What is a Cold Email?
Let’s start with a cold email introduction: Cold email is an unsolicited email to a potential client you didn’t have any prior contact with. To ensure your emails don’t come as awkward, you can use a cold email template.
7 Tips on How to Write a Cold Email
There are different cold emailing strategies and tactics on the internet.
Here are the best tips I’ve gathered that you can also use in writing a cold email:
1. Focus on the prospect
It’s nice to talk about yourself and your company — you know, discussing all the good things.
However, that can hurt your chances of getting a good response from your prospects.
There’s a fine line between introducing yourself and spitting out your spiel to someone you just met.
You must remember these people may not know about you. So, if you don’t offer them value, they may not care about typing a reply.
Now, the best thing you can do is introduce yourself politely and briefly. After that, you can focus the spotlight on them.
Tell them how your products or services can make their brand or life better. Make them feel you’re genuine about helping them.
2. Be slow but sure
I know how tempting it could be to just schedule a meeting with your receiver. I mean, that’s the whole point of sending a cold sales email.
But before you do that, ponder on these words: “Slow and steady wins the race.” And I’ve to agree with that.
Try to recall the solicitors who knock on your door, faking a two-minute small talk. Then, out of the blue, they’d hit you with a sales pitch about an unfamiliar product.
It doesn’t matter if the product is good and beneficial. You’ll feel like the whole experience is forced and they’re invading your privacy.
Imagine that scene and think how your prospects would feel if you come out of nowhere, telling them: “let’s set up a meeting this Monday!”
Oh, they’d be like: “Wait… who are you exactly? And what are you doing in my inbox?” I’d probably feel the same way.
So make sure to take it slow. Talk to them like you’re meeting someone for the first time in person. No need to rush!
3. Craft a winning subject line
The cold email subject line is as important as the email body. They wouldn’t bother reading your message if your subject line didn’t pique their interest.
You can find a great cold email example on the internet, but take note that it may or may not work for you. It still depends on the product or service you offer, your industry, and of course, the type of prospects you send your email to.
You can use the cold email sample as a guide, but make sure to test it yourself.
Remember that you won’t be getting a response if they didn’t even click on your email. So, make your subject line unique, personal, and interesting.
4. Research about your prospects
Before you reach out to anyone, make sure you’ve done your research.
You don’t want to make the conversation awkward by mistaking them for the opposite gender or calling them the wrong name.
Everyone on your list can be converted into a profitable customer. But when they realize you didn’t put any effort into collecting information about them, they may quickly press the delete button without even reading your entire message.
We are in the internet era; the details you need are just out there!
5. Personalize cold email prospecting
Let’s say you succeeded in creating a cold call email template, it wouldn’t be as effective if you don’t use personalization strategies.
And this isn’t just about the “[Insert First Name]” type of personalization. You have to do better than that!
In the previous tip, I told you about doing enough research. Now’s the perfect time to use the information you collected to your advantage.
Do they like playing golf? Their brand received a prestigious award recently? Those can be the perfect conversation starters.
6. Offer value
I know you’re excited about your offer because it’s good. But, no matter how beneficial it is and people don’t realize its value for them, then your company is not going anywhere.
You should let your prospects know the value and possibilities your product or service has to put to the table.
How can you get them excited about scheduling a meeting with you if they don’t even know what’s in it for them?
Let’s face it: the human species is complacent. They tend to be happy and comfortable with their current situation.
Now, the challenge is to give them a reason to change. You should convince them that changing is better than being stagnant.
7. Respect your prospects
Not getting a response is frustrating. Some may even give you one good response and then decide to be cold again — well, that happens!
If you don’t get a reply, that doesn’t meet you should do a follow-up email right away.
Give them some space to think because when you do, they’re less likely to run away from you and your offer.
Perhaps you’d also feel annoyed if solicitors go knocking on your door for a week straight.
2 General Cold Email Templates
The general cold prospecting email template is your first attempt to communicate with your prospect.
Using personalization strategies
My name is [insert your name] and I’m with [company name]. We work with organizations like [company name] to [insert one-sentence pitch].
[One sentence unique benefit]To be fair, this lead generation email template isn’t that bad. It uses personalization strategies by including the prospect’s first name and company.
But here are some things to improve:
- The sample doesn’t follow the CAN-SPAM laws
- It’s not a great idea to ask for an introduction. So, do your research.
- It used first-person pronouns on the first line of the email
Asking for a meeting
This one has “bad cold email” plastered all over it. Here’s what’s wrong with this email sample:
- The use of the phrases “stab in the dark” and “based on your online profile” makes the cold email appear generic.
- Saying “if that’s you” means you’re just randomly hitting people hoping they’re decision-makers or hoping they can connect you to one. Again, do your homework.
- Using multiple calls-to-action is not advisable.
- Indicating a specific time and date isn’t a good idea. One, they may not be available and just say no. Two, if you’re sending this to several people, you might end up having to talk to people at once. That’s a big no-no!
- Again, it fails to use CAN-SPAM laws.
2 Cold Email Example to Decision Maker
This one’s a pretty popular solicitation email template. But let me be straightforward: It doesn’t work.
As I’ve stated earlier, researching about your target prospects is essential.
Asking to connect with the right person
2. Subject Line: Appropriate Person?
Again, this type of sample cold email would give your prospects the impression you didn’t take time to research about them.
You should know the role and the industry of the people that make good customers for your brand. And focus on those personas.
2 Cold Email Template — Follow Up
When your prospects don’t reply to your initial message, a follow up email can be used to ask them if they can hop on a call with you.
