How to Create an Email Outreach Strategy – Best Tips And Tricks

By: Jack Reamer |
 December 6, 2023 |
 Cold Email | Cold Email Strategy

After sending millions of cold outreach emails over the past decade we have found a strategy that has consistently brought our clients 1 qualified sales lead per day. 

In this guide, we will share: 

  • How to build a list of qualified prospects
  • What tools to use to find contact details
  • Whether or not you should use auto-warmers
  • The strategy to use for 1 lead a day
  • Expert personalized copywriting tips and templates

(..If you need a personalized cold email strategy, hop on a free 15-minute call with Salesbread.)

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Cold email outreach strategy

Step 1: Analyze your current buyer’s data

For any cold email outreach campaign to be successful, you need an ultra-refined list of prospects. 

Here’s how we build prospecting lists:

(Side note: The founder of Salesbread, Jack Reamer, builds these prospecting lists obsessively. In fact, it takes him a week to perfect your list. Once it’s 99% accurate, we will then begin LinkedIn prospecting and cold outreach.)

Have a look at your current buying customers. 

Who has purchased from you? 

What do all these companies have in common?

When you look for patterns among your current buyers, it makes it easier to build look-a-like prospecting lists. 

We use 34 different filters when looking for patterns between target accounts.

For example:

  • Which industry are all your buyers in? Social media marketing? Health and wellness? Saas?
  • Where are they located? 10 miles from Alaska? Cape Town, South Africa? The USA?
  • Who’s the decision maker? The founder? The manager? HR?
  • Do all your buyers have a podcast?
  • Have these companies recently been funded?
  • How big are these companies? 100+ employees? Less than 10?
  • Do they use SEO in their marketing campaigns?
  • Do they use the same CRM tools?

Notice that you can get extremely granular when building an email list. 

If your list is too broad, your outreach efforts will be in vain. There’s no point in sending thousands of emails to a broad list of prospects. 

Why?

Because maybe out of 1000 people, only 10 might respond favorably. 

It’s like making a list of all saas companies in the US and blasting these companies with an outreach email. Your list has to be refined in order for your sales outreach to be a success.

When it comes to list building, think outside the box. 

Here are some sites you can use to help you build your lists:

Remember: Instead of thinking: “How do I reach out to 2000 prospects?.. Rather ask:  “How do I generate 40 qualified leads that will convert?”

Step 2: Find the right people to reach out to at these companies

Once you have a list of target accounts, you can then plug this list into LinkedIn Sales Navigator and search for the right people at these companies to reach out to. 

So, for example, if you realized that it was the content marketing managers who were buying your products, you could then search for them in Sales Nav and find their email addresses. 

Most of the time people have their emails listed on Linkedin, but if they haven’t shared their email address, you can use third-party data providers to find this information. 

Below is a list of email-finding tools you can use:

At Salesbread we prefer using Apollo because we have found that it has the freshest data if you’re looking for up-to-date contact information. It is slightly more pricey than other tools, but it’s still an excellent tool. 

Step 3: Write a short personalized email specifically for your prospect

The video below is an example of how you would write 2 personalized emails and a follow-up. 

This strategy has helped us receive 35% reply rates for our clients. 

It’s important to always have a customized intro that includes personalization.

This will help with deliverability. 

Personalization helps cut through the noise of all the other spammy messages that they receive.

It helps readers know that you aren’t sending some random automated message and this email is specifically for them. 

You don’t want your email to be thrown into the spam folder, so focus on high-quality, low-quantity emails. 

Show your prospects that you have spent time researching them.

This builds reciprocity because if they see a nice compliment about themselves in your first email that’s genuine, they will be more likely to read the rest of the message.

This might not earn you the reply, but it will earn you the chance to get that prospect to read the entire message. 

We use the CCQ method… This means finding something to either compliment the prospect on, mention a commonality, or ask a question.

Recent studies have shown that the preview text influences open rates, more so than the actual subject line. 

Why is that?

