5 Steps to Write Kick Ass Outbound Emails
Every marketing person or sales representative throughout their career probably asked themselves this question: “How does a good outbound email look like?”. Well, in this article I will tell you everything you need to know about how to write a kick ass outbound email in 5 simple steps. Keep on reading!
Nice body!
Let’s start with the basics. Every email should consist of a subject line, an introduction, the main email body and it should end with a clear CTA (Call To Action).
M-o-t-i-v-a-t-i-o-n begins now
For those who doesn’t know what a CTA (Call To Action) is, pay attention. A CTA asks the recipient to do something in the end of the email. You encourage him smoothly to take action. This could be anything from responding to your email to visiting your website. Now, we’re all on the same common knowledge basis, we can start with the 5 steps to write a kick ass outbound email.
#1 Common Denominator
The email cold approach is really hard. You will address your emails to people whom you have never talked before. What are you supposed to say? Try to find your common denominator: This could be an event which you’re both participating in. For example, trade shows are a good opener for your outbound email. You could talk about a blog post or an interesting aspect which you found on their website and which is also related to your topic or product. People love to hear praises about their content. Some outbound experts even go that far that they use a forwarded email from their CEO to open the conversation. The CEO’s email could simply state that he is interested in XY’s website and that he wants you to contact them. That surprisingly works really well! That first part of your email shouldn’t be longer than 1-2 sentences.
#2 Problem Recognition
This part is very crucial and it’s called the problem recognition phase. Here you have to identify the problem which most of your prospects in the industry face. In this way, you give them the feeling that you’re an expert in the field and that you totally understand the struggles they’re facing. At the same time, your authenticity will be increased. In the next paragraph, a solution to their problems will be offered.
#3 Make your Pitch
After pointing out the problems which prospects might have, you want to give them a solution. Now your product comes into play. Here, you have to explain, how exactly your product will solve the problem. Also, you have to highlight how you’re different to your competitors. Shortly, you demonstrate your USP (Unique Selling Point), offer value and make a sales pitch. Be aware that you might have different buying personas (f.e.: CEO, CTO, logistics experts). Therefore, you can create some snippets for the different personas to come up with the right arguments for the right people. Snippets are short predefined text phrases which you can include as a variable in your templates. In the next step, you want to motivate your prospects with a great CTA to take action .
#4 Call To Action
Now you should encourage your prospects to do something. This could be simple things like responding to your email, scheduling a telephone call next Tuesday or to visit your website. Always make sure that you only have one CTA per email. Otherwise, your prospects will get confused about what you want from them.
#5 Subject Line
The subject line is as important as the content of the email itself. This simple short line triggers the curiosity of your recipients to open the email. I like to come up with a subject line once I’m done with the body of the email. This way, I can reflect about the text that I have written and after that I would draft my subject line. For example, the reason why you wanted to connect in the introduction paragraph is also useful as a subject line. You can also ask them a simple question. In the end, it should deliver some value, be short and it shouldn’t be more than 40 characters. Otherwise, the subject line will be cropped in the mobile version. Please don’t try to sell something in your subject line. People love to buy products, but they don’t like something being sold to them. Good words to include are: free, update and tomorrow.
One Tip For The Way
Once you wrote your kick ass outbound email and you’re ready to send, I highly recommend one thing: Please don’t track the link openings in your outbound email if you have used some. This makes your sending more likely to end up in the spam folder and you would harm your email’s domain.
Now, you’re ready to draft your own outbound email. This blog article is just a guideline for you. I encourage you to test different things yourself and to see what’s working best for you. Find your own way and stile!
What are your experiences with outbound emails? Have you ever written one? Leave some comments below. Cheers!
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