Writing Persuasive Sales Emails

6 abandoned cart email templates that actually recover revenue: Each one covers a proven angle. Rotate them in a 3-email flow or test 1:1. 1. Simple Reminder Template Subject: Still thinking it over? Why it works: - Sometimes people just forget. This is a clean, non-intrusive nudge. Best for: Loyal customers or premium brands Send in: Email 1 (1–4 hrs after cart abandonment) Copy: - You left something in your cart - We saved it for you - Complete your order anytime CTA: Return to Cart 2. Discount/Incentive Template Subject: Here’s 10% off to complete your order Why it works: - Drives action from price-sensitive customers. Creates urgency with a deal. Best for: New customers, competitive markets Send in: Email 3 (48–72 hrs after abandonment) Copy: - Still on the fence? - Use code SAVE10 at checkout - Offer expires in 24 hours CTA: Claim My Discount 3. Social Proof Template Subject: A customer favorite is waiting for you Why it works: - Highlights reviews and popularity to build trust and reduce hesitation. - Best for: High-consideration purchases or new shoppers - Send in: Email 2 (12–24 hrs after abandonment) Copy: - This item is a customer favorite - Rated 4.8/5 by thousands of buyers - Get yours before it’s gone CTA: See Reviews 4. Urgency/Scarcity Template Subject: Almost gone—don’t miss out Why it works: - Taps into FOMO. Limited stock or time-sensitive offers push action. Best for: Popular items, limited editions Send in: Use in any email for urgency layering Copy: - We can’t guarantee it’ll be here later - Only a few left in stock - Secure yours now CTA: Complete My Order 5. Personalized Recommendation Template Subject: We saved your cart (plus a few things you might like) Why it works: - Cross-sells and personalization can increase AOV and relevancy. Best for: Repeat customers, larger catalogs, data-rich brands Send in: Email 2 or 3, depending on data depth Copy: - Here’s what you left behind - Plus, these go great with it - Let us know if you have questions CTA: Return to Cart 6. Problem-Solution Template Subject: Questions about your cart? We’ve got answers Why it works: - Handles common objections like shipping, returns, or product fit. Best for: Complex products, new brands Send in: Email 2 or 3 to educate and reassure Copy: - Not sure about sizing, delivery, or returns? - Here’s what you need to know - We’re here to make it easy CTA: Read FAQs You'll want to compile these into a multi-touch email flow. Here's an actual flow example: Email 1: Simple reminder (1–4 hrs) Email 2: Social proof or problem-solution (12–24 hrs) Email 3: Incentive or founder-style plain text (48–72 hrs) Optional Email 4: Follow-up 5–7 days later

We analyzed 4 million recruiting emails sent through Gem. Most get opened. But only 22.6% get replies. Half those replies are "thanks, but no thanks." We dug into what actually works. Here are 8 factors that drive REAL responses: 1. Strategic timing beats everything else - 8am gets 68% open rates. 4pm hits 67.3%. 10am lands at 67% - Most recruiters blast at 9am when inboxes are flooded - Avoiding peak times alone can boost your opens by 7-10% 2. Weekend outreach is criminally underused - Saturday/Sunday emails get ≥66% open rates consistently - Why? Empty inboxes. Zero competition. Candidates actually have time - Yet few recruiters send on weekends. Their loss is your gain 3. Keep messages between 101-150 words - Shorter feels spammy. Longer gets skimmed - You need exactly 10 sentences to nail the essentials - Every word beyond 150 drops performance 4. Generic templates kill response rates - Generic templates: 22% reply rate - Personalized outreach: 47% increased response rate - Even adding name + company to subject lines boosts opens by 5% 5. Subject lines need 3-9 words - Include company name + job title for highest opens - "Senior Engineer Role at [Company]" beats clever wordplay - 11+ words can work if genuinely intriguing, but why risk it? 6. The 4-stage sequence is optimal - One-off emails are dead. Send exactly 4 follow-up messages - You'll see 68% higher "interested" rates with proper sequencing - After stage 4, engagement completely flatlines. Stop there 7. Get the hiring manager involved - Having the hiring manager send ONE follow-up boosts reply rates by 50%+ - Yet most recruiters don't use this tactic - Weekend advantage: Minimal competition for attention 8. Leadership involvement is a cheat code - Role-specific timing (tech vs non-tech) matters - Technical roles: 3 of 4 best send times are weekends - Engineers check email differently than salespeople. Adjust accordingly TAKEAWAY: These aren't opinions. This is what 4 million emails tell us. Most recruiting teams are stuck in 2019 playbooks wondering why their reply rates won't budge. Meanwhile, recruiters who implement these 8 factors see dramatically better results. The data is right there. The patterns are clear. The only question is: will you actually change how you operate? Or will you keep sending the same tired emails at 9am on Tuesday? Your call.

