Nutshell Guide To Sales Emails 2
Nutshell Guide To Sales Emails 2
Nutshell Guide To Sales Emails 2
Communication is a superpower in this business. Unfortunately, verbal communication skills don’t always translate to written
messages. On several occasionals, I’ve had a salesperson charm me during a phone call, then follow-up with an email that
was a total trainwreck. Usually, one of two things go wrong:
1. Their warm, conversational speaking tone is replaced by something out of a college essay, overly formal and devoid of
personality—because writing has to be very serious, right?
2. They stop caring about me. Suddenly, it’s only about what they want.
The big misconception is that sales emails require a totally different toolkit than selling to someone over the phone or face-
to-face. Of course they don’t. The goal of any sales communication is to offer value, draw out information, and project confi-
dence in what you’re selling.
The rules don’t change just because you’re typing it out on a keyboard.
We put this resource together to help you develop the “gift of gab” in your sales emails. If you’re looking for some good
advice on what to say, how to say it, and how to improve the odds of your emails actually being read, you came to the right
place.
Thanks for stopping by, and please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
All best,
Ben Goldstein
Editor, Sell to Win
The Complete Guide to Writing MUCH Better Sales Emails | Nutshell.com III
HEADER
PART 1:
What Does an Effective
Email Look Like?
What Is a Warm Email? 4 Quick Tips for Warm Email Success Related: 6 tips for writing the perfect LinkedIn
cold outreach message
As first defined by veteran copywriter and 1. Understand Your Email’s Purpose
business coach Ed Gandia, warm emailing is Many sales reps never see success from their The more you know about your prospects on
a targeted, personalized outreach strategy in email prospecting efforts because they try and an individual level before contacting them,
which each email is handcrafted and written for do too much in each message. When sending the better. Research allows your messages to
one person only. Through extensive research, warm emails, you have one purpose and one sound highly relevant and personalized. It’s
the sender positions himself/herself as a purpose only: to start a conversation, prefera- how you turn traditional cold emails into a stra-
knowledgeable professional who can solve the bly on the phone, with your prospect. That’s it. tegic warm email prospecting system.
recipient’s specific problems.
In that sense, warm emails are no different While researching, you’ll also want to look for
Just like warm calling, warm emailing efforts than cold emails: You’re not trying to make a what Ed Gandia calls a “meaningful connection.”
might include a pre-contact touch—such as a sale. You’re not trying to convince the recipient (We’ll cover this in more detail later.)
targeted ad campaign or an intro email from to start a free trial. You’re not even trying to
a mutual contact—to get the recipient more prove to them that your company’s offerings
amenable to opening and responding to your are better than the competition. You’re simply
message. trying to book a phone call with them. Write less email,
get more replies.
Because these emails feel so much more When you understand this, everything
relevant than the average cold email, they can becomes a lot easier. Are you falling off your prospects’ radars? With
have a dramatic impact on response rates. Nutshell’s personal email sequences, we’ll
2. Know Who You’re Trying to Reach remember the follow-up for you.
Before we show you what the ideal warm Now that you understand the purpose of your
email should look like, here are a few general email, it’s time to do your homework. You need LEARN MORE
concepts you should keep in mind to leverage to “know” the person who you’ll be contacting:
this strategy successfully. Which company they work for, the position they
hold, the problems they have that your compa-
ny’s product or service can solve, etc. Many of
these details can be found via LinkedIn.
3. Keep an Eye on Email Length Even simply viewing their profiles without software, you’ve just uncovered a meaning-
Brevity is essential when conducting warm making a connection request could get ful connection that directly bridges the gap
email prospecting. In general, try to keep your them curious about who you are so that between what you have to offer and your pros-
warm emails short and sweet—around the they look at your profile. pect’s pain-point.
125-word mark, give or take.
• Ask a mutual connection to send out an Not every meaningful connection needs to
Remember, your prospect didn’t ask to be introduction email. be so direct, though. For instance, maybe you
contacted. They’re probably busy and if they discover that your prospect’s company just
open up your message and see a giant wall of • If your company uses direct mail assets received a new round of funding. You could
text, they’ll delete it without reading anything. such as postcards or catalogs, make sure email your prospect, congratulate her, and
125 words should be enough to state the value to send something to your upcoming tastefully mention that a portion of their new
your company brings to the table, establish recipients before you reach out to them funds could be spent on your company’s
some credibility, and make an ask to connect personally. products.
on the phone.
How to Structure Your Warm Email A meaningful connection can even be some-
4. Get on Your Contacts’ Radars Messages thing unrelated to business. I once secured a
As we mentioned earlier, a pre-contact touch long-standing client due to a mutual love of
makes your recipients more familiar with you, An effective warm email has a specific, four- cheese. That’s right, cheese.
and more willing to open your initial email. That part structure. Crafting your messages in this
can take a number of forms: order will help you secure higher response After conducting my research on the company
rates. in question, I discovered that the marketing
• Use your recipients’ email addresses to director was a bit of a cheese connoisseur. I
create a custom ad audience on Facebook A Meaningful Connection happen to be as well. In fact, my wife buys me
or LinkedIn, and run an ad for your compa- Each of your emails should start with a mean- a wheel of cheese for Christmas every year.
ny that will be served to all the people you ingful connection—something relatable that It’s a quirky tradition that I love, and I decided
plan on contacting the following week. ties you to the prospect. For example, perhaps to share the anecdote with my prospect in my
you discovered via LinkedIn research that your warm email. It worked, we hit it off, and I provid-
• Send connection request to your recip- prospect is frustrated by the HR software her ed content marketing services to that client for
ients on LinkedIn before emailing them. company is currently using. Since you sell HR a long time.
Thanks,
[YOUR NAME]
5 Email
Messaging
Differences
Between a
Savvy
Salesperson
and a Serial
Spammer
BY JACK VIRAG
of building a fruitful sales relationship has scat- Some simple personal touches to add the Side note: Being more human and relatable
tered to the wind. human element to your email copy may doesn’t mean sacrificing punctuation, grammar,
include: or otherwise violating the laws of literature.
