Sales emails have a lot of competition in prospects’ inboxes. Did you know that 127 business emails are sent and received every day? Sales Hacker’s Nicholas Rubright shares that surprising stat in a recent article, and he adds that despite what some might think, “There’s no question that email is still one of the best ways to get in touch with potential sales prospects.”

To get their emails noticed, salespeople must put thought and effort into writing them, which involves understanding the most efficient structure and what buyers actually want to read. Gone are the days of shooting out sales emails to prospects without much thought. To help, Rubright shares a complete how-​to guide for writing and sending sales emails, and even the most veteran rep will likely find it valuable. He also backs up each tip with supporting research. 

Sales emails: What to do before you start writing

There are actually three things that reps can do before writing an email that can actually boost its chances of being read. First, Rubright recommends warming up the prospect on social media. Cold sales emails have a startlingly low open rate: a mere one percent! And, it makes sense. As he points out, “ Think about it: if someone has seen your name elsewhere, or has had a previous conversation with you, they already trust you.”

Social networks are free and easily accessible; so, why not use them to warm leads? But, keep in mind that it will take more than just following a prospect online or liking their post. Rubright recommends doing the following to start:

• Write some thoughtful comments on their blog.
• Add them on LinkedIn and comment on their posts.
• Share a recent article they’ve written with their Twitter followers.

Next, he recommends that salespeople be proactive and plan their follow-​up emails. Regardless of response to your sales emails, you should always send a follow-​up email. And, Rubright recommends getting it done early to ensure it actually gets done. Follow-​up is so important, even if you don’t get a response! “A single follow-​up email can double your response rate,” he writes. “So before you even send your initial email, plan on sending one or multiple follow-​ups.” Not sure how to go about this? No worries; he also includes a suggested schedule for those emails:

• Day 1: Initial email
• 4: First follow-​up email
• 7: Second follow-​up email
• 14: Third follow-​up email
• 28: Fourth follow-​up email.
• Once per month: Any additional follow-​up emails

If you need guidance on how to structure these emails, check out these past posts from SalesFuel. 

Finally, automate as much as possible. From social media posts to templates, anything you can do to save time (and keep things organized) will help.

Now, it’s time to write

After putting in the prep work, it’s time to write those sales emails. Check out part two of this article series, which includes more of Rubright’s data-​driven guide to sales emails that get responses.