Sign up for our newsletter on globalization and localization matters. I am quite sure you've received at least one email from a translation service provider regarding translation services you don’t need, never asked for, or even you yourself provide. Not customer oriented at all. On top of that, the email was probably full of spelling and grammatical errors. Obviously, no research was done. And no email content quality check was carried out to showcase authority and credibility already through the email to highly error-sensitive recipients. For sure, a lot can be learned from such emails. But let’s focus on what you can do better to reach clients who need reliable translation service providers. Email marketing is not dead In addition, such an email may have even reinforced your limiting belief that email marketing is dead and you may have deleted it right away. However, the figures presented by MailerLite show the opposite. Surprisingly enough, as many as 37.65 % of recipients opened a sales email in 2022. Here is a bit more of their statistics for 2022: Email marketing benchmark across industries Source: MailerLite Since sales emails seem to be alive and kicking, let’s see how you can write successful emails specifically for your translation services. Success here equals converting recipients into clients once they need translation services. Don't sell, request an appointment Before we dig into email writing, please note that sales emails should not push anyone to buy your translation services. In principle, their function is to remind potential clients that you can help them achieve their goals or solve their problems with your language solutions once the need arises. Instead, focus on building a relationship with your prospective clients. Politely ask for an appointment to discuss their needs and challenges further. Frame the appointment as an opportunity to explore potential solutions together, rather than a pushy sales attempt. This approach shows that you are genuinely interested in understanding their unique requirements and are eager to provide tailor-made solutions. No success without a strategy and thorough preparation Success requires strategy and thorough preparation because your message needs to be communicated effectively for ideal clients to even want to open your email. And that they are motivated to further research who you are and how you can make their lives easier. For this purpose, I will use the PDCA approach (Plan-Do-Check-Act) here to make your life easier. You'll find out how you can: excel in the planning and preparation phase (plan) test the waters with a smaller audience (do) analyze the testing data (check) apply the findings to the larger audience (act) Planning and preparation phase Strategically consider the points listed below first. Goals and purpose: Your overarching business goal and how the email campaign fits into the big picture Purpose of the email: informing or nurturing Measurable goals of this email campaign and results you’ll be happy with Audience: Target audience you can serve impeccably right now Unique value proposition that fully resonates with your ideal clients Three benefits that address the pain points of your ideal clients Communication style and tone of voice Clear, compelling and descriptive call-to-action The ideal email length that should be less than 200 words Technology and legislation: Platforms to find the right contact in desired segments such as country business registers or business intelligence solutions such as Dun and Bradstreet Email marketing tools like MailerLite or Mailchimp Compliance with email marketing regulations such as GDPR (EU), CCPA (US), CASL (CA) Know your target audience Before hitting "Send," you may take the time to understand your target audience thoroughly. Who are they? What industries do they belong to? What are their pain points and challenges? For example, if you want to work with IT startups, you might think about approaching people who oversee strategy development or make strategic expansion decisions. It can be CEO or marketing department or someone you would have never expected. Research is the backbone of any successful sales email. Understand their current and future needs While some potential clients may not require translation services immediately, they might in the future. Translation service providers should be aware of this and position themselves as reliable and trustworthy partners who can support their language needs whenever they arise. Create an attractive subject line and pre-header message You can make the first impression only once, especially when it comes to email communication. People receive countless emails daily, and if the subject line and pre-header (the short summary text that follows the subject line) fail to capture their attention, the chances are high that your message will go unnoticed. Make the subject line appealing, concise, and relevant to the recipient's interests. It can even be a thought-provoking question such as: How have language solutions helped you expand internationally? However, you can find inspiration here for different types of email subjects. In the pre-header, address their pain points directly, showing them that this email is not just another generic sales pitch, but a tailored solution to their specific needs. For IT startups, it can be something along the lines: Dear Mr./Ms. XXXX, Selling your software solutions XXXX abroad can be very challenging. Especially if your message doesn’t resonate well with potential users in their native language. Because we fully understand you, we took the liberty of contacting you. Utilize the power of three benefits In the body of the email, focus on presenting three key benefits of your translation services. The reason for this is simple: people tend to remember and process information better in threes. It keeps the message clear and memorable. Client’s language is the key ALWAYS use the language of your ideal clients and never insist on words used for specific translation services such as localization, post-editing and the like because many people don’t know what they mean. So, if you are writing to a marketing person, use the words such as “part of your marketing strategy”, “go-to-market challenges”, “addressing customer segments properly”, and “success in different markets”. If you are talking to IT professionals then use phrases “it is like big data”, “analytical approach”, “to stay agile”, “to improve marketing automation”, etc. In this way, you also show your empathy. But don’t forget to also show your authority to help them based on your experience with similar companies, specific know-how, and modern technology that will also help them save some money. Empathy and authority together make up the most needed customer orientation. Showcase translation as a growth enabler Position translation services as more than just a transactional service; emphasize that it serves as a growth-enabling resource for the client's business. By demonstrating the transformative impact of translation, you showcase your services as an investment rather than an expense. So you may go on like this: We're here basically to help you effectively and efficiently reach international markets with our language solutions. Based on our working experience with similar IT companies over the past two years, we believe our language solutions can bring you: • Quick access to numerous users in desired markets • A solid foundation for long-term relationships with users • A stronger overall global presence But that's just what we think now, without knowing exactly how you're dealing with your go-to-market challenges. Therefore, we would like to discuss the challenges with you so that we can find tailor-made solutions if you agree. And of course, if you are looking for a linguistic growth enabler in the near future. To see how our experienced professionals and modern translation technology can contribute to your international success in desired geographies and save you money, you may visit our website at XXXXX. There you will also find the testimonials of our clients with a business model like yours. You can reply directly to this email or use other means of contact that are most convenient for you. We wish you all the best and remarkable success with your solutions in all the markets you want to conquer. Best regards, John Doe Client Success Manager Cellphone / WhatsApp / Calendly LanguageSolutions.xxx Testing the waters with a smaller audience Now that our email is ready, it's time for the Do phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to writing successful sales emails for translation services. In this phase, you may want to test how your email resonates with a smaller audience before going big. Technically, this is your pilot project. To be on the safe side, you should first send the email to yourself or to your colleagues with different email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.) to get the look and feel in the different email clients. The example from this blog looks like this: Then you can select eight to ten contacts and maybe test two different subject lines to see which one has a higher open rate. That's technically called an A/B split campaign, and you can read more about it here. For this purpose, you can also use email marketing tools like MailerLite or Mailchimp, because they give you access to statistics about emails opened and links clicked in them, as well as some other useful numbers. Analyze your data OK, now we are in the Check phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach. Now that you have more information from your pilot and know your target audience better, it's time to analyze what went well and what can be transferred to a larger group or recipients. Review the effectiveness of your subject line and content, starting with the headline, the body of the email and the call-to-action. Make the necessary corrections and you're ready for the big show. Apply the findings to the larger audience At this stage, you are ready to go to the big group. But that doesn't mean this is the end of the email campaign. Everything you do here you can apply in the next iteration as you will have more insights again. It's important that you enjoy the game and play it fairly and safely. All’s well that ends well In summary, creating successful sales emails for translation services requires a thorough preparation, execution and persistence. Good luck growing your translation business!