Cold emails can send shivers down the spine of any salesperson. From a recipient’s perspective, these are just emails that are either ignored or sent to spam.
The crazy thing is—cold sales emails actually work. In fact, it can have a higher return on investment (ROI) than social media campaigns or search engine optimization (SEO).
If you want to improve your ROI, generate more leads, and close more sales in your cold email campaigns, stick around! In this article, we’re going to break down:
- The basics of a cold sales email.
- Common mistakes to avoid (and how to fix them).
- Example cold sales email templates and what makes them work.
What Is A Cold Sales Email?
Cold sales emails are emails often ignored and sent to spam if you don’t have a plan. Done right, cold sales emails are the perfect gateways for conversation.
This is where a sale starts. Two people talking, breaking the ice, building trust. Further down, this trust can lead to prospects thinking: “This guy isn’t so bad, let’s see what he has to offer”.
If you want to send cold emails that get responses, you’d need a holistic strategy. To kick things off, here’s a quick overview of what makes a cold sales email great.
What Makes A Great Cold Sales Email?
The essentials of any campaign hold true despite the industry. First, you need good email software to help you streamline and automate areas of your campaign. Next, you need to learn about the following best practices:
Start With Who The Email Is From
People are judgemental, especially when it comes to email. What would you take more seriously, an email from “[email protected]” or “[email protected]”?
That’s kind of a hard choice, but since we’re professionals, probably the second email, right? What if it was “[email protected]”?
The email address looks legit. But then, you’d probably think you’re just another schmuck on a list. That wouldn’t make me feel special at all.
Your mileage may vary, but using your name in your email address can get you higher open rates. The reason for this is simple—it feels more personalized.
To get even higher chances of email opens, focus on writing great subject lines.
A Winning Subject Line
Right next to your “from line” is your subject line. It’s one of, if not the first, things your recipient sees. Every email marketing strategy will tell you—first impressions count.
The first few seconds skimmed through our subject line could decide whether or not the email gets opened. Worse, poorly written ones might get sent to spam. We don’t want that happening.
If this happens enough times, our email address’s reputation gets affected. Luckily, we can avoid issues like this if we consider the following:
- The subject line should answer, “How will this email benefit the recipient?”.
- Personalize using the recipient’s name.
- Avoid spam words that trigger spam filters.
- Use subject lines that pique your target audiences’ interests.
- Be more casual, natural, and friendly.
Another pro tip is avoiding clickbait. Great subject line examples tie in with the rest of your email, starting with an attention-grabbing introduction.
Attention-Grabbing Intro
Think of a great intro to a song. It’s a build-up that makes you want to listen more. In the case of email marketing—read more.
How do you make attention-grabbing email intros that make prospects want to read more? Make it about them! Put them first. Not you, your company, or your product.
There are several ways to go about this. But, as a rule of thumb, your intros should:
- Be personalized.
- Address a problem specific to their business.
- Provide an immediate solution.
You can also add a little bit of flattery to your intros. But, don’t go overboard.
The goal of your intros is to make your recipients feel like this email was tailor-made just for them. When you do this, your email is primed to offer value.
Always Add Value
You need to include your product without shoving it in front of your prospects’ faces. The best way to do so is by presenting it as the easiest and fastest solution to their specific problems.
We do this by highlighting the benefits, not the features. Let’s say we’re selling an AI-powered photo editor for eCommerce. You’ll obviously send emails to editors, likely using Photoshop.
Editing in Photoshop is not beginner-friendly and is time-consuming, especially when scaling content like product photos for an eCommerce site.
The benefits could be that your product streamlines the editing workflow, can use AI to edit images in bulk, and even automates background removal and replacement for product photos.
But, if we want to increase online sales through email, we need to top our sales email with a strong CTA.
Finish With A Strong CTA
Cold sales email campaigns should always be done with a goal in mind. A clear CTA is a solid representation of that goal.
Are you trying to schedule a meeting, get feedback, or just get a reply? Whatever that may be, keep it clear and concise. A strong CTA should always:
- Address what you want your email recipients to do after reading your email.
- Be straight to the point.
But, always have realistic expectations. Don’t ask for things you wouldn’t do yourself. Think of how busy a person is, especially those who have to run a business.
Even a quick 15-minute Skype call could be too big of an ask. Take your time. Cold sales emails are just the first touch—the intro to a bigger campaign.
In some cases, asking for a meeting in the first email introduction might not be effective. Focus your CTAs on a goal that allows you to cultivate your relationship with prospects.
Use A Quality Signature
Your cold sales email should be about your prospects. However, they still need to know a little bit about you and your company. This is where a quality email signature comes in.
An email signature is a way for you to provide additional information about yourself without sacrificing precious email real estate.
A good email signature has the essentials like your name, title, contact info, website links, and logo. You can also get fancy and add a custom HTML signature to ake it visually appealing.
Be careful when doing this. There are tendencies for custom HTML email signatures to break (or get broken apart) by email service providers.
But mistakes like this can happen to the best of us. What’s important is identifying common sales email mistakes that we might not be aware of and correcting them as quickly as possible.
Cold Sales Email Mistakes
Even small mistakes, if left unattended, can end up costing you valuable time and resources. So, learn from our experience and take note of the common mistakes you might encounter in your next cold sales email campaign.
It’s All About You
It’s ironic how a cold sales email (a strategy for promoting products) won’t be as effective if you focus too much on the product.
As mentioned earlier, these emails should be about your prospects. Put yourself in their shoes. Identify what their issues are and provide immediate solutions.
