Written by: Gloria Kopp
When you're marketing your business through email, you want to put your best foot forward and appear credible, professional and reliable.
You don't want to have writing mistakes making their way into your emails, because it's the quickest way for you to lose that professional image and credibility that you're striving for.
Avoid These 16 Worst Sales Email Writing Mistakes
Here are the 16 biggest writing mistakes you'll want to ensure you avoid in your email messages.
1. Misspelling Your Prospect's Name or Company
It doesn't matter how many emails you've sent out to however many people – those whose name you spell wrong will definitely take notice. It can turn off a reader right from the start, setting a bad tone for them to get through the rest of your message, if they even bother continuing to read. Take you time and ensure names are spelled perfectly.
2. Hiding Your Ask.
It's important to set your call to action out from the rest of your message. Burying it within your message will only help it get lost in the text. Get some help with recommendations for improvements to your email messages with Mail Mentor .
3. Mixing Up 'Your' and 'You're'.
These two words may sound alike, but their meanings are very different. Mixing these up will make you appear quite unprofessional and will show a basic lack of grammar knowledge. Editing is an important step in creating your message, and at EssayRoo you can get help finding and removing any mistakes in your content. If you need some help with clarifying spelling and proper word usage, State of Writing has plenty of resources to help.
4. Mixing Up 'There,' 'Their' and 'They're'.
Customers aren't going to take you seriously and believe you're credible if you aren't able to make use of these words in their proper context. Have your work proofread by a real person at Boom Essays to eliminate any errors like these. You can also reference the grammar and writing resources at AcademAdvisor for additional help.
5. Mixing Up 'Its' and 'It's'.
Although it's just an apostrophe differentiating the two, their meanings are quite different. Many readers will pick up on this misuse, causing you to lose credibility as a knowledgeable source. Use the proofreading resources at Academized to ensure you're using the right words in the right place.
6. Spelling Your Own Company Name Wrong.
Although it's not as personally insulting to spell your own name wrong, it still shows a lack of attention to detail and a carelessness that demonstrates you aren't taking things as seriously as you should.
7. Getting Your Phone Number Wrong.
One huge mistake you can make is sending out your incorrect phone number. You won't hear anything from your clients, and they'll only get frustrated if they are trying to contact you. Most won't take the time to research any further if they can't get in touch with you on the first attempt, so it's imperative that you send out the correct phone number.
8. Getting the Date Wrong.
Making a mistake on the date of a meeting or other scheduled appointment could take multiple messages to correct and, even then, could still lead to mix-ups. Always reference a calendar when you're setting a date, to make sure it's the right date.
9. Neglecting to Use Paragraphs.
Be sure to break up long messages into digestible paragraphs, so you aren't overloading readers with long, drawn out messages. Use Easy Word Count to keep your paragraphs within a certain word limit.
10. Neglecting to Use Bullet Points.
Bullet lists are easier to read and stand out in a message. Rather than listing items within one sentence, break them out into a bulleted list. It also makes it easier for your readers to see their options clearly.
11. Not Formatting to Convey Tone.
It's much more difficult to get the proper tone across through a written message, but by using bolded words, underlines and other types of formatting you can get some of the tone through in your message. Just don't go overboard on the formatting because it will make your message look messy and unprofessional.
12. Putting in Too Much Information.
After your message is done, read through it again to make sure everything that's there is actually necessary. Get to the point and cut out anything that's not needed. Readers aren't going to want to go through a long-winded message that could have been said much more succinctly. Copywriting help can be found from the expert team at UK Writings , who can ensure your message is clear, concise and not overwhelming with information.
13. Not Even Asking.
Each message you send should be trying to further your conversation and advance your prospect through the sales process. No matter how small the ask may be, there should be one included within every message.
14. Asking For Too Much.
You've got to match what you're asking for with the level your relationship is at. If it's your first time contacting a prospective client, you can't expect them to buy into everything you're selling. Be reasonable with your ask and match it with where you're at with that specific client.
15. Sending Out Broken Links.
It's great to send out a few links within your messages, in order to give your readers additional information to reference. But, if those links don't work, it can be very frustrating for readers who want to get more information from you. Improve your email communication with a little bit of help from Email Excellence .
16. Having Weird and Unmatched Formatting.
If you're copying and pasting from different messages, make sure you reformat everything so that it matches. Not doing this can be very distracting for readers, who will notice that each paragraph is sized differently or has a different font. With some help from Markdown Here , you can quickly format your emails.
Avoid making these mistakes in order to uphold your credibility and keep your professional image intact.