If you have a quick look at your inbox, I’m sure there are a few emails from salespeople trying to sell their products.
Out of all these emails, which ones stood out to you?
Was it the generic emails that seemed to have been sent to thousands of other people? Or was it the email that seemed personally directed to you?
I can bet my bottom dollar that it was a personalized email.
When it comes to cold email outreach YOU HAVE to use personalization. If you don’t, people aren’t going to respond to your messages.
So if prospects aren’t replying to your emails, the chances are:
A.) Your prospect list isn’t ultra-refined
B.) You aren’t personalizing your emails enough. (By the way, personalization is more than just: Hi (first name.)
This article will share some of our best cold email examples and some guidelines to remember when writing emails for lead generation.
(Feel free to skip to the bottom for sales email templates.)
Also know that, if you lack the time or experience to run your own outbound campaigns, we offer free 15-minute strategy calls to help our readers.
Quick Note:
Make sure that your email list is ultra-defined before even considering sending a personalized email.
Build a super-refined list first. Know who your ideal customer is, and your prospect’s pain points.
If your product/service solves their bleeding neck problem, the chances of them responding will be so much higher.
But you can only reach out to the right buyer persona if you have done your research.
This article explains how we build prospect lists based on data.
Why you should personalize your cold email campaigns
You should use personalization for 2 main reasons.
1. Personalized emails get more replies – It’s that simple
At Salesbread we analyzed data from 75 million emails sent with QuickMail.io. And time and time again, we saw that personalized emails received more replies.
And it’s not just us who have seen this.
Forbes mentions how 80% of companies report seeing an uplift since implementing personalization and how companies using advanced personalization report a $20 return for every $1 spent.
Here’s an example:
Which email do you think you would reply to?
A generic email that has probably been sent to thousands of other people…
You would most probably reply to the second email.
Why?
Because it’s personalized.
Notice the immediate compliment? They also have a value proposition in the email. Basically, they want to offer “free advertising” by mentioning us on their podcast.
Plus the email wasn’t generic, it was specifically for us at SalesBread.
The sender wasn’t trying to push a sale or their services on us. Instead, they were offering us something of value.
For us to be featured on their podcast which in turn would give us exposure.
This shows the power of personalization.
Because we specialize in personalized outreach at SalesBread, our average open rate is: (x) and our average reply rate is (x) for cold emails.
2. Personalization increases email deliverability
If you write the perfect email and send it to hundreds of people at the same time, it’s going to end up in spam. Your perfect cold email isn’t going to be seen by your prospects.
ESPs hate spammers. Once spam filters pick up on what you’re doing, they will block your emails from landing in a prospect’s inbox.
Welcome to cold email purgatory, thanks to mass email. DON’T DO IT.
If you develop a bad sender reputation, it’s really hard to fix that.
Personalization ensures that you develop a good sender reputation.
This means fewer of your emails will end up in the spam folder; This in turn ensures that your prospects will see your emails, leading to better response rates
Tips for email personalization
1. Research each prospect
What most sales reps get wrong is that they use basic personalization and hit send via some automation tool.
If you want results, you’re going to have to dig deeper.
Personalization is more than just mentioning someone’s first name. In fact, you’re going to have to research your prospects.
Here are some ideas:
- Google their name and the prospect’s company and see if they were featured in recent articles, or in the news.
- Have a look at their Linkedin profiles – Is there any interesting information on their “about page” that you can use in your email?
- What commonalities do you share with the prospect? Do you perhaps have mutual connections on Linkedin? Or do you both have a love of hiking?
Then… Think CCQ
CCQ stands for:
- Compliment
- Commonalities
- Questions
When looking at your prospect’s info, think about what you could use to compliment them on, what you could mention as a commonality, or even what question to ask them.
Here are some examples of how you could use the CCQ method in your sales emails.
Compliment
Subject line: Featured on podcast?
Michaela, I really enjoyed your Ted Talk on (XYZ). The part about (XYZ) resonated with me. I’m reaching out to you because I’d love to interview you on my podcast.
Let me know if this might be something on your radar?
P.S. Congrats on your company winning (x) award.
