Keeping it short, to the point and simple

A must for all writers of outbound sales emails. Nothing disturbs your sales message more than the noise of complexity! You need to give the reader a clear sense of who you are and what you want from them. Studies show that shorter emails result in quicker response time as well. Tip: sleep on it and return to your draft email the next day with fresh eyes – you’ll be able to spot and cut out any extraneous wording.

Your subject line is the gatekeeper to your message

It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of a good subject line. Especially in cold sales emails. No matter what, your email’s subject line needs to grab the attention of your receiver, competing with other emails and stimuli during a busy workday. If your receiver does not open the email, he or she does not read it. The subject line should be straight to the point, short, casual and relevant. We know this is much easier said than done, but at least let this be a reminder to spend more time on your subject line – it’s not an afterthought, it’s the gatekeeper to your email’s sales message. And resist using tacky tricks like adding a Re: in the start of the subject line to make it look like you are answering an email from the receiver – people aren’t stupid and you’ll immediately appear dishonest which is no way to start a sales relationship.

Problem solving

Does your potential customer even know that they have a problem that you can solve? It helps to outline the situation up front so that the reader has something to relate to. No matter if you follow the BAB (Before-After-Bridge) build-up, the PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solve) Model or even the AIDA Model for your sales emails, you still need to focus on the pains of your receiver, and the pain relievers and gains you can deliver to him or her. And you need the right frames around it in order to make it stand out as professional, serious and sharp – the more you can relate the problem to a specific persona or stakeholder, the more likely they are to pay attention to your email.

Short, sweet solutions

Now that your reader knows they have a problem, they’re going to want to know about solutions. Yes, we know you have a lot to say about your product or service, but please keep this short and sweet in your first email. Bait the reader with solid yet brief descriptions and facts about your product. Try using the Reader’s Digest Model. In 1961, legendary copywriter John Caples analyzed Reader’s Digest to find its secrets for hooking readers. He found that the most effective opening paragraphs are fact-packed, concise, specific, contain few adjectives and arouse curiosity.

Speaking directly to the receiver

We all want to be special and this includes the reader of your outbound sales email! Check that your email is speaking directly to that one person and, as much as possible, let them know that you understand their problem and that you have a tailor-made solution just for them. Again, a clever email template gives you the time and energy to focus on the things you really want to do during your workday; it enables you to spend more time formulating and individualizing your core messages and not so much on structure.

Now ask yourself: how many of these tips are you already using today? Which ones of them do you need to work with just a bit more in order to be even more effective? Now go and review your email templates! If you need some creative inspiration for writing your next template, browse this library of real world sales emails.

Building your best practice sales library

Once you have composed your best practice emails for outbound sales, it is easy for you and your sales organization to re-use them in Templafy’s built-in library. That way, you can leverage on your success repeatedly and have multiple standard emails ready in your library for you to use and re-use for specific target groups, segments, situations etc. All very easy and quick to use, integrated directly into your Outlook.

You’ll also find it easier to stay on-brand and spend less time searching for images and fonts. Templafy keeps your fonts and formatting aligned not only in your sales emails in Outlook, but across all of the office productivity applications in your entire organization. You’ll no longer have to worry about those disturbing visual effects created by multiple fonts and sizes jumping all over your email.