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Influencers Invited Sales Blog

The Psychology of Your Emails

It’s not many years ago that email marketing was the next big thing. Now, many say it’s a spent force. It isn’t a spent force — but your results will very much depend on the quality of your contact and customer database.

And on the content of your email…

It is true that you have to work harder now to get your sales and marketing emails opened than say three years ago. Once opened, the next challenge is to engage the reader, make an impact — and prompt some action on their part.

And that brings us nicely back to the psychology of selling.

If you’re sending your promotional email to hundreds, maybe thousands on your database, how can you write content that is unique and appeals to each and every one? After all, “everyone has their own unique map of the world”. Every person is different. Everyone is unique. Tough assignment eh?

The truth is — if you’re sending out a mass email it’s mighty challenging to make everyone of those recipients feel unique.
But…

…there are things you can do to make those recipients feel that the email is just for them.

Here’s my take on the language you should be using in your emails — and for that matter your website, your written proposals, your one to one emails, your brochures, your pitches and presentations and so on.

  • ‘You’ not ‘We’

    Don’t write “we can do this”, “we can do that”, “we are an award winning company” etc. It won’t work. Instead, use lots of ‘You’ (i.e. them!) language. For example, instead of “we design great websites”, use “if you’re looking for a great website”. Same message, more impact. They don’t want to hear about how great you are. They want to know how you can help them. Big difference.

  • “Towards and Away”

    Some of your potential customers will be motivated towards goals and challenges. When buying, they focus on what they want! Yet many other potential customers will focus on the obstacles and problems that are getting in their way…these people are motivated away from what they don’t want. Your content should therefore include towards (what they will get) statements and some away (what they will solve, or avoid) statements.

  • Like or dislike change?

    Some of your readers embrace change and are motivated by constant change. Others will dislike change with a vengeance. You need to cover both extremes in your email. So, for those who like change, make sure you mention how different your offering is from what they are currently using. To appeal to those who detest change, you’ll also need to accentuate the commonalities and similarities with the status quo before introducing ‘small’ differences.

  • Hang on a minute…

    You may be asking if having statements and counter statements contained in the same email cancel each other out? No. For example anyone who is motivated ‘away from’ will only home in on the statements designed to appeal to them, and won’t notice those goal-focussed statements at all. Goal focussed statement will pass them by — and vice versa.

  • Forget you – think them.

    So, forget your natural tendencies when writing your email and make sure you reflect these language differences. If it’s too challenging to incorporate all of these changes at once, then introduce them one at a time.

Remember too to experiment with subject lines which reflect these differences. Email open rates can change quite dramatically when you, for example, alternate between a ‘towards’ subject line and an ‘away from’ subject line.

As usual there’s lots more to say on this subject and if you need to ask any questions then do get in touch.

Until next time

Leigh

About the author

Hi I’m Leigh Ashton of The Sales Consultancy

Whether you’re a small business or a leading brand, an area manager or a Chief Executive, whether you’re new to sales or an experienced sales professional. Even if you’re not in sales at all but want to understand it, you’ve come to the right place.

The World of Sales is changing.

Today’s conventional sales training doesn’t address the psychological barriers that get in their way.

My approach takes your sales team through a process that:

* Helps them identify their psychological barriers and gives them the tools to overcome them
* Teaches them how the mind works so they can keep motivated and stay focused
* Gives them the ability to identify the psychological patterns of their clients and prospects so they connect with them at a deeper level and close more sales

And at a higher level…

* It creates more success in other areas of their lives so they are happier generally…and happier sales people generate more sales

Wherever you are on your personal sales journey what’s the best course of action for YOU.

– Sales Training – that actually gets results
– Leadership and Management
– Personal Coaching and Mentoring
– Sales Mentoring Programme
– NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and how it can help you accelerate your success
– Keynote Speaking