?David Traub, author of The 10-Second Sale?suggests that email remains one of the most powerful selling tools available — but you have to do it right, a RainToday.com article reports.
Sales emails must include certain things, and they must all be done well if you want recipients to respond?and respond favorably, a raintoday.com article quoting Traub says. ?For example, you might have a great message, but if you have a bad subject line, few people will read the message.
Here are six things you should do to craft effective emails.
Use effective words in your subject line:?Yesware suggests these words are effective: New, trial, one, can, information, best, and executive,
Make the subject line strong:??Fragment subject lines can work. “For example, in a prospecting email to someone you know has an interest, the subject line could be ‘What is ?'”. Then the first line finishes the fragment with something like”?”your primary interest in [your core benefit statement].” That strategy works because people are compelled to answer questions. They naturally want to find out what the rest of the sentence is, and they open the email, Traub says.
Other points in the RainToday?article include:
Make your message short and easy to read: People are on the go. They don’t always read email on their computer. They read from their phone and their tablet. So, you have to physically make it easy for them to read your email.
Make sure your message passes the “so what” test: For every sentence in the email, if the recipient were to say “so what,” the answer should be immediately obvious to them. “If they keep reading more than a line or two and it doesn’t matter to them, they’re not even going to finish it, never mind reply to you,” Traub says.
Always have a call to action: When you send a sales-related email and it’s just messaging or content?it doesn’t tell people what to do?people are unlikely to do what you want. The key is to start a conversation. So, you want to put at the end of the email something simple for them to do, such as read this report or can you meet on Tuesday?something you want them to do or answer.
Make it possible for them to reply easily: Ideally you want people to be able to just hit reply and say yes or make a choice from no more than three items.
Use the recipient’s time zone when asking for a meeting: Anytime you refer to a time, spell out what time zone you’re using so it’s clear and translate it for them. If they’re in Chicago and you are in New York, use Central Time. If they have to translate it, it’s too difficult, Traub says.
However, in sharing this advice, I’d also ask you to consider how you feel when you receive a really “salesy” email. ?In my opinion, there is a balance between following the effective techniques and retaining a natural, sincere and human touch. ?As a rule, this will be easiest to do if you write true one-on-one emails based on real knowledge and communication with the person you wish reach. Sure, mass market broadcast emails still have a place in the universe, but you don’t want to head down the path to where your emails are perceived as spam.
