10 Tips for Effective Email Sales Letters

by David Coyne

1. Write Your Objective - Before you write your sales letter, write down your marketing objective. Is it to generate inquiries about your products? Is it attract subscribers to your ezine? Is it to find a joint venture partner? Having an objective will help you focus your copy.

2. Make A List Of Your Product’s Benefits - How will it improve your prospect’s life? How will it save them money or time? How will it make them more productive? Use the top three or four benefits in your email. Be specific and tone down the hype.

3. Spend Time Creating Effective Subject Lines - Don’t rush through this task. A subject line is the equivalent of a print headline. If it doesn’t catch their attention right away, a reader won’t bother opening the message. Avoid writing cute puns or play-on-words. Make your subject line sound valuable to your prospect. For example, “5 Ways To Increase Your Web Traffic.” Using this “How To” approach is one of the most powerful tactics in advertising. People are always hungry for info on how to increase sales, save time or increase productivity.

Another effective technique is to ask a question: e.g. “Need More Web Traffic?”

4. Select Your Words Carefully - With the increasing use of anti-spam software, even legitimate “opt-in” emails often get blocked. You need to choose words that prevent your email from being filtered out. Never use the word “free” in a subject line.

5. Use A Casual Tone - Nothing turns off a reader faster than stiff, formal language. You’re not writing a college essay. Write your email as if your were writing to a friend.

6. Use Short Sentences - They’re easier to read and sound more conversational than long sentences. Keep your sentences crisp and snappy. And use short words rather than long.

7. Use Bullets To Highlight Benefits - People tend to scan email rather than read every word. Bullet points makes it easy for a reader to quickly catch key information on your product or service.

8. Use Testimonials - Nothing builds confidence in your product quicker than comments from satisfied customers. Collect testimonials whenever you can. Include the customer’s first and last name. Comments that use initials, like “J. Smith,” are not credible.

9. Hyperlinks Should Be Specific When you insert a link into your email, make sure it takes the prospect to the specific info you referred to in your letter. Don’t just link to your homepage and expect the prospect to search for your offer. Your response will drop significantly.

10. Offer An Incentive To Get The Prospect To Take Action Now - It’s not enough to publicize your product, you want the prospect to take action. At the end of your email, tell the prospect what they should do next. Sign up for your newsletter? Visit your website? Download an ebook?

You’ll get a better response if you offer an incentive for them to take action. Offer a limited time discount. Give them lots of bonuses. Enter them into a contest. They’re tons of incentives you can come up with.