It can also allow you to state your value prop from a different angle.
Asking about the next step
A one-liner question is good which means this is a good sample.
By asking them what the next step could be, you’re making them feel obligated to respond and encourage them to check your previous emails.
Here’s a tip: If you have all the CAN-SPAM compliant things in your previous messages, you don’t need to provide it again in your next email.
Informing prospects you’re following up
Telling your prospects you’re following up is unnecessary. More importantly, you don’t have to mention they didn’t respond to your email. That’s definitely not a good way to build a relationship.
I know I’ve been blabbing about not asking for an introduction. But when it comes to follow-up emails, asking if someone’s a better fit would make sense and may actually work.
2 Cold Email Template — After Voicemail
You’ll send this b2b cold email template after a voicemail.
Asking for a call back
I got two questions about this cold email template. First, does the sender know the person? Second, did the prospect fill out a web form?
If you don’t know the person yet, this would be a great opportunity to re-emphasize your value proposition.
Don’t assume they think you’re a perfect fit for their company just because they contacted you first.
Using an interesting subject line
Now, this is one solid follow-up after a voicemail.
The subject line can make the reader curious and open the email.
Since this is a follow-up email, setting a time and date to follow back up makes sense.
2 Cold Email Breakup Template
This is your final attempt to start a conversation with a prospect (if prior emails didn’t get a response).
Expressing gratefulness before disconnecting
I hate to break it up to you but this strategy isn’t really effective these days. Although you may still get responses, most of them would be negative responses.
Most people are using this as a final email. If you send this, can you promise not to follow up again? Like ever?
Maybe it’s not just a good time for your prospect. Thus, creating a different sequence to use in the future should be your goal.
Asking permission to close file
The subject line doesn’t look so good. Nobody “closes” files anymore which means this email isn’t really believable.
And what’s worse is they mentioned it three times in the above sample.
But I think it’s nice that it ended with a great call-to-action. It makes prospects think about what the next step should be.
5 Steps to Set Up and Send Cold Emails
Some marketers say “email marketing is dead.” Well, it’s not and it actually works.
In fact, 89% of marketers consider email as their primary lead generation channel and yields 4,300% ROI. That’s no surprise as cold emailing is effective, scalable, and affordable.
Here’s how you can leverage cold email to boost company growth:
1. Collect contact information
You can’t execute an email outreach program without a list of leads — and LeadFuze can help you with that.
LeadFuze is a software solution that helps you build lists of accurate leads automatically while integrating with sales outreach tools to allow you to contact those freshly verified leads. This means you no longer need to enter prospects’ details manually.
With LeadFuze, lead generation wouldn’t be as tricky — the leads will be given to you in just a few clicks!
2. Write your cold email template
Sounds simple, yes? Unfortunately, it’s the other way around.
It’s not like you can just copy a sales email template on the internet that was deemed effective 5 years ago and send it to your prospects expecting the same results.
It doesn’t work that way.
Find the best cold email template and use it ONLY AS A GUIDE. Make sure you make yours unique.
Moreover, if you recycle templates, there’s a good chance that your prospects have already seen them.
3. Register to an outreach email software
With an outreach email software, the outreach procedure and the speed of research are improved.
As a result, your sales team can focus on their job instead of calculating and collecting
data manually.
An outreach email software can help you with the following:
- See who opened the email and what time they opened it
- Use or arrange templates
- Incorporate with the CRM system
- See what option the prospect clicked
- Merge the mail and send it to a group of individuals
Good news! Most email software can be integrated with LeadFuze — yey!
4. AB test cold email templates
To determine which cold email template works best, you should test it.
You can do it by splitting your email list into halves. If possible, keep both groups homogeneous. This means they’re the same in terms of quality and quantity.
For example, a group of copywriters and a group of social media marketers isn’t homogeneous.
Once all is set, prepare two versions of your cold email template and send them. Compare the open and reply rates.
The one that provided better results is the template to keep.
(Image Source: Kajabi)
5. Optimize your performance
The data collected from the AB test can be used to improve your results.
Find out what’s the ideal time to send your emails, create a killer subject line, write a good first sentence for your email body, and boost your follow-up efforts.
Also, don’t forget to keep your emails short and concise, personalize your approach, add value and a clear call-to-action.
23 Cold Email Subject Lines to Use
A well-written cold email subject line is extremely important. It’s like the headline of an article or the cover of a book that compels the reader to open and read your email.
If it’s spammy, uninteresting, or violates email etiquette, you might lose your chance at getting your email read.
Here are some awesome cold email subject lines you can use on your next cold email:
- [Product/Solution] empowers [company] like never before
- You’ll love this article, [name]
- How [company] used [product/solution] to turn their business around
- Let’s cut to the chase
- [Topic relevant to prospect] trends you should know about
- Free to talk at [date]?
- Save [number] hours per week with [product/solution]
- You missed it
- Got problems? We’ve got solutions!
- Request to connect
- Discover what’s possible with [X]
- [Name], I need your advice
- [Relevant topic] resources that can help you right now
- Where do I even start?
- What would you do with [number] more hours per week?
- Hey [name], check this out
- Remove the guesswork from [task/activity] today
- Can I help you with [reaching a specific goal]?
- Why [company]? And why now?
- Let’s talk about [topic/idea]!
- [Company] increased sales by [amount] with [product/solution]
- I am the walrus!
- 5 things you don’t know about [topic relevant to prospect]
Conclusion
A cold email template can be used to inspire you to make your own.
Once you find the best email template through testing, you’d be getting more responses than you’d ever imagine.