Agents, buyers, and sellers are just like you are: delete the inbox noise. Day in, day out. Multiple times a day, they delete spammy come-ons email. But, they do reply to some email types.
Is it best for the email to be a transaction or conversation style?
Research is starting to suggest that transaction style works best, especially when sending a cold (no prior relationship) email. This is because today people are receiving information, ads, offers, promotions, news, advice, etc. for many sources throughout the day. With lots of information hitting their in-box, people simply are choosing not to engage in an unsolicited conversation.
However, using a transaction type engagement, the message enlists an emotion, that cause the person to respond.
For example:
Jim,
Noticing that you recently got your real estate license. This triggers me to ask: How would you know the 3 best things to do right away to get your first real estate client?