Ideally, you want to present yourself in sales Nothing will kill your reputation faster than
emails as a trusted advisor who has taken the • Using your contact’s first name, rather than writing like an amateur, which is why it’s wise
time to understand your prospects’ specific “Mr./Mrs./Ms. [last name]” to have a free spelling/grammar checking tool
needs. That means communicating value in in your back pocket. (Though keep in mind
your messages, making contact at the right • Using contractions to create a more casual, that even robots make mistakes sometimes, so
time, and doing enough legwork in advance to familiar tone make sure that you look at everything with your
know who you’re talking to. human eyes before hitting “send.”)
• Referencing your prospect’s company
Let’s take a look at five sales email mistakes name, the city where they’re located, and 2) A spammer doesn’t speak your language.
that only spammers make, and how you can personal details like the college they Now that you sound like a human being, the
improve your sales messaging to avoid putting attended next step is to make your prospects feel like
the wrong foot forward. you’re one of them.
• Dropping the occasional emoji in your
1) A spammer’s message doesn’t feel like a subject lines and the body of your email Every industry or business type is a sub-cul-
conversation. ture, with its own slang, jargon, and memes.
Sales emails should sound like a person talking • Limiting yourself to one exclamation point No matter which industry you’re selling to, you
to another person. As simple as that sounds, it per message. (This is a hard-and-fast rule should have a solid grasp on the words they
can be hard to get right when you’re emailing here at Nutshell.) use with each other. If you’re selling to manu-
dozens of contacts a day. facturing companies, you’d better know your
As writing coach Shelly Davies puts it, “The BOMs from your JITs. If you’re selling in the
When it comes to making your outreach efforts absence of warmth doesn’t equal neutral. It transportation and shipping industries, you
conversational, ask yourself what you would equals rude.” If you’re sending an email with need to know that “truckload” is a specific term
respond to. While typing subject lines in title the goal of introducing yourself and schedul- of measurement, and not just another way to
case, and beginning your emails with OVER- ing a call, there’s no need to phrase it like a say, “that thang is filled up, my dude.”
EXCITED INTRODUCTIONS (!!!) may seem like a subpoena. /End rant.
way to convey urgency, it actually might be why
your messages are ending up in the trash.
Using these terms correctly (but tastefully) in your sales emails is an easy 4) A spammer blasts their entire pipeline at once.
way to build credibility, so make sure to read industry-related blogs and Timing is critical to a savvy salesperson. The content, frequency, and
books to get a handle on how your prospects actually communicate. calls-to-action of your messaging should be determined by your pros-
You’ll come off a lot better than spammy sellers who don’t care enough to pects’ positions in your sales pipeline. (This is especially true for cold
research their target industry’s language, or even worse, overuse jargon emails, as your reputation with your recipients hasn’t yet been estab-
to the point where it feels inauthentic. Don’t be this guy. lished, and they’re going to be looking for reasons to write you off.)
3) A spammer knows their emails are annoying. While a spammer fires off a boilerplate sales email to their entire list
In sales, genuine confidence will propel you much farther than any and hopes for the best, a savvy seller prepares fundamentally differ-
gimmick. Confidence comes from being sure of the value that you’re ent messages depending on what each prospect needs at any given
providing your prospect, and knowing your target customer so well that moment. For example:
you can find the best solution for their needs.
• Repeat customers should hear “Welcome back!”, not “It’s great to
Positioning yourself as an advocate for your client, rather than simply a meet you!”
vendor or supplier, will help you build trust with your buyers. But when
you’re not confident in what you’re selling—or how you’re selling—it will • Brand new leads need educational materials and one-on-one
come through in your messaging. consulting before you attempt to ask for the sale.
Phrases like “just following up” and “sorry for bothering you” are common • If a buyer is interested in dropping their current accounting soft-
“tells” in sales emails that reveal a lack of confidence; you feel like an ware in favor of yours, they don’t need an ebook on the benefits of
annoyance to the recipient because you’re not sure how your presence accounting software—they already know how it helps their business.
is actually helping.
Aligning your sales messaging with the buyer’s journey requires the right
To quote Charlene “Ignites” DeCesare, “When you deeply believe you tools. A CRM with pipeline management features will allow you and your
can help someone who needs what you offer, you are never ‘bugging’ team to keep tabs on where every single prospect is in your pipeline,
them.” So stop thinking about selling, and focus on serving your pros- and you can use email marketing software to segment your contacts and
pects. That way, you’ll never have to apologize. automatically send them targeted messages.
5) A spammer goes in cold—ice cold. Getting the right messages to the right people
One final tip for anyone who doesn’t want to is the best way to make sure your email efforts Nurture your leads
sound like a spambot: You’ll always be more pay off. So take our advice, and stop bothering without lifting a
successful with your sales emails when you’re strangers. After all, if you don’t know who your
not hitting up perfect strangers. contacts are, how can you possibly know
finger.
what they need? With Nutshell’s one-click Constant
First of all, if you paid for a cold lead list, under- Contact integration, leads can be
stand that it’s practically useless. Recipients automatically subscribed to email
are far more likely to engage with your emails campaigns depending on where they
if you have a previously-established reputa- are in your sales process. It’s that
tion with them. That means building a list from easy. Really.
scratch by attracting potential buyers to your
START A TRIAL
site with genuinely helpful content, and letting
them opt-in naturally.
and just-okay ones are incredibly common; • The email should come from a specific will help them and know exactly why it will.
finding a handful of good ones took some seri- salesperson, rather than a company. Being able to put that into words in a cold
ous digging. Cold emails are all about making personal email will make you appear more trust-
connections with prospects, and the first worthy to your prospect.
