5 Best Practices for Cold Emailing with Templates Included

Whether you are a consulting agency or an international B2B sales company, cold emails are often a necessity in day-to-day operations. However, cold emails are certainly hard to craft for high-impact. In fact, as studies show that only 15 to 28 percent of cold emails are opened and followed up on, depending on the industry in question.

This leads to a lot of back-and-forth without any tangible results or payoff. It’s also one of the main reasons why companies opt for email templates as it saves a lot of time and effort on a daily basis. With that in mind, let’s take a look at several best practices and templates which can help you turn things around for your sales efforts and elevate your B2B sales game.

Subject Lines Matter

Before we dive into the email templates you can rely on for B2B cold emailing, let’s talk about subject lines. No matter whom you contact, or for what occasion, subject lines matter.

After all, the subject line is the sole element which is visible to the recipient before they open your email. In that regard, make sure to limit your subject lines to short, direct and personal writing. Open with the reason for contacting them and try include your company name, personal name and title—or the pain point your product address that you know this person, in their particular industry, struggles with. If you know your B2B personas, you can craft subject lines that are personal and custom to their pain points, and show the value of the solution you’re selling them.

For example, here at Leadfeeder, we often craft something like this for our subject lines:

• “Mr. Brandford, XYZ, Inc. is missing out on new business—Leadfeeder can fix that.”

• “Miss Saleem, Leadfeeder can help your sales team uncover hidden leads on XYZ.com—see how!”

Everything else should be included in the following body of the email. Now that we have a clearer picture of the importance of subject lines, let’s take a look at some useful templates to consider.

The Unexpected Helper

Market research can sometimes help you pinpoint which cold email technique to use. In this vein, you can introduce your brand and services as an unlikely, and unexpected help to the recipient. For example, we reach out to leads by using our own product, Leadfeeder. When we “cold-call or cold email,” we have a greater idea of what their interest level is because we can see exactly what content they were looking at on our site to gauge this.

For instance, if a company returns often to view our Pricing Page web content, we know they’re “kicking tires,” so to speak, and showing interest in our product. Even if they don’t fill out a contact form or landing page, we reach out to the right person at the right time because Leadfeeder can help identify which companies visit a website, and which content they’re engaging with, almost in real-time. Here’s an example from our sales team:

Dear [Insert Name], I am contacting you on behalf of [Insert Company]. Given the nature of our mutual businesses, we believe that we would be a good fit for sales and marketing teams.

Please make sure to take a look at the benefits of our services [Insert Link], or download one our customer case studies here [Link] and uncover how we can help solve your biggest pain points. We promise to offer competitive pricing, high-quality customer support, and sales and marketing training opportunities. A custom quote is attached here too for your perusal.

We at [Insert Company] look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards, [Insert Name and Title]

The Referral Approach

Referrals often make the B2B world spin ‘round. After all, a friend-of-a-friend might introduce you to a potential partner, which would otherwise be reluctant to approach you, or may have never heard of the solution you’re selling.

Dina Indelicato, a writer and regular contributor at Pick Writers, spoke about her cold contact experiences, “What I do to deliver a punchy email, is that I imagine myself in the other person’s shoes,” explains Indelicato. “That way, I can think about how I would feel if I received my email. This tactic often helps, since I work with a lot of cold emails and not all of them deliver on their expectations.”

On the same note, you will still have to contact the said referral through a cold email and let them know that you are willing to do business:

Dear [Insert Name], I am contacting you on behalf of [Insert Name and Company] about your business and services. We at [Insert Company] believe that we would be a good fit for future collaboration since our goals are aligned.

Make sure to take a look at our service portfolio [Insert Link] and get back to us if you see a potential for collaboration as we do.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards, [Insert Name and Title]

The Understandable Salesperson

Chances are, your prospect is busy with their daily activities once you contact them. After all, this is mostly why so many cold emails end up in the e-trash bin.

However, if you take an “understandable approach” to building your argument, you might be surprised with the outcome. While this won’t produce immediate results, it’s a far better outcome than not getting a follow up at all. Taking an emphatic stance towards your recipient will make it far more likely that you will receive a follow up shortly after:

Dear [Insert Name], I am contacting you as a representative of [Insert Company] about our lineup of products and services. We believe that we have something new and beneficial to offer to your brand and the way you do business.

As I understand that you are busy with work obligations, I won’t ask you to get back to me straight away. Please take a moment to look at our products and services at [Insert Link] whenever you get a chance. We promise to stand by and wait for your opening whenever you have some free time.

Best Regards, [Insert Name and Title]

The Event Invitation

Sometimes the best course of action is to offer something free of charge to your recipient. The B2B marketplace is saturated with cold emails which aim to sell something quickly and without consideration. However, if you approach a new company with an olive branch and invite them over, you are bound to receive a different response. This is where company events, corporate parties and get-togethers play a huge role in your networking efforts:

Dear [Insert Name],

My name is [Insert Name and Title]. I am a representative of [Insert Company]. We are currently arranging a fun networking event in our main offices. As a token of appreciation for your dedication to the industry, we’d like to invite the company representatives of [Insert Company] to our venue.

This is a non-obligatory invitation which we hope will gather the most prolific and influential brands and businesses in our sector. However, if you take the time to come to our event at [Insert Event Details], we would be happy to have you and chat about how we can develop our industry further.

Let us know if you will be able to attend our event until [Insert Deadline].

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards, [Insert Name and Title]

The Partnership Approach

Lastly, many companies are reluctant to answer cold emails due to the misconception that they are aimed at sales. However, you can take a partnership approach and offer the recipient an opportunity to collaborate on a future project.

That way, you are neither lowering nor raising their value or yours for that matter. Both parties are equally important and have a lot to gain from a partnership, as opposed to a one-way sales offering. In that regard, a cold email template could take the following form:

Dear [Insert Name],

My name is [Insert Name and Title]; I am contacting you as a representative of [Insert Company]. We are currently looking for business partners who share our vision and long-term goals. After doing some research in our industry we came to the conclusion that you would be a good fit for our future collaborative project.

You can learn more about the project in question in the following link [Insert Link] – we hope that it satisfies your expectations from our brand. Should you have any further questions or are in need of clarification, we’d be happy to answer them for you.

We would love to hear from you by [Insert Deadline] since time is of the essence in project development. Feel free to get back to us at any time of the day.

Best Regards, [Insert Name]

Conclusion

Receiving a response through cold email can sometimes be a gamble. People simply forget to do a follow up or are buried in so much work that the cold email is the last thing on their minds.

However, these templates can make the process of reaching out to new stakeholders much more efficient. Not to mention, the right choice of template can indeed increase your chances of receiving a follow up. Play your hand wisely and opt for the template which suits the current situation the most. Everything else is up to chance and potential mutual gain between the two parties.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these 4 cold sales email templates as well.