Cold emails have a bit of a bad reputation – and more so due to the surplus of carelessly written and on-the-nose sales emails people tend to send every day.
This means that many safe playing organizations and people are hesitant to give your product a shot if they hear about you through a cold email.
Moreover, emails drafted from cold email templates usually sound generic or impersonal, especially if you have not taken the time required to conduct in-depth research on your prospects.
But if we think of it with an open mind, cold emails are actually a powerful tool to generate leads.
For my part, I’ve managed a response rate of about 1 in 5 with various cold email templates I’ve experimented with. Out of the different sales emails that work, I’ve compiled the top 5 that are sure to give you results.
First, Let’s Start With The Basics
What do you think is the one goal of a cold email or any email per say?
That it be read by the recipient. Right?
Now, what is the basic goal of your first sentence? The surprisingly simple answer to that is…to get the second one be read!
Likewise, every other line of the email should persuade the recipient to get to the next, until the very end.
Above all, your subject line has to be ‘click’ worthy. After all, 47% of recipients decide to open your email based on the subject line alone.
This is exactly why I believe that you should spend a major chunk of your time drafting an eye-catching subject line.
Read: 20 Email Subject Lines For The Best Open Rates
Cold Email Templates
Over the years, I have applied some simple scientific fundamentals of persuasion to influence readers into reading my copy and acting upon it.
Here are the cold email templates that usually work for me, along with some essential tips on what you can do to create custom templates.
1 – Carefully customize your email for decision makers
Hi {Fname},
I am writing to you because being the {recipient’s current role}, I was convinced you know more about the recent practice of your firm at the {department name}.
So just like I’ve been of assistance to {your existing client}, I thought I could help you improve your {ultimate challenge for this prospect}. I ran a reasonable level of research on your firm’s {present processes} and to which my take is as follows:
I observed {the current problematic scenario}. You could easily {suggest how to fix it}.
{Recipient name}, how about we speak over the phone sometime this week maybe for a few minutes to discuss this further?
2 – Contacting your competitors’ clients
Hi {Fname},
To begin with, may I state that being the {designation of the recipient} of {firm’s name}, you sure are receiving tons of emails daily – only to delete them. The very reason for me to write to you is to talk about {your competitor’s name} setting.
I help businesses transition from {your competitor’s name} to {your firm name} with {mention the benefits they get}. I have a few suggestions that can be valuable to your firm and look forward to explaining how you can also achieve {xyz benefits}.
Are you up for a brief meeting sometime this Wednesday?
*Pro tip: Many cold email templates focus on in-depth research on your client and their clients in the B2B industry. However, you don’t have to spend hours researching and compiling this information – you can always ask Cloudlead to compile even complex verticals (information) on your clients so you can focus on creating your template and ensuring that your campaign runs smoothly.
3 – Marking credibility with social evidence
Hi {Fname},
My name is {your name} and I am the {designation} at {your firm name} in the {prospect centric field of interest.} {A brief explanation of your firm}. Many of our {clients X, Y & Z} have graduated to {your service} in Q3 to benefit from: {benefit 1}, {benefit 2} {benefit 3} to name a few.
I would hence like to speak to you over the phone to understand your current processes and how I can be of help.
What time suits you?
4 – Reconnecting with old leads
Hi {Fname},
Hope you’re having a pleasant day! It’s been quite a while since we last got in touch. {Recipient’s firm name} ran a trial of {your service name} for {the purpose they used the service for}.
I have recently hit some groundbreaking improvements since you last signed up and also partnered with noteworthy names like {client 1} and {client 2}.
How about we have a quick discussion sometime this week {recipient’s name}? I would be really glad to walk you through these improvements.
Does Tuesday, 12:00 noon sound good to you?
*Pro tip: mentioning how your service has improved or offering a free demo/trial of your newly updated software/service is always a good way to catch the attention of your prospects. Remember, these cold email templates depend heavily on personalization.
5 – Update about shifting market trends
Hey {Fname},
Being the {designation of the recipient} I feel you would find this statistic rather interesting. {Add a newly conducted study on the recipient’s field of business}
With this speedy progression in {recipient’s field of business}, I’ve enjoyed working with firms such as {client 1} and {client 2} in the {recipient’s location} by cultivating their {the outcome of using your service} with {your service name}. {Recipient name}, I really believe I can replicate these benefits for your firm as well.
Free for a brief 5-minute chat this week to see if we can work together?
*Pro tip: While you can use this as the basis for a cold email, it is also a good starting point for a marketing email/newsletter.
6 – Start With A Personalized First Line
Hey {Fname},
{Personalized opening line, something to do with the recipient’s interests/hobbies/recent achievements/something in common – e.g. Great to see we’re in the same cold email best practices group on LinkedIn – did you find Brad’s recent post about cold call timings to be accurate?}
So based on your title at {company}, I assumed our {your solution} would be something of interest to you.
Would you want to hear more on how we’ve helped industry leaders like {client #1}, {client #2} and {client #3} get {benefit of your solution}?
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, a kick-ass cold email is all about building a connection, and that typically comes down to steering clear from the hard sell method.
As it is, everyone is bombarded with hard selling emails and so being deliberate won’t get you their attention, leave alone any action. So emphasize on what you are there to offer as opposed to what you can get out of them.
Another important factor you might have noticed in these cold email templates is that you should always highlight your credibility and goodwill along with little stories of your recent success.
Avoid phrases like “hopefully” or “if that makes sense.” Instead, maintain a confident, authoritative tone showing you are fully in charge of what you are offering.
Most importantly, a customized email goes a long way in hitting a long-term connection. People can easily spot a cookie-cutter email which automatically affects your response rate adversely.
All these suggestions boil down to three important points:
You can easily customize your cold email templates and create sequences through a platform such as Reply.io or Woodpecker. Combine your selected tool with verified contact data from Cloudlead to fill your pipeline with qualified leads.
While a custom cold email is an excellent way to get quick results, it’s also important to have the right leads to avoid a plethora of issues such as high bounce rates, irrelevant titles, pseudo companies etc.
The bottom-line is that in today’s highly competitive B2B marketplace, you should not overlook the power of cold email marketing. Add cold outreach to your marketing and sales arsenal to gain leads and drop your fear of people saying ‘no.’
Read: Guide On How To Close Leads From Cold Emails
You might just be surprised by the results.
