How to Write a Sales Email that Actually Works

It’s 2025, and emails remain one of the best ways to sell stuff. 

In fact, 52% of consumers purchased directly from an email in 2023, and that number isn’t shrinking. Email also outperforms social media and banner ads by double digits when it comes to driving sales.

However, even when you’re experienced, writing any email, much less a sales email, can still feel hard.

Doing it regularly in a way that feels true to you, without draining time and energy, continues to be a challenge. 

To write an email that sells, you need a few “essentials” that work together so you can write confidently, consistently, and with ease. These sales essentials have made a massive difference in my business, and today, I’m sharing them here.

I’m covering:

• Types of Marketing Emails
• Email Essentials for Staying Streamlined and Effective
• Framing Products and Offers
• The Importance of Using the Right Templates

Types of Sales Emails

Every email is an opportunity to sell.

We tend to think about sales as “big”: flashy promotions, launch sequences, or targeted campaigns. And these absolutely have their place. 

A discount email can spark quick sales. A launch email can build excitement around something new. A follow-up can nudge someone who’s on the fence. These traditional types of emails play a massive role in marketing.

However, even emails like “Thank You For Purchasing” and newsletters contain sales opportunities. The offers may be direct or indirect, but they’re still offers. Many of my email templates, even those that aren’t typical sales emails, include offers and promotions.

Essentials for Emails that Sell

A strong sales email isn’t about trendy gimmicks or stuffing in as much as possible. It’s about hitting a few essentials every time so your message connects and converts.

1. Structure. A clear roadmap keeps your reader engaged. Example:  My “Value Added Content Template” guides where, when, and even how to tell stories. The template determines the order and flow of story marketing, information, and CTAs.
2. Tone. All your emails should sound like you on a regular day and be consistent across all copy, content, and platforms. A consistent voice builds familiarity and trust, making you more recognizable. Readers feel like you’re chatting with them, not selling to them.
3. Clarity. Speak in clear, everyday words that you and your readers commonly use:  simplify content and avoid overthinking.
4. Transformation. Go beyond listing features. Show how your offer solves problems, like saving time, reducing stress, or increasing sales.
5. Focus. Emails should focus on a single goal. You can maintain focus while still integrating multiple links or offers. I use carefully crafted templates to balance my emails between focus and multiple offers or promotions. 
6. Rhythm and Consistency. Consistency is also about the structure and flow within each email, in addition to how often you’re sending emails. A predictable framework creates rhythm and comfort for readers. Over time, they come to recognize (and even expect) your unique sales voice and approach. Templates make this easy by giving your emails a repeatable pattern, so your audience grows familiar with the way you communicate and is more likely to engage.

How to Effectively Frame Your Products and Offers

Don’t sell products. Frame them.

Sales isn’t about hard sells or convincing people to buy. They’re about showing your reader that you understand their challenges and showcasing your product as the natural solution.

Framing makes all the difference. Consider this example:

He had a great writing style, but his CTAs sometimes fell flat. He promoted a service with an accurate, but unmemorable line: “Sign up here for my monthly bookkeeping service!”

We reframed this to: “If you’ve ever stayed up until midnight reconciling receipts, my monthly bookkeeping service was built for you.” His audience can see themselves in the problem, and the solution feels like a no-brainer.

That’s the power of the “problem → solution → transformation” lens. You start with the audience’s pain points and frame your product as the ideal solution.

The Importance of Sales Email Templates

Strong templates take the stress out of writing emails.

You know you need to nurture your audience, build community, share value, and sell to grow your business. These things require A LOT of email writing. And if you don’t have a template or outline of some kind, each email starts with a blank page. 

Email templates have saved me and my business by taking the stress out of writing. 

What are your email templates like? Do you have a reliable, effective template for all of your most commonly used emails? Does each template seamlessly integrate value, content, offers, promotions, links, and story marketing to make your sales email flow with ease and read like a natural conversation?

If not, you have two options: create or update templates from scratch, or swipe mine, which are all ready to be edited and customized in Google Docs.

I’ve bundled 11 of the exact templates I developed and use in my business. The Email Template Bundle includes templates for my Newsletter, a Welcome Email, a Story Email, a Value-Added Email, and a Cart Open Email.

Check Out the Email Template Bundle