How to write a sales email: 6 sales email examples that work

You just received a fresh lead from marketing, and it’s time for you to send a compelling sales email. But how do you effectively start a conversation that will eventually result in a closed deal?

After all, the average recipient gets nearly 150 emails a day and deletes close to half of them. If you want to make an impact, your emails need to stand out from the crowd. It’s certainly doable and worth the effort—the average return on sales emails is $38 for every dollar invested. That’s huge revenue potential.

With the right sales email examples as your inspiration, you can craft the kind of messages that capture your readers’ attention and increase your chances of making a sale.

In this guide, we will cover:

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How to write a sales email that stands out

Before jumping straight into sales email examples, let’s take a look at what constitutes a well-written sales email.

The most successful sales emails are focused on the customer and their needs. That means personalizing every aspect of the message, from the subject line to the CTA. It’s also important to ensure you’re reaching out to the right prospects. Be smart about who you target and how you target them in your sales emails.

Key components of the best sales emails

sales email examples

Write engaging subject lines

Nearly half of all email recipients open an email based solely on the subject line. Compose subject lines that ask questions, present data-based insights, or speak to a pain point the prospect faces.

“The subject line is important because it’s the first thing people see when they open your email,” says Courtney Gupta, community engagement specialist and former SMB account executive at Zendesk. “Make sure your entire subject line is visible on desktop and mobile. It also helps to include the prospect’s name, a short question, or an idea about something specific to their needs.”
Use nongeneric opening lines

Your email subject line may have gotten you past the front door, but now your opening line needs to encourage the recipient to keep reading.

Try to open with personalized lines such as, “I loved your blog post…” or “I was excited to hear about your company’s product launch…” You may also be able to tailor your opening line by referencing the recipient’s new role, their competitor’s recent actions, or a mutual connection. If you can’t get too personal, citing a relevant statistic could catch their attention.

Just be sure to skip the generic “Hi, my name is…” intro, which wastes time and isn’t customized to the reader.

“Make the email as personalized as possible,” Gupta advises. “Research the person: Look at their LinkedIn or website and try to add personal bits of information. Or, make the email personal to their company. You can mention if they got funding or comment about an article you read about them. Prospects get so many emails every day, so you need to do something that doesn’t look like it’s an automated, general email.”
Tailor the body length to your audience

An oft-cited Boomerang study concluded that “emails between 50 and 125 words had the best response rates at just above 50%.” However, more recent research by Prospect.io found that sales emails with roughly 300 words had much better response rates than those with fewer than 100 words.

It largely depends on your recipient—a concise, cold email to a busy exec can be a good way to get your foot in the door. But if you’re targeting a high-ticket B2B purchase (or writing to someone who shares a common acquaintance), a longer, more detailed email can help establish a relationship.

Regardless of who you’re targeting, be sure the body of your email is to the point and extremely digestible.
Avoid talking about yourself

An email recipient wants to know what you can do for them, not how wonderful you and your company are. Look at your contact’s website and social media pages to learn everything you can about their needs and interests. That way, you can tailor your sales email accordingly.
Include a clear call to action and next steps

Don’t make the reader guess what they should do next. Do you want to present a demo? Discuss your offering during a quick call? Provide direction for the prospect to keep the conversation going.

Gupta explains, “You always want to end the email with a question or statement that’s not just a yes or no answer. Don’t ask: ‘Does this work for you?’ Try to make it an open-ended question like, ‘How do you feel about us talking on Monday?’ and include a calendar invite. Focus on a call to action that encourages the prospect to respond or do something actionable.”
Send the email at the right time

Timing is everything when it comes to sales emails, according to Gupta.

“Look for key moments like when the company gets funding, if it acquires another company, if there are leadership changes, if it launches a new product, or if the person you’re emailing gets promoted,” she says.
Add value with a follow-up email

There’s a good chance you won’t get a reply at first, and that’s OK. Persistence pays off: Ambition.com was able to boost its cold email response rate from 1 percent to 12.6 percent by sending follow-up emails.

Even if you do get a response, follow-ups are essential to continuing the conversation. But remember that each sales email should display the same level of personalization—nothing kills a connection faster than a one-size-fits-all message.

Instead, try to add value with every follow-up email you send, especially if you’re trying to get someone’s attention. If a contact goes quiet, don’t pester them with “just checking in” emails. Send them something that might interest them, whether it’s a helpful article, a recent industry study, or some other resource.

Keeping these best practices in mind, let’s analyze some sales emails and why they work.