11 Jun 09 E-Mail Marketing Strategies For Increased Sales Conversions

I’ve always had great success in business development and sales conversions through e-mail marketing. My colleagues always wondered what my secret is and how I’ve been able to get so many conversions simply from e-mailing prospects. Well, I’m not going to give you all of my marketing secrets but I will provide you with some insight as to what has worked for me in the past.

Subject Line
When e-mailing prospects, potential customers, existing clients, or anyone for that matter; it’s important to remember that they get tons of e-mails a day just as you and I. If they’re important and busy (like most executives & decision-makers) they will determine your e-mail’s fate in an instant. Have a generic SUBJECT line? Delete! Sounds like Spam? Delete. The FROM section reads something like discoduck@gmail.com? Delete! Make sure you’re subject line is brief, to the point, and not littered with spam-like keywords such as ‘Great Offer’ or ‘Incredible Opportunity.’ Don’t allow your e-mail to be sent to the spam folder before your recipient even gets a chance to read your wonderful e-mail.

Attention Grabber
I can’t tell you how many times I delete an e-mail after reading only the first two sentences. Just as the saying goes ‘it only takes someone 15 seconds to make an opinion about you,’ so too is it true for e-mail content. Most people will judge your e-mail quickly based on the first two to three sentences. You need to gain their interest immediately with someone either compelling or with a sentence or two that shows you did your homework or researched about them or their company before sending off this e-mail. People take pride in their work and they are enthralled when someone writes them with a congratulatory first sentence or few lines showing they researched their product or service. Even better, if you share a similar interest with your prospect or client, you should let them know. An example would be- “Hi, this is Brent Grablachoff from XYZ Company and I had the opportunity to view your website and noticed you enjoy _______. Immediately this e-mail now sounds like a personal correspondence rather than a sales letter. I am not saying to trick you recipient, but if you use a more personal spin, you will experience an immediate increase in e-mail conversions.

Content
Everyone is human, well most people at least. This means they expect people to have their own personality and it’s quite exciting for most people to see something new & unique once in a while. Whenever I write e-mails I try to keep them professional, but add some ‘flare’ to them so they come across as a casual conversation rather than a stiff compliance notice. It’s important to use proper grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. It’s worth the extra 10 seconds to do a spell check and re-read of your entire document. For very important e-mails, I generally pre-write them in Microsoft Word and tweak them till perfect and simply copy and paste it into the body of my Outlook e-mail. It’s always better to take a few extra seconds and get your e-mails written with your own unique spin, rather than rush off to the next prospect or follow-up e-mail and engage in a spam fest.

Strong Close
I consider this the “Call to Action” section of your e-mail. It’s where you wrap up your ideas with a BRIEF summary and then propose a ‘next step’ for your prospect. Whether you want them to sign up for a free trial of your software or visit a specific page on your website, or register for the seminar, you need to make it explicit as to what they should do next. You of course need to do this in a persuasive way as to not sound like an overly pitchy salesperson and more of a traffic director. You should expel confidence, keep your closing brief and direct, but be very clear as to what they should do next. After reading your e-mail, your prospect should have no question marks in his or her head, and know exactly what the next step is. If you’ve really written a compelling e-mail, you might even get an immediate phone call back… Hopefully it’s not to tell you “%$#& Please stop e-mailing me!”