Persuasive sales email examples for results

Before you hit send, it helps to know what you’re up against. Here’s what the data says about how your sales emails are really performing:

• Open rates are lower than you think. The average across industries is just 19.2%. That means 4 out of 5 people don’t even get past your subject line.

• Mobile matters. Around 42% of emails are opened on a phone. If your message looks clunky on a small screen, it’s game over.

• Subject lines pull weight. 47% of people open emails based on the subject line alone, while 69% will flag an email as spam just because the subject line feels off.

• Spam filters are ruthless. Nearly 46% of all emails sent globally are marked as spam. That’s nearly half your effort potentially getting dumped before it’s seen.

Translation? You don’t just need a great pitch—you need to nail the subject line, write for mobile, and sound like a real human. Otherwise, your sales email won’t stand a chance.

To keep things simple, every effective sales email should include these four parts:

1. Subject line – The hook that gets your email opened

2. Opener – The line that keeps them reading

3. Body – The part that builds interest and trust

4. Closing/CTA – What you want them to do next

If your emails don’t contain all of these, there’s a strong chance that you’re getting extremely low open rates, and little to no follow-ups from the handful of people that actually open them.

On the other hand, if your emails have each of these pieces and you still aren’t seeing results, it probably means you’re making some common mistakes.

But not to worry, we’ve got you covered. Let’s start by diving into each part of a sales email and some tips on how to do each one like a pro.

If your subject line flops, nothing else matters. You could have the greatest pitch in the world, but if your email doesn’t get opened, it’s game over.

Sure, there are old-school tricks—adding “Re:” so it looks like a reply, or throwing EVERYTHING IN CAPS to scream for attention. But let’s be honest: people are wise to those now. If it feels spammy, it’s getting archived, fast.

Instead of gimmicks, lean into what actually works: curiosity, relevance, and a little personality.

Think about your audience. If you’re reaching out to a creative agency, media strategist, or consultant juggling 30 tabs and 5 client decks, you need a subject line that breaks through the noise and actually speaks to them.

Here’s a quick compare:

Boring: “Let’s Talk About Your Q3 Marketing Plan”
Better: “Saw your rebrand—got an idea you’ll like”

Boring: “Follow-up on our services”
Better: “This trick helped [Agency Name] double their close rate”

Boring: “Marketing automation tools”
Better: “Free up your Thursdays—automation just got interesting”

The goal isn’t to be clickbaity. It’s to sound like a real person with something worth reading. Great subject lines make readers think, “Wait, what’s this about?” without immediately triggering their inner skeptic.

Think about what would stop you mid-scroll. Then write that.

You did it. Your subject line worked. They opened the email. Now you’ve got about five seconds to keep them reading—or lose them for good.

The opener is where most sales emails crash and burn. And 9 times out of 10, it’s because they start with this line:

“Hi, my name is…”

Nothing kills interest faster than starting your email with a sentence that screams this is a pitch. Your prospect doesn’t care who you are (yet). What they do care about is whether this email is worth their time.

The fix? Start with something that’s actually about them. Reference a recent launch, comment on their latest campaign, or mention a stat from their blog or LinkedIn post. Show them you’ve done more than copy-paste their first name.

Let’s say you’re a creative agency reaching out to a DTC brand that just revamped their product packaging.

Subject line: “Your new packaging is doing a lot of heavy lifting (in a good way)”
Opener: “Saw the before-and-after on LinkedIn—huge glow-up. We worked on something similar with another CPG brand and helped them boost shelf pickup by 23%. Thought it might resonate.”

Or maybe you’re a marketing consultant pitching a SaaS startup that’s hiring a growth lead.

Subject line: “Saw your growth role—curious if you’re open to outside help”
Opener: “Looks like you’re scaling fast—love what you’re doing with onboarding. I’ve helped a few early-stage teams set up retention-focused campaigns pre-hire. Might be worth a chat.”

The key is to make your opener feel personal, timely, and genuinely useful—not robotic or overly polished. No pitch yet, just relevance. Just enough spark to get them to keep scrolling.

That’s how you open strong.

If they’ve made it this far, you’re doing something right. Your subject line caught their eye. Your opener didn’t send them running for the unsubscribe button. You’ve earned their attention.

Now comes the tricky part: keeping it.

The body of your sales email is where you deliver the goods. You’ve got their curiosity—now you need to turn that into interest. And fast.

But here’s the catch: this isn’t the place to give them your full origin story or a bulleted list of every service you offer. Nobody asked for your life’s work in paragraph form.

Your job here is to land one idea that sticks.

Here are a few tactics that make the difference between “cool, maybe later” and “huh, I should probably reply to this”:

1. Make it timely. Urgency beats perfection.

One of the biggest reasons people don’t respond? They don’t feel like they need to respond right now.

That doesn’t mean you should fake a deadline. But give them a reason to care today. Tie your message to something that’s already on their radar—an upcoming campaign, hiring push, funding round, seasonal trend, or even a competitor’s move.

Example: “We just helped another DTC brand optimize their post-purchase flow ahead of Q4, and they saw a 17% lift in repeat purchases. Thought it might be relevant if you’re prepping for holiday campaigns too.”

You’re not being pushy—you’re being helpful at the right time.

2. Ask a rhetorical question (but make it good)

“Want to grow your business?” is not it.

