A cold email is the starting point of many sales interactions. It’s the way a company introduces itself and its offering to a potential customer that makes the first impression and hopefully starts an interaction. They tend to have lower response rates than other forms of communication, but they’re also low-effort on the salesperson’s side and, thanks to automation, don’t have to take too much time.

Feel free to use these templates as-is in your email marketing software or tweak them to suit your specific audience.

1. Introduction Email

Let’s start with a cold email that’s primary purpose is to introduce you and your company to a new prospect.

The email should begin with both you and your prospect’s basic information (your names and companies), showcase a touch of your research, and then inquire if they’re interested in learning more.

Subject Line: Have you considered (product details or service here)?

Email Copy:


Hi [name],

My name is [your name] with [your company name].

I came across [company name] on G2, and I was super impressed by your customer reviews.

We help companies like yours in [industry] free up time increase revenue by [%]. I wanted to learn what [industry] tools you’re currently using and discuss how you could make some changes to get the same revenue results for your business.

Are you available for a brief call next week?

Sincerely,
[contact signature]

Remember that an introduction template is a starting point for your discussion and you don’t want to overwhelm your prospect with too much information early on. Instead, show them something of value. In the above template, it’s the revenue percentage that your product or service can bring to the table. Show the prospect that, above all, you just want to help them achieve their goals.

2. Solving Problem

When warming a cold contact, you must lead with value. Start your message with a straightforward solution to an immediate problem that they are experiencing. Not sure what that would look like? Feel free to swipe this cold email template and make it your own.

Subject Line: 3 tips to grow your sales today!

Email Copy:

Hi [first name],

We noticed you’ve downloaded some of our resources on business growth. We thought you would be interested in our latest webinar.

We’ll be revealing our top 3 tips for growing sales in your business.

Sincerely,
[contact signature]

Take things a step further by segmenting your contact list for email campaigns, which has been shown to generate a 100.95% higher clickthrough rate as compared to non-segmented email campaigns.

You can personalize and optimize your efforts with relevant content. Segmenting by criteria such as industry or purchase history allows you to send unique email content to each contact.

3. Follow-up

Did you know that “60% of customers say no four times before saying yes”?

Once you’ve re-engaged with cold contacts, don’t waste that momentum. Stay top of mind with automated follow-ups and encourage them to enter the next stage of your nurture campaign or sales pipeline.

Subject Line: Remember what we talked about?

Email Copy:

Hi [first name],

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. After our conversation, we came up with some ideas that would be beneficial for your business. Are you available for another call this week?

Sincerely,
[contact signature]

You can quickly build simple follow-up automation and segment them with an integrated CRM. This will allow you to easily tailor and target your audience, without rewriting or resending a single email.

Better results, more re-engagement, less work. Pretty sweet deal.

4. Results Email

This cold email shows your prospect, in real numbers, how well your product and service works. The data points might highlight the revenue you’ve added to a customer’s business or their increased customer count, for example.

Subject Line: See ehat customer love about us.

Email Copy:

Hi [name],

I was checking out [industry] software on G2 and, after reading some of your reviews, thought you’d find this of interest.

We help companies like [customer names] generate more customers by using proven website optimization techniques.

For example, we’ve helped [client] achieve [result] in [time frame]. I’d love to share how we did it.

Would you be interested in learning more?

Sincerely,
[contact signature]

5. Request a Review or Referral

Client reviews and referrals are like gold when it comes to converting unnurtured leads into clients. For example, when higher-priced items display reviews, the conversion rate increases by 380%.

The key is to keep the conversation going from one happy client to the next potential lead.

Subject Line: We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Email Copy:

Hi [first name],

Recently we worked with you and would love for you to tell us how we did.

Simply click here [provide direct links to your review channels; Google, Yelp, etc.], and tell folks like yourself what they can expect from us.

Thank you so much. We look forward to working with you again.

Sincerely,
[contact signature]

Try building simple automation that sends a follow-up a few days after a purchase, but no more than a week. In no time, you’ll have an automatic review machine helping to grow your sales.