2.3 Sales E-mails

Let’s talk about money. This piece of paper that makes the world go round. It’s why billions of people get out of bed every morning to spend most of their day being productive or at least pretending to be.

It’s also...let’s be honest...why you’re here watching this video. Isn’t it?

And that’s okay. I mean, money is important. It’s about survival. Or well, survival on a million dollar island off the coast of the Caribbean.

And brands are no different. While some of them are not-for-profit, the majority of them are focused on growing that dough. It’s just business. 

Which brings us back to e-mail marketing. Now as a brand you use e-mail marketing to build loyalty, test out new products, generate more awareness for your brand but make no mistake - the ultimate goal is to generate more revenue. 

And that’s where sales e-mails come in. These are specifically focused on generating more bankroll for the company. To turn prospects into leads into customers. 

It’s important to understand that the ultimate objective is always SALES. Now you may get there in a bunch of different ways or over a period of time but your e-mail marketing must result in sales. 

To understand sales, we need to understand the different kinds of people on your e-mail list. 

And here’s one way you can categorise them:

The Fresher

The Follower

The Prospect

The Customer

The reason it’s important to understand this categorisation is that sales is always contextual to the person and where they are in they’re journey with the brand. The way you speak and sell in a sales e-mail will be very different for each person. Now let’s get you familiar with these categories and focus on how to sell to each of them. 

First we have The Fresher. 

How do you identify this user: Now, this guy has probably been on the e-mail list for less than a month. Hasn’t really taken any major action apart from just subscribing to the list. 

How do you sell to this user: This person is new to the brand and needs to trust the brand. He/She is not ready for a very direct or pushy sales e-mail. It’s like going on a first date and telling the person you love them. What you need to do is make them aware of the different types of products and services the brand has to offer

Now here’s how you do it. 

• The goal is to let them know about your product or offerings, not to push too hard on sales.
• Have a clear Call-to-Action which is basically a button or a link for the user to take a step.
• If possible, add a testimonial to quickly build trust with the customer.
• Always email from a person and not from the team. Send your sales e-mail from ‘Mark from Facebook’ and not just Facebook. 
  

Here’s an example:

In this e-mail, Nathan writes to the fresher in first person, introduces himself and goes straight into informing them about what the brand does. He builds trust by adding a stat about how much more effective their app is and follows up with a clear call to action.

Nathan effectively hits all the key areas that need to be communicated to a fresher while keeping the e-mail short and straightforward.

Moving on to the Follower.

Now this is someone who’s acquainted with the brand and has been on the e-mail list for a decent amount of time. This user knows what the brand does and has really started to vibe with them. 

How do you identify this person? They’ve probably been on the e-mail list for at least 6 weeks, have clicked on several links on the e-mails, have gone to the website several times and have engaged with e-mails that have specifically talked about the products or services of the brand.

How do you sell to this person? This person doesn't need to be informed about the services or products of the brand, what they need is information on why they should use THIS brand over any brand across the road. 

Now here’s what you keep in mind: 

• The goal is to build credibility that the services or products the brand offers are best suited for them. 
• Don’t treat them like a complete noob. Remember that they have been around for a while. 
• Highlights special features of the product that may not have known. 
• Keep it personal. Talk about how this product or service could really change their lives. 

Here’s an example 

Cara from Salesforce is e-mailing a user who clearly knows what Salesforce does. She hasn't even introduced Salesforce but has gone straight into talking about a particular feature that they are launching. She talks about the  benefits of this new feature and drops a link to take the user to the website. She basically treats the user as somebody who clearly knows enough about the product to understand this feature. Cara knows what she’s doing. Be like Cara. 

Moving on to Prospect E-mails.

A prospect is what you call a hot lead. They’ve been around for a while, they know the brand pretty well, they understand the product the brand offers and are pretty much ready to buy. 

Now, how do you identify this user: They’ve been on the e-mail list for over 2 months. They regularly click and engage with content and visit the products and services page frequently.  

How do you sell to this person: First, consider why they haven’t bought from your brand yet and try to break this barrier of entry. Maybe offer a free trial, a discount, a special offer, anything to get them to make a purchase.  

So, when you write to a prospect:

• Keep it clear and direct. This person is best not to beat around the bush with.
• Keep it personal. Ask them what’s stopping them from buying. Maybe they want to speak to someone.
• Have a very clear call-to-action to get them to take the first step.
• Don’t oversell. They’ve been around enough to know what weakness smells like. 

Example time:

This prospect e-mail does exactly what it needs to do which is to get the user to try out the product. They offer the user free access to their paid plan and make it really simple for them to start using the product.
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Lastly, our favourite, the Customer.

It doesn’t take much to identify a customer. This is anyone who has ever made a purchase with your brand and now you have the opportunity to get them to buy something else and become a loyal customer. 

So when selling to a customer: 

• Don’t treat them like a Fresher, Follower or a Prospect. Give them the respect of a customer. 
• Don’t try too hard. They’ve already tried and tested your brand. 
• Make them feel comfortable like an insider. Keep the tone conversational and helpful. 
• Inform them of benefits or discounts they get as a customer and help them take that step. 
  

And now we’ve covered all the bases of sales e-mails. It’s simply about strategically plugging your audience into your campaign to create revenue so you can be off swimming in all your money.