Before we get into our winners, though, let’s opportunity a salesperson has at forming
review my criteria for what makes a good cold that connection is in the “from” line. • In addition to truly caring about your pros-
email: First and foremost, a good cold email is pect’s goals, you can build trust with your
thoughtful and well-researched. There’s no • The email needs a subject line that prospect by naming any big clients you
such thing as a good cold email to the wrong catches the eye. Subject lines represent have that your prospect may know. You
person at a company. Or to anybody at the your best chance at convincing some- could also mention having an impressive
wrong company. one to even open your email, much less number of clients. Don’t brag—just make
respond to it, so you have to give them it clear to your prospect that you and the
A good cold email reflects the fact that the careful thought. There are plenty of articles company you’re working for are legitimate.
salesperson has researched the prospect’s around the web on subject line techniques,
company enough to grasp the general busi- so go check them out. However, at the • Be sure that you have a clear CTA in your
ness model and has at least popped onto very least, you want to keep your subject email. Tell your prospect precisely what
the prospect’s LinkedIn or Twitter profile. line short, and include something that action you want them to take next, and
Personalized content shows that the salesper- will grab the prospect’s eye, like their make it as easy as possible for them to do
son is actually interested in helping the pros- name or their company’s name. (Emails so. You want them to fill out a form to book
pect improve their business, rather than just with personalized subject lines are 26% some time on your calendar? Give them
making a quick buck. more likely to be opened!) a link directly to that form. (Or better yet,
embed the form straight into your email.)
Often, a good cold email isn’t cold at all—it’s • On the inside of the email, you should
just the first sales interaction you have with include very short body copy—essentially • Finally, keep in mind that part of having a
a prospect, after one or more touches from your elevator pitch. No one has time to clear CTA is having only one CTA. Don’t
marketing. read a novel. This copy should employ all ask someone to respond to you and fill out
that research you did, and mention why a form. Pick one. The upside of having only
Effective cold emails also tend to follow these you are interested in working with this one CTA is that it will help you keep your
best practices: person in particular. At the end of the day, email short and to the point as well.
you should really believe that your service
So with that established, let’s get into the good cold emails that I found.
First, the three runners-up… Subject: diverse segments - [RECIPIENT’S COMPANY NAME] /
[SENDER’S COMPANY NAME]
The Well-Researched Cold Email
I recently received this email, which impressed me with the level of Hi Cara,
research the salesperson put in. He clearly visited my LinkedIn profile—
which unfortunately for him is not entirely up-to-date on my job, so he I’m reaching out to you specific to your role leading the Digital
actually missed some key details, but that’s not his fault—and perhaps Marketing team at the [RECIPIENT’S COMPANY NAME]; I work
even more importantly, he’s done some digging into my company (a politi- with [SENDER’S COMPANY NAME] and we partner with nonprofits
cally-minded nonprofit in DC). and trade associations helping them drive stronger connections
with their stakeholders as they launch and deliver content in
I’ve blacked out the identifying details he included about my company, different languages and channels.
but suffice it to say, he shows a clear understanding of exactly what my
nonprofit does, and he’s one of the few salespeople to ever demonstrate I understand that [RECIPIENT’S COMPANY NAME] is dedicated to
that in an email to me. the principles of [KEY VALUES OF RECIPIENT’S COMPANY]. I’m
curious as to how you reach your domestic and global network,
However, this email isn’t perfect. It lacks a clear CTA, for one thing. I’m specifically your non-English speaking stakeholders. We partner
unsure if he wants me to let him know if diversifying is a part of our often with Digital Marketing teams helping them communicate
mandate (how should I let him know?), or if he wants me to give him feed- content in different languages and scale appropriately relative to
back. (What kind of feedback? Feedback on the quality of his email? Or growth.
on my interest in diversifying?) The last sentence represents a real area of
opportunity. If this is part of your mandate, please let me know. I appreciate
any feedback you have to share.
On that same note, the subject line is fairly weak, likely because he
doesn’t entirely know what he wants me to do here. Lucky for him, I’m Thanks!
very interested in keeping my nonprofit’s representation of the world [SENDER’S NAME]
diverse and will click on anything that might help me accomplish that goal.
• Finally, her CTA couldn’t be clearer. She’s separated the CTA on to So, tell me: What content problems keep you up at night?
its own line and she’s highlighted it. It’s also linked so that I know
exactly what to do next; I click that link and fill out her form. Wisely, (I know your time is valuable; thank you in advance for
she doesn’t attempt to sell me yet or even request a phone call, empowering me to do better work for you.)
which lowers the barrier to response. I could follow the CTA and
still feel as though I’m remaining anonymous and not being pushed Cheers,
around. [SENDER’S NAME]
Of course, this email isn’t perfect either. It’s pretty obvious that she’s just
blind-emailing a list she was given by the conference. The salesperson
has absolutely no idea who my colleague is or what company she works
for. I do tend to think, though, that the brevity, clear CTA, and lack of a
hard sell overcome the insufficient research.
This email does several things well, especially communicate trust signals. Hi [RECIPIENT’S NAME],
The subject line is not the most innovative, but it’s strong. The very first
sentence is a perfect elevator pitch, despite the incredibly misplaced I want to reach out about our software solution which
comma. automatically rotates, and randomizes passwords for your
privileged accounts.
The email becomes good in its next sentence. This salesperson has
masterfully interwoven a more complex pitch for the product with the Our privileged identity and access management solution helps
names of three behemoth companies. And not only does this salesperson IT teams at organizations such as Sony, GEICO and Visa discover,
signal his company’s trustworthiness by dropping client names, he also manage, and secure passwords for their privileged accounts
has an award the company has won from another massive tech company (Windows local and domain admin accounts, root accounts,
neatly slotted into his signature. service accounts, etc.) across multiple systems and platforms,
without any business disruption. As you know, without access
The CTA isn’t bad either, though it loses some of it’s clarity in a desire to to these powerful accounts, attackers won’t have access to your
be polite. Also, there isn’t much indication that the salesperson did any most sensitive data and valuable IT assets.
research on my colleague and his company.
We have a few available slots remaining for a live WebEx
And finally, what we all came here to see… demonstration of the software platform next week. Please let me
know if you are interested in learning more and I can reserve a
spot for you.
Thanks,
[SENDER’S NAME]
First, it’s got a solid subject line—short, to the point, and personalized. We’re excited to tell you about our integration with Recurly
The body copy is short as well. In two sentences, it’s clear why the sales- focusing on reducing your churn with ProfitWell Retain. To explain
person is contacting the recipient and what exactly he wants her to do more, I made this video for you and the Nutshell team.
(i.e., watch the video).
Take a look, and we’re excited to get moving.
Now, here’s where things get innovative. This salesperson has created
a personalized video for Nutshell rather than just writing a standard cold Patrick
email. [WATCH IT HERE!] This video does SO many things that make it
amazing. Let’s go through them:
• First, because it’s a video, you feel like you’re having a real conver-
sation. This forges a trust and connection between the prospect and
salesperson that just can’t be created in writing. The sales rep also
makes sure to mention how many businesses his company currently
helps, to really drive home the trust factors.
