How To Write A Sales Email That Converts
Sales Productivity Guides for Businesses

How To Write A Sales Email That Converts

Vibhanshu Dixit
Vibhanshu Dixit

Table of Contents

Wondering how to write a sales email that converts?

Short answer: Aim for personalization and sound like a human. Be specific, keep your message concise, and initiate action with CTA.

One hundred and twenty-one.

On average, one hundred and twenty-one business emails are received every day by professionals. And the numbers are expected to rise over the years. In short, a person gets a heavy dose of information via email every single day. Those 121 emails crave the attention of the user. But only the emails with perfect structure and delivery will get converted.

The remaining emails will Rest in the Trash.

Every company wants to achieve massive success, and sales play a significant role in it. The sales team is pivotal in the success of organizations—the first touchpoint between a company and the customers. The productive sales team drive good conversions.

The effectiveness of a sales team depends upon the efficiency of the communication channel. And in the sales funnel, email is a potent tool.

Writing a sales email is a personalized communication method as it reaches the customer directly with a customized message.

For sales teams, learning how to write a sales email is like a secret weapon to success.

Why is Writing a Sales Email Effective in Customer Communication?

About 34% of the population uses email. Approximately that’s 2.5 billion people. If you’re a sales rep and don't know how to write sales emails to customers, you’re missing a lot.

A recent study done by an employee experience company found that almost 75 % of respondents preferred to communicate via emails officially.

Writing a sales email is a perfect way of communication is because it is respectful. Emails respect the prospect’s time and attention. Instead of bombarding them with flashy ads, you’re silently dropping the information right into their mailbox.

You’re giving them the power to choose your products based on their free will.

Reasons why you should start writing sales emails:

  • Economic and Cost-effective: Emails allow businesses to reach customers at a very negligible cost. Compared to traditional ways of communication, e.g., calls, email is quite economical. In fact, for every $1 spent on email marketing, there is an ROI of $44.
  • Personalized: Imagine you’re a teacher, and you keep getting the same sales poking (ads, calls, etc.) to buy backup software. What will you do? You’ll curse the sales rep. Why? Because their message isn’t personalized to you. Emails solve the exact problem because they are targeted. If you send segmented emails, they can generate 58% of the revenue.
  • More Efficient than Social Media in Customer Acquisition: Social media has its own advantages. But when it comes to acquisition, emails are the preferred choice. Sales email allows the prospect to further inquire about the offer without leaving the platform. A study found that 80% of the sales executives agree that emails lead to high customer acquisition.

Emails are useful at every step of a sales cycle. There are five types of sales emails that target prospects at different points of their buyer’s journey.

  • Discovery Email: An email that is a part of the lead qualification process.
  • Meeting Invitation Email: An email to invite the prospect to a meeting with the sales rep.
  • Follow-Up Email: Sequence of emails in response to a customer’s actions.
  • Re-engagement Email: Sales email that initiates engagement with an inactive subscriber or customer.
  • Transactional Email: The sequence of emails to a prospect after a successful transaction. Includes cart abandonment emails, promotional emails, receipt emails, etc.

Thus, there are many points in the sales cycle where emails perform a pivotal function. However, not all email brings a substantial ROI. The success of a sales email boils down to how you write a sales email.

So, how to write a sales email that converts?

Answer: Follow a well-defined structure that can serve you as a guide to writing sales emails.

How To Write A Sales Email That Converts

To write a high-performing email, you need to master two skills: Content and Attitude.

Part I: Writing Rich Content for Sales Email

1. Craft a Relevant Subject Line:

how to write sales email that converts

The subject of the email tells its context. The subject line aims to inform readers what to expect in the email. It should catch the user’s interest and attention. Remember when you write a sales email: don’t sound pushy or poking in the subject line.

Here are some examples of how to write the subject line in a sales email to customers:

  • Sara suggested I get in touch with you.
  • Questions about [recent event]
  • Questions about [user’s goal]
  • Ideas for [things a prospect cares about]
  • Have you considered [recommendation or thought]

A/B testing is one of the most effective ways to test different subject lines.

  • Take a subset from your email recipient’s list and divide them into two groups.
  • Prepare two different subject lines for each group.
  • Now, send emails to these subsets with the same content but different subjects.
  • Remember to send more than 50 emails for accuracy in statistics.

2. Nail the Preview Text

how to write sales email that converts

Preview text is a glimpse of the first line of email content. It displays the content briefly next to the subject line. It would help if you crafted preview text perfectly as it is a hit-or-miss chance.

Ensure that the preview text in your sales email shouldn’t contain generic information, e.g., such as reading this email and social links. It should help the subscribers get an idea about what value they can get by opening the email.

Remember, when writing a sales email, you have 35-140 characters for preview text. Take out your trump card and place it there.

3. Grab Attention with Opening Line

Which one of these opening line you’ll most probably like:

“Hi, my name is Jason from...”

Or,

“I noticed that you….”  

The second one, right? Because it’s not generic or boring.

Let’s look at another example:

how to write sales email that converts

Notice how engaging the opening line is? It shows that some human from the other end is there to talk to you. This is how you write a sales email that converts.

Be impactful, ditch the ordinary, and stand out with creativity.

Here are some templates for opening line in sales email at different stages:

  • [Mutual connection] mentioned that you…
  • I noticed that we both…
  • I appreciate your interest in…
  • Why do you prefer…

This is one of the most common sales mistakes that can reduce the email conversion rate.

