Emails are a fantastic way of reaching out to new customers and growing your network.
It’s a frequently-quoted statistic, but email generates $36 for every $1 spent, making it one of the best marketing channels for return on investment.
However, like with all marketing channels, it’s vital to get your email writing technique correct. Create an email that is overly formal, irrelevant or too boring, and it’s likely your email will end up in the bin or even worse, the junk mail folder.
Here is our guide for writing a B2B sales email that prospective customers will want to click on.
- Personalize your email copy
This doesn’t just mean using your customer’s name at the start of the email. By doing your research and crafting a B2B sales email that is bespoke to the person you are sending it to, they are more likely to respond.
According to Experian, personalizing your email content leads to six times higher transaction rates.
Do your research before you reach out to your customer. Find out more about them by doing a quick search on LinkedIn, Google or their company’s ‘about us’ page. If you have access to the prospect’s LinkedIn account, you will have access to an email and phone number with the help of our Business Data Finder solutions.
- Do you have anything in common you can mention? For example, did you use to work in a similar industry together, or did you recently attend the same conference or networking event?
- What are your customer’s interests outside of work? Do they support a specific sports team, own a particular type of pet or volunteer at a certain charity? Be careful here, you want to show your interest, but you don’t want to come across as too creepy!
Check out your customer’s business and the role they play in it:
- How can your company help theirs?
- What are your customer’s pain points? Do they want to increase revenue, decrease customer churn or expand into new markets?
- What are their competitors doing that they are not?
- Are there any facts, statistics or testimonials you can mention that will genuinely resonate with them?
Doing ten minutes of due diligence before you hit the ‘send’ button will help you create an email that truly appeals to your customer.
2. Talk to your customer like you would a close friend
Think of the last sales email you received.
Was it full of formal language and jargon? Or did the words flow and encourage you to read more?
A friendly and straightforward email is more likely to be read and understood than a complicated and indifferent one. The average person receives 126 emails a day at work, so you want your prospective customer not only to read your email but take action too.
Here are some of our top tips for writing a friendly B2B sales email:
- Avoid jargon and overly-salesy language where you can. It’s OK to be professional when drafting your sales email, but avoid language that might confuse your target audience
- Ask questions – this helps show interest in your customer and makes the email content more relatable for them (more on that later)
- Keep your email short. Acknowledging and valuing your customer’s time is one of the best things you can do to encourage engagement. We recommend you keep your B2B sales email under 150 words
- Using humour can be great and help break the ice, but this depends on the industry you are in and the person you are sending the email to. Use humour sparingly and on an email-by-email basis
- Use paragraphs to break up your text and make it easier to read. Emboldening some words will also help draw your customer’s eye to them
- Read your email out loud before you send it. This will help you see where it sounds stuffy and will help you eliminate any unnecessary words. If you’re still in doubt, ask a colleague to take a look
- Don’t forget your subject line. Your subject line is what will determine whether a customer opens your email or not. Keep it specific, short, personalised and friendly. Here are some good sales email lines you can use
3. Think more about ‘you’ and less about ‘me’
Horror author Stephen King famously said that people engage when they see themselves in the story you tell. By making your email more about your customer and less about your business, your writing will be a lot more conversational and natural.
Focus on the benefits of what you are selling rather than the features of what you are selling. For example, rather than saying that your technology is state-of-the-art, say how it will make the process easier for your customer and save them valuable time.
A good way to see if your email is on the right track is to search for the number of times you say ‘you’ (i.e. the customer) and the number of times you say ‘me,’ ‘us’, ‘I’ and ‘we’.
If you’re saying the latter more than the former, it’s time for a rewrite.
4. Provide something of interest
We all love a freebie, and emails are no exception. By providing something that your customer find of value, you are showing them that you care about their needs and understand their problems.
Examples of content you can share include:
- White papers
- Case studies
- A blog post
- Informational videos
- Product and service brochures
- An invitation to a free webinar or an offer of a free audit
The key is offering something that is relevant to each specific customer. After all, different people from different businesses will have different needs.
In conclusion: Grow relationships, not your sales sheet
It takes an average of eight touchpoints to generate a lead, so don’t worry if your B2B sales email doesn’t result in a sale the first time around.
Remember, the best emails build a rapport with a prospective customer. So rather than going for a sale on the first email you send, take the time to find out more about your customer and their needs.
By doing this, you will learn more about your customers and the things that matter to their business. This will enable you to provide a solution that fits their requirements perfectly.