How to Write Cold Emails That Actually Get Replies Cold emailing can feel like shooting arrows in the dark—most get ignored. But with the right approach, your emails can land opportunities instead of in the spam folder. Here’s how: 1. Subject Line is King • Keep it short & personalized (e.g., “Quick Question, [First Name]?” or “Loved Your Work on [Project]”). • Avoid spammy words like “Free,” “Limited Offer,” or “Act Now.” 2. Get to the Point (Fast!) • Nobody has time for long intros. State your purpose in the first two lines. • Example: “Hi [Name], I saw your work on [Project] and found it insightful. I’d love to connect and discuss [Specific Interest].” 3. Personalization Over Copy-Paste • Mention something specific about them—their work, recent post, or company. • Example: “I noticed your team at [Company] recently launched [Product]. The strategy behind it was brilliant.” 4. Value Over Ask • Instead of immediately asking for a favor, show how you can help them. • Example: “I’ve been working on [related topic] and found insights that might interest you.” 5. Clear and Low-Effort CTA • Make it easy for them to respond. Instead of “Let me know when you’re free,” try: • “Would love to chat—does Tuesday at 3 PM work for a quick 10-minute call?” 6. Follow Up Without Being Annoying • If no response, follow up in 3-5 days with a short, polite nudge. • Example: “Just wanted to check if you had a chance to look at my last email. Happy to connect whenever convenient.” Cold emails aren’t about luck—they’re about strategy. Master this, and you’ll turn cold contacts into warm opportunities. Remember one cold email and application on portal made me land up in JPMC. Have a cold email tip that worked for you? Drop it in the comments.

Good cold email copy isn’t written—it’s found. Legendary copywriter Robert Collier said, “You must enter the conversation that’s already going on in your prospect’s head.” How do you do that? Mine your customer success stories for quotes about what sucked before they switched. The before story. Here’s an example of a before story for CaptivateIQ3 “Determining payouts involved a lot of manual data entry and customizing reports for individual reps. This meant hard-pasting entire Excel pages into Google Sheets and then manually making adjustments one sheet at a time.“ Turn that into a cold email sentence: “You shouldn’t have to hard-paste entire Excel pages into Google Sheets and manually adjust them one sheet at a time just to determine payouts.” See how the email writes itself? You’re not guessing what to say. You're finding what to say.

