Cold sales email templates

For B2B businesses, cold email marketing has always been and still remains one of the most efficient ways to generate quality leads. A well-crafted, personalized, and highly targeted cold email can be the starting point of a successful sales interaction. However, since a cold email -similar to cold phone calls– is the kind of email that you send to a potential customer that you have no prior relationship with – getting prospects to respond to (or even open) an ice-cold email can be a challenge for sales reps. Below are some best practices for sending B2B cold emails, along with a list of proven subject lines, and 10 cold sales email templates you can use for your outbound email campaigns.

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Save our cold sales emails as canned messages or templates to send them out with ease.

Cold email best practices

  • Know your prospects before you reach out – check their social profiles, company information, and see whether your offering is the right fit.
  • Personalize each message based on the available data – Woodpecker found that the average response rate of advanced personalized emails is 17% (compared to 7% for non-personalized emails).
  • Focus on the value you can provide – explain how your product / service can help solve the prospect’s pain points and reach their goals.
  • Keep your subject line very specific and preferably short – shorter subject lines typically have higher open rates and won’t get cut off on mobile devices.
  • End with a clear call-to-action to encourage further engagement – such as asking them to connect you to the right person, set up a brief call, schedule a demo, etc. 

Cold email subject lines that get opened

  • [Prospect name], can we connect?
  • Can you point me in the right direction?
  • Looking for the best contact at [prospect’s company]
  • Can you help me out?
  • Can you spare 5 minutes, [Prospect name]?
  • Free to talk at [date]?
  • [Mutual connection] recommended I get in touch
  • I found you through [Referral name]
  • Question about [goal they might have]
  • Are you making these mistakes?
  • Most [professionals you’re targeting] make this mistake
  • A way for [prospect’s company] to end [problem]
  • X Steps to achieve [goal they might have]
  • Helping your team accomplish [goal they might have]
  • Can I help you with [reaching a specific goal]?
  • A [better/ smarter/ faster] way to [reach a specific goal]
  • Are you prepared to overcome [specific challenge]?
  • How are you dealing with [pain point]?
  • Have you thought of [relevant offer]?
  • Quick solution for [industry]
  • Did you know [prospect’s competitor] was doing this?
  • X Ways we can help you with [issue they might have]
  • X Tips/ideas for [pain point they might have]
  • 10x [prospect’s company]’s traction in 10 minutes
  • How happy are you with [Company name]’s [business tool they are using]?
  • Congrats – just saw you featured on [top website in your industry]

10 Cold sales email templates

Looking for the right person


Hi [Name],

My name is [First name], and I’m the head of business development efforts at [Your company]. We recently launched a new [product] that helps [one sentence pitch].

I’m taking an educated guess here– based on your online profile, you appear to be an appropriate person to connect with, or might be able to point me in the right direction.

I’d like to speak with someone from [Prospect’s company] who is responsible for [handling something that’s relevant to my product].

If that’s you, are you open to a 15-minute call on [date and time] to discuss how [product] can specifically help your business? If not you, who do you recommend I should contact?

I’d appreciate the help!
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

General introduction email 


Hi [Name],

This is [Your name] with [Your company]. I work with businesses in the [specific] industry and saw you visited our website in the past.

This inspired me to spend a few minutes on [Prospect’s company] website to learn more about how you’re approaching [their strategy for sales/ marketing/ customer service, etc.]. I noticed some areas of opportunity and decided to reach out to you directly.

[Your company] is working with similar companies in your industry, such as [Customer 1], [Customer 2], and [Customer 3] to help them accomplish [specific goals], and giving them the [tools/solutions] to succeed.

If you’d like to learn more, let’s set up a quick call. How does [Day/ time] look on your calendar?

Thanks,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Elevator pitch email 


Hi [Name],

[Your name] from [Your company] here. I know you’re busy, so I’ll keep this short.