Many individuals have “email subject line” blindness because of past experiences with misleading subject lines from spammers and cold email senders. 

Some prospects have also received subject lines like “Quick Question,” over and over again, and this in turn makes them quickly scan for relevance in the initial sentence. 

This is why a customized intro sentence is so important. It will help you get your foot in the door to keep a conversation going.

When you use personalization it sets you apart from all the other cold emails prospects are receiving. 

The key is simplicity, especially for beginners who are attempting email personalization – always start with a simple customized introduction.

A valuable tip: Over-personalizing each email template for every prospect yields lower returns. Maintaining simplicity is key.

This revelation benefits those engaged in cold email outreach, reducing the workload. According to a recent study, the “personalization sweet spot” lies between 20 and 50% of the cold email content.

For instance, in a 4 or 5-sentence email, integrating a single custom personalized sentence is what you’re looking at writing.

Outreach template number 1

We using the company below as an example:

This company Rapyd, helps with global B2B payments. 

Subject: [topic] at {company_name}  

{Name}, {CUSTOM INTRO SENTENCE} 

Since you’re subscribed to my newsletter on [topic], how’s [topic_activity] going at {company_name} these days?

If it’s valuable, can share how other [biz type] are getting [end result] without [objection|pain point].

Worth a conversation?

Below is an example of how the email would read: 

Subject: Global payments at Rapyd

Michaela, I noticed your recent article on Medium and loved how Rapyd has included scholarships for children in need. 

Since you’re subscribed to my newsletter on lead generation, how’s setting up ACH payments going on at Rapyd these days?

If it’s valuable, can share how other crypto companies are getting their books done without a CPA?

Worth a conversation?

Outreach template number 2

Subject: [topic] at {company_name}

{Name}, {CUSTOM INTRO SENTENCE} 

Since you’re subscribed to my newsletter on [topic], I want to make sure it’s been helping you get closer to {ideal outcome} over at {company_name}.

Is {topic} a breeze these days?

If not, would you be open to a brief call to explore what might be causing {problem}?

Next do some A/B testing

Once you have researched your prospects and have written some personalized emails, test it out. 

As an experiment send these emails to 50 people on your list. 

Watch and see what happens. Wait for that 35% response rate. 

If they don’t respond, wait 3 days and then go to the next step:

Step 4: Follow Up

At Salesbread we suggest following up every 3 days between 5 and 6 times.  Below is an example of a follow-up you can send.

Notice how brief the email is? 

We also made the CTA really easy for the prospect to respond to.

They just have to type in yes. 

If your call to action is low commitment, it will make it easier for the prospect to reply. 

Low commitment means keeping your “ask” as easy as possible for your prospect. 

So instead of asking them to watch a 30-minute video tutorial on your product, you could book a quick 5-minute call. 

Follow-up email template

Would you like any help or ideas for getting [end goal] this [time frame]?

Just reply ‘yes’ and I’ll help us find a time to connect.

Some sales email copywriting tips

  • Always have a personalized intro sentence. 
  • Keep your emails short and to the point
  • Use the 90/10 rule – Talk about the prospect 90% of the time and only 10% about yourself just for context
  • Use 1 value proposition per email – Some salespeople end up writing about all the pros of their product or service, but we have noticed it’s better to mention one value proposition per email.
  • Don’t use automation for the entire email outreach process. If you can rather have a sales rep reply in real time to each email. This will help if the prospect has any questions, or if they have an objection. Automated messaging lacks that personal touch.
  • Use low-commitment CTA’s 
  • Don’t pitch in your emails, wait for the prospect to agree to a sales call and then chat about how to help them with their pain points. 

Other things to consider: Should you use an auto warmer?

Auto warmers are like helpers that make sure your emails reach the right inbox instead of getting lost in spam.

Imagine this: If most of your emails keep going to the spam folder, it’s a big problem because even if you have written the perfect email, if it’s in the spam folder, prospects either won’t see it or won’t trust where it comes from. 

Here’s where auto warmers come to the rescue. 