I grew to 5-figure ARR and 12,000+ subscribers in 6 months on Substack by writing only 1-2 times a month and never posting a single Note. Here are my top secret tips and hacks: Everyone thinks you need to be active on Substack and post 3 notes every day, but I discovered something different. I tested a counterintuitive publishing strategy that created massive FOMO. Within weeks, my conversion rates skyrocketed. Here's exactly what I did: I started writing valuable medium to long-form content directly relevant to my audience's current challenges. Quality matters more than frequency, so I did not have a strict publishing calendar. Some weeks I posted twice, other times once in three weeks. Substance drives conversions, and not consistency for consistency's sake. Then I'd extract the best highlights and convert them into social media formats: screenshots of key insights, and visual teasers that made people curious. Then I did something most people don’t do: I'd publish my full post on Substack but future-date it 24+ hours after my social media post. This created a subscription trigger that converted casual scrollers into committed subscribers. I'd post my content on Twitter or LinkedIn, drop the link to my future-dated Substack post in the first comment, and wait. When users clicked through, they couldn't access the article yet. Substack prompted them to subscribe to be notified when it went live in 24+ hours. This FOMO effect generated conversion rates that you normally don’t get with standard linking. Even though the article was often free, Substack's built-in upsell during the subscription flow naturally captured solid paid conversions. I also learned that platform selection matters for different goals: • X drove high volume but low willingness to pay, so I used it for building my free subscriber base • LinkedIn brought highly targeted audiences with much higher willingness to pay, so I prioritized it for driving paid subscriptions Then I accelerated my growth through collaboration. Cross-promotion with other influencers (like Deedy Das), amplified my reach through network effects exponentially. I identified complementary creators in my space (with similar audience sizes) and coordinated strategic audience sharing. This strategy inverts the typical Substack approach. Instead of building on Substack and hoping for discovery, you leverage the algo on existing social platforms and use future-dating plus FOMO to convert at exceptionally high rates. Which strategy has worked best for your audience growth? Drop your thoughts below.

I’ve seen a lot of email marketers miss this one… 🛒 Abandoned cart and abandoned checkout are two very different flows. And yes, it matters... 👉 Abandoned Cart (Uses the "added to cart" trigger on Klaviyo)= someone browsed, added to cart, but didn’t start checkout. 👉 Abandoned Checkout (Uses the "started checkout" trigger on Klaviyo) = someone started checkout (so they’re much further down the funnel) but didn’t complete their purchase. I’ve seen marketers skip one or assume they’re the same, but the intent level between the two is completely different. 🧠 Cart abandoners usually need inspiration or reassurance, they’re still browsing. 💳 Checkout abandoners need urgency, reassurance or support, they were ready to buy but hesitated. When you treat both the same or not setting one up, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

"Let me know if you have any questions." "Happy to discuss further." "Looking forward to your thoughts." Every time you end a follow-up with these wimpy closes, you're asking busy executives to do work they won't do. They're not going to think of questions. They're not going to schedule a follow-up call. They're not going to send you their thoughts. They're going to delete your email and move on with their actual job. The fix is making the next step so easy that a drunk executive could do it. Instead of "let me know if you have questions," embed your calendar link directly in the email. One click to book time. Instead of "happy to discuss further," Create a simple yes/no decision box: "Ready to see the ROI calculation? Yes | No" Instead of hoping they'll respond with their availability, give them three specific time slots to choose from. The most powerful follow-up technique? Use their exact words from your call. When Jessica said she's "bleeding money on software licenses," don't paraphrase it. Quote it exactly. Reference her Thursday board meeting. Add one insight she didn't know. There's nothing more impossible to ignore than hearing your own words reflected back with new value attached. Your generic templates sound like every other vendor they're ghosting. But your personalized follow-ups that reference specific moments from your conversation get responses. Stop making prospects do the work of figuring out next steps. Start making it obvious how they move forward. Every follow-up is life or death for your deal. Most AEs are committing suicide with their own emails. Don’t be like most AEs.