This will make them more likely to respond to your CTAs, keep you in mind if they want to streamline their work, or even share your valuable content with others in their industry.
But you won’t get here through vagueness. Be specific. How did you find your prospect’s company? How did you learn about their issues?
This is another common mistake—emails that don’t have enough detail.
There’s No Detail
“I saw your business in an online forum and thought you guys are amazing!”. First off, what online forum? And, how are we amazing?
Leaving out key details makes your emails look spammy. It ends up with a robotic tone. At best, it’s a Hail Mary. But good sales emails aren’t a product of miracles.
Good emails are well-researched, personalized, and authentic. If we take our example, just adding a bit of detail can make the line a lot better.
“I saw your company featured on {{podcast}} and believe {{product}} can seriously shake the industry, especially with the {{feature}} update."
However, a nice compliment doesn’t mean your prospects would immediately respond to your emails. That’s probably because they don’t know who you are.
You Assume They Know Who You Are
Get rid of ego. It’ll only make you think you’re moving forward.
Even if you’re a well-established name in your industry, not everybody will know who you are. Take this subject line as an example: “Schedule a meeting with Din”.
Using this line implies that I want to schedule a meeting. I don’t. I don’t know who Din is!
Treat your first cold sale emails as an introduction. Get to know each other, have a conversation, and build genuine relationships.
You Ask For Action Without Explaining Why
Every email needs a clear call to action. But, CTAs will only be effective if you give prospects actionable information that incentives them to consider doing what you’re asking them.
This comes in the form of appealing subject lines, relevant content, social proof, and your overall value proposition. But what’s worse than a poor CTA is an email that doesn’t have one.
You Don’t Ask Them To Do Something (No CTA)
Sales emails need to focus on the prospect. But, if we just send quality emails with relevant content and no CTA, there wouldn’t be a point to the campaign. Our CTAs represent the goal of the campaign. No CTA, no goal.
In some cases, prospects don’t even reach the CTA. The culprit? Walls of text!
It’s Too Long
Nobody has the time to read through a 300-word email. That’s already a length of a quick article. If your goal is to redirect your prospects to a landing page with information about your products, link it naturally in a short and concise email.
You Waffle
Without a concrete plan, email briefs, or outlines, your email’s content can end up trivial at best. Going through a campaign with no clear strategy means you’d have to start over every time.
If you do this, scaling your campaigns will take way more time and resources than it has to. A quick fix to this issue is to use cold sales email templates.
These templates give you a great starting point in any campaign. Now, all you need to do is personalize the templates and make the necessary adjustments to fit your target audience.
Cold Sales Email Templates
Here are some great example templates you can draw inspiration from!
Authentic Referral Request
Ideally, we want to contact the right person within the right company. But, let’s say we only have a company email like [email protected]. Our best bet is to ask for a referral.
Here’s an example you can try:
Subject Line: I think we can help each other out.
Hi there!
I’m {{Your Name}}, {{position}} at {{Company}}. We’re launching the beta test for our latest product {{product}}, and we’d like you to be one of the first beta testers.
I’d like a chance to speak with someone that handles {{something related to product}}. If you could direct me to the right person, I’d love to discuss how {{product}} can help {{list benefits}}.
I appreciate the help!
Best,
{{Your Name}}
Rapport Email
If your goal is building relationships, focus on rapport! You and a prospect could have the same interests or are in the same industry. Find something you can relate to and go from there.
Try this email out:
Hi {{First Name}},
Congratulations on the new position! I know coming into such a big role can be nerve-wracking, but whenever I’m in doubt, I just go back to {{link to your relevant guide or article}}.
Our roles cross each other, so I think this can really help you out when you need it. I’m currently doing {{job description}} for {{Company}}. If you need any help regarding that field, feel free to hit me up anytime! I’d be glad to help.
Best,
{{Your Name}}
Establishing Value
This email template gives the perfect opportunity for you to showcase your value proposition.
Subject Line: We want to help {{Company}} with {{pain point}}
Hey {{First Name}}
I’m {{Your Name}}, {{position}} at {{Company}}. Thanks for checking out our case study on {{topic}}, and I thought I’d personally reach out to offer additional insights.
If you can indulge me, I’d love to know what your goals are for this quarter. We’ve helped similar companies before to grow:
{{benefit 1}}
{{benefit 2}}
{{benefit 3}}
Feel free to reach out to me at any time. The team would love to help you out with your needs.
Regards,
{{Your Name}}
Let Us Solve Your Problems
If you want people to know the benefits they can get from getting your products or services, use this template:
Subject Line: Here’s how we solved {{pain point}}
Hey, {{First Name}}
{{Your Name}} here, {{position}} at {{your company}}. I’m reaching out because {{explain how you got their contact information}}.
If you’re company is like ours, then you might also struggle with {{pain point}}. So, we spent years researching the best way to solve it and came up with {{product}}.
It helped us:
{{Benefit 1}}
{{Benefit 2}}
{{Benefit 3}}
If you have the time, I’d love to learn more about how we can help you out with {{pain point}}.
Cheers,
{{Your Name}}
Key Takeaways
Cold sales emails are essential to the growth of any brand. Before starting any campaign, consider the best practices and common mistakes we need to avoid, such as:
- Emphasizing benefits instead of features.
- Optimizing the from the line, subject line, and main content.
- Finishing an email with a strong CTA.
- Avoid talking about yourself more than how you can help your prospects.
- Assuming your prospects already know you.
Want to get the most out of your cold sales email campaigns? Instantly has you covered! Try Instant for free today!
