It’s time to shoot for the sale! But you may find your conversion rate isn’t what you expect it to be if your email isn’t right for the job.
You’ve worked hard to nurture a prospect through your sales funnel.
Your lead magnet attracted them and you’ve shared plenty of content with them since. Now, they know who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.
And they’re engaging. They’re opening all of your emails and interacting with your social content.
They’re ready to buy.
So… you send out the email. This is the final pitch, with an offer attached, that will land the sale for you.
But nothing happens.
This doesn’t mean that the client isn’t interested in working with you. Instead, it tells you that your sales email didn’t do a good enough job of pulling them across the finish line.
What do you need to do differently?
In this article, we’ll look at some of the must-have key elements of your sales email.
Element #1 – A Strong Subject Line
We’ve spoken at length in the past about how important your email’s subject line is. We even created an entire article with tips on how to craft something that’s compelling enough to get clicks.
If you’re at the point where you’re ready to send a sales email, you’ve likely had good subject lines for your previous campaigns.
You can’t drop the ball with the sales email.
Simply put, if the subject line doesn’t attract clicks, you don’t make conversions.
On a general level, your subject line needs to touch on the prospect’s key pain point. It needs to offer something that they identify with, alongside a promise that you can provide the solution.
Check out the linked article above for some specific tips that will help.
Element #2 – Value for the Recipient
This all comes down to risk and reward.
Every time a prospect thinks about buying something, they’re going to do a little mental calculation. They’ll compare the value of what you have to offer against what they need to give you in return.
If the potential reward outweighs the risk that they’re taking on, they’re more likely to buy.
Of course, if the risk too high, they’re going to ignore the offer.
Your job is to highlight the value of your offer. You need to emphasise what the prospect gets if they buy from you. And of course, you also need to mitigate the risk that they’re taking, which usually comes down to showing them how much you offer for their money.
It’s easy to lose the balance in a sales email. After all, you’re sending this email after sending a bunch of others that nurtured the prospect. In your mind, they already know everything that they need to know about the value of your offer.
And they probably do…
But this is the point of no return. They’ve reached the line and they’re considering crossing it. The final affirmation of the value that you bring to the table is what they need to take the final step.
Element #3 – A Conversational Tone
Formality has no place in a sales email.
You’ve already handled the introduction and the getting to know you stuff. That’s where all of your previous emails and social content came in. The prospect knows who you are and what you do. They already feel some level of connection or they wouldn’t be in a position to convert.
You may turn them off if you suddenly get overly-formal with them.
Again, this is all about striking a balance. You’re talking business here, which means an element of professionalism must find its way into your emails. However, you can’t forget what led to the prospect engaging with you in the first place.
That’s why it’s important to use a conversational tone in your sales email. This tone puts the prospect at ease as it releases the pressure of what they already know is a sales email.
Element #4 – A Great Landing Page
What happens when somebody clicks the link in your sales email?
They go to your landing page. At this stage, the email’s done its job in terms of convincing the person that they want to buy…
But a poor landing page could reverse all of that hard work.
Your landing page needs to build on the promises that you made in your sales email. It has to reinforce the points you made and reflect the level of professionalism that the prospect expects from you.
As importantly, you need to make it as easy as possible for the prospect to convert.
That means no complex forms that ask for tons of details. Keep it simple and get straight to the point.
We’ve gone into detail on what a great landing page needs to contain in a previous post. Check it out to see what you need to offer in terms of design and content.
And if you need any extra help, remember that Automation Agency offers a number of landing page design services. Just send a task to the Concierge Service if you need a hand.
Element #5 – A Clear Call to Action
Clarity is the name of the game when it comes to your call to action (CTA) for a sales email.
In previous emails, you may have offered the recipient several options for what they could do next. For example, you might encourage them to join a Facebook group and to subscribe to another email list.
You don’t want to do this with the sales email.
This final email is all about the conversion. That means you need a single call to action that tells the reader, in no uncertain terms, what they need to do next.
As soon as you start muddying the waters, you place seeds of doubt in the reader’s mind.
Remember that you’re sending this email to somebody who you believe feels ready to convert. That means they’re not going to respond to CTAs that prompt them to do things that they’ve already done.
Element #6 – The Right Length
Building on this theme of clarity, you also can’t bog a sales email down with unnecessary text.
You need to get straight to the point so the reader knows exactly what they need to do. Again, remember that this is a person who’s at the bottom of your funnel. They know what you’re offering and you’re just looking to bring them over the line.
According to Entrepreneur, a perfect sales email should be about 150 words long.
That may sound a little brief.
However, you can use plenty of line breaks to create space. This has the added benefits of making the email easy to scan and read, especially on mobile devices.
Key within this content is that you clarify what problem you’re solving. Nail down the specific issue that the prospect needs help with. Then, position yourself as the problem solver for this person.
Element #7 – High Readability
There’s another delicate balance that you need to strike with your sales email.
You want to provoke thought without making the prospect think too much. That sounds like a contradiction in terms but it’s actually simpler than it sounds.
When it comes to provoking thought, this means you want the prospect to think about their problem. You want to identify the issue and cause them to think about what might happen if they don’t solve it.
That’s where the thinking needs to take place.
What you don’t want is for the reader to have to think too much in terms of figuring out the message. Complex sentences and the introduction of unfamiliar concepts force them to think about the email’s content and what it means.
As a result, they’re not thinking about the problem that they need to solve.
The high readability side of things again comes down to reducing the complexity. Avoid industry jargon and other confusing terminology that the reader may not be aware of yet. Get right to the point and write in a way that’s easy for anybody to understand.
It’s Time to Make a Sale
If you incorporate all of these elements in your emails, you’ll find that your conversion rates rise.
That’s because you’re making it as easy as possible for the reader to take the desired action. You’ve reinforced the problem, reduced the risk, and provided a clear action for the prospect to take.
And to make things even easier, Automation Agency can help in several ways. We can work with you to design an attractive landing page, as well as help you automate your email sequence.
Just send a message to our Concierge Service to get started.
And if you’re not a member yet, head to our Right Fit Chatbot to find out if we can help you.