• Next, the salesperson proves he’s done his research and knows
who Nutshell is. He mentions why he’s a fan of Nutshell as a compa-
ny, even popping some flattery in there, and lets them know he
knows they’re the #1 CRM in the world for small businesses.
• The video format allows him to easily break down exactly what it is
his company does and what they can provide, something that just
wouldn’t be easy to do in writing. The video formatting also allows PRO TIP: Your prospect research will help you figure out whether
him to include graphics (like this) showing how much money you will or not you’re actually targeting the best possible person.
actually make using their product, which is compelling in a way that a
written email can’t match. “Is my message concise, and is it easy for my prospect to respond?”
• The video also includes a clear CTA at the end. Now that he’s sold You don’t want to send a lengthy message that describes your product
you on how amazing this product is, you can just fill out a form right from top to bottom. Trim your message so that your offer and relevant
beneath the video to get an ROI analysis. information are clearly-worded, and then add an easy CTA at the end.
This double CTA set-up between the email and the video is a genius “How do you currently solve problem x?” is much stronger than “Looking
move. Psychologically speaking, it’s easier to get a person to agree to forward to hearing from you.”
a big ask if you get them to say yes to a small ask first. In this case, the
sales rep wanted you to fill out the form the whole time. However, he “Can I actually help them?”
knew that most recipients would find that too big of an ask from a cold
email. So he got you to say yes to watching a video first, and then once There are so many reasons why an offer may not be a good fit for a
you’ve committed and connected with him, you’re completely primed company. If you don’t completely believe that your offer will make your
and ready to fill out the form. Overall, if you’re looking for a cold email to prospects’ lives better, don’t send that email! You’ll be creating unnec-
mimic, this is the one. essary work for yourself (or your teammates) by stuffing leads into the
pipeline who are going to eventually disqualify. Save yourself the trouble.
So, before you send your own cold email, ask yourself…
“Do I have any social proof?”
“Is it obvious that I researched my prospect and their company?”
Social proof can be a simple and relevant piece of information like a
Even if you know who you’re contacting, you want to make it obvious that quote or logo from a customer or partner company. This endorsement will
they know that you know. By including some relevant information, they’ll help your prospect realize that you’re the real deal.
really feel like your email is addressed to them and isn’t just another solic-
itation. It should be apparent that you’ve done a thorough job researching Scan your message for an opportunity to include a detail about a custom-
them, and that you firmly believe your offer is a good fit for them. er, particularly one that will resonate with your prospect, like a customer
similar to them. Although social proof isn’t always an option, it will go a
long way with your prospect if done correctly.
PART 2:
Visibility Creates
Opportunity
9 Reasons Your
Emails Are
Getting Caught
in the Spam
Filter (And What
to Do About It)
BY ALYSSA GOULET
Return Path’s 2018 Deliverability Benchmark you’re sending emails in bulk to the same email
report, 6% of sales and marketing emails get domain.”
blocked as spam globally—even when the
recipient has given the sender express permis- You can combat this by arranging your bulk
sion to contact them—and another 10% go emails to drip out periodically. Set up your
Did you miss it?
undelivered for other, often avoidable reasons. email campaign to push out a handful of emails Featuring keynote presentations
every 15 minutes instead of all at once. by world-class sales, marketing,
Sometimes, your prospects are the ones send- and customer success leaders,
ing your emails to the spam folder. Other times, 2. Low open rates from past emails BOUNDLESS 2020: Above and
those emails get marked as spam before your Beyond was a smash success.
customer or client ever sees them. The good Major email service providers like Gmail and Watch the full replay and get inspired.
news? Once you understand why your emails Yahoo look at user engagement to determine if
are getting sent to spam, you can fix the prob- your messages should go to the inbox or spam. TAKE ME THERE
lem before it wreaks havoc on your sales and So, if your sales emails aren’t getting opened,
marketing campaigns. you’re in for double trouble.
We’ve rounded up nine email marketing “If email service providers see that a very low know if you are interested’ or a link that says
experts to explain common email mistakes that percentage of your subscribers are engaging ‘Click here to learn more’ that encourages
you might be making, and what you can do to with your messages, that’s going to tell them people to engage.”
dodge the spam filter in the future. that people don’t care about your content and
don’t want to read your messages,” says Matt 3. Including too many images
1. Emailing too many people at once Paulson, founder of MarketBeat.
You may want to show off your new prod-
Mass-emailing a high number of people at the The fix? Do everything possible to encourage uct or logo in your sales communications,
same time often results in emails landing in people to interact with your emails. As Paulson but you need to be careful when it comes to
the spam folder. According to Levi Olmstead, advises: “Use intriguing subject lines like the number of images you include in emails.
Manager of SEO and Community Outreach at ‘strange question?’ and ‘bad news?’ to compel Images aren’t easily read by inbox providers
G2, “Sending a huge bulk of emails can set people to open your messages to see what’s (more on that below). For that reason, image-
off certain email triggers, especially if they’re inside. Also, use clear calls to action in your heavy emails are much more likely to get
to contacts you’ve never emailed before, or if messages like ‘Reply to this email and let me caught by a spam filter.
