How to craft effective sales emails for every stage of the sales pipeline (with examples)

With the help of sales emails, you can connect with potential prospects, nurture and convert them into paying customers.

Oh, wait! Let me rephrase this sentence. 

With the help of “Effective” sales emails, you can grab the attention of potential prospects, engage them, and increase your conversion rate.

Bland, no-salt-added sales emails often hit the thrash in seconds. 

Email communication is requisite at every stage of the sales process. However, if the first few emails aren’t compelling enough to get responses, you won’t get a chance to send emails during the later stages of the sales process. 

You’ve just got a few minutes to impress the prospects. They do not hesitate to hit the delete button. So make sure your emails are worth their time. 

51% of recipients delete emails within the first few seconds of opening it.

Wondering how to draft effective emails that get responses? Read on!

Things to consider while sending sales emails

Think about the low-quality emails you’ve received. Weren’t they annoying? I am sure you wouldn’t want your prospects to feel the same. 

Email is a truly powerful tool if used in the right way. 

Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. 

Here are things you mush consider while sending sales emails during different stages of the sales pipeline. 

1. Embrace personalization

A one-size-fits-all approach repels modern buyers. If the message isn’t personalized, it will fail to capture the potential buyer’s interest. 

Personalization humanizes communication and helps in establishing a relationship with the potential prospect. 

So, invest time in personalizing your emails. Go beyond just names and include points that your potential buyer would love to read. 

Being a sales professional with a long to-do list, you might find it time-saving to use sales email templates, which is actually a smart thing to do. However, ensure you personalize the message before sending it. 

2. Get to the point immediately 

Time is money. So, don’t beat around the bush. Get to the point right away. Only include information that is important, keep the content of the sales email short and precise. 

Focus on the message that you want the potential buyers to act upon. Nobody has time to wade through a lengthy email to figure out what you want. A bulleted list can be helpful here. 

3. Use the right tone, words, phrases 

Using the appropriate tone is of paramount importance while drafting sales emails. 

Each word carries a tone and significance. So, be careful with the words you choose while drafting a sales email. The entire tone of a sales email can change if your emphasis changes from “I” to “You”.

Avoid jargon, colloquialism, and complicated phrases. Don’t fill your email with superlatives like “brilliant,” “unbelievable,” “brand-new,” “seamless,” etc. 

 Keep your email content simple and easy to understand. 

 Do not include negative words like:

• Never
• Unavoidable 
• Bad
• Delay
• Failure
• Neglect
• Irresponsible 
• Uncertain 

Even pay attention to the phrases used in the sales emails. 

Here are a few phrases that you should avoid using 

• “This is the perfect product for your company”

Yes, your product can help the customer, but do not overstate your case.

• Our product has excellent features like “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J…”

Potential buyers are not interested in knowing how great is your product; they want to know how it can resolve their current problem. 

• “To whomsoever it concern” 

As I said above, personalization is a must while sending sales emails. This appears as if the emails are sent to 100 people. 

• “Sorry if I’ve wasted your time”

This phrase can create a negative impression on the prospect. Sales reps are expected to provide value at every point in the sales process. So, avoid setting the wrong tone where the prospect might feel they are wasting their precious time. 

• “Can you do me a favor?”

Whoa! Asking a favor before providing value to the prospect is a big no-no. 

4. Choose the right time to send the emails 

The chances of getting a response will plummet if your email goes at the wrong hour. So be extra careful while selecting the time and day to send your sales emails. 

Most sales professionals dread the Monday blues and lazy Friday. So, they often choose Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to send an email. 

Analyze your past emails sent to satisfied customers and check at what time and day did most of them respond. 

Pick the same date and time to approach potential prospects. See if it is working. If not, then change your approach. Each client is different, so you need to keep experimenting to see what works best. 

5. Keep tracking your emails 

It is necessary to know what happened to your email after your hit send. Did the prospect open and read it? Or were your emails ignored? 

Well, to find that out your need to track your sales emails. It is necessary to measure the effectiveness of your outbound emails. You need to monitor and understand how the prospects are engaging with your sales emails. Which subject lines are attracting the prospect and which needs to be changed. 

Besides tracking the email, you’ll know who is interested in your product, and you can reach out to them in real-time. For instance, if a prospect opened the email four times in the last 48 hours and clicked a download link is considered to be ready for a call. Monitoring such clues will help you in determining which deals are ready to move to the next stage of the sales pipeline. 

Sales email examples for drafting compelling emails 

Email communication cannot be taken for granted at any stage of the sales process. The first impression is important so you put in a lot of effort and send an impactful cold email. But later, type a plain email and send it during the qualification stage. Well, that won’t help; each stage is important, so you need to draft a sales email with great enthusiasm throughout the sales journeys and ensure it is effective. 

Here are a few sales email examples that can help you in drafting compelling emails at different stages of the sales pipeline. 

