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What is it : A sales email is a rhetorical situation we are all…
What is it: A sales email is a rhetorical situation we are all exposed to daily with the emails that are clogging our inboxes and trying to sell us on a sale, a new product, a service, etc.
Purpose: A sales email is drafted much like a persuasive letter, but it uses the email form and typically includes extensive graphics while utilizing the AIDA format.
Topic: In a previous module, you worked in a group for the company Profit, Inc., and in later work, you changed the name and type of business to one that interests the members of your group. For this assignment, though you are working alone, you should imagine yourself owning a company. To launch your business or maintain your profit margin, you must send out sales and promotional materials through email. This email should be about one product or service you are advertising to your customers utilizing the AIDA format and rhetorical appeals (pathos, ethos, and logos).
Goals: A persuasive appeal aims at three possible outcomes:
It wants to change the audience’s actions, thoughts, or feelings.
Your audience should behave, think, or feel differently based on your appeal.
Assignment Instructions
Tasks: You will have multiple tasks to generate a persuasive email for your company.
Determine your audience – Who will you market your product to? Are you selling to other businesses (b2b), to consumers (b2c), or to specific sections of consumers (targeted marketing)? You won’t want to send it to everyone, so who is your audience?
Provide compelling content – You can review the table on page 195 for some help, but you will want to maintain the AIDA format.
Sell your idea – This is the focus of the “action” portion of the AIDA format, where you will change your audience’s actions, thoughts, or feelings. Consider what rhetorical appeals are the best approach for your product and result.
Format: Sales emails do not have a specific design, but each features particular content you want to model in your email.
Subject – Your subject line must be compelling enough for your audience to open the email. That’s the goal here. Spend some time on this short piece, as nothing inside the email will be read without a compelling or exciting drawing of a subject line.
Graphics – Even for established companies that don’t necessarily “need” to utilize pictures, there are always graphics in email marketing. What photos work best for your idea? How will those graphics appeal to your audience?
Text – Short paragraphs or groupings of words, often separated by additional graphics or close-ups of the product.
Link – There should be at least one link to the product or company home page, a direct link to call the company, etc. This is an integral portion of the marketing email. You do NOT need to use a real connection here, but you should use “click here” and make it a hyperlink to the Palm Beach State homepage.
Most people won’t even read an email much longer than this, and they won’t read a long email trying to sell them something. However, the more graphics that break up the text, the better chance you have to keep your audience’s attention.
Remember: Word choice and style are part of creating your company’s personality and building the characterization of your company as positive in the minds of potential customers or neighbors.
