Copper Staff
Contributors from members of the Copper team
Cold emailing prospects can be tricky – you need great content to break the ice.
Your number one focus when reaching out to prospects is to outline value. These recipients might not know who you are, and therefore may not give you the time your product or service deserves. Show them that you understand their time is valuable and what you’re offering is something that will add value to their business. Here are a few tips and templates to help you hit the ground running.
Cold Emailing Best Practices
The first step to successful cold emailing is to establish a solid foundation. Let’s lay down some of the best practices.
Keep it short
- We’ve entered an age where attention spans are shorter than ever. Noah Kagan suggests you read the email out loud before sending and trim out anything longer than a minute.
Humanize yourself
- People like working with people. Making it clear to a prospect that you’re more than just a face on a screen can be a huge leg up over the competition. Consider including a fun fact about yourself and let the person on the receiving end know you’re there to help them out with any questions they might have.
Segment when possible
- The more specific you can be to a person’s industry or job role, the more relevant you’ll be to your prospects day. People are more willing to dedicate time to things they perceive as relevant and beneficial, so make sure they see the value that pertains to them. Personalizing and segmenting your list is always a formula for success.
Never apologize
- Don’t apologize for emailing someone. By saying something like, “Sorry for bothering you, but…”, you’re putting the idea in their head that you shouldn’t be contacting them before they even have a chance to see if you’re a fit for their business. Instead, focus on being gracious and conscientious of their time.
A/B test
- After using the same email a handful of times, you’ll start to realize how effective your emails are. To optimize your email success, you’ll want to test things like send time (time of day and day of the week), sender name (the “from” part of your email), subject line, email content (layout, length, copy, etc.) and the call-to-action (including color schemes). Kissmetrics shares the best ways to build out a testing program on their blog.
Have a single call to action
- This ties back to keeping it short and simple. Make it very clear what you’d like the reader to do. With attention spans shorter than a goldfish these days, this helps avoid confusion and makes it easy for prospects to quickly perform the action you’d like them to take.
The Art of the Subject Line
When it comes to subject lines, you want something that is going to intrigue the recipient enough to actually open the email (and not send it straight to the trash). So, how do you do this? The answer is simple: address their pain point. Get them hooked by letting them know you can solve their issues at work. Here are some subject line examples to get you started.
Also, remember to keep it short and sweet. The quicker someone understands why you’re contacting them, the better off you are. In a study by Fast Company, two identical emails with different subject lines were sent to the same number of busy execs. The email with the longer subject line (eight words) received a 4.9 percent lower open rate and half as many responses.
Nurture Email Templates Focused on Value
Now that you’re well-versed in best practices and subject lines, let’s get to those templates. We’ve got four templates that we suggest you use consecutively in a drip. Each focuses on a main theme while keeping it short and simple.
1. Benefits/features overview
Subject line: Let’s solve your [insert their problem]
Hi [First Name] –
My name is [insert your name] and I’m an [insert your title] on the [insert your company name] team. [Explain how you got their contact information]. I know this is a little out of the blue, but wanted to see how we could help!
We know managing [insert their problem] can be a challenge. Our customers run into this issue all the time. We help by:
- [Benefit 1]
- [Benefit 2]
- [Benefit 3]
Are you available [insert date] for a quick call? I’m looking forward to connecting.
Best –
[Insert your name]
2. Customer testimonials
Subject line: Your toolbelt needs a top-rated [insert what your company does]
Hi [First Name] –
Just circling back on [insert your company name]. We’re here to help you with [insert their problem].
[Insert your unique benefit in one sentence].
We’re the top rated [insert what your company does] on [insert review site: Yelp, G2Crowd, etc]. But don’t take my word for it, the reviews speak for themselves!
[Insert snippet from review and link to it].
Are you available to chat on [insert date]? Let me know what would work best for you!
Best –
[Insert your name]
3. Industry content
Subject line: [Insert their first name], did you see the latest?
Hi [First Name] –
I saw [insert relevant industry content] and thought of you. Does [insert their problem] keep you up at night? Me too.
I’d love the opportunity to help you with this. Could we explore how [insert your company name] and our [insert your unique benefit] can help you and your team?
Would a call on [insert date] work for you?
Best –
[Insert your name]
4. We’re going to move on, but here’s a discount as a last offer
Subject line: One last try
Hi [First Name] –
Goodbyes can be hard, so I wanted to reach out one last time. I know we haven’t been able to connect yet, but I know we can help you with [insert their problem] by [insert your unique benefit].
As a parting gift, I wanted to give you a special discount. I’m offering [insert discount or deal]. Let me know if this is something you’d like to take advantage of!
Best –
[Insert your name]
Use Copper CRM to Integrate the Email Process
And that’s a wrap! We hope this makes reaching out a little less intimidating. Have additional tricks that have helped you out? The Google-recommended CRM from Copper will provide you with the tools to easily create and send emails to your prospects. Happy selling!
