Business English Academy continues its constant rubric dealing with #business_Language and #the_language_of_sales and today we present 7 awful mistakes that can destroy the perception of even the best email.
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1) Putting 100% of your focus on the subject line … and none on the body copy.
The subject line is important, no doubt about it. After all, it’s what gets the prospect to click in the first place. But you don’t want to build up their expectations with a fantastic subject line only to be deflated by a terrible message. When writing sales prospecting emails, give equal weight to the subject line and body copy.
2) Writing overly long sentences.
Not only do lengthy sentences take time to read (something that’s in short supply for busy business leaders), they’re also confusing. What exactly do you want your buyer to take away from this email? What action do you want them to complete after reading? Short sentences make your meaning crystal clear.
3) Making the email all about you.
I don’t care if your company is the most “cost-effective” and “innovative” vendor in the space — and neither do prospects. A first-touch outreach requires you to warm prospects up before they’re willing to sit through your pitch. Strike up a conversation that’s about them, not you.
4) Failing to include any benefits.
You wouldn’t be reaching out to this prospect if you didn’t believe you had something to offer them. Relevant benefits provide a compelling reason for prospects to engage with you, so don’t leave them by the wayside. Just make sure to play up what the benefit signifies for them. A benefit by itself doesn’t mean much, but one that’s made relevant to the buyer is invaluable.
5) Spraying and praying your prospects.
Buyers can tell when they’re being treated as a number on a long lead list. And if you can’t even customize your very first email, what does that say about your customer service? Take the time to customize, even if that just means tweaking a sentence or two in a template.
6) Ending with a vague call-to-action.
Every email should end with an explicit call-to-action. If you don’t spell out exactly what the buyer should do next, the likelihood the conversation will continue is a big, fat goose egg. Instead of saying, “Would you be interested in learning more?” or “Let me know if you’d like to speak,” write specific, detailed CTAs such as:
- “Are you free on Tuesday at 5 p.m. to discuss this strategy in more detail?”
- “Which techniques have you used to optimize CRO?”
Note that your CTA doesn’t have to be an invitation to get on phone, as long as your prospect can immediately see what the next step would be.
7) Your email pisses people off.
It seems obvious to avoid angering your prospects, but you might be making people mad without knowing it. To lessen your risk of infuriating prospects, write concise, customized emails that offer something of value. You can also use a lot of applications to discover if your buyer opened your email or clicked on any links. Knowing which templates perform the best means you won’t continue to send an ineffective (and potentially annoying) email over and over.
