We all know that email is a vital part of the sales and marketing equation. It’s far from dead. I mean, if it were dead, would we want it on our smart phones? As a Silicon Valley copywriter, I sometimes think that I spend more time sending and responding to emails than actually writing.
But wait! Isn’t creating and responding to emails writing? You bet it is. And people who send sloppily reasoned, poorly spelled, badly punctuated missives (or “air notes” as my brother calls them) need to sit up and take notice. But I digress, as I often do. This post is not really about writing techniques, except peripherally. It’s really how you can manipulate your readers’ brains and social conditioning when your create a message.
In March, Bernie Reeder of Work Smart wrote a terrific article (https://www.yesware.com/blog/2014/03/14/emails-that-get-replies/) on “creative ways to persuade others to take a desired course of action, like reply to more of your meticulously written emails.
Ms. Reeder enumerates seven tested and proven ways, of which I present my three top faves:
Provide social proof
Drop names. Tell your reader if her peers are buying your product or using your services. As Ms. Reeder puts it, “Peer pressure is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and still one of the smartest.” Even the most die-hard independent thinker wants to know that he’s not out there alone, in the howling waste of the wilderness.
Use numbers
But, says Ms. Reeder, use them wisely. Put actual digits in your subject line, rather than spelling them out, for attention-grabbing impact. Use statistics and data. As in “Four out of five doctors prefer Camels.” Use the power of three key points, which the brain likes, rather than four. (Notice how I’m going with my top three choices in this post?)
Keep it short
Your readers typically have short attention spans. As in other parts of life, you don’t want to harangue. Get to the point and get it done. That probably means you can’t send the first effort you dash off. Take some time to craft a short, punchy message. As time goes on, that will get a whole lot easier. I promise.
Ms. Reeder has other suggestions, such as using humor—which, in my opinion, can backfire without the nuancing of body language—and specificity.
This is an excellent article. I’ve bookmarked it, because I’m often asked to write sales emails. I recommend you do so too.
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