1. Prospecting

Prospecting is the first and most important stage of the sales pipeline. If your prospecting emails fail to impress the prospects, you might not get to hear from them ahead of. 

Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes and think about how you react to an email sent by a stranger. Would you reply unless something interesting catches your eye? 

The prospects do not know you, so you need to gain their trust and create a strong first impression through your prospecting email.  

Research a little before drafting prospecting emails. 

Make sure your prospecting emails are relevant, crisp and prospect-driven

Sending clear as well as concise prospecting emails add value and motivates a prospect to take action. 

Cold email examples

Subject line – Add more names to the list of your buyers 

2. Qualification 

Qualification is a vital part of the sales process where you weed out deals that won’t convert into sales. It helps you gather important insight to make a good judgment. Lead qualification saves your time and efforts that might be otherwise wasted on trying to convert a prospect that’s not ready to buy. 

For qualifying leads, you need to communicate with the potential prospect and gather information about them by asking relevant questions. Discovery calls are best for it. 

However, instead of directly calling them, it is better to connect at the time that suits best for them. If you call them at the wrong hour, you might not get the information that you need for qualifying a lead as the busy prospect might hang up the phone quickly. 

So, use the channel of email tactfully to schedule discover calls for learning about the prospects’ needs and challenges. 

Sales email example for scheduling call

3. Nurturing 

Till you don’t nurture the deals, they won’t move ahead in the sales pipeline. Nurturing emails are a great way to educate, engage, and provide valuable information to your potential buyers.

It helps in building positive relationships with prospective buyers. 

You can even add links to your informative blogs or videos that highlight the benefits of using your product. 

Adding case studies in your nurturing emails can help increase credibility. 

You need to give the prospects a strong reason to invest in your prospect. Through nurturing emails, you can prove the prospects that your product is worth their time. Make your nurturing email as valuable as possible for the potential buyer. 

Nurturing email example

4. Setting appointment 

In order to sell something, you need to meet the prospects face to face and show them the value of your product. For meeting the prospect, you need to first set an appointment. Well, for that, you must draft an effective appointment setting email. 

First of all, prospects don’t easily reply. Secondly, convincing them for a meeting is an equally challenging task. If you don’t put in effort, you might not be able to convert the deals into sales. 

Your appointment setting email should be compelling and attention-grabbing from the beginning. 

It  should clearly explain, “why should the prospect give your their precious time.” 

Conclude the email by defining the next step. Tell the prospect what exactly they should do next. Should they call you, respond with a convenient time, or click the calendar link. 

(Emails for scheduling meetings) 

5. Post presentation follow-up

Once you give the presentation, you need to make the prospect take a purchasing decision quickly. Follow-up with them consistently. There are chances your prospects might be busy and not reply to the first email. However, you should not give up. 

Send another email after a few days. 

However, ensure you keep a proper gap between these sales emails. Cut the tie at the right time if you do not get a response even after repeated attempts. However, inform the prospect before doing so that if in case they have a need for your product in the future, they can connect with you. 

Consistent follow-up is important to push the deal ahead in the sales pipeline. So do not forget to follow-up. To make your work easier, you can use sales that allow you to put your follow-up on autopilot. For instance, you can create email sequences inside Salesmate CRM to follow-up in real-time. This will ease your work and save you time. 

Follow-up email 1

Follow-up email 2

Follow-up email 3

6. Addressing concern

Once you get a reply to your follow-up email, focus on addressing all the doubts and concerns of the prospects regarding your product.

Investing in a solution is a big decision for a company. The cloud of doubt might be hovering over your prospect’s head. So try to find all the concerns the prospect has regarding your product and address it in real-time. 

With the help of emails, schedule a call at the prospect’s preferred time to discuss their doubts and concerns. 

(Scheduling call to address concerns)

7. Closing email templates 

Closing is the last and the most crucial stage of the sales pipeline. Most of the deals are lost at this stage, which is why you need to be extra careful here. Stay calm while drafting an email here. You cannot afford to make any mistake at this stage of the sales pipeline. 

Negotiate with a calm mind and come to a conclusion that is beneficial for both your and the potential buyer. Find out if they want to have another round of discussion over the phone. Try to close the deal as soon as possible. Do not stretch it for too long. The longer deal stays in the sales pipeline, the less likely it is to close. So, address the objections of the prospect. Give your best shot, but do not be too pushy. 

Closing email

Conclusion 

Sales email can help you convert a deal into sales. Provided you use this communication channel smartly. Be very careful while drafting your sales emails. Keep it straightforward yet interesting by including the point that your potential would want to read. Do not type and send an email in a hurry. Make sure you proofread your emails before hitting send. 

Track your emails regularly to measure their effectiveness. You can use smart CRM software like Salesmate that not only help in tracking your sales emails but also help in managing your sales pipeline effectively. You can easily manage, nurture, and convert deals quickly with this cutting-edge technology.