7 Cold Email Templates That Will Get You a Reply in 2021

A cold email is an email you send to a prospective client who doesn’t know you. Would it come under spam? No. It is undoubtedly not spam.

While spam emails are ambiguous, you send cold emails with an aim and a purpose. In short, cold emailing can help you reach your leads instantly if done the right way.

No wonder a top-notch cold emailing strategy can have open rates as high as 45.5% or, in my case, 77%! Stick till the end, and I’ll show you exactly how I did it.

An excellent cold email strategy can convert your prospective cold leads into warm ones with whom you can have long-term professional connections.

Before you move further, here’s a tweet to motivate you to send your first cold email:

Best Practices for Sending Cold Emails

Let’s see how you can ace your cold emailing strategy:

Identify Your Target Audience

Before you craft your cold email, it is critical to find out who your prospects are. For instance, if you are a SaaS provider, you need to identify the people who can benefit from your SaaS solutions.

These people can be IT experts and business users. You can invite them to attend a webinar on “how to implement SaaS in your business.” The point is the cold email you send should be relevant to your target audience.

Also, out of the 12 million cold outreach emails sent, only 8.5% get a reply.

To ensure that doesn’t happen to you, have a lead list before pitching them through your cold email.

Having a lead list is impressive for finding the right prospects among your target audience.

Segmenting that list can help you send more relevant and targeted cold emails to your prospects, increasing your conversions.

If you don’t have your prospects’ email addresses, don’t worry. Here’s a comprehensive guide with all the tips and tricks you need to find someone’s email address.

After all, the correct email to the right person is crucial in making your cold email strategy successful.

Have a Clear, Crisp, and Precise Subject Line

Keeping your subject line short and to the point is the key to a successful cold emailing strategy. Your subject line should serve as an overview of your email copy.

For instance, if you pitch a prospect for writing a guest post, keep the subject line as simple as “guest post proposal.” Do you see how this subject line is providing insights about your email to the receiver?

Note: An ideal subject line should not contain more than seven words.

You can also A/B test your subject lines and see which one is working best for you. A thorough A/B test will help you derive concrete results on how to draw your prospect’s attention to your cold email.

Remember, your subject line is like the first good impression. Make sure you nail it and entice your prospects to open and click-through your cold email. Take some inspiration from this tweet and ensure that your prospects’ initial minutes with your cold email are worth their time.

Work Towards Personalization

The more you personalize your cold email, the higher are your chances of getting a reply from your prospect. While the average response rate of a highly personalized cold email is 17%, those without personalization have a response rate as low as 7%.

Why do personalized emails have better response rates? The answer is simple – it reflects that you genuinely want to reach your prospects.

However, personalization goes beyond just mentioning your subscriber’s first name in the subject line or the email copy. Research about your prospects, analyze their social media profiles and come up with a piece of information that can give your cold email the personal touch it needs.

LinkedIn is the best platform to find out about your target audience’s work profile, skills, activity, and interests. Such insights will give you a clear understanding of your prospects’ needs.

Also, you can check their websites for any new information.

Did they roll out a new product in the market?
Have they won any awards recently?

Mentioning these points in your cold email will instill positive vibes in your prospect when they open your email. Simply put, they will be happy to know that you took a step forward and reached out to them.

You can use a mass email service to send out targeted and personalized cold emails (in bulk) to your prospects. A good mass email service offers scalability and ensures the high deliverability of your cold emails.

Provide Value through Your Email Copy

Your prospects will convert into leads only if your cold email talks about providing benefits to them. Remember, the cold email should not look like a promotional campaign for your product or service. Instead, it should mention how your product or service can provide value to them.

For instance, if you are sending a cold email regarding your podcast on “implementing SaaS CRM in a business,” mention how it will benefit your prospects. Tell them how the CRM will help them collect extensive customer data, helping them deliver an impeccable user experience. A value proposition will entice your target audience to attend your podcast.

Include Social Proof

Having social proof in your cold email will increase your chances of getting a response from your prospects. If you have people who have already used your product or service, mentioning it in your cold email will prove your credibility to the prospects. This will encourage them to try your product or service.

You can also leverage the name of mutual connections you have with your prospects to garner their trust. Did you know mentioning a shared LinkedIn connection in your cold email can increase the conversion by 468%? That’s huge!

Including verifiable results in your cold email can also convert your prospects into leads. Tell your prospects about how you closed a deal or explain a significant milestone you achieved with your product or service.

Also, don’t forget to include a signature at the end of the cold email. Your signature should include your company’s name, phone number, website, social media links, and physical address.

This way, you will make it easy for your prospects to understand who you are. It will also give them a chance to get in touch with you somewhere other than the cold email.

Come Up with a Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

A call-to-action (CTA) is a great way to tell prospects precisely what you want them to do. Do you want them to sign up for your webinar? Or do you wish to discuss your product/service with them over a call? Whatever is the case, make sure your CTA entices them to take action.

A great way of encouraging prospects to go ahead with your CTA is to reiterate your email copy’s value proposition.

For instance, if you are an SEO expert conducting an online SEO workshop and want your prospects to get on a call to discuss it further, tell them how your workshop can help them increase their search engine rankings.

Seven Go-to Cold Email Templates to Keep Your Leads Warm

Now, since you know how to write full-proof and client-winning cold emails, let’s take a look at seven such templates that can help you reach and get responses from the top people in your industry.

1. Link Building and Guest Post Email Templates

Guest posts are a great way to build your brand authority and garner quality backlinks for your website. So, when you are pitching to high-domain authority websites, make sure it is engaging and to the point.

