It takes a number of failed sales email templates to write one effective email. But why is it so difficult to write an effective template, you may wonder. The thing is that you have only a few sentences and a few seconds to catch the attention of the target. In a research held by Microsoft, it was proved that people have short attention spans and you have only 8 seconds to draw them in. So, the task here is to write a convincing yet interesting template in as few sentences as possible. And most importantly that email should have some value for the recipient.
First of all, we need to understand what is the main mistake that salesmen make.
Emails that have no value for the prospect, are far too long and self-absorbed have low chances of being opened and high chances to appear in the spam box. As a matter of fact, statistics show that the open rate for sales emails on average is 20%.
Experienced salesmen know that having an email opened is only half of the task. The rest of the mission is to have a short yet relevant email seasoned with some value and call-to-action.
To make your task easier, we made a sales email writing structure consisting of four points and seven templates that you can use to write your personal email.
- The Starting Point
Call the addressees by their names, mention the aim of your email and show them that they are the priority and not you. - The Offer
Emphasize the problems and do everything to personalize them to the situation of the prospect. With the help of the offer sentence, you can also provide proof with case studies and statistics. - The Ending Line
The ending of your sales email should be a simple call-to-action… to which your prospects can answer either yes or no. Don’t make it complicated for them and keep it simple, this way your chances of getting a response are high. - The Signature
You should consider the signature as your own landing page. Which should have your and your company’s names, contact details – but for more credibility, you can add other info, such as rewards and links.
7 Templates of Sales Emails
1. The “Getting a Permission”
Hey [prospect name],
I’m writing to you because I got some ideas on how to bring more traffic and make more deals each month.
Is it ok, if I get in contact with you next week and share my thoughts on that?
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
Usually, no one asks for permission, that’s what makes it unique. When you ask for a permission you show your prospect that you respect them. It also builds trust and makes them interested & intrigued.
In the template, you can see that the person does not immediately offer their products and services. So, being too straightforward is a huge drawback. Instead what he does is building interest and showing value for the prospect and ending the template with a plain yes or no question.
2. The “Lost One Looking for Help”
Hi [prospect name],
I’d like to get in contact with someone at your company with who I can discuss [the pain point in the industry].
Would you be kind to recommend me the right person and give me their contact information?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
People are most often open to help someone, so it will be a smart move to start your conversation with such request. Also, this will be a great benefit for writing the recommended person. You can start off your letter by saying [name of the person who recommended] gave your contact and recommended you to talk about the [issue] with. This will increase the possibility of getting a reply by building trustworthiness.
3. Building Sympathy
Hey [prospect name],
I just realized that we both are members of [some movement] on [some social media platform] and you recently got a new department in [name of the location]. I thought – just because you are in [name of the location] and you are interested in [movement] – you might want to attend our conference [related to the movement] in September.
[name of a world-class speaker] will be one of the major speakers at that conference. It will take place on September 7th. Would you like to receive a form for registration?
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
Being informed about the prospect before getting in touch with them works miracles for building sympathy. You can use social media platforms such as LinkedIn or other websites to find people who share the same interests and experiences as you. Having all that information will help you easily start a conversation with the target.
4. The “Helping Hand”
Hello [prospect name],
I’ve heard that you are facing [some sort of problem] now because of [some reason].
Our staff member, specializing [in fixing that problem] will soon finish his task at [name of other company] where he found a simple solution by saving costs by 50%.
Would you like him to visit your company and have a look at your [problem]? (offering help)
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
Another easy way of starting the conversation with the prospect is finding a problem they can relate to. Tell them a success story about the solution to a similar problem and offer your help. That’s it the fish is on your hook.
5. The “Mutual Connection”
Hi [prospect name],
I was having dinner with [name of a mutual friend] yesterday, and he said that want to [achieve a certain goal] – coincidentally our company specializes in [realization of such goals].
Recently, I helped [name of a customer] achieve [a certain goal] by putting to practice [your services].
If you’re interested, we can set up a meeting on [mention a date]?
Sincerely,
[your signature]
Explanation:
The easiest way to build credibility and gain the trust of the prospect is by having a mutual friend connected you. It’s important to show that you are really close with that person and not just someone who you heard about with the tip of your ear. Hence, we have used an example of sharing a meal with that friend. Consequently, the email leaves an impact of more of a partnership rather than sales.
6. The “AIDA”
Hey [prospect name],
How do you think, is your company able to get 40 more leads per week?
After just a few consulting meetings with our team, [name of other company in the same industry] saw such striking results.
If you’re interested, we can arrange a meeting on Monday, so you can see how it works. Are you available for twenty minutes?
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
AIDA is the abbreviation for attention, interest desire, action. This is a well-known sales technique which is guaranteed to work out great.
So, according to this structure first things first, you need to catch your prospect’s attention. Then you need to make them interested by providing an important value for them. So, your prospect should not question them “But what do I get from this?”. You need to prove that they will benefit from that. The next step is awakening a desire in your prospect; you need to make them want your products or services. And finally, end the letter by what actions they can take to get a value from that.
So, you have to come to the end gradually. Build interest and then offer an action.
7. Sharing Useful Content
Hey [prospect name],
Currently, I’m doing research on [the prospect’s industry] and found out that [relevant issue] is a significant challenge in that industry.
Are you facing the same challenge as well?
If yes, I found [book, content, any information] explaining the roots of the challenge and offering solutions on how to get over it.
If you’d like to know how I help [industry] companies, let me know. I have plenty of useful content that I can share with you.
Best regards,
[your signature]
Explanation:
Lastly, the sharing option. Sharing research content in the related industry will help you gain trust and build interest. To make this work better you need to find outstanding content, to make them interested and from which they can learn something new. So, choosing the right content is of top priority. This will also make the process of sales email follow-up quite simple as you can start off by asking them whether they liked the content or not.
So, the structure of sales emails is to keep it simple, provide some value and end it with a call-to-action question or something the answer of which will be a “yes”.
For finding success in sales email marketing first of all you need to be patient. Give yourself some time, to try out various templates to start writing effective sales email. If one template works for someone, it does not mean it should work for you as well. Try out various structures to find your own. Choose one of the templates above and start writing – you have nothing to lose.