They work by sending emails for you, but not just randomly. These emails go to specific groups of people who will reply automatically.

When these recipients reply, it signals to spam filters that your email address is trustworthy. That way, your emails are less likely to land in spam and more likely to reach where they should, improving your delivery rate.

Instead of doing things the old-fashioned way (which is time-consuming) by manually warming up your email or not doing anything about it, there’s a smarter option.

You can try out some auto warmers. Quickmail is an option, and it’s a free tool. 

This will ensure your emails have a better chance of reaching the right place instead of getting lost in spam folders.

What about subject lines?

Subject lines are important, but there are other factors at play that are more important.

As we mentioned before, a personalized custom intro would be more interesting than a catchy subject line that might be misleading.

There’s nothing worse than reading a subject line, and then reading an email that has nothing to do with the subject line. 

The subject line is like a promise of what’s in the mail. 

Here are some examples to use:

  • Help with {{pain point}}?
  • Interested in lead generation services?
  • Get 50% off our webinar software this week
  • Catching up at {{event}}
  • Can we talk about lead generation for {{company.name}}?
  • Interested in improving social proof for {{company.name}}?
  • Invite to {{event}}
  • Quick question
  • Quick question about {{company.name}}
  • Quick question {{prospect.first_name}}
  • Question about growth/sales/retention at {{company.name}}
  • Wondering about your sales goals for Q4?
  • Question after reading your post on eCommerce trends
  • Question about how you’re engaging with {{company.name}}’s users

Be very clear about what you’re offering

People appreciate honesty.

Once you’ve identified your ideal target audience who are already aware of their problems, reaching out to them about your service can stir up their interest in solving those issues and taking the next step, like becoming your new customer.

Using subject lines that follow this approach tends to work well because they’re super relevant. 

This means you can be pretty sure that your email will actually be opened.

Let me give you a few examples:

  1. “Check out an Explainer Video tailored for your website at {{company.name}}”
  2. “SEO Service to help you rank #1 for important keywords in your industry”
  3. “Specialized Lead Generation services for your real estate agency”
  4. “Struggling with landing page content? Need help?”
  5. “Tool designed to boost {{company.name}}’s customer retention”
  6. “Assistance for {{company.name}} with search ads”
  7. “Looking for help to fill a sales vacancy at {{company.name}}”

These examples are crafted to grab attention and address specific needs, making it more likely for your email to resonate with the recipient.

But it’s still important to steer clear of these mistakes when crafting subject lines: 

1. Misleading Content: 

Avoid providing false or misleading information in your subject lines.

2. Clickbait aimed at getting higher open rates:

Stop using subject lines solely designed to maximize open rates but lack substance or authenticity.

3. Impersonal 

 Ensure your subject lines don’t come off as impersonal or generic.

By avoiding these aspects, your subject lines generally should be okay.

Most people tend to open emails that land in their primary inbox, even if the sender is unfamiliar unless the email appears blatantly spammy.

Include social proof in your outreach emails

If you want positive responses you can also include some social proof.

Social proof builds trust and creates brand awareness. 

This could be as simple as sharing links to case studies that you want to share, or recent metrics that your company achieved for your clients. 

For example, if you are a professional blogger, you could share a case study that shows the most effective ways to generate better conversions in content marketing. 

Sharing some testimonials might also be a good idea, even if it’s a link to your LinkedIn page that shows some positive reviews. 

Other examples of this would be sentences like:

  • “We recently helped [client name] boost landing page conversions by 300% with our A/B testing tools.”
  • “Our services helped [client name] close $10,000 in new monthly recurring revenue.“
  • “We’ve helped brands like [well-known client] and [well-known client] improve their paid ads strategy.”

Just keep it short, that’s all it takes. 

The takeaway

Having an effective email outreach campaign takes a lot of time, planning and work…

But it’s worth it.

When done correctly you could expect 1 qualified lead per day and a 35% positive reply rate.

If you’re interested in learning more, hop on a free 15-minute strategy session or check out our cold email masterclass. 

Book your free 15 minute strategy call here