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Mastering the Art of Writing Effective Cold Emails
What is a Cold Email Template?
“Cold emailing is the most effective way to generate leads, but it’s also time-consuming AF. Enter: cold email templates—the perfect way to save you time and get more replies.”
-Steli Efti
Co-founder / CEO @ Close.io
Why to Use Cold Email Templates?
The biggest benefit: you save time & money.
When you spend less time writing personalised emails, you have more time to focus on lead generation, nurturing relationships, and following up.
It also makes it easier to test, iterate, and scale the cold outreach strategies that are performing best.
For example, if one particular email template is effective (has a higher open rate or more responses), you can quickly roll that out to your entire sales team.
We update and share with Community Members the best-performing cold email template, each month.
So, you can plug-n-play proven to work cold email templates in your campaigns—to get more leads.
All Time Best-Performing Template
Subject: Quick question
Hey [prospect],
Are you open to a potential partnership?
We specialise in helping [industry] get [goal] in under [time] without [pain]
I know that’s a bold claim, but we’ve helped {active clients} in just under [time] generate over [results]
Some of our clients include {notable clients}
The best part is {irresistible offer}
Does it make sense for us to hop on a quick 15 minute call to discuss further?
Cheers,
{your name}
P.s. just respond back “no” if you’re not interested in receiving these emails again.
Variables—to complete
- Service you provide:
- Industry:
- Goal:
- Time:
- Pain:
- Active Clients:
- Notable Clients:
- Results:
- Irresistible offer:
ChatGPT Prompt
Using 5th grade language we can take advantage of ChatGPT to craft a good first draft for our cold email openers.
All you have to do is copy / paste the right data on ChatGPT following the steps below. He will consistently give you above-average results.
An important note: be kind to robots, so they remember you when they take over the world. Always say “thank you”.
[ChatGPT prompt]
I’ll provide you with a cold email template that has some “variables”. Also I’ll give you a list of examples for these “variables”. Your task is to apply best practices for writing a cold email. Keep it straightforward, use plain language, and follow the provided format. We’ll refer to this email template as the “Master Outline” for future use. Please respond with “OK” if you’re clear on this.
[[insert the data]]
Create one more variant using Master Outline. You can slightly change words on the Master Outline. Keep it simple.
9 Cold Email Openers Templates
When?—you want a meeting but aren’t sure you’re talking to the right person.
Subject Line: [prospect] can you help?
Hey [prospect],
We recently launched a new feature at {your company} that {value proposition} and we’re seeing awesome [specific results] for .
Do you handle [the thing your product does] at [prospect’s company]?
Thanks
{your name}
When?—use this if you know your recipient isn’t a decision-maker.
Subject Line: Can you show me the way?
Hey [prospect],
I’m with {your company}, and we work with organizations like [prospect’s company] to {value proposition}.
Can you point me towards the right person on your team to chat with about this?
Cheers,
{your name}
When?—if you’re trying to land an enterprise client with a long sales cycle, or if your solution comes with a premium price tag.
Subject Line: Want [metric from case study]?
Hey [prospect],
I’ll get straight to the point, we help [industry] with [pain points] and {your product} is extremely effective.
We’ve already helped companies like {active clients} reach [metrics].
Do you have 15 minutes tomorrow to chat about [#1 benefit your prospect can expect]?
Thanks for your time,
{your name}
When?—if you come across an event that peaks your interest. Being genuine is key here. Be sure you offer a detailed congratulations based on your real research, not just a one-liner followed by a sales pitch.
Subject Line: Congrats on [event]!
Hey [prospect],
I saw you recently [event—acquisition, new product launch, etc.]. Congrats!
[include genuine, brief sentences elaborating on how excited they are, mention if you saw good press, how it made you feel, etc.]
After [event] many companies focus more on {value you offer}. Things are probably crazy right now at [prospect’s company], but I’d love to share how we can help [goal]
Do you have time to chat next week?
Congrats again,
{your name}
When?—your prospects are in the sales funnel’s consideration stage. Mention a real problem they face, then agitate the problem.
Subject Line: Scale [goal] in [time]
Hey [prospect],
While researching [prospect’s company], I came across your profile—looks like you’ve been busy the past [number of years they’ve worked at the company] years scaling the [department] team.
Does your team ever struggle with [pain points]?
{competitor} needed a way to [goal]. Since leveraging {your product}, their [benefit]. As a result, their customers experienced [business impact].
Does it make sense to explore ways we can help your team as well?
{your name}
When?—you have a deeper understanding of your ICP pain points so you can really tap into their desire for a solution.
If this cold email format looks a little familiar, it’s because it works! AIDA (awareness, interest, desire, action) framework, it’s one of the most effective marketing framing techniques.
Subject Line: Tired of [pain point]?
Hey [prospect],
I have followed [prospect’s company] for a while now and wanted to gauge your interest in {value proposition}
Over at {your company}, we have a new feature that’ll help [department] at [prospect’s company] with {goal}. We do this by:
- [benefit/feature #1]
- [benefit/feature #2]
- [benefit/feature #3]
Are you available for a quick call at {time & date} to explore this further?
Cheers,
{your name}
When?—use this when your prospect is a whale client. Value-based outreach builds trust.
Subject Line: Your feature on our blog
Hey [prospect],
My content team over at {your company} recently published a post featuring [prospect’s company] in a post about {title of the post, hyperlinked to the article}
We’re big fans of [what recipient company is uniquely doing] in the [industry] space and we included you {link to a blog post, quote}.
I’d love to hear your thoughts or if you have additional insights to add!
{your name}
When?—it works particularly well for service-based companies with deep industry expertise.
Subject Line: Two ideas for [prospect’s company]
Hey [prospect],
I’m with {your company} where we {value proposition} for [industry]. We’ve worked with companies like {notable clients} to achieve [goal] and I noticed [prospect’s activity, ex: “that your team sends a lot of cold emails”].
Do you have a process for [solution you offer, ex: “getting +60% open rates”]? If not, I’d love to send over a quick, no strings attached, video with two simple ways you can [prospect’s pain point you solve, ex: “improve your cold email’s deliverability”]
What do you think?
{your name}
When?—you have access to some (legitimate) insightful metrics you can leverage as a part of your hook.
Subject Line: [metric] for [prospect’s company] in 15 minutes
Hey [prospect],
My team at {your company} has been working on [new strategy] to help companies like [prospect’s company] to [goal]
I’d love to partner up and see how we can help you overcome [pain point].
Do you have 15 minutes for a quick call to run through a few actionable insights with you?
{your name}