Why should a website share your post? How is it going to provide value to their audience base?

In short, engage in a way that makes the whole cold email revolve around your prospective guest post website.

Also, adding relevant links to your previously published articles will increase your credibility as an author and improve your chances of landing a byline article on the proposed website.

Here’s a template of a guest post proposal that will get you an instant reply:

Subject: Guest post proposal.

Body:

Hi (Name),

I was going through (include a relevant topic) in the morning and found out your (include the prospect’s website name). I must say your website has an amazing collection of top-notch articles. Your blog (including a link to their article) especially stood out to me.

I am reaching out to you because I’d love to contribute a guest post to your website. I can create an insightful and well-researched post on the following topics:

Topic I

Topic II

Topic III

I promise to fill the article with actionable tips and solid points. You can check my published articles here:

(Include links of your articles published on high-authority websites)

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

(Email Signature)

2. Content/Product Promotion Email Templates

Have a new product or service in the market? Did you create unique content on your industry-related topic? It’s time to promote it through the following cold emailing template:

Subject: Growth hacks for (the lead’s company name)

Body:

Hey (Name),

I hope you are keeping well. I found your company during an online search. You guys are doing a great job (a unique value that they are providing). We have a new (mention your product/service) that can help you further elevate your sales (mention a benefit your product/service can provide).

Can we jump on a quick call on (mention time and date) and discuss this further?

Regards,

(Email Signature)

3. Influencer Outreach Email Templates

If you want to reach an influencer to enhance your business’s online visibility, you must craft an effective collaboration cold email. Here’s an email template depicting how you can ace your collaboration email:

Subject: Willing to collaborate with (your company’s name)?

Body:

Hi (Name),

I am (your name). I am a (your job role) and manage the digital marketing strategies at (your company’s name).

I have been following your content (mention their social media profile links) for many years. I must say your content resonates with the masses on a personal level. Your recent collaboration (mention the brand) was terrific.

I wanted to know if you would be willing to collaborate with our brand? Let me know, and we can take this ahead.

Cheers,

(Email Signature)

4. Sales Pitch Email Templates

A sales email doesn’t necessarily need to be sales-y. You can create a simple sales pitch cold email and generate new leads for your business.

All you need to do is add credible insight about your experience, tell them what your product or service has in store for them, including a few high-authority testimonials, and you will be good to go.

A sales email on the below-mentioned line will certainly make your sales cold email worth attracting leads.

Subject: Are you trying to grow your (mention their goal)?

Body:

Hi (Name),

I went through your website and noticed you are trying to (include a brief description of a particular goal). I think (enter your company’s name) can help you pave new avenues of success. Our (company) works seamlessly towards helping businesses like yours towards achieving the following goals:

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

We have a track record of (include a goal you achieved, preferably a link to the work you did) for companies such as (mention the names of the brands you have worked with).

Are you free to get on a call and discuss a few strategies that can help you grow your business?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

(Email signature)

5. Podcast Outreach Email Templates

If you run a podcast and want industry experts to be there, cold emailing is the way. Be straightforward. Ask them you want them to be your guest at the show.

Let them know you have followed their work and love every bit of it. Also, be clear about the time the podcast will take. Here’s an easy template that you can use:

Subject: Be my guest at (podcast’s name)

Body:

Hey (Name),

I am (your name). I run (podcast’s name).

Every fortnight, I interview industry experts, sharing their insights on (topic) for about 45 minutes.

I think you will be a fantastic guest on my podcast. I love the work you are doing in (mention their field). Could you please spare 45 minutes and share your expertise with my(number) of followers?

You can check my previous podcasts (link) here.

We can schedule the podcast according to your availability. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

(Email Signature)

6. Referral Email Templates

If you don’t know the right person in a company to pitch your cold email, go the referral email way.

Have an email address of a high-authority person in your prospective lead company? Just shoot them an email and ask them to refer you to the right person. You can do it with the following template:

Subject: (Name), show me the right way, please.

Body:

Hi (Name),

I hope you are doing well. Do you have time to refer me to the right person for discussing (your product/service) that can help your company (add value)?

Best regards,

(Email Signature)

7. Follow-up Email Templates

You might not always get a response to your cold emails.

However, you can always follow up and increase your chances of receiving a reply.

Here’s a brief template for a quick follow up cold email:

Subject: (Include your original subject line here)

Body:

Hi (Name),

I was just curious if you had got some time from your busy schedule to look at my (your email topic) that I sent you on (mention the date).

If you haven’t checked it already, it would be great if you could scroll past your inbox and see (insert the value you can provide).

(Include your original email copy here.)

(Email Signature)

Wrap Up

Whether you want to scale up your link-building campaign or wish to close a sales deal, you are just a cold email away from achieving your business goal.

All you need to do is identify your target prospects and connect with them on a personal level. So, make sure you personalize your cold email well and provide value with your content. Besides, it is important to keep your subject line precise, which serves as an overview of your email copy.

Also, including social proof along with a strong CTA in your email copy is a must to compel them to take action. In short, let your prospects know what exactly you are offering and how it can benefit them.

All in all, cold emailing is all about understanding your target’s business needs and sending them emails that resonate with their organization’s goals and objectives.

The above-mentioned cold email templates can come in handy and help you nail your cold emailing strategy right away.

Happy cold emailing!

Written by our guest writer Dhruv Maheshwari, founder at Outsourc

Dhruv helps brands grow organically by designing a winning content strategy and creating outstanding content pieces. In his free time, he is chiseling his fitness goals and traveling around the world.

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