So why does it feel as if we’re getting very few results from this massive effort?

The answer could be in the way we write them.

The problem with email

Most of the emails insurance agents write today are not only filled with terms that are difficult for the consumer to understand, but many are WAY too long and require too much time and effort to read and digest.

Nobody wants to sit and read through a sales pitch; they want to grab little pieces of content here and there.

They want people to get to the point.

But most of us were trained to write long, formal emails — the same way we used to write letters and faxes.

My suggestion to you is — wherever appropriate — use short emails.

Very short.

I’m going to give you a nine-word template for the highest-converting email you’ll ever send.

To date, it’s generated well over $500,000 in commissions for those who have used it.

Your goal is to encourage a reply to start a dialogue. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Tip: Use one question to start a conversation

The technique is simple: Ask ONE question of the reader. Your goal is to encourage a reply or start a dialogue. That’s it.

Related: 7 steps for generating the best leads

Here’s an example of a traditional email (in other words, what not to do):

Hi, John.

Hope you’re doing well.

I’m following up on our conversation from three weeks ago to see [how your evaluation process is going with your workers’ comp, cyber liability, etc.].

The last time we met, we reviewed your needs as gaining more [INSERT DESIRED OUTCOME].

I have taken the time to review your [INSERT PLAN YOU’RE REVIEWING] plan, and explored what would happen if your company suffered a breach.

I’d love the opportunity to have a follow up call with you to discuss further.

Sincerely,

John Smith Osmond Insurance

Do you get the idea?

But if you’re ready to make your first SHIFT, there’s a much better way.

Here’s a picture of the closed cases Annette won within 24-hours, after using this email. Total commissions in 24 hours = $8,000. After 1 week it was $20,000.

The $8,000 email

One agent, Annette, tried this strategy and sent the email I recommended to her list of prospects at 9:05 in the morning.

At 11:53 a.m., she texted me, “Please, stop the madness. I can’t keep up with the constant flow of responses!”

Then she wrote, “Crazy. More requests just came. I can’t believe what a one-liner did!”

And all she did was take a very personal, one-on-one approach.

In that one day, she closed eight deals for a total of $8,000 in commissions.

Copy this email template right now:

Subject Line: John

John, do you still need help with your [blank]?

Jeremiah

In the blank, you can put insurance, workmans comp, benefits — whatever.

BAM! That’s your 9-word email!

Warning: Don’t change a thing!

Send it EXACTLY as shown above.

Don’t add anything underneath it or above it, other than what normally appears in the personal email template you send from Outlook or Gmail!

One carrier I consulted with sent this to 10,000 people, but decided to get clever. (In other words, he didn’t follow my advice to the letter.)

After the question, he wrote, "Because we’ve got a whole bunch of great products. We've got life insurance, we've got dental, we've got disability, we’ve got..."

And it didn’t work.

Because it didn’t look like it came from a human being. It looked like it came from a marketer trying to engage—and failing.

Why this email works every time

One commercial lines agent had her team send my nine-word email to a few B2B prospects they hadn’t heard from in a while.

The same day, they got two responses that led to two meetings. Fast-forward 60 days, and those two meetings brought in $240,000 in commissions in the commercial lines space.

All from one little email!

There are a lot of reasons why this nine-word email works.

• It doesn’t look like spam.
• It offers help rather than a product or a service.
• It’s personal and implies a previous interaction.
• It’s non-threatening.
• It seems to continue a conversation already in progress.

But the number-one reason is this:

It doesn’t require any effort to mentally process this email.

In today’s screen-obsessed society, most people don’t take the time to reflect and think—but they do value brief, meaningful, personal communications.

Using tools such as MailChimp, GetResponse, AWeber, and others, you can personalize a thousand emails at once, making each one look as if it’s being sent from one individual to another—and only to him.

The takeaway

• Send the nine-word email to a list of prospects you’ve targeted before but who have never responded. Test the subject line “quick question” (yes, all lower case. This converts higher, which you’ll learn more about later on)
• Use an automated tool to personalize the name in the email.
• Fill in the blank with the product or service you provide.
• Don’t change anything else or add any other content.

Related: 5 email missteps every online marketer must know

Jeremiah D. Desmarais ([email protected]) is a 23-time award-winning financial marketer, TED Speaker and philanthropist that has been featured on Forbes, CNN, and Worth. His work has generated over two million insurance leads and helped advisors in over 51 countries. His #1 best-selling book, SHIFT: 201 Instant-Action Proven Marketing Strategies to Sell More Insurance and Financial Products Now is available at www.TheShiftNation.com.