Six Rules for Using Email to Sell. (Never Break Them!)

by Bill Zipp  |  July 21st, 2010
Marketing, Tips-n-Tools


 

 
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I don’t think anyone doubts whether or not email is here to stay. Like cell phones and iPods, Twitter and Facebook, these disruptive technologies are now an integral part of our daily life. With the onslaught of spam in all of our in boxes, however, email’s effectiveness as a sales tool has greatly diminished.


Nevertheless, using email well is a critical skill for any independent consultant wanting to grow their business. Here are six rules to follow without exception:


RULE ONE: The subject line is king


In medieval society, the king was everything: all wise and all powerful. That’s the role the subject line plays in all of your outgoing email. Like a headline in a newspaper article, it must be short–6-8 words–and it must be compelling.


As you know from using email yourself, if you don’t know the sender, you read the subject line. If that doesn’t grab you, the email is trashed. According to a 2007 study by Juniper Research, 35% of all email users open messages because of what’s contained in the subject line.


Here’s an example of a good and a bad subject line:


BAD SUBJECT LINE: Advertising deadlines for our eighth annual summer shopping guide are fast approaching


GOOD SUBJECT LINE: Reach 1000’s of women with your unique summer shopping tips


Apart from being way too long, the first subject line is sender-centered instead of recipient-centered. I’m sure the sender thinks that mentioning the fact that their summer shopping guide is in its eighth year will be inspiring, but the recipient of this email doesn’t care about that. And I am also sure the sender thinks that mentioning approaching deadlines creates scarcity (Which everyone knows, sells. Right?), but, again, the recipient doesn’t care about your approaching deadline. Really!


What does the recipient care about?


The recipient, along with every other business leader right now, cares about building their business. In other words, they care about their products and services and the audience they need to reach to sell them. You must show from the very start of your email that you are a serious business person as well. Work on your subject line until you’ve achieved that objective.


RULE TWO: The first sentence is queen


Still royalty, the queen in medieval society was also powerful, just not as much as the king. After your subject line, your first sentence is critical in using email effectively. Once opened, you’ve got five seconds to keep the momentum going. That’s all, five seconds. This rule, like rule one, is about being recipient-centered and not sender-centered based on your understanding of the prospect’s business needs.


Again, here are two examples:


BAD FIRST SENTENCE: Yes, it’s that time of year again! Our eighth annual summer shopping guide is here!! This award-winning, 100-page glossy-printed publication is packed with fun and amazing ideas for every thing you’ll need this summer!!!


GOOD FIRST SENTENCE: I noticed that your company just released a line of learning puzzles for school-aged children. Congratulations. This is just the sort of unique family item moms are looking for this summer as an alternative to video games and re-runs on TV.


What rule one and rule two mean for you is: outgoing email must not be sent generically from a distribution list (otherwise know as spam). Every email must be customized to your prospect as a result of basic research regarding their products, target audience, and business cycles. This will result in fewer email sent, but significantly increased response rates. That’s the point, right?


RULE THREE: Keep the body short


Okay, now it’s time to talk about yourself. But do it carefully, and do it briefly. Avoid all the self-congratulating terms (like amazing, award-wining, cutting-edge, blah, blah, blah) that litter email communication today. And please, please, please lose the exclamation marks. Keep it real and keep it short, 150 words or less.


You should, however, talk about actual business results. Just don’t do it in a self-congratulatory way. State the facts and use recognized business terms like increased sales, reduced down time, improved productivity, etc… Also, use actual numbers and actual names (if possible).


Here’s how I would do this for the summer shopping guide we’ve been discussing:


Every year we print a shopping guide to help crazy busy mom get the stuff their family needs for the summer. This is a high-quality publication that’s distributed directly to professional women from an opt-in subscription list. One of our clients, Thinker Toys, LLC , experienced a 45% increase in retail sales last summer from this publication alone. What would a 45% increase in sales do for you?


RULE FOUR: End with a call to action


Outgoing email is, of course, one step in the larger sales process. Know what the next step is and state it. Then follow-up that step without exception. For most of us this means not mentioning price in any way, even a great, limited time sale price. For most of us email is a way of opening up a relationship and expanding the know, like, and trust quotient. Jumping right to price and product destroys that possibility.


Here’s how I would close the email we’ve been working on:


I’m sending you a copy of last year’s summer shopping guide and placed sticky notes on the pages I thought you’d find interesting. I’ll be calling you next week to discuss this year’s publication. If you’d like to speak to me before then, my direct number is …


RULE FIVE: Keep the signature simple


Lose the fancy signature line with colorful graphics and handwritten autograph. Not only is that distracting, but you’ll get sent straight to junk mail by a spam filter. List your name, position, company, and basic information in straight type (add color if you must). Again, this is not the place to throw in a self-serving tag like, “The World’s Leader in ….” Drop it. Your signature should be limited to three lines, four lines max.


RULE SIX: Do not send attachments


Like the signature rule, following the attachment rule will keep you from the junk mail folder. It’s tempting because we love our colorful graphics and beautiful documents, but don’t do it. It’s also considered rude to send something that will use up precious hard drive space without being asked to do so. If you must provide a sample of your work, do it through an HTML link that the recipient can follow.


BONUS: 35 words to avoid being sent to spam filter purgatory


Purgatory, how’s that for another medieval concept? Here are 35 words NEVER to use in your email because they have been deemed as being associated with spam according to Josiane Chriqui Feigon in her terrific book Smart Selling on the Phone and Online:


free
specials
market
no obligation
gift
bonus
offer
bargain
click
limited time
marketing
advertising
deal
discount
ads
sales
pleasure
sell
pricing
lowest prices
shopping
guarantee
clearance
package
renewal
final days
finance
just released
performance

Bill Zipp

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Reader comments (2)

 

Wow this has some depth.

I don’t sell much via e-mail, but even communicating with clients this tips seem helpful. I’ll be linking some clients to this, Thanks Bill(!)

Also the “35 words to avoid” seems like a list of words that people are tired of hearing in email or print.


Ron sparks | July 24, 2010

Sometimes the signature takes up more lines than the body. Good way to be ignored. Thanks for sharing that tip.


Matt Riopelle | August 02, 2010
 


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