The fastest way to sound like every other rep and lose connection with the buyer? Describe your prospect's problem in your words instead of theirs. You say "data silos." They say "I can't find anything, it's all over the place." You say "lack of visibility." They say "I have no idea what my team is actually doing all day." You say "inefficient workflows." They say "I'm drowning and I'm doing everything twice." Same problem. Completely different language. And the second you use your words instead of theirs...you sound like every other vendor who doesn't get it. In order to truly connect, you have to change the way you talk about the problem. You don't describe the problem. You describe THEIR problem, in THEIR words. And you know where you find those words? They're on your calls. They're on CS calls. You just have to actually listen for them. When I sit down to review a call, I'm not listening to the rep. I'm listening to the prospect. Here's exactly how to mine it: - Pull 30 recent discovery calls. - Ignore what your rep said. Listen only to the prospect. - Write down the exact words they use for the pain — verbatim, not cleaned up. - Highlight the emotional words: "drowning," "frustrated," "no clue," "all over the place." - Build a swipe file of their language, sorted by problem. - Feed those exact words back into your discovery, your demo, your follow-up. A prospect once told me, "Every Monday I open the CRM and I want to throw my laptop." I never said "reporting inefficiencies" again. I said, "So... no more Monday laptop-throwing, right?" They laughed. Then they bought. This week: listen to 10 of your own calls. Not to grade the rep. To steal the customer's words. Write down 10 phrases exactly as they said them. Then go use them. Sell in their language, they feel understood. Sell in yours, they feel sold to. BONUS TIP: I've set up research agents that comb reddit, google, LI, etc to listen for how prospects speak about the problem and day to day and it updates weekly on a spreadsheet. Capturing the voice of the customer in real time!

Your prospects don’t care about you. Most sales emails fail because they’re too focused on the sender’s product, company, or pitch. You have to #EarnTheRight to ask your prospects to care about you, your product, and your company. You can’t start from email one expecting them to give a heck. ***I've gotten feedback (from SDRs) that I'm being too hard on them when I say that their prospects don't care about them. If I have to be the "bad guy" to get sellers to realize selling is not about them, I will be. The emails we write need to center on our buyers, not us.*** During my How to Write Emails That Get Replies workshop, one seller had this exact realization: “I never thought about whether I’d earned the right to ask for my prospect’s time.” 📌 We reframed their approach using the Features-Advantages-Benefits (FABs) framework: FEATURE: What is it? ADVANTAGE: How does it work? Benefit: Why does it matter to the prospect? 🫨 80% of emails don't make it past feature dropping. Top sellers often talk about advantages in their emails, but they generally stop at how those features save time & money. Only the BEST sales email copywriters take the time to explain why those advantages matter to the prospect. This is top 1% shizz. If your team takes these steps, they'll be writing top 1% emails in 2025. 👉 Here’s why this shift matters: - FABs keep the focus on the recipient. Prospects need to see what’s in it for them—not what you’re trying to sell. - Benefits build trust. By solving a real problem or addressing a clear need, you create a natural path for engagement. - It’s actionable. Writing emails this way forces reps to think about the recipient’s perspective, not just their product features. How to Write Emails that Get Replies is one of my favorite Keynote decks. I am passionate about B2B outbound sales email copy. If you'd like me to share that passion and present this topic at your SKO, email me at leslie@salesledgtm.com so we can schedule a call.

I watched a talented professional send 127 follow-up emails after interviews. Got replies from 3 companies. 2.3% response rate. Then she showed me what she was writing. I immediately knew why recruiters ignored her. Here's the truth about follow-ups: Most people remind recruiters they're desperate. Not that they're valuable. The typical follow-up: "Just checking in on my application..." "Any updates on the timeline?" Translation: "Please don't forget I exist." Recruiters read anxiety, not confidence. After years of coaching professionals, I've noticed: The follow-ups that get responses don't ASK for updates. They DELIVER value. Stop following up on YOUR need. Start following up with THEIR solution. Think: → What problem did they mention? → What insight can I share? → How can I make their decision easier? One client rewrote her follow-up: Instead of: "Any updates on the position?" She wrote "Hi [HR Manager Name ], been thinking about the bandwidth challenge you mentioned. Found an approach that might help—similar to what I used before. Would love to share if useful. Recruiter replied within hours. She shifted from "remember me?" to "I'm already solving your problems." The difference between ignored and responded follow-ups? One reminds them you're waiting. The other reminds them why they need you. Your follow-up isn't about checking their timeline. It's about them seeing you as the solution they can't ignore. People who add value get calls back. People who add pressure get silence. Stop checking in. Start showing up as the answer. PS: For more such content subscribe to my newsletter. Check out my feature section.