How to start a letter

Businesses correspond using letters, email, reports and website pages.

Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images

Email makes it easy to get in touch with potential clients, no matter if you're selling a service or product. But just because you dash off an email sales letter in minutes to thousands of potential clients doesn't mean that any of these potential sales will materialize. The key to writing an effective email sales letter is to quickly let potential customers know the benefits they'll receive by investing in your product or service. And if you don't get to this point quickly, you'll almost certainly lose your clients. You'd be surprised at how many email sales letters that clients delete before even finishing their first sentences.

1.

Include your potential client's name -- spelled correctly -- and title at the top of your email sales letters. People receive a lot of commercial pitches through email today. They'll immediately delete any that resemble spam or junk mail. And sales letters that begin with variations of "To whom it may concern," "Dear sir or madam" or "Hi, friend" will almost certainly trigger the "delete" key.

2.

Tell potential clients exactly what benefit they'll receive from your product or service in the first sentence of your email message. If you run a lawn service, tell potential clients that you can give their businesses instant curb appeal, without them or their busy employees having to ever pull a weed or fire up a lawnmower. If you sell high-tech burglar alarms, immediately tell potential customers that you can eliminate their chances of suffering a break-in. No matter what service or product you offer, give your potential clients a quick "what's in it for me" moment.

3.

Describe your service or product succinctly, in two sentences or less. Business owners and managers are busy people. They don't want to spend a significant amount of time poring over email messages. If you provide a discount window-cleaning service, tell potential clients exactly how often you'll clean their windows and for what price points. Don't make clients guess.

4.

Provide contact information within the first five to six sentences of your sales letter. If your pitch interests clients, you don't want them to have to look for your phone number or email address. If they don't find it quickly, they might forget about your pitch in the sea of phone messages and emails with which they are undoubtedly dealing.

]]> About the Author

Don Rafner has been writing professionally since 1992, with work published in "The Washington Post," "Chicago Tribune," "Phoenix Magazine" and several trade magazines. He is also the managing editor of "Midwest Real Estate News." He specializes in writing about mortgage lending, personal finance, business and real-estate topics. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the University of Illinois.

Photo Credits

Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images

bibliography-iconicon for annotation tool Cite this Article Choose Citation Style MLA APA Chicago (B)

Rafner, Don. "How to Start an Email Sales Letter." Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/start-email-sales-letter-10917.html. Accessed 09 May 2019.

Rafner, Don. (n.d.). How to Start an Email Sales Letter. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/start-email-sales-letter-10917.html

Rafner, Don. "How to Start an Email Sales Letter" accessed May 09, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/start-email-sales-letter-10917.html

Copy Citation

Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.