The way to work around this is by formatting Griffith College recommends “designing the collection with Regex and some JavaScript if
images with ALT text and using a good text-to- email and then sending tests to your email plus the email addresses are being collected via a
image ratio. a few others. Use various email providers like web form or an offline application. Otherwise,
Gmail, Outlook, etc., as this will help you see you will want to validate the addresses at the
“Using ALT text isn’t just a best practice to what your recipients are seeing.” point of entry to your CRM and reject any that
avoid dreaded spam placement—it’s also an do not meet the formatting requirements.”
important consideration for accessibility,” says 5. Letting your sender reputation slip
Caroline Gormley, Senior Marketing Specialist Removing email addresses that are undeliver-
at Gartner Digital Markets. “Remember, above A sender reputation is a score that an Internet able either due to hard bounces or soft bounc-
all else, the goal is to deliver helpful messages. Service Provider (ISP) assigns to a domain that es is another good way to maintain your sender
Since images are still a vital part of marketing sends email; the higher your score, the more reputation. You should also pay attention to
campaigns, it’s important to optimize the ALT likely the ISP will deliver your emails to the which email addresses are engaging with your
image text.” recipients on their network. messages and which ones aren’t. People that
aren’t engaging are more likely to report your
Gormley recommends starting with a 50/50 Having a good sender reputation comes down emails, which drags your reputation down and
or 60/40 ratio between text and images and to your marketing habits and the quality of your will impact your ability to reach new inboxes.
experimenting from there. lists. If you aren’t keeping an eye on your email
deliverability and the way your recipients are Speaking of which…
4. Not testing your formatting interacting with your emails—or not interacting
with them—you can quickly tank your reputa- 6. Not scrubbing your list
So you’ve got that shiny new email ready to roll tion and sabotage all your sales efforts.
and it looks great in your inbox, but how does One dead or unresponsive email address isn’t
it look in other email programs and on other So, what can you do? LoriBeth Blair, Email going to be the end of your business, but a lot
devices? The answer to that question could Deliverability Consultant at Platonic Ideal has a of them can certainly have an impact. Even if
mean the difference between your email being few ideas: you’re keeping an eye on your sender repu-
delivered or ending up in spam. If email provid- tation and it’s looking good, you still need to
ers can’t “read” your emails, your prospects will “Ensure that addresses with @gnail.com or @ scrub your lists. The reality is that the emails
never see them. gamil.com are suppressed as well as addresses you collect won’t be good forever. That .edu
for temporary inboxes such as @mailinator.com. email you collected ten years ago? We’re
Danny O’Brien, Digital Marketing Lecturer at This should be done in real time at the point of willing to wager that person doesn’t even have
access to it anymore. The solution? Be original. “There’s no excuse expect it to be done quickly, so pull them off
for falling into an obvious spam pothole,” your list before they get targeted with another
Marc Goldman, CEO at KLEAN13, recommends Channell says. “There are plenty of online unwelcome email.
scrubbing lists to all his consulting clients. resources listing trigger words to avoid. Don’t
“Major email service providers agree that over make it easy for them to flag you as a spammer. 9. Buying or renting email lists
the course of a year, 25% of your list will go I use thesaurus.com all the time to come up
bad, and that’s at a minimum,” says Goldman. with synonyms and get ideas.” Building an email list organically can be a
“All email lists are full of poisons such as spam challenging, time-intensive process. So, some
traps, dormant accounts, and bots.” 8. Not including an unsubscribe link marketers choose to purchase or rent an email
list and blast their product or service out to
The moral of the story? Clean your lists! Ideally, We’ve already covered why sending emails to hundreds of people in a few clicks. Sounds too
you should do this once a month to keep your people who don’t opt in is a problem. However, good to be true, right? That’s because it is. It’s
lists in tip-top shape, and you should definitely it can also be tempting to hang on to every just not cool to buy someone’s personal infor-
unsubscribe anyone who hasn’t opened an subscriber and make it difficult for them to mation and bombard them with a sales pitch.
email from you in the last 12 months. leave your list. This is a bad idea. Not giving
people the option to unsubscribe is a one-way “The magic of email marketing lies in the fact
7. Using spam trigger words ticket to the spam filter. that this person wants to hear from you,”
explains digital strategist Dara Denney. “We
Did you know that something as simple as your Jenna Moye, Marketing Manager at Inbox Pros don’t get that choice on Facebook or Google
word choice can get your emails marked as recommends that sellers “only send emails to Ads. Buying an email list robs people of that
spam? Even if you have a really good offer for recipients who have mutually agreed to receive choice. It’s better to email 10 people who want
your prospects, be careful about the language communication. Also, give them an option to to hear from you and are interested in your
you use. “If you are promising something cancel that communication at any given time by product than tons of people who haven’t gone
cheap, 100% free, with instant access, as including a visible and accessible unsubscribe through that education process before.”
an incredible deal, or other verbiage spam- link.”
mers love, your beloved email will be tagged Instead of buying a list, create free resources
as spam,” warns sales trainer and marketing Another note on this: Make sure that you honor that will incentivize people to sign up for your
expert Scott Channell. unsubscribe requests in a timely manner. If you list. This way, you can build credibility and sell
give people the option to unsubscribe, they more effectively.
much will annoy your prospects and customers, • The average person deletes 48% of the From looking at this data, it’s clear that follow-
and it will be a waste of time that you could emails they receive every day. (source) ing up is important and many of us don’t seem
have otherwise spent on buyers who are actu- to make it enough of a priority or we give up
ally interested in your product or service. • Only 24% of sales emails are opened. too soon.
(source)
To uncover the perfect number of follow-up However, data and stats can only tell us so
emails to send, we’ve compiled the avail- On email follow-up: much. We asked 10 sales professionals about
able research and reached out to a few sales • 44% of salespeople give up after only one their follow-up strategy and how many emails
experts to help us solve this riddle. follow up. (source) they send before giving up. Here’s what they
had to say:
What Do the Stats Say? • Additionally, 92% of salespeople give up
after four “no”s, but 80% of prospects Stephen Hart
Everyone has their own opinion on how many say “no” four times before they say “yes.” CEO & Founder at Cardswitcher
emails to send, but let’s look at some data first. (source)
“If you’re cold-emailing, an average of three
On the importance of email communication • In high-growth organizations, sales teams sales emails sent over the course of a couple
(and how difficult it can be to break through make an average of 16 touches per pros- of weeks is usually enough to get a good idea
the noise): pect, within a 2–4 week span. (source) whether a prospect is ever going to be interest-
• Email marketing generates an ROI of $44 ed in what you’re offering. Any more than that
for every dollar spent. (source) • In one study by Woodpecker.co, and you’ll probably just be wasting your time.
campaigns with 4–7 emails per sequence
• 80% of buyers prefer to be contacted over received 3X more responses than “My strategy is to send an initial sales email
email. (source) campaigns with only 1-3 emails in the that’s concise, relevant, and makes it easy
sequence. (source) for the customer to get in contact with me if
• However, at any given time, only 3% of they’re interested. If I don’t receive a response
your market is actively buying; 56% are • Lastly, according to a report by Velocify, within seven days, I’ll send a follow-up email,
not ready, while 40% are poised to begin. the optimal number of email messages is and if I don’t receive a reply to that one, I’ll
(source) five. (source) send another one.
