’s product, current events, and growth plans. Use an Email Finder to get a prospect’s email from their social media pages.

For example, by looking through a LinkedIn profile of a targeted lead, Tony Smirge, you may see his position, the company’s name, as well as some descriptive personal information you can further use in your BASHO email to build a contact with the prospect: 

*Any resemblance to real people or businesses is purely coincidental.

Elaborate on a proper subject line

47% of people open emails based on the subject. Since your email will be targeted to a person in a chief position, it will take them seconds to decide whether it’s worth opening at all.  

Your subject line must be specific and direct. Avoid phrases that may sound too buddy or salesy. If you are going to offer a solution that will help the company you are reaching to grow its product, in the subject line, it’s better to highlight your prospect’s goal rather than what you offer. 

Make a hook

To keep your message personal and relevant, begin it with a hook by connecting the information you have found about your targeted prospect with your offer. 

For instance, based on your previous LinkedIn research, you know that your prospect is an ambitious person who is always up for a challenge. Trying to find additional information about him, you might have found that he is running a blog, where he shares some bright business ideas. So you’ll start your email by sharing your impressions about his articles. This way, you will demonstrate you are well-prepared and highly interested. 

Highlight the added value of your product or service

Think about how your product or service may add value to your prospect’s goals. This part of your email will be the most important. Based on how persuasive you will be, the prospect will decide whether there is any use reading your message.

Remember about call-to-action

Even if your prospect has read your email, that is not the goal you are pursuing. There must be a clear call-to-action, for example, a phone call. Specify how much time it will take (it’s better to start with a short call). Otherwise, your client will hardly agree to have any phone conversation, thinking it might be too time-consuming. 

Here is an example of a BASHO email that you could write to the above-mentioned prospect:

Wrapping it up

Cold email outreach is not easy, especially if your goal is to establish contact with decision-makers. A highly personalized BASHO email enables you to do it easier and faster. Research to better understand the prospect’s needs and pain points, break the ice with your BASHO email, and your potential clients will be more tempted to respond.