Reading aloud might seem silly, but it actually helps you craft stronger messages. Where your eye might catch mistakes in spelling, your ears will pick up on poor grammar or transitions that you’d do well to revise – that is, says Fast Company, as long as you read slowly. It’ll also make your email look more professional to your leads.
Typos
While the occasional typo is to be expected – and might even help you appear more human – it’s still wise to do your best to keep the errors to a minimum. Too many of them could have the opposite effect and make you look like spam.
Authenticity
It can be difficult not to read like ad copy in a digital world. You may try to sound authentic or knowledgeable, but instead come across like you’re preaching or selling. Speaking your own words can help you catch this most of the time. Depending on your vocal inflection, though, you might still be able to convince yourself to let a few business phrases slide. Here’s a good way to know for sure: if you’re typing words like leverage, optimize, or visibility, you’re probably on the cusp of dropping some soft sales pitch.
Education
Not all businesses have the same pain points, just as not all of them have the same experience. You might have someone who loosely understands the services and products that you offer, and someone who’s already been through four vendors and needs some substantial evidence that you would do better.
When you’re email prospecting, those differences shouldn’t matter – as long as you speak in a way that they can all understand, bringing that subject matter back to the basics. If what you write sounds like an introduction to a conversation, you’re golden. If it sounds like you’re about to go into detail about what you could offer, hold off. Otherwise, you could tell them about a service you provide that is meaningless, at least to them.
Simplicity
At the end of the day, make your message a simple request for a conversation (minus the selling). Try to write like you would talk. Use terms that would resonate with your target audience. Don’t come across like you’re writing a physics dissertation (unless, of course, your leads are physicists). Above all, keep your messages brief.