[Prospect’s company] is on my radar because we’ve helped organizations like [Customer 1], [Customer 2], and [Customer 3] to improve [the benefit your product provides] and achieve [results].

Is this something that might interest your organization right now? If so, are you or someone from the team available to hop on a quick call sometime over the next week or two?

Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Referring to a competitor’s product


Hi [Name],

Just ran across your website and noticed you were using [your competitor’s product]. How is it working out for you?

Our product is similar to that, however, it also provides [key differentiators]. If you’re up for it, I would love to jump on a quick call with you and get your opinion on how we could make [Prospect’s company] better and see if it would make sense for us to work together.

Would [date and time] be a good time for you? (If not, I’m flexible, just let me know).

Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Value focused email 


Hi [Name],

[Your name] from [Your company] here. I saw you recently downloaded our whitepaper about [topic of whitepaper], so I thought I’d reach out.

[Prospect’s company] looks like a great fit for [Your company] and I’d love to understand what your goals are for this year.

We often help companies like yours grow with:

A solution/result
B solution/result
C solution/result

If you’d like to learn how [Your company] can help you reach [X goals], feel free to book time on my calendar here: [link]

Thanks,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Outreach through a mutual connection


Hi [Name],

[Mutual connection] recommended we get in touch, hope you don’t mind me reaching out. I work for [Company name] that provides [short product pitch].

[Product name] has been helping businesses like yours [achieve specific goals]. I believe it’s something that might be valuable to you.

How do you feel about a quick call next week to discuss this further? Let me know when works best for you.

Thanks,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Sharing helpful ideas 


Hi [Name],

My name is [Your name] and we work with companies like [Company names] to improve their [sales/ marketing efforts/ customer experience, etc.].

I’ve already started looking at [Prospect’s company] website and I have a few ideas about how you can increase your […]. For example, [details on how you can help them achieve their goals].

I actually have more ideas that may be useful for you. Do you have some time next week for a 15-minute call? If so, you can book time directly onto my calendar here: [link]

Regards,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Product demo invitation email


Hi [Name],

My name is [Your name], and I’ll keep this very quick.

Our software solution helps businesses like yours achieve [specific goals] through [product benefits].

Could I have 10 minutes of your time next week for a personalized demo that’ll make clear why companies like [Customer 1], [Customer 2], and [Customer 3] love our product?

Thanks,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

Inbound lead from your website


Hi [Name],

You recently visited our website and [what they did on website]. If you’re interested in learning more about [content topic], then I can recommend the following additional resources:

[Relevant resource 1]
[Relevant resource 2]

Or, if you were looking for a cost-effective solution to [topic], our product/service could actually help you [achieve specific goals]. Let’s schedule a quick 10-minute call so I can tell you more about it. When works best for you?

Best,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

 Personalized outreach email


Hi [Name],

I just came across your [prospect’s blog post/ comment] on [platform] and thought the points you made were very insightful and I agree with most of them.

It also made me want to reach out so I could talk to you about how [Prospect’s company] could benefit from our software that totally takes care of the issue you raised about [details of the issue].

What would be the best way to get 15 mins on your calendar to explore if this would be valuable to your company?

Thanks,
[YOUR SIGNATURE]

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Frequently asked questions

How do you write a cold email for sales?

A cold email is short and to-the-point. Try to formulate the email in no longer 4 sentences.

What do you say in a cold email?

When writing a cold email you should start with a short introduction about yourself and your business. After the introductory paragraph, you should state the reason why you are writing the email. Finally, you should offer a solution or an introduction to your product.

How do I email a cold outreach?

You should have a list of email addresses that you got from your research process. Don’t just send a cold email to random addresses. Focus on building a warm relationship with potential leads. Don’t be afraid to send a lot of emails. Some people think that sending more emails means you can’t build a relationship. This is not true. You can still build a relationship when you send a lot of emails. What is important here is that you have to be able to build a relationship with your leads.

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