5 tips to improve email sales

A sales letter remains the quickest and easiest way to test your offer, exchange messages and bring revenue to your business.
So here are 5 tips to help you take care of the content side.

5 tips to improve email sales

1: Rule of One.

"The rule of one" has become a popular phrase in the copywriting world.  This rule simply advises marketers to create their sales letters, emails, webinars, etc. D., based on a single concept. One big idea. One big problem, promise and solution. Or as close to that as possible.

Just as a magnifying glass can light a fire when focused, the persuasiveness of promotional emails can have the same effect when built on the "rule of one."

Before you start writing, here are some helpful questions to help you:

- What is the #1 biggest problem you're solving for this potential client?

- What is the only solution you offer?

- What evidence do you have to support that one solution?

- What one big promise can you make to these potential clients if they try your solution?

By focusing on one big idea, writing is not only easier, but clearer to the reader. And clarity is the hallmark of good promotional writing.

2: An attention-grabbing headline

The headline makes up 70% of your promotional success. Most of your time should be spent brainstorming different ideas and honing in on the ones you think might work best.

The main purpose of the headline is to stop the reader, grab his or her attention, and lead to the next line. When coming up with a headline for a promotional letter, pay attention to 3 things ...

1.      How knowledgeable am I about the problem you are solving? The better informed they are, the more direct your headline can be.

2.      What promise can you make in your headline to grab the attention of that market?

3.      How can you build a bridge between a potential customer and your product, rather than between your product and a potential customer? You always want to start with your potential customer.

While there are countless formulas and angles for creating a headline, often the most effective types either fall into the categories of personal interest, curiosity or a mixture of both.

Let's imagine we're selling an online mini-course that helps people get energized. Here are some examples of how each of these types of headlines can be used ...

Personal Benefit: Headlines of this type are based on a benefit or promise.

By using bright headlines, you'll have a better chance of grabbing your potential customer's attention and getting them to read the rest of your message. Remember, your headline has one purpose. To stop your potential customer and get them to read the next sentence.

It all starts with a compelling headline.

3: Use Evidence to Build Belief

One of the biggest obstacles your potential customers face when reading your message is the fact that most of them simply won't believe you. They've seen too much hype, empty promises or outright lies and are tired of claims without proof.

So, whatever you do ... find ways to prove what you are saying!
Every time you make a claim, you want to tie some kind of proof to it.
Here's a list of different proofs you can use:
- Testimonials
- Case studies
- Screenshots
- Warranties
- Features
- Before and after
- Admission of guilt
- Certificates
- Examples of specialization.

The main takeaway here is that whenever you make a statement about what your online course or digital product can do, you back it up in one way or another with some kind of evidence.

In all of your marketing, you're constantly overcoming two basic objections:

"Yeah right." (they don't believe you).

"So what." (they don't understand why it matters to them)

The more persuasively you can answer and overcome these silent objections, the more persuasive and successful your sales letter will be.

4: Change the risk.

If possible, you want to provide some sort of risk mitigation for your potential customer. In any sales situation, one side of the party is asked to take more risk than the other. That's just the way it is.

When a business owner puts that risk on the side of a potential customer, conversion can suffer. If you don't have brilliant A-level copy, an irresistible offer and your potential customers who already know you, like you and trust you ... you're in for a bit of a boost.

So when possible, you want to find ways to take the risk or "reverse it" to encourage your potential buyer to buy.

You can do this by offering a money-back guarantee with no questions asked. You can also do this by offering a 7 or 14-day trial where the customer's card will not be billed before that date.

Regardless of what type of risk handling best suits your business and situation, you want to do this. 

By including just this one element (and clearly drawing attention to it), you'll see an increase in conversions and more people will respond positively to your offer.

5: Clear call to action

Your sales letter has one purpose ... to make a sale!

We've come across a lot of great sales letters in which the marketer has done a great job and implemented all of the recommendations listed above. But when it came time to actually ask the reader to take action, they completely failed.

It was either too small, mentioned only once, or didn't get any attention.

If your reader got past your headline and got into most of the text, your next step is to make your call to action as clear and easy to understand as possible.

 You also don't have to wait until the very end to include it.
You can include call-to-action buttons as soon as you feel the reader knows enough information to want to click. Often you should post one right after you introduce your sentence and then add one after every few paragraphs.

Your call to action should be clear enough to see that if you step away from your computer, it will easily stand out.
Use clear, concise language for your call to action buttons.

Make it easy for them to not only see the next step, but to take the next step.

Even this simple tweak can help increase conversions.

Sales letter summary

If you run an online business, you almost certainly need a sales letter. These sales materials are your marketing assets that work for you 24/7/365, turning leads into customers and building your business.

When you write your first one or make changes to your existing page, keep the following guidelines in mind ...

1. The rule of one
2. An attention-grabbing headline
3. Use evidence to build belief
4. Reverse risk
5. Clear call to action