Commonalities
Subject Line: Jack Reamer
John, our mutual connection, Jack Reamer, mentioned that you’re the person to talk to about (XYZ). He said that (company names) does (XYZ)… I’m curious to hear about how you deal with (pain point.)?
Questions
Subject Line: Quick Question
Jack, I noticed that your company specializes in Linkedin outreach. Curious to hear if (company name) makes use of any automation tools in the process?
We have heard that many b2b salespeople are struggling with things like (prospects’ pain points) when using automation. Do you find this to also be a problem?
When you show the prospect that you have done your research it sets you apart from all the other “fake” or superficial emails. Personalization isn’t just adding a prospect’s name.
This might make them more inclined to reach out to you.
This type of “sales psychology” is known as a pattern interrupt.
You’re doing something different from all the other b2b salespeople out there. This makes the prospect stop and change their usual pattern.
2. Write a custom intro for each prospect on your list
A custom intro consists of 1-2 short personalized sentences. This opening line needs to be written in such a way that it captures a prospect’s attention. And you do this by personalizing the sentences with the information that you found.
You don’t have to personalize the entire email, but make sure that your first 2 intro sentences have been written specifically for the prospect.
(The rest of the email body can contain a specific pain point and a value ad.)
Remember to be specific in your intro.
Compliment them on a specific article, or if their company received an award mention that.
The more specific the better.
3. Use a “P.S,” at the end of the email
Using a P.S. is another way to stand out. For example, you could use the P.S. to compliment the prospect, or even drop a link to something that you would like them to see.
Your P.S. shouldn’t be a sales pitch but rather something that can add more value to your email.
You could even mention something like:
“P.S.: If there are any connections in my network that you would like an intro to, I’d be happy to help.”
4. Don’t send loooooong emails – Keep them brief
People don’t have time to spend ages reading long emails. If you’re writing essay-type cold sales emails, you’re going to lose your readers.
Keep the email to the point and brief. Have a max of 3 – 5 sentences.
You don’t have to mention everything about your product/service in your email. In Fact, you shouldn’t.
What we suggest is adding only ONE value proposition in each email.
This gives you a reason to add a different value prop in your follow-up.
Here’s an example:
Short and to the point.
5. Make use of case studies and testimonials
In your email copy, you could also mention a testimonial or share a link to a case study. This creates social proof, which might make the prospect more inclined to trust your services.
You could even name-drop some companies that you have worked with, especially if they are well known, like NIKE or HubSpot.
6. Use a/b testing
A micro campaign has 2 segments. There will only be 1 email and 1 follow-up.
In total, you are going to write 4 different emails and then see which email and follow-up performed the best.
This will also give you an indication of which prospect list had the best response.
This will help you optimize your sales process, ensuring greater conversion rates because you are targeting the right people, and are sending out messages that prospects enjoy reading.
7. Write a follow-up email
You can make use of bump emails but try to not make it obvious that it is a bump email. For example, don’t say: Just checking if you saw my email.
Rather say something like: “Should have probably added the link to my podcast.”
Then wait 3 days and write a follow-up email if the prospect hasn’t yet responded.
8. Use a low-commitment CTA
We always use a call to action in our emails or Linkedin messages.
A clear CTA lets the prospect know exactly what you want from them.
The trick is though, to make it as easy as possible for them to respond.
So instead of asking for a 45-minute phone call, ask for a quick 15 min call.
A good CTA will motivate someone to either book a call with you, check out your demo, or sign up for an offer that you might have.
Here are some low-commitment CTAs to use in your outreach campaigns.
Side Note: Do cold email subject lines matter?
This article explains that subject lines don’t make a huge difference to your open rates. The key is to write a killer email and keep your subject lines short.
So keep the above points in mind when writing hyper-personalized emails. If you do this, you will increase your reply rates.
And as we promised…
8 Cold Email Templates for you to adapt
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
Interested in learning more?
Check out some of our other articles, as we go in-depth into all things lead gen.
Or if you lack the time to run outreach campaigns yourself, or would just like some advice on how your sales team can hit better metrics that lead to deals, reach out to us below for a free 15-minute strategy call.
We would love to help you find more qualified sales leads AND make more money.