But something like: “Ever feel like your team’s spending more time updating decks than actually pitching clients?”

Now we’re talking.

Rhetorical questions work when they echo something your prospect is already thinking—but hasn’t heard someone say out loud. It keeps their brain engaged and nudges them closer to a response without feeling forced.

3. Tap into emotion—but subtly

You’re not writing a soap opera. But you are trying to make someone feel something.

And people buy when they feel seen, understood, or a little bit uncomfortable in the best way.

Here are four emotional levers that work well in short-form sales emails:

• Altruism: “We built this for brands that care about giving clients a better experience—not just hitting numbers.”

• Envy: “Another agency landed a $40K retainer using this exact playbook. No pressure.”

• Fear: “Most teams don’t realize their email funnel’s leaking leads until it’s too late.”

• Greed: “This tweak increased demo bookings by 38%. And it took 10 minutes.”

Just don’t overdo it. One emotion per email is plenty. You’re not trying to overwhelm—you’re trying to resonate.

The golden rule? Be brief, but don’t be bland. Say one thing that matters, and say it like you’d explain it to a smart friend who hates wasting time.

So they’ve made it all the way down here—which means your subject line hit, your opener landed, and your body copy didn’t bore them to death. Nice work.

Now’s your moment to guide them to what’s next. This is where a solid call to action (CTA) comes in—not a vague “let me know” or an awkward sales bomb, but a clear, low-pressure nudge.

Here’s the truth: nothing kills momentum faster than a limp or overly pushy close.

You don’t need to swing for the sale right away—especially in a cold sales email. You're not proposing marriage here. You're just asking for a quick chat, a reply, or a click. The goal is to keep the convo going.

Some chill, non-cringe call to action (CTA) options:

• “Worth a quick chat?”

• “Open to exploring this?”

• “Want me to send a quick example?”

• “No pressure, but happy to walk you through what this could look like.”

The tone here should match the rest of your email: helpful, confident, and human.

And if you want to go one step further, try this little psychology hack called BYAF (“But You Are Free”). Studies show that when you give people the option to say no, they’re actually more likely to say yes.

So your close might look something like this:

“Happy to send a quick Loom video walking through it. But no worries at all if now’s not the right time.”

It’s subtle, but it takes the pressure off. You’re showing that you respect their time—and that you’re not desperate. Which, ironically, makes you way more appealing to work with.

Remember: confidence is magnetic. So close the loop, but keep it cool.

Here’s a weirdly powerful trick for your sales emails: give people permission to say no.

Seriously. It’s called BYAF—short for “but you are free.” And yes, it works.

A massive meta-analysis of 52 studies (with over 19,500 people involved) found that adding a simple line like “but totally up to you” can seriously boost response rates. It works because it puts control back in the reader’s hands—no pressure, no cringe. Just vibes.

So instead of ending your email with something stiff like: “Let me know when works for a call.”

Try something more like: “Happy to walk you through it next week if that’s helpful—but no worries at all if now’s not the right time.”

Same offer. Totally different energy.

The best part? It makes you sound confident, not desperate. You’re not begging for a reply—you’re giving them space, which makes it way more likely they’ll want to say yes.

Give it a shot in your next email and see what happens. Worst case, they don’t reply. Best case? You start booking more calls without even trying harder.

The sales email is sent off, and now you just sit back and wait for them to respond, right?

Wrong.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re done after you hit send. This is what separates the average sales rep from high performers.

First, make sure you have follow-up emails scheduled to send after a certain number of days if you don’t get a response. Use a CRM to set that up.

Next, don’t feel obligated to just live in your inbox. If you have the prospect’s LinkedIn profile, follow up with a message there. Remember, some people get inundated with sales emails so they don’t check them as often. But their LinkedIn inbox might be a little less busy:

We’ve broken down the anatomy of the perfect sales email. You have all the pieces you need, but the only way to know what works for you is to experiment. Try different subject lines, intros, bodies and calls to action.

Once you find out what works (the emails with the best open and response rates), use a CRM like Copper to create sales email templates based on your top performers.

With Copper, you can save multiple email templates for various scenarios and use cases. Not only can templates increase your salespeople’s success rates, but it also saves them the time of manually typing out new emails.

Or let AI help you write your sales emails

Writing the perfect sales email doesn’t have to take all day. With Copper’s AI email writer, you can generate email copy that’s aligned with your brand’s tone—no more second-guessing your subject line or struggling through writer’s block.

Here's what you can do with Copper:

• Draft personalized sales emails in seconds using AI
• Generate email templates that match your company’s voice
• Automate when those emails go out—so the right message hits the right inbox at the right time, even when you’re buried in client work

Once you’ve nailed a great email, save it as a template in Copper so your whole team can use it—and personalize from there.

Templates + AI = fewer typos, faster outreach, and better results.

Sales emails aren’t dead—they’re just usually bad. But when done right? They can be one of the fastest, most effective ways to start conversations, build relationships, and close deals.

The secret isn’t sending more emails. It’s sending better ones. Ones that are timely, thoughtful, human—and actually get replies.

With the tips in this guide (and a little help from email automations and AI), you’ve got everything you need to stand out in a crowded inbox.

So why not make it even easier?

Try Copper free for 14 days and see how our AI email writer, customizable templates, and automations can help you send smarter sales emails—without the burnout.