“If you net a customer who’s interested, the Mike Carroll Shawn Breyer
total amount of emails you’ll send before clos- Head of Growth at Nutshell Owner of Breyer Home Buyers
ing the deal will obviously vary. Usually, expect
around 5 to 15 though—especially if a lot of “Our customer lifecycle can be as short as a “Since we buy houses from homeowners, we
questions are asked.” week and as long as a year. The frequency have a low volume business. We get three
and consistency of our email communications leads per day from our websites, and we call
Andrew-Marcel Tit are dictated by the position of a prospect in each lead and meet with most of them in
Customer Success & Product Marketing at our funnel, and the intensity of that cadence person. Our focus is to build a good relation-
Paymo increases in tandem with a prospect’s interest. ship with homeowners. This allows us to under-
stand their problems and solve them better.
“Since Paymo is an intuitive, self-service prod- “The best part about email is that it never
uct that can be set up in a couple of minutes has to give up. And if your sales and market- “Most of the time we get a ‘no’ when we provide
(as opposed to an enterprise platform), we ing teams are working together then it’s not an offer to the homeowner. This initiates the
deal with a high volume of accounts. a question of how many emails to send, but follow-up process.
which email to send at what time.
“Throughout our 15-day free trial, we first “A ‘no’ means that the seller is not ready to
nurture our users with a set of activation “The whole point of email communication for sell at this moment. Any property that causes
campaigns (five to six emails) depending on any sales and/or marketing team—at Nutshell enough pain will get sold by some means. For
the actions they take in the app. Once they we call it our Growth Team—is to build a this reason, we don’t stop following up until
perform a certain number of actions, they story of value. If you provide value with each they sell the property or they tell us to stop
get into the next phase: an automated sales communication then each of those emails is an contacting them.
campaign (three to four emails). If somebody opportunity to convert.
replies in any of these campaigns, we pull “We bought a house from homeowners who
them out and talk 1:1. “Today’s buyers can’t really be forced into were in our follow-up email campaign for 19
making a decision, they’ve become much smart- months one time. We send an email every
“I usually send up to three to four direct emails, er than that. What you can do as a sales team three days in our follow-up campaign. These
so I don’t spam someone who already went is simply be there, demonstrating the value of are content articles, videos, and follow up
through our campaigns. It might look like a what you’re selling at every step of the way.” questions.”
small number, but we value our client’s privacy
and let the product speak for itself.”
Sophie Miles “To a large extent it comes down to the discre- when following up. From start to finish, it takes
CEO & Co-Founder of elMejorTrato.com.pe tion of the sales rep, but typically, a hook us about seven emails (with responses plus
email will have a conversion rate of one in five, reminders) to get to a demo, and we close 75%
“First of all, it’s necessary to see who opens your warranting follow up emails to the four recip- of demos.”
emails, so you should use an email tracking ients that you didn’t hear back from. Again,
tool like YAMM that lets you know who’s open- strength of the lead and benefits of the deal So How Many Sales Emails Should
ing and clicking. can affect this.” You Send?
“If someone doesn’t open our first eight emails Steven Lu According to the data, five emails appears to
(one per week) we just delete them from Co-Founder & CEO at Interseller be the magic number. The feedback from the
our database. On the other hand, if someone sales professionals quoted in this article seems
opens our emails, even if they do not respond, “We cut out after three emails usually (four at to back this up, with many citing three to five as
it’s a good idea to keep them in your database. max). We see Interseller clients do five, but we the number of follow up emails they send.
basically see no replies past the fifth email.
“We have also tried calling our contacts after However, some stated that they never give up,
they have opened or clicked our emails and it “It generally takes us only two emails on and will continue to follow-up until the prospect
has given us excellent results.” average to get a 12% reply rate. Three gets us specifically tells them they’re not interested or
about 15-16% replies.” asks them to stop emailing.
Andrew Syrett
Head of Sales at YourParkingSpace Ruben Gamez Ultimately, the magic number for your busi-
Founder of BidSketch ness will depend on your specific product or
“Every sale is different, so it’s impossible to say service, the life cycle of your customer, and
that ‘x’ amount of calls or emails will translate “We follow up a maximum of four times before how interested potential buyers may be. In any
into a deal. The volume of emails very much dropping the lead. case, crafting a follow-up email sequence and
depends on how far along in the process the continuing to test your strategy will be the key
lead is, and how strong that lead is in the first “Generally, if we do hear back, about 50% of to closing more deals.
place. those responses are on the first email, and 50%
PART 3:
Steal These Templates!
How to Write a
Killer Follow-up
Email Sequence
That Draws
Replies
BY FORSTER PERELSZTEJN
While there’s no “one size fits all” model to content, add value (more on that later), and There’s a single sentence that encapsulates all
writing a cold email sequence, there are a few clearly express what you want. that. Here it is:
rules you can rely on to get things moving.
Also, it’s always good to warm up a cold email “What could have changed your mind?”
The minimum sequence recipient with a personalized LinkedIn contact
request. Try to use that as your subject line (or as part
This is the AK-47 of follow-up email sequenc- of your subject line) and ask in your body text if
es. Easy to set up, efficient in most cases, and 2) A gentle but firm reminder (2-3 days after they can point you to a couple things that might
scalable. the initial email) have swayed their decision.
Emails tend to be overlooked; your prospect
Every sales email sequence should include at might be busy, not in a good mood to answer, Why is it so powerful? It makes the reader
least these three steps: or simply out of office for a few days. You’d be think about your offer and the reasons they
amazed at the power of a simple reminder. wouldn’t give you an answer. And suddenly,
1) An opening cold email when they type those reasons out, they don’t
Without rehashing the details about how to Don’t repeat yourself, though. Follow up in the seem so compelling anymore.
write a good cold email, just remember to keep same thread and simply ask if they saw your
it short and include the following elements: previous email, if they got a chance to think The business sequence
about your offer, etc.
