9 Common Yet Avoidable Mistakes in Sales Prospecting Emails

Writing is such an important part of sales in this modern age, and it’s essential we do it right. In the past, you may have been talking to clients face-to-face or over the phone. Today we live in the age of writing content, letters and, most importantly, emails.

When writing sales emails, in many cases it will be the first interaction that you have with a potential customer. If you get it wrong or make a mistake, it could be a customer lost forever.

Let’s explore nine of the most common sales prospecting email mistakes that you need to avoid in order to maximize your opportunities for success.

Not Getting the Right Recipients

If you’re writing custom emails for each one of your potential clients, it’s important to double-check their personal information. Imagine sending somebody an email with the wrong name.

You’ll also want to make sure that you’re emailing the right person within a business. If you’re not emailing a decision maker, you have lower chances of closing a sale.

Cramming Everything in the Subject Line

So many sales reps give it all they’ve got in the subject line, leaving nothing for the actual body content of the email. The subject line is the first and only element that will get your readers to click to open it. An overcrowded subject line is an instant put off, and your emails will just end up in the bin.

Don’t forget to check the grammar in both your subject line and your body content. You can do this easily using tools like Grammarix and Boom Essays.

Writing About Your Business

It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing about your own business in your email. In fact, you should be talking about what your business can help your customers to achieve or succeed in. Sure, your business can have the most ‘innovative’ and ‘best solution’, but isn’t something that your customers will want to hear.

Instead, focus on what your potential customer wants, addressing what problems they might be experiencing and then how your business can help to alleviate those problems.

Not Implementing Paragraphs

Consider how this article is written out. Now imagine if it was one big block of text, what would you do? The chances are that you’d feel overwhelmed and probably wouldn’t even bother to read it and the same can be said for your emails.

Don’t be afraid to use to ‘enter’ button to create paragraphs, breaking your content up into short, easily digestible sections.

Not Highlighting the Benefits

When you’re writing a sales email, it’s vital to remember is that you’re trying to provide this customer with a benefit or advantage in the form of a product or service. If a customer is reading through your email and you haven’t described anything like that, they’ll simply think that they’re not gaining anything and therefore won’t make a purchase.

Not Sending a Clear Message

As a sales writer, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to sell your product while talking about everything it does to help your potential customer. However, if you include too much information in your emails, this is going to get really confusing, really quickly.

Define a main purpose and selling point for your email and stick to it, making sure you stay on track and keeps your original message crystal-clear. When planning your email marketing campaign, plan your subject lines using tools like Academadvisor, or invest in copywriting services like Paper Fellows to write your emails on your behalf.

Writing Long Sentences

Consider how you read your emails. Do you sit and dedicate time to read through each and every message in your inbox, or do you simply browse and pick out the bits that are important to you?

Having long sentences and big blocks of text are going to put people off reading, therefore minimizing your chances of securing a sale. To make sure this isn’t an issue, you can use free tools like Easy Word Count to monitor the word count of each sentence. You can also edit longer sentences using editing tools like Essay Roo, as recommended by Best Australian Writers.

Not Implementing Clear Calls to Action

At the end of each email, and sometimes in the middle, you’ll have your call to action leading an interested customer onto the next step of their purchasing journey. If you haven’t implemented a clear call to action, they’re not going to be sure what they are supposed to do next and won’t bother to hunt it out.

Spelling Mistakes in Your Emails

Spelling mistakes, typos, poor grammar and misplaced punctuation are huge mistakes to make when writing business email.  Your customers will be instantly put off . 

Make sure that you check your content to ensure it’s the highest quality possible and not at all damaging to your business’s credibility and reputation. You can use writing guides like State of Writing to make sure your emails are perfectly formatted and structured, as well as proofreading services like Ukwritings or Assignment help to ensure they are free from errors.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of things to consider when you’re writing a sales prospecting email and lots of mistakes to avoid. Take the time and make sure your emails are perfect. You’ll maximize your opportunities for sales and therefore your revenue.