What You Need to Know to Write Amazing Emails.

Let's have an honest conversation. Getting prospects to open emails is hard, I mean really, really hard.

The common belief regarding cold emails is that people are just too busy and that our emails are lost in a sea of emails our prospects and customers are blasted with daily. The truth is, this is only part of the story. Even if our prospects weren't buried in email, they still wouldn't open or respond to the majority of emails they get.

Why? Because most emails are crappy.

Let's keep it real; most salespeople don't put much energy or thought into the emails they write. To reach as many people as possible and be "efficient," reps quickly send out poorly crafted emails, that offer little incentive for their target to open.

The irony, there is nothing efficient about this approach, as fewer emails are opened, which results in fewer meetings, which results in fewer opportunities, which then results in fewer sales. That's not what I would call efficient.

If salespeople are gonna be real about crafting emails that get opened and want to increase their response rates, then it's time we understand the science behind getting people's attention.

Believe it or not, there is a science. It's not an "email" science, but rather the science of attention. In other words, the science of getting people to pay attention and it translates well to sales emails.

Here's what you need to know about the science of attention if you want to start writing killer emails people will open and respond to.

Effective emails do one thing well; they are intriguing.

This is how it works. Our brains are wired to ignore as much noise as we possibly can. We just don't have the capacity to take in everything that happens around us. So, to run more efficiently, the brain recognizes patterns in our surroundings and once it does it stores it away into our sub-conscience and tells us not to pay attention to it. In other words, we ignore it. When things are familiar and expected our brain tells us to keep moving, there is nothing to see here. It's the brain's way of letting it focus on the things that matter, and it all happens in the OFC, orbital frontal cortex.

However, the brain does have a safety valve, a way for us to protect ourselves from not paying attention. This part of the brain is called the ACC or the Anterior Cingular Cortex and within it; there is a something called the error-related negativity signal or "Oh-Shit" circuit. The "oh-shit" circuit is triggered when something happens we didn't expect, when our sub-conscience expectations are disrupted, when the patterns we've developed are not consistent, the "oh-shit" circuit screams out, "Hey, that's not right, pay attention."

What does all this have to do with email? It means that if you figure out how to trip the ACC and get your prospects subconscious mind to stop and say, "Hey, that's not what I was expecting. I want to know more." You'll find yourself getting a lot more email responses.

They key to tripping the error-related negativity signal is to create intrigue. It's to create emails, which don't fit the mold of other emails. It's to create emails that don't look or feel like all the other emails your prospect gets. It's to create emails that break the sub-conscious patterns in the brain.

There are three ways to do this.

1. Create a Knowledge Gap -- A knowledge gap is when you know something someone else doesn't. This is my favorite one. As sales people, our job is to help our customers and prospects business. Therefore if we can know things our clients don't about their industry, the market, execution, process, etc. we become a valuable resource and make it easy to create emails that increase response rates. The knowledge gap approach works, because when people are presented with some information or knowledge that extends beyond their understanding, they want to close the gap and will go the extra mile to learn what they don't know. Which means they will open and respond to your emails to get their fill.
2. Surprise -- When we are surprised, we can't help but take notice. The surprise is when our expectations are not met in a quick and unexpected way. When we send an email that surprises our prospect, they become intrigued and can't help but read it. Again, the "oh-shit" circuit has been tripped, and the prospect is doing what their brain is telling them to do. Take note; this isn't what we expected.
3. Mystery -- Mystery is when we are told most, but not all of a story. The mystery is when critical elements or the ending of story or narrative etc. are not included. Like surprise and knowledge gap, our "oh-shit" circuit springs into action and calls on our conscious brain to pay attention and take note of what's happening. It wants the mystery solved and will play along until it is solved.

The power of creating intrigue in our emails is that the brain can't help itself. It's wired to take notice. The "oh-shit" circuit has been tripped, and the brain can't ignore it.

Getting emails opened is more than a subject line. It's about creating intriguing emails that trip the error-related negativity signal and force the brain to take notice.

The best salespeople and marketers will learn to write emails that highlight a knowledge gap, surprise the prospect or creates a mystery.

Successful email open and response rates are the keys to building a healthy pipeline.

Stop writing generic emails. Evaluate your emails on their level of intrigue. Will they trigger the "oh-shit!" circuit? Will they break the expected patterns of your prospects? Will they surprise your prospects? If they answer is no, then don't send it. They won't read it.

Stop sending crappy emails no one will be compelled to open, read or respond to. Start leveraging the science of intrigue and learn how to trigger the "Oh-shit!" circuit it makes all the difference in the world.

It's really simple, no intrigue, no response.

To go deeper and learn how to write killer emails filled with intrigue, check out this free eBook: Learn to Create Emails That Actually Get Opened. It breaks down how to leverage the 3 approaches that intrigue your prospects, and how to get more email engagement.

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