• Grab the attention Depending on the importance of the decision,
3) A break-up email (4-5 days after the the size of the account, and the reputation of
• Lay out why you’re reaching out to them previous email) the company, some follow-up sequences may
I’m about to let you in on a secret. require more than a few emails and demand
• State what’s in it for them more persuasion.
Seriously, this is the formula for a break-up
• Explain why they should trust you email that gets a response. This follow-up sales email sequence involves
more work but also drives much more value. (It
• Use a single, clear call to action You know how no one wants to miss out, and actually helped my company recruit our first 175
most people want to help. And also how some customers.)
Keep a conversational tone, personalize your people simply need a second reminder?
The sequence runs over a two-week period 1. Case studies alone aren’t generally enough when handling
and looks something like this: Case studies are powerful because they show objections.
how one of your customers solved a specific
• Opening cold email problem successfully and with measurable 3. Testimonials
results. Neil Patel, co-founder of KISSmetrics This time, you’re not the one telling the story—
• Gentle but firm reminder (2-3 days after the and Crazy Egg, managed to increase his sales your satisfied customer is. And that can have a
initial email) by 70% by including case studies in his emails! tremendous impact.
• Value bringer #1 (3-4 days after the previ- They allow you to grab the attention, demon- According to Groove, testimonials placed on
ous email) strate value, show differentiation, and miti- their homepage, landing pages, and email
gate the risks. marketing have helped increase conversions
• Value bringer #2 (3-4 days after the previ- by 15%.
ous email) 2. Success stories
Success stories are about summarizing the They allow you to build trust, sell without sell-
• Break-up email (4-5 days after the previous successful experience of a customer with your ing, and overcome skepticism.
email) company, just enough to pique interest. (As
opposed to case studies, which focus on the 4. Referrals
Now, the question is… methods implemented to make that experience According to Joanne Black, referrals can help
successful.) close new customers/clients at least 50% of
…how do you bring undeniable value to cold the time! That means more new business with
emails? Objections are stories; they’re a projection of fewer leads.
what might go wrong or might not work. As
There are five main ways to make your emails Shawn Callahan puts it: “You can’t beat a story The best referrals start with an introduction
incredibly valuable and help your prospect with fact, you can only beat it with a better by someone your prospect knows, trusts, and
take an action that will move the sales process story.” respects.
forward.
If you can anticipate the reasons for your pros- Referrals allow you to bypass the gatekeeper,
pect’s reluctance, bring them stories that deal get you ahead of the competition, earn trust
with those reasons. Keep in mind that facts and credibility, and maybe win an introduction
from them to another prospect.
7 Welcome
Email Templates
for Nurturing
New Customers
BY CODY SLINGERLAND
through rate of a standard email, it’s important to ensure that your 74% of marketers state that personalized emails increase customer
content is on its A-game. After all, your welcome email sets the founda- engagement rates, and they deliver six times higher transactional rates
tion of your branding and helps to establish the connection you have with as well.
your customers or potential customers.
A personalized welcome email is a perfect opportunity to ask custom-
So, what exactly is a welcome email? It’s not necessarily your “first ers for their feedback or preferences, helping you to tailor and segment
impression” with a buyer, since the recipient has already engaged with future emails.
your sales team or marketing content. More accurately, a welcome email
is the first communication that you send when a buyer reaches a new
stage in your relationship. Hey [name],
Only 57.7% of brands send a welcome email to new subscribers, yet I’m [name], the founder of [company name] and I’d like to
on average, welcome emails generate up to 320% more revenue personally thank you for signing up to our service.
than other promotional emails. (Source)
We established [company name] in order to [mission/values of
With a customer-focused, value-packed welcome email, you can stand company].
out in a cluttered inbox, ensuring a meaningful connection and not instant
deletion. Check out these seven welcome email templates that can be I’d love to hear what you think of [product] and if there is anything
used to nurture your new customers: we can improve. If you have any questions, please reply to this
email. I’m always happy to help!
1. The Welcome Email That Comes From an Actual Human
Being [name]
Real-life example: This personalized welcome email from Modalyst details stating the benefits of signing up for a paid version of your product.
why the company was formed, and was “written” by CEO Jill Sherman.
Real-life example: Check out this free trial welcome email from Shopify.
2. The “Welcome to Your Trial” Email
3. The Product-Focused Welcome Email
The free trial welcome email is sent to potential buyers who have signed
up for a free trial of your product or service. (See also: product qualified The product introduction welcome email provides value by showcas-
leads.) This email is normally followed by a series of emails encouraging ing your product or service in a format that is easy for your customer to
the user to sign up for a paid plan. digest. Using a video or webinar to introduce your product allows your
customer to feel like they’re gaining one-on-one support without the time
or expense of actual one-on-one guidance.
Hi [name],
What happens next? Welcome to [product or brand name]. We’re thrilled to see you
here!
Keep an eye on your inbox as we’ll be sending you the best tips
for [product/service]. We’re confident that [product/service] will help you [summary of
key benefit or benefits of product/service].
Want to get more out of [product/service name]? Choose a plan
below… Get to know us in our [title] video. You’ll be guided through [name
of service/product] by our [name of employee and what they do] to
[paid plan link] ensure you get the very best out of our service.
You can also find more of our guides here to learn more about
A free trial welcome email can include links to product or service training [product/service name].
or more information about your brand. Keep these suggestions simple;
users don’t want to feel too overwhelmed by your first email. You can Take care!
send further product/service information in future emails, in addition to
Real-world example: This example from HubSpot allows customers to While discounts are used often in B2C welcome emails, they can work
sign up for a free webinar, in addition to offering them alternative resourc- for B2B, especially if you wish to provide a special offer or welcome
es which they can use at their own pace. package.
4. The Free Gift Welcome Email Real-world example: Your gift doesn’t have to be a tangible item like
money or a free product. OptinMonster gives subscribers a special offer
Special offers and discounts are highly effective in encouraging sales, in the form of exclusive content, adding value and establishing them-
especially if your user has just signed up for a free trial. You could offer selves as an authority figure within their market. Check out their welcome
a simple discount code or a free product to provide immediate value to email here.
your customers. Giving your customers an unexpected “gift” always
helps to generate loyalty. 5. The “Thanks for Subscribing” Welcome Email
This welcome email is for website visitors who complete a form to receive
Hi [name], a content resource or subscribe to your newsletter. Offering content
downloads is a very effective strategy for building your subscriber list, but
Thanks for signing up to [product name]! you’ll need to nurture your new contacts early and often if you want to
put them on a buying path.
