The five key components of sales emails

Anyone can write an email, even a school-going kid. It’s easy to whip up a write-up and send it off without giving it a second thought, and the fact that we send and receive so many emails every day makes us think that not all individual emails hold much importance. 

This mindset is not entirely wrong though if we think about it. I have written over hundreds of emails in my professional life, and even personally. But I would be wrong if I think that each of them made an impact on the reader as I wanted.  

After all, there are many like myself sending infinite numbers of emails every day. 

The reason, you ask? 

It’s simple- not every email was written in a manner that would create the right impression on the readers. 

Sales emails are no different. Buyers receive a number of emails every day, from one seller or the other. But how many sales emails do you think actually get opened? 

The answer is 23.9%.

So how do you make sure that your sales email not only gets opened but also read by your prospect? You do it by writing a compelling email that’s hard to not notice. 

Sales emails work as an envelope of invitation. You insert your company info, your offerings, and price and promotions in the email without coming out as sales-driven. 

This communication tool has made its mark on the business community for being the most efficient revenue generation tool. So why not leverage it fully? 

We are here to help you in crafting a compelling sales email that your readers would definitely click on and even wait to hear more from you! You can read more on how to craft effective sales emails here. 

But first, let’s go through the components that create an email. 

The five components that give life to a sales email

Just like it takes several ingredients to make a yummy dish, similarly, it takes five key elements to make a sensible email that works. And in order to make it captivating, you need to learn how every component of the email should be crafted. 

These essential elements need to be thoughtfully constructed around your goal, which is to capture and retain the attention of your prospects as they move through each stage of the sales process. 

So, let’s begin by understanding what these key components are and how they can be put together to design a perfect sales email.  

1. Subject line 

This is right where you get judged – at the very first glance! 

Getting judged by someone is not what anyone would like, but then, you can use it to your own advantage. Write something that gets you judged right. 

The number of emails sent daily is going to reach 347 billion by 2023. So that means your competition isn’t getting slow anytime soon. 

In such an aggressive digital environment, all you can do is survive by all means, which means you need to upgrade your game! 

Are you writing subject lines like –   

“How can [company name] help you?” 

Or “Just checking in.”  

Or worse, “Meeting Request.” 

If your answer is yes, then stop doing it right away! These subject lines are killing your emails, and in turn making, you lose clients. 

Instead, go for subject lines that say something to your readers and connects with them. 

People today are incredibly busy, and they don’t have time to go through every email they receive. This is why your subject lines are important. If you don’t catch their attention, you don’t get to sell. 

Almost half of your recipients will open your email based on your subject line, which is why you better focus on your first impression. 

“I usually spend more time writing my email’s subject line than I do on the email itself. If the subject line isn’t great, no one will read the email anyway.”- Brady Shearer 

Here are some tips you can use while writing a sales email subject line that would guarantee clicks: 

1. Write subject lines like a real person. Think what you’d write as a subject line if you were writing to an acquaintance or a mutual connection. Nothing too familiar, but you need not be too complex either. Also, avoid making obvious mistakes, or let any email automation tool problem slip through, because nothing gets your sales email rejected more than the brackets showing the form field label, extra spacing, or a wrong name. You don’t want to come off as someone who doesn’t care. 

2. Use catchy slogans only if you want to get your email deleted. You are writing a sales email, not a PR pitch, so know your reader before you craft the subject line to your sales email. Remember, you are not a copywriter to some big ad agency; you are a salesperson who wants to open a line of communication and nurture a relationship. 

3. Never Capitalize Every Word of Your Subject Line, Like This. Your sales email is not a marketing broadcast that you sent you a million people. Sales emails work better when they are personalized, and that’s the kind of first impression you really want to create with your subject line. 

4. Pose a question in your subject line, as long as you ask the right questions. This is a great strategy to get more of your emails opened. You’ll gradually learn what to ask, but make sure you structure your questions the same way you’d ask something during a conversation. Also, avoid using extra punctuation as it’s the direct road to the spam folder. 

Subject lines are the essential elements of a sales email, and they should be crafted as if your life depended on them. Read about the seven tips to write a subject line that boost open rates. 

2. Opening line 

You need to understand your prospect before you start writing your email. Thoroughly know about their profile and then ask yourself this question- how do I address my recipient that’ll make them respond? 

Is it going to be a Hi, Hey, Hello, or Dear? 

Going ahead with Dear Mr. Williams might sound nice to you, however, your recipient might not feel the same way. Consult with your team and understand your recipient’s profile before you hit the send button. 

You can use some of these tips while starting out with your email so you hit the right chords: 

Connect the beginning of your email with your subject line 

You don’t want to disappoint your readers at the first line itself after they read your amazingly written subject line. A good opening line does wonders for you, like –

• Quickly establishes context for why you are reaching out 
• Takes a meaningful step towards establishing trust and credibility 
• Creates a natural transition towards your sales pitch 

Get straight to the point 

Your prospects would be probably receiving dozens of emails every day, and it’s very likely that they wouldn’t be opening at least half of them. So, once you made them open your email, also give them something worth their time. 

Stay clear with your purpose and state what you want right in the beginning, you don’t want your readers to doze off in the first line itself. 