4. Present the Core Message in the Body

The body is where the real essence of the sales email is. It is the heart of the email. Everything till now was reducing the resistance of users to arrive here. Also, this is where the users will find detailed information about the subject.

How to write an engaging body of a sales email?

Don’t write generic messages in the body of the sales email. For instance, “we provide the best-in-class collaboration software to increase your productivity by 400%.”

Sadly, these types of sales emails are prevalent and land in the trash.

The better way is to ask questions related to the research you've done on the prospect. Here are some templates:

  • Are [benefits of your product] your priority?
  • Will solving [their problem] help you achieve better results?
  • How are you planning to improve your strategy?
  • Are you working alone on this?
  • What are your expectations with the strategy you deployed?
  • Was the ideation part your primary task?

5. Initiate Action with CTA

how to write sales email that converts

Writing an excellent story without driving readers to action is all for nothing. Everything till now was the road to a destination. CTA is that destination. This is the point where the actual sales will happen.

Remember when you write a sales email to customers: give them a strong, lasting impression. And ask them to act.

You can ask the following question to lead the reader to prompt action:

  • Please let me know what you’d like as a next step, if any?
  • Do you have a free slot available on your calendar for the next week?
  • Do you want to discuss your thoughts on this proposal?
  • What are your questions that I can help you with?
  • Can we talk about this proposal in detail? If not, who would you like to talk to?
  • If you don’t want to move forward, can I have permission to close your file?

Wondering how to write a sales email to get a meeting?

Here’s the ground rule: Be specific.

Consider your prospect is busy and will think twice before the meeting. Thus, it’s best to be specific about the date and time while writing a follow-up sales email.

Here’s how to ask to get a meeting in a sales email:

  • Do you have ten minutes free tomorrow?
  • Are you available for a 20-minute call on [date and time]?
8 Ways to Make Your Sales Demos Stand Out
So you’ve talked your way into a meeting with your prospect. The only thing standing between you and closing the deal is intense yourself: Here are 8 ways to make your sales demos stand out:

6. End with a Signature

An email signature is like a business card in the online world.

While writing a sales email, don’t make your signature a distraction or cliche. It would bring better results if you stick to the following guideline:

  • Keep it concise and precise.
  • Mention the brand.
  • Include your communication details, e.g., email, phone number.
  • Provide a link to your professional profile, i.e., LinkedIn.
  • Images and quotes are a big NO-NO.

Here's how a good sales email looks:

Hi [prospect name],

I'm sending this note to introduce myself as your resource here at [company]. I work with small businesses in [prospect company's] space, and noticed that your colleagues had stopped by our website in the past.

This inspired me to spend a few minutes on your site to gain a better understanding of how you are [handling strategy for business area]. In doing so, I noticed a few areas of opportunity and felt compelled to reach out to you directly.

[Company] is working with similar companies in your industry, such as [X], helping them [accomplish Y], while providing them with the tools to [manage Z].

When do you have 15 minutes to connect today?

Please also feel free to book time directly onto my calendar here: [Meetings link].

Thanks,

[Your name]

Part II: Attitude Of Writing a Sales Email

7. No Spam by Shouting

If your emails seem like a shouting ad, the reader will flush them off their inbox. Write a compelling sales email by reducing the jargon that appears pushy.

AVOID OVERUSE OF CAPS LOCK AND EXCLAMATION MARK! IT REDUCES THE READABILITY OF THE EMAIL! AND CONFUSES THE READER ABOUT WHAT’S IMPORTANT!

Did you notice how the above sentence is an attention killer and appears spammy?

Avoid unnecessary attention-grabbing tactics.

8. Understand the Audience

When writing a sales email, focus on the persona; you’re sending emails to humans. Not to a robot. Understand your audience before sending out a bunch of emails.

  • Research about the needs and struggles of your prospects.
  • Leverage the data from social and web analytics.
  • Combine it with the data you have from personal interaction.
  • Build a customer avatar or buyer’s persona with unique characteristics. This is one of the most useful tips for closing more sales deals.

Understanding who’s going to read your email can significantly increase the email’s open rate. Thus, make your emails relevant and personalized.

9. Psychology

Humans have some predictable behavior patterns that you can use while writing a sales email. Using psychology can help you in crafting sales emails and getting a high conversion rate.

Here are some psychological tips you can use:

  • Color choice: Human brain reacts differently to different colors. Use this strategy while designing the color scheme of your email (creative, CTAs, etc.). For example, red depicts alertness.
  • Social Proof: People are more likely to buy things that others have purchased. Use this tactic by mentioning customer reviews and success stories when you write sales emails to new customers.
  • Use of emojis: Emojis depict emotions or gestures instantly. Use emojis that lead the reader’s gaze towards the CTA. 👇

Conclusion: Practice the Art Perfectly

Writing a great sales email that converts is an art. And art needs honing. Or better to say, it requires practice with the right strategy. Sales email strategy built upon in-depth research and insights serves as a lighthouse to the sales rep.

It also helps in maintaining uniformity and consistency in your email marketing campaigns. One such effective strategy that sales reps use is Fireflies.ai. It helps the sales rep in taking detailed notes during a meeting with prospects. Thus, a sales rep can access in-depth information shared by the prospect in the sales meeting.




Try Fireflies for free