As a special thank you, we’re giving you 15% off when you sign up
for a paid plan. Though “thanks for subscribing” emails can be kept very simple, you
should still use this opportunity to introduce your other products or your
Simply use the coupon below at the checkout. business as a way of weeding out those who may be only interested in
your download.
[Discount code]
If they’re setting things up in the system right away, you can assume that
Hi [name], they feel good about their purchase and are motivated to get value out of
it. But if they’re not touching it at all, there could be a problem.
Thanks for signing up for [newsletter name]!
The reminder email isn’t exactly a welcome email, but it’s an import-
As promised, here is the link for your free [name of free offering]. ant follow-up to make if your initial welcome email didn’t inspire any
action. This email is a good place to re-share the login URL, include
[Link/call to action] information on how to use the product, and offer training resources to
new users.
If you’d like more helpful tips on [subject], visit our blog and our
resource pages: [link] Or, visit [website page] if you were interested
in learning more about [product type you offer]. Hi [name],
Reply to this email if you have any questions. I’m here to help! We can’t wait for you to start using [product] and seeing results in
your business.
best,
[name] Simply go here [link to login page] to get started, or visit our Help
Center [link] to learn more about how to use [product].
Real-world example: This email from Really B2B goes one step further by As always, our support team can be reached at [email address] if
offering a phone number to discuss the topic related to the download—a you ever get stuck.
great opportunity to turn a subscriber into a customer.
Have a great day!
6. The Reminder Email
[name]
If you work for a software company (a sneaky powerful CRM platform, for
example), you can often tell how excited a new customer is by tracking
how long it takes them to start using your product after purchasing it.
Real-world example: This email from Google Primer gives the recipient Real-world example: This welcome email from Sleeknote asks users for
a gentle nudge, and includes social proof in the form of a user review, their preferences, aiding segmentation.
demonstrating the benefits of using the service.
Using segmentation enabled Sleeknote to send relevant content to
7. The Onboarding Welcome Email their users, increasing open rates by over 1,213% and converting more
subscribers into customers.
The onboarding welcome email is the first message in a series intend-
ed to steer customers in the right direction after a purchase, helping to Nurturing customers via email is essential if you want to make a good
engage and nurture them. You can ask questions to help segment your impression. Remember, the aim of your welcome emails should be to
customers for future emails and give them a heads-up that you’ll be send- focus on your customer, whether you’re providing more information
ing them future content. on how to use your product or sending free content. Think about how
your initial welcome email will create a stronger connection with your
new customer and look for ways to give them added value whenever
Hi [name], possible.
We’d love to know why you signed up for [product]. Your feedback
helps us to make sure that we’re delivering exactly what customers
want. Just hit reply and let me know.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sending you a few more emails
to help you gain maximum value from [product]. We’ll share
our favorite tips and provide some exciting behind-the-scenes
information.
Thanks!
8 Winback
Email
Templates
to Help You
Recover Lost
Leads
BY JACOB THOMAS
As a salesperson, lost leads are just part of the job description—but that
doesn’t mean you need to be happy about it. To close out Nutshell’s Hi [Name],
Guide to [Writing MUCH Better] Sales Emails, we’ll share eight winback
email templates that have been proven to re-engage lost leads and drum If you’re anything like me, you get busy and then elect to put some
up new business. things on the back-burner.
Sound interesting? Then keep reading! And feel free to adopt, modify, Back around [date], you reached out to us about [purpose of orig-
and experiment with the scripts in your own sales efforts. inal email] for [company name]. I haven’t heard back from you, so
I’m guessing you’re busy doing your thing.
Related: Charlene “Ignites” DeCesare on what to do when sales
prospects go into a “black hole” [VIDEO] We’re not going anywhere, so we’ll be here if you need us and if
anything with the project has changed, I’m happy to hop on the
1. The No Pressure Approach phone with you to discuss the new details. We could easily help
you move this to the front burner and help you [problem to be
This template comes to us from Sherry Holub, the creative director at solved].
a digital design and marketing agency in Southern Oregon called JVM
Design. This script is all about relating to the lost lead. It’s written in a [Your preferred closing statement]
very conversational tone and makes it easy for the recipient to respond
because no pressure is placed on them. Think of it as a “soft reminder.” Your Name, etc.
We suggest sending this template to leads who originally reached out to Links to schedule call (optional)
your company with an interest in your products and/or services, but never
progressed to a conversation with your sales team. In many cases, these
leads just need a gentle reminder that you exist.
– Your Name
[your salutation]
3. Provide a solution to the question (a link to a pdf, case study, etc.) This is just a taste of what you will learn:
4. Give them a preview of what the content will provide them – How to pick the best electric bike for you
5. Close with an offer to connect with any questions – Tax breaks you get with an electric bike
So a practical example would look something like this example. – The average time savings an electric bike will give you
This template has a high probability of success because it doesn’t try to It is only about a 6-minute read and answers some of the most
sell anything. Rather, it reels lost leads back in with the promise of some- common questions we are asked every day here at [INSERT
thing valuable like access to content the recipient will enjoy consuming. COMPANY NAME]. If I can answer any additional questions, please
feel free to let me know.
But of course, if the recipient is interested in making a purchase, the
template is sure to invite them to get back in touch. Stay safe in the bike lane!
This template leaves a lot of room for customization. For example, if a Best regards,
lead contacted your company because she was interested in purchasing
10 lawnmowers for her landscaping business, you could reply with the [your name]
following text:
But if a lead contacted your company because they were having trouble
hiring the right employees, this template still works perfectly:
This goodbye email was written by Nutshell Content Marketing Manager Otherwise, we’ll continue to send you our latest sales resourc-
Ben Goldstein, who says: es, tactical tips, and coaching advice, because whether you’re a
Nutshell customer or not, we want you to be successful.
There’s the button right there, below this paragraph. All it takes
is one click. Whether it’s tomorrow or five years from now, it’ll be
there for you to restart your trial. And whenever that happens, we’ll
be glad to see you.
START A TRIAL