The real reason teachers are ignoring your sales emails
Who is this article for?
This blog post is written for education suppliers whose sales-led email campaigns to schools aren’t getting the clicks they expect, using real engagement data to explain why.
You’ve spent time getting the subject line right. The email looks good. The offer is strong. You’ve sent it to the right schools.
And then… not much happens.
It’s something we see regularly when organisations do their own marketing to schools. And while there can be plenty of reasons why an email doesn’t perform, our latest analysis highlighted one that’s particularly interesting.
You might simply be trying to sell too soon.
What does our education email data tell us?
At Buzz Education, we recently analysed more than 1,300 education marketing campaigns where we had usable click-to-open data.
That means non-sales campaigns generated around 17% higher engagement than those focused directly on selling.
So, what can we learn from that?
Schools don’t need another sales email
Think about the person receiving your email. A Headteacher, Business Manager, SENCO or Subject Leader probably didn’t arrive at work that morning hoping somebody would tell them about a new product.
They’ve got their own priorities. They might be trying to solve a staffing problem, improve pupil outcomes, reduce workload, manage a budget or deal with any number of things that have cropped up during the school day.
Then your email arrives.
If the first thing it does is talk about your product, your company and everything you offer, you’re asking them to become interested in you. That’s quite a big ask.
A better starting point is to demonstrate that you understand something that’s important to them.
Give schools a reason to click
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use email to generate sales.
Far from it.
It means the route to the sale doesn’t always have to start with a sales message. We’ve seen education suppliers generate engagement through guides, research, webinars, case studies, free resources, practical advice and useful tools.
Instead of:
“Book a demo of our new platform.”
The starting point might be:
“Here’s a practical guide to reducing teacher workload.”
If reducing workload is a genuine priority for the person receiving the email, you’ve immediately given them a reason to pay attention. And once they’ve engaged with something useful, you have the opportunity to continue the conversation.
Ask the question we ask all the time at Buzz
Whenever we’re reviewing education marketing content, there’s one very simple question we come back to:
“What’s in it for them?”
Not what’s in it for us. Not what do we want to sell. Not what feature do we want to tell everybody about.
What does the school, teacher or decision-maker get from giving us their attention?
It’s a surprisingly simple question, but it’s also one that’s very easy to forget when you’re close to your own product.
Don’t stop selling. Earn the right to sell.
None of this means schools won’t respond to a good offer.
They will.
If there’s a genuine need, the timing is right and you’ve got a compelling proposition, a sales-led campaign can absolutely work.
But our data suggests there’s real value in looking beyond the immediate sale.
Educate. Help. Share something useful. Demonstrate that you understand the problem.
Then sell.
Because sometimes the best way to generate more sales from schools is to spend a little less time trying to sell to them.
What did 1,365 education marketing campaigns teach us?
This was just one of the findings from our latest research. We’ve analysed 1,365 education marketing campaigns, alongside our A/B testing and wider experience of working with education suppliers, to identify 16 lessons about what actually works when marketing to schools.
We’ve brought them together in our Education Marketing Insights Report.
Download the FREE Education Marketing Insights ReportFAQs
Why aren’t schools clicking on my marketing emails?+
There can be lots of reasons, including the audience, timing, subject line, message and offer. But our campaign data suggests being too sales-focused may also affect engagement. Across 1,228 campaigns with usable click-to-open data, non-sales campaigns generated 17% higher average engagement than sales-led campaigns.
What type of emails work best when marketing to schools?+
There isn’t one email format that will work for every campaign. However, giving schools something genuinely useful, such as research, guidance, resources, case studies or practical advice, can give people a stronger reason to engage before you ask them to buy.
Should education suppliers send sales emails to schools?+
Yes. Sales emails can absolutely work when the audience, timing and offer are right. The point is that not every email needs to ask for a sale. Providing value and building engagement first can be a better way to start the conversation.
How can I improve email engagement with teachers?+
Start by looking at the email from the recipient’s perspective. Is it relevant to their role? Is the benefit obvious? Are you addressing a problem they genuinely have? And, most importantly, have you given them a good enough reason to give you their attention?