You can use the three types of opening lines, mainly –

• The one that builds the context
• The one that creates trust  
• The one requesting for referrals 

Try using one of these types of opening lines in your emails depending on what suits best for your line of communication, and make your prospects crave to read what’s written ahead.

3. Email body and pitch 

Before you sit down to write your pitch, ask yourself what it is that you want to achieve with this email. Only when you know what outcome you are seeking you can format an email that fulfills your goal.  

Come up with a primary goal that you want your email to fulfill: 

• Is it to get an immediate click and sale right away? 
• Is it to capture the prospect’s interest and book a call? 
• Is it to get them on a free trial of your product? 

The pitch and body of your sales email will greatly depend on what your primary goal is. With a compelling subject line as well as an opening line, you have already established the context of your email. Now, you just need to craft a winning sales pitch that’d make you convert your prospects. 

Here are the three things that should be a part of your initial sales email pitch: 

1. Give enough additional context of who you are. If your opening lines don’t talk much about you, then start your email body stating some more facts about yourself. This will also help you establish your credibility and instill more confidence in your prospect about your service/ product, and your company. 

2. Clarify the problem you’re trying to solve in one simple sentence. Use that one pitch that sums up your offerings in the least words possible, and if you don’t have one, then it’s time for you to write one! 

3. Highlight the benefits that your prospects can avail from you. Use bullet points to highlight what that one-line summing up pitch was talking about. Use specific use cases that the prospects can relate to in a way that they cannot ignore the benefits they are in for if they invest in you. 

4. Closing statement and CTA 

Closing statements are not as simple as they sound. If your sales email ends at a direct call-to-action button, it makes it obvious that you are expecting the prospect to take action right away. And this can end in disaster. 

It becomes your duty as a sales rep to walk your prospect through the steps of making an entrance from the sales funnel to signing on board as a customer. 

If you have done everything right from the start, then you need to make sure that you take this last step very carefully, especially if you don’t want your email to end up in the trash. 

On the surface, it might look like writing CTA is easy; however, it can be a bit complicated. Hence, here are a few things you should avoid while writing a CTA that would work: 

1. Not having a clear CTA. If you don’t tell your prospects what to do, how do you expect them to take the next step? Always add a clear CTA, even if the email states the purpose profoundly. 

2. Adding too many CTAs. Having multiple CTAs won’t increase your chances of conversion; in fact, they’ll confuse the prospects and even overwhelm them. Ask for as little as possible in a cold email so that you can get what you want in time. 

3. Keeping CTAs unclear. How can someone take action if they don’t understand what needs to be done? Keep your CTAs specific enough for the prospects to reply or take the action you want them to. If you want them to pick up the call, tell them the date and time you are scheduling your call. If you want them to click on the link you provided, tell them so. 

4. Difficult decisions in CTA. No one likes making tough decisions, especially during a busy day, on a random cold email. So, asking someone to make that difficult a decision for you before you establish a rapport with them is kind of cruel on your part. Even if they are interested in what you have to say, but the CTA is difficult, they’ll pass. 

5. CTA asking too much. You don’t have enough credits while sending a cold email that you ask for a lot. If your CTA asks for some sensitive material or expects the prospect to make some serious investments, then it’s too much. It’s good for you to assume they won’t do it.  

The best CTAs are exactly the opposite of what we discussed in the above points. They are simple, straightforward, and reasonable requests for a sales email. 

5. Signature 

One of the most underutilized pieces of your sales email, Signature, can help you put your best foot forward by showing the value of your company. 

Most of the average email signatures consist of the name, email address, phone number, and logo; like this one: 

James Williams 

Sales Manager, ABC Solutions 

Phone: 888-888-000 

Email: james.w@abc.com 

What would your first thought on this signature be? It’s boring, right? And, it doesn’t add anything to further your conversation. 

Signatures are not only about building credibility but also about giving something more to your prospects, something interesting that showcases whatever is relevant to the prospect you’re talking to. 

Here are a few interesting ways you can spice up your signature: 

• Include press articles. Add links to some positive press articles published in media that highlight the accomplishments of your company. Show off how your company’s growing leaps and bounds. In case you don’t already have an article written, then write one yourself! Take the initiative of publishing about your recent growth and landmark customers on your company blog. 
• Add recordings from webinars. Help your prospects learn more about your offerings by including the recordings from any recent webinar your company hosted, be it a product demo, a case study, client interview, or a keynote speech from the CEO; include whatever helps your customers dig deeper into your company. 
• Write case studies. Link positive feedbacks and use cases to establish your credibility because your prospect should get an opportunity to hear more about your product from others, especially those who have had a first-hand experience with it, rather than you, who can be biased as a salesperson. 
• Link YouTube videos. Video thumbnails attract more attention than images, and you can leverage this fact by adding links to your YouTube videos in your signature. If your company has any kind of video marketing, then your signature is the best way to get their eyes on it. Nothing’s better than a video to get your prospect interested in your company. 

Here are some of the best email signature examples you can refer to while writing your sales emails. 

Wrapping it up… 

Emails are easy but don’t underestimate the sales email that are your weapons for converting prospects to customers. Leveraging this ultimate sales tool isn’t as easy, but with some practice and the right approach, every salesperson can write the perfect sales email in no time.  

All you need is patience and a good set of email templates!