Tips for Email Mastery

A good email alone will not result in a sale, but a bad email can doom your chances. In this sense, a prospecting email is like submitting your resume—a step in the process.

by Jeb Foster

The subject line

Provide a specific, informative, and identifiable subject line. Don’t drown it in sales hyperbole—you run the risk of getting snagged by the recipient’s spam filter. MarketingProfs.com has indentified the following five words and phrases to avoid (because they trigger spam filters):

1. 100% free
2. 50% off
3. act now
4. amazing
5. anything that looks like you are YELLING

A simple solution is to include the person’s name and a note that their quote is enclosed: Car insurance quote for Ted Nugent, for example.

The greeting

Address the prospect by name. This requires more effort, but a little personalization goes a long way, and prospects will wonder why you couldn’t be bothered to address them specifically.

Choose a level of formality you’re comfortable with (but a good rule of thumb is to avoid extremes—so Sir and Madam are out, as are dude and bra). If you go formal and use Mr. or Mrs., be sure you’ve double-checked the gender and marital status of the recipient (which are included in your lead). Getting either wrong is a bad way to start a relationship.

The message

Keep in mind the desires of your recipient. Most will want the relevant information (the quote) quickly, without a lot of marketing fluff or throat clearing. So get right to the point. Think of your message as a news story—don’t bury the lead.

Once you’ve disclosed the quote and relevant fine print, issue a call to action. The recipient needs to know what his or her next move should be. Gently ask the lead to call or email you (but be prepared to do all of the following up).

In doing so, mind your use of please and thank you. “"Please" or "thank you" often complicate matters,” say David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, authors of Think Before You Send, a book on email etiquette. “’Please’ almost always comes across as obnoxious and is best to omit. ‘Thank you’ is appropriate to use after a favor, and snotty when used before.” I would suggest you use please, but use it strategically and sparingly.

The call to action should, when possible, reference a benefit to taking swift action. For example: Call me to work out the details and we’ll get you squared away quickly. The benefit in this case is the ease and quickness of the process.

After you’ve disclosed the quote and given them some instruction on how to proceed, you can get into a brief pitch for your company or services. Maybe you’ve been in business a long time, or perhaps you’ve got a testimonial to share. Whatever you say, keep it short, one or two sentences, and make sure it doesn’t look like it was hastily copied and pasted from somewhere else.

While it’s not essential that you be a Hemingway, your written correspondence should be free of misspellings, grammatical errors and strange formatting. Use a standard typeface, such as Times New Roman or Arial.

The signoff

Almost everyone has a beef with a specific signoff. Many people think “sincerely” is the least sincere way to end a message. Others think “cheers” is pompous (I happen to like it). Some like “best,” but others snark mercilessly at it. What to do? The easiest solution is to avoid all of them and simply include your name. This isn’t rude—nor is it particularly effusive—but that’s fine when emailing a stranger about insurance.

Include a signature that provides your full name, company name and contact information. Make sure your signature looks professional—you will be judged—harshly—if it’s not.

The tone

Strive for a tone that’s upbeat, friendly and professional. Convey enthusiasm about your product and services. But remember: email requires a certain amount of touch, the ability to set a tone without overdoing it. For example, being enthusiastic doesn’t mean ending every sentence with three exclamation points.