How to Supercharge Your Email Open Rate When Sending to K-12 Educators

1. 5 Easy Steps to Sending
More Successful Emails to
School Principals
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2. ABOUT K12PROSPECTS
K12Prospects.com is a nationwide database where marketers, entrepreneurs and
small business owners come to get email data of:
School Principals Data
District Superintendents
Other District Personnel ( Curriculum, IT, Title I)
NOTE: If you’re new to K12Prospects, you can click on one of the links above to get
more information about our data or visit our blog to learn inside information about
schools and district purchasing process.
If you like what you see, you can subscribe to our K12Prospects Newsletter and get
new reports and case studies in your inbox every week…
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3. 5 Easy Steps to Sending More Successful
Emails to School Principals
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4. Average
11%
How to create emails that get 20% higher open
rates by School principals?
The most significant
factor in the education
sector is value.
School Principals, teachers
and superintendents need
to gain optimal value for
the time and effort they
expend.
In the business of education, marketing to your potential clients is a must. However, it can be
difficult to get the attention of principals and superintendents.
Educators receive hundreds of emails a week from companies wanting their time, attention and
ultimately, patronage. Everything from curriculum subscription services to augmented learning
hardware passes through the average principal’s inbox. Our research suggests that the majority of
those communications are going unopened.
Here are 5 ways to make your email marketing campaign shine. Following these 5 steps will
transform your email performance among educators.
Imagine, 20% higher open rates with only 5 easy steps.
It’s not a fantasy, let’s dive right in and start improving your open rate today!
20%
40%
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20%

5. 5 Easy Steps to Sending More
Successful Emails to School
Principals
Step 1: Subject Lines 101
Step 2: Target Multiple K-12 Personas
Step 3: Personalize Your Content
Step 4: Time Your Email Campaign
Step 5: Optimize for Mobile
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6. D
O
Step 1: Streamline Your Subject Lines
As your subscribers browse their inboxes
daily they scan the subject lines and
preview text, quickly deleting undesirable
communications.
In that moment, your wording makes all
the difference between being deleted or
opened
Subject Line 101
Be brief for the best results.
Example: “How to improve reading skills”
Don’t be spam-bait.
Avoid trigger-words like “free, enter to win, $.”
Example: “Win FREE IPad’S for your classroom!”
Try asking a question to evoke curiosity by your recipients.
Example: “What does a data-driven classroom look like?”
Offer a valuable asset to your target customers.
Example: “Let’s do the math to reduce your deferred
maintenance” 6

7. Pre-header Text Do’s and Dont’s
The pre-header or preview text is a short summary of your email
It shows below the subject line as your recipients are browsing their inboxes
Pro tip: Principals are more likely to open emails which take a humorous, personal,
emotional or local-minded approach. Ex: “Texas charter schools-Urgent update”
Pre-headers are an essential asset to any
email marketing campaign
Give hints Spellcheck Encourage
open emails
Type in all
caps
Spam bait Leave it
blank
DON’TDO
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8. Step 2: Target Multiple K-12 Personas
Each school district has individuals in charge of purchasing at different levels. Administrators and teachers each have their own priorities and goals.
When principals see an email obviously targeted at the superintendent, they delete it. No need to waste time on something which isn’t intended for
them
Pro tip: Instead of sending 40,000 emails every Tuesday, send 5,000 emails every day.
Small batches directed at each demographic or K-12 persona will always garner better open
rates than mass emails.
● Clearly define your ideal client (developing a detailed K-12 Persona is the first step)
● Filter your email list by demographics; age, location, etc
● Avoid mass emails, too many recipients will trigger spam filters
Keep it Clean
Regularly remove invalid emails and unsubscribed clients from your lists. Repeatedly
sending emails to bad addresses or violating un-subscription terms will only cause
your IP to be blacklisted. A clean email subscription list will automatically give you
better returns.
Download Your K12persona template HERE
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9. Step 3: Personalize Your Content
While it may seem easier to send the exact same email to your entire list, that won’t get you a higher open rate. Targeting your
client needs and habits is much more successful.
Use these simple strategies to personalize your content:
Embed your recipient names for an eye
catching subject line. Ex: “Henry, enjoy
smarter classroom integration today”
Keep it short and simple.
Always lead with the valuable content.
Choose your sender name carefully.
Ex: “John Smith, EdTech Inc CEO”
Offer value which will encourage your clients
to act. Ex: “Win a 3D printer for your school!”
Format your wording as a conversation, not a
sales pitch.
Focus on your intended reader
How can you help them? Each K-12 persona
has different goals and values.
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10. Formatting Your Content
The words you say are just as important as how you say them. Make sure your emails are easy to read and attractive to busy school personnel.
Teachers, principals and superintendents don’t have time to waste on convoluted emails.
Step 1: Bullet points read easier than paragraphs. This is especially true for
smartphones and tablets. Give your readers concise information, arranged for optimal
delivery.
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03
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Step 2: Deliver a message, don’t sell yourself or your product. Your emails purpose is to
create a call to action which can
bring customers to you. Each email needs to have strategy in place for what you want to
achieve.
Step 3: End with a call to action. What do you want them to consume, visit or do? Ask
your recipients to visit a webpage, review a product or collect a reward.
Step 4: Use action verbs. Words like download, register and visit work great to
encourage calls to action.
Modify messaging techniques depending on K-12 personas and demographics
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Step 4: Time Your Email Campaigns
Try not to overwhelm your subscriber list. Sending too many emails of low value will only cause people to unsubscribe. Each K-12
persona has different needs, schedules and motivations.
Emails targeting teachers should be sent
later in the day to avoid getting buried in a
full inbox. Teachers do most operational
work after school or on planning days.
Pro tip: Thursdays and Tuesdays are the optimal days to reach principals and
superintendents. Send emails while your clients are in the office, from 6am to 5pm.
For time sensitive communications, target 10am to 11am..
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12. Step 5: Optimize for Mobile
While HTML campaigns may seem flashier and more fun, they rarely yield good open rates. Most people check their inbox on a
phone or tablet, so be mindful of download speeds and email size
Pro tip: Text based emails perform better than HTML. Make all templates
mobile responsive and optimize them for all devices.
While text based content may seem boring, it actually performs better than HTML. This
is because text emails average 10 to 18 kilobytes while HTML emails can reach 300 or
more kilobytes. The flashy photos and graphics found in promotional emails cause the
size to skyrocket. And, the increased size can be a red flag for many spam filters.
Most of your subscribers will check their email on a tablet or phone. Ensure that your
templates work seamlessly on all devices to avoid aggravated customers. You don’t
want to have a user unsubscribe because of illegible content once you got them to open
your email.
Everyday Principals and superintendents delete emails without reading them. If you
want your content to reach them, you need to implement these five steps for email
success. A few simple adjustments to your marketing development can yield up to 20%
higher open rates with educators.
In the highly competitive field of educational technology and production, every
advantage needs to be exploited. So, stop wasting your time with sloppy email
campaigns and start getting return from your efforts.
Remember…
Streamline, target, personalize, time and
optimize your emails for 20% higher open rates.
It’s that simple.
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13. K12Prospects
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200, Tampa, FL 33607
Contact Us
(800) 829-8560sales@K12Prospects.com www.K12prospects.com
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