5 recruiting email best practices to boost your open, reply, and interested rates

If you’ve ever struggled with email outreach, you’re not alone. There are so many factors involved—the time and day, subject line, sender, and of course, the content of the email itself!

The truth is that there’s both an art and a science involved in this process. Here at Gem, we’ve combed through the data from the millions of emails sent every year by our customers (that’s the science part). And we’ve also turned to the experts, asking TA professionals from teams at Robinhood, Yext, Anthropic, Zapier, Roblox, and more to share their advice (that’s where the art comes in). 

You’ll find a high-level overview of our findings in this article, but if you’d really like to dive into the data and explore the experts’ in-depth advice, download a copy of Gem’s 2024 Guide to email outreach and best practices.

Best practice #1: Put extra effort into your subject lines

There’s a lot of pressure riding on your subject lines. They create a first impression and determine whether a candidate decides to engage with you or not. And our 2024 data shows that overall open rates are down slightly from the last time we published our email benchmark report—the average open rate is now 76.6% (vs. 78.4% in 2022).

So what’s the secret to a winning subject line? There are a few copywriting tactics based on principles of human psychology that are worth experimenting with. For example, try appealing to the candidate’s values with a subject line like “Elevating [industry] together.” You might also experiment with flattering candidates with something like “Come be our expert [job title] at [company]” to give them a mini high that leaves them wanting more. 

Best practice #2: Experiment with “Send on behalf of” (SOBO)

"Send on behalf of” (or SOBO, as we call it at Gem), is where emails are sent on behalf of someone else in the company, often a hiring manager or executive. This approach adds a personal touch by using the credibility and authority of the person the email is "from" without overburdening that person to actually compose and send those messages themselves. 

SOBO is based on the idea that candidates are more likely to engage with messages that appear to come from a senior leader. And Gem data shows that this tactic tends to be quite effective, but underused. Only 21.9% of sequences sent in Gem use SOBO, but emails that do use this tactic can see 50% higher reply rates.

Best practice #3: Keep your messages short and sweet… or not!

It may sound like we’re offering contradictory advice here, but hear us out. In aggregate, the majority of our customers tend to stay in the 170–210 word count range for the initial message of their outreach sequence.

And overall, we’d recommend initial messages in the 101–150 word count range. This “shorter is better” strategy echoes what LinkedIn studies have shown about best practices for InMail: “InMails under 400 characters tend to be met with 22% higher response rates than the average response rate for all InMails.”

But don’t be afraid to A/B test longer messages, too. We’ve seen long messages do well—both for ourselves at Gem, and for our customers. This quote from Jaime Onofre at Zapier is a perfect example of this.

Best practice #4: Speak to what candidates care about most

When it comes to the actual content of your message, you might be wondering what to say. Generally, it’s a good rule of thumb to put yourself in the candidate’s position. What do they want and need to know, especially in initial outreach? Describe why this is a great opportunity for them and what makes your company and this role attractive rather than sending them a list of requirements.

It’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge some of the specifics of the current talent market, since it may influence whether your messaging is likely to resonate or fall flat. In 2024, the top reasons candidates are starting a job search include career advancement, greater work flexibility/remote work opportunities, and better company leadership.

We’re also seeing a growing number of Gen Z employees enter the workforce (Gen Z and millennials combined will make up about 58% of the global workforce by 2030). Gen Z is 36% more likely to prioritize advancement opportunities and 36% more likely to prioritize skill development opportunities than other generations. This means when you’re reaching out to Gen Z candidates, it’s generally a good idea to highlight how your company provides opportunities for learning and growth.

Best practice #5: Personalize as much as possible

You probably already know that no one likes receiving a generic message that looks like it was sent to hundreds of other people. But many TA pros are only doing the bare minimum when it comes to personalization. Our data found that reply rates for somewhat personalized outreach were no better than reply rates for outreach that wasn’t personalized at all. Highly personalized messages, on the other hand, saw a 73% engagement rate. 

What does it mean to highly personalize your outreach? Start with one to two details unique to the prospect in the opening paragraph. Follow that up with a full paragraph that outlines what you know about their work and how you believe their skills and experience would make a terrific fit for your company. This tactic is especially critical for connecting with highly sought-after talent (diversity candidates or leadership roles, for example), or talent pools in which there are only a small handful of people that are qualified for the job. Learn more about how you can accelerate this process with the reason token in Gem.

Looking for even more insights and advice to take your email outreach to the next level, including data points from millions of emails sent by Gem customers? Get your copy of the 2024 Guide to email outreach and best practices.