IntroductionA sales letter is a form of direct marketing that uses email, postcards, inserts, and other printed material as a means of communicating a sales or fund-raising message to its target audience. |
- The purpose of an email sales letters is to generate leads (a response) – not a sale. That could be a positive return email, an agreement to meet for coffee, a download of an e-book or guide, sign up for a 30 minute seminar and so on. A good email sales letter opens doors; the sale is the next separate and distinct step in the process
- An email sales letter may also seek to convince existing customers to buy something right away or commit to buying something on a more regular basis
- Promoting the merits, advantages and benefits of a new product-service
Important to keep in mind:
- Internet writing style stresses conciseness but not at the cost of meaningfulness
- Your audience's attention span is short so don't waste words
- Write in the same manner as you speak so when you meet the prospect in person or on a phone call, they know it's the same person: credibility
- Avoid run-on sentences and those longer than 20-25 words
- Use bullet points to list things or numbered points for sequences
- Focus on the the sales prospect's business and potential problems-issues that affect it
- Avoid superlatives (biggest, best, most, etc.), cliches, vague statements, excessive adjective use, and self-promotion
- To emphasize a word or a sentence (and do this selectively), 'bold' it
- Shorter emails suitable for less expensive services; longer emails for more complex or expensive services
- Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors distract, damaging your credibility
- Your email should be well-organized, accurate, and not leave out important details
- Focus on one problem or issue rather than trying to cover many Sans-serif fonts (Arial, Tahoma, Verdana) are most used for on-monitori reading
Uses a vocabulary suited to the email letter's audience, industry, management level and purpose
As a rule, use the active voice (the cat ate the mouse) and avoid using the passive voice (the mouse was eaten by the cat) as it is less forceful
Elements:
- Headline
- Salutation
- Attention-getting 1st paragraph
- Explanation of service, solution, strategy, approach
- Benefits
- Call to Action
- Optional “no risk” offer
- Contact information
- Closing salutation
There are different viewpoints on what makes an effective and successful submission of this type. Because of this, we have included different versions produced by different mentors. Each version is identified by their author's ID. Please look at those other versions that we have included in the How-Tos to see which one best suits you.
Copyright © 2014 – Brian J Anderson [brijanderson@gmail.com]