5 Things Successful Sales Emails Have in Common

It's no secret: email marketing works.

It may seem old-fashioned in 2017, but at the end of the day, everyone has email — from gen Z teens to their Baby Boomer grandparents.

And people check that email regularly, giving brands a great opportunity to make a connection.

But as you can imagine, not all sales emails are equally successful. Some rake in the cash, others fall flat.

What makes the difference?

When it comes to digital marketing, Neil Patel knows his stuff. He's founded multiple companies, as well as establishing a personal brand of epic proportions within the marketing community.

A big part of his strategies, of course, is email.

In a recent blog post at Quicksprout, Patel talks about the key features your sales emails need for success.

Many of these critical factors revolve around one key element of email marketing: personalization.

The more you can tailor your emails to an individual customer, the more likely they are to convert. This process goes far beyond using their first name.

Here are just a few of the elements you can include in your sales emails to add an element of personalization.

Specialized targeting

It’s likely your brand has multiple audience personas.

Effective segmentation is critical for getting the right marketing material in front of each email subscriber.

I recommend creating at least a few different personas and sending out individualized emails based on each group’s needs and preferences.

Here’s a very basic example:

This should ensure no one receives irrelevant content, which should have a noticeable impact on your open rate and conversions.

In fact, “segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than [that of] non-segmented campaigns.”

A personalized message

Research from Aberdeen found that “personalized email messages improve click-through rates by an average of 14% and conversions by 10%.”

Other studies have seen a similar trend:

So it’s really important you personalize each email.

Ideally, use each recipient’s first and last name.

The word “you”

At the end of the day, we all want to know what’s in it for us.

If you want someone to read through your email in its entirety, you’d better darn sure appeal to them on a personal basis.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use “you” when addressing your readers.

“You” is one of the most persuasive words in the English language and should help you connect with your readers.

Empathy

People are interested in buying a product or service for a reason.

They have a problem or pain point they’re seeking a solution for.

Make it clear you understand their struggles and that your goal is to help them find a resolution.

A personalized product recommendation

Keeping with the theme of personalization, I suggest including a personalized product recommendation whenever it makes sense.

Take into consideration the needs, wants, and overall pain points of each targeted demographic.

Then include a link to a particular product they would be interested in.