Our clients frequently ask us what they can do to improve the performance of their campaigns, so let’s dive into the subject and discuss the anatomy of the most effective sales email templates.
Sales Email is 40 times more successful in acquiring new clients than Twitter or Facebook.
Then how come so many salespeople get such lackluster results from their email marketing efforts?
Because of poorly composed sales email copy.
Here are some ideas to help you fix it.
- Email Outreach Best Practices
- Follow up!
- A call to action is a must
- Test your subject lines
- 1. Questions in subject lines
- 2. Offer a solution
- 3. Pique their curiosity
- 4. Drop names
- 5. Leverage common interests
- 6. Promote your content
- 7. Send helpful content
- 8. Check who viewed your LinkedIn profile
- 9. Elicit a response
- 10. Use Trigger events
- 11. Offer help
- 12. Social proof
- Follow-Up Email Templates
- Break-up Email
- Closing Words
Email Outreach Best Practices
Before we start talking about sales email examples, it’s important to understand that there are some rules when it comes to crafting the copy.
Follow up!
No matter how many times this has been repeated, it’s still something that many sales reps and marketers fail to do.
Almost 48% of them give up after just a single follow-up.
Remember, 80% of sales require an average of 5 follow-ups (and sometimes even more) to close a deal.
So, quitting after one unsuccessful follow-up is a very bad idea.
The trick is to plan your outreach, decide how many follow-ups you want, and prepare all of them in advance. To learn how to be persistent but not annoying when following up, read our blog post.
A call to action is a must
Again, this is one of the basic rules of successful email marketing. Make your CTA actionable and visible, and tell your recipients exactly what you want them to do.
And, no, “Call us now on 987654321” isn’t a proper call to action.
There’s no way to track the performance of this CTA, which is why you need to include a link that leads to a designated landing page or add a link to your calendar so they can easily book a call with you.
Test your subject lines
When you check your metrics and see that an email has no opens, let alone click-throughs, it’s a signal that your subject line needs tweaking.
Don’t just write something off the top of your head.
Cold Outreach Examples
You need to be very careful with cold outreach because it’s important to make a killer first impression and overcome the awkwardness of emailing someone for the first time.
1. Questions in subject lines
Use relevant and compelling questions in your subject lines, as they’re great attention-grabbers.
Formulate some of the most common pain points in your niche questions. That insinuates you’re about to present your recipients with a solution.
Of course, this strategy will work only if you deliver what you promise.
Subject Line: Need more high-quality leads?
Hi Mike,
Establishing a steady flow of high-quality leads is essential for the growth of any business, and we all know how challenging this process can be.
These challenges and how to overcome them are the topics that I’m going to tackle in my free upcoming webinar “7 tips for Using LinkedIn for Lead Gen”.
Join me and I’ll share with you my experience together with a lot of actionable tips that can help you start growing your contact list right away.
Sign up here: LINK.
Best regards,
Shawn
2. Offer a solution
This email allows you to attract your recipients’ attention by mentioning how you can help them.
When it comes to targeted cold outreach, here’s an example of a quick but effective meeting proposal from the Autoklose template database:
Autoklose + [Company]
[First Name], hope you’re having a great week so far.
I had a chance to look at your [Website] and thought it might make sense for us to connect. I work with over 50 organizations from your vertical like [Case Study 1] and [Case Study 2] to ensure they successfully deploy sales automation process.
When will you have 15 minutes this week for a quick call?
Regards,
[Name]
3. Pique their curiosity
Another template from our database available to all Autoklose subscribers revolves around your recipients’ interests and clearly indicates that its purpose is educational:
Let me show you something awesome
Steven, I’ve had a chance to browse through your website and it seems that your company could greatly benefit from using Autoklose.
In order to take full advantage of this great product, it is essential that you know how to implement it, and that’s why I’d like to offer you a free demo that will guide you through all its features and functions.
It’s pretty simple. Just follow this link, register, and request your free demo: calendly.com/autoklosedemo
Have a great day,
4. Drop names
Referencing a common connection is another pretty clever way of making your cold outreach work.
Ask your existing customers and contacts whether they would mind you mentioning them for this purpose.
Shawn Finder recommended I reach out to you
Hi Tim,
I was having a conversation with Shawn Finder the other day, about sales automation, and he mentioned that you were actively searching for a solution to automate your business.
That’s exactly my company’s area of expertise, so I believe that you can really benefit from using Autoklose.
It would be my pleasure to show you how it works and how to make the most of it.
Pick a lot in my calendar and book a demo with me directly whenever it suits you: calendly.com/autoklosedemo
Talk to you soon,
Igor
5. Leverage common interests
Finding out a shared interest with your prospects is a good way to connect with them and build rapport.
Use all available sources, including their website, social media profiles, and mutual connections.
Here’s an example that illustrates how to leverage you’re your mutual interests without being creepy:
Who’s your favorite tennis player? 🙂
Hey Shawn, I checked out your [LinkedIn Profile], and I noticed that you used to be a pro tennis player.
How cool is that?
I’m also a big fan, and I play every now and then. Wouldn’t it be great to have a meetup/tennis match with a couple of other sales professionals?
Or, if that’s too far-fetched given our busy schedules, let’s book a meeting to discuss how we can help each other’s companies grow and hit more targets.
Here’s the link to my calendar, so make an appointment and we’ll talk: [Link]
Cheers,
[First Name] [Title] [Company]
6. Promote your content
Content is extremely important, especially in the B2B industry, in which educating your prospects is the best way to help them understand why your solution is right for them.
So, promoting your latest blog post on a relevant topic is something that your prospects will definitely appreciate.
In one of our sales email examples, we promoted our Black Friday post in which we addressed seasonal pain points our prospects face.
Are you ready for Black Friday?
Nataly,
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner.
While it’s an amazing opportunity to capitalize on the shopping frenzy mindset, you need to have a game plan well in advance.
Our latest blog, How to Outsell Your Competitors (and Yourself) This Black Friday is packed with actionable tips that will freshen up your existing marketing strategies.
Here are a couple of tips to show you what you can expect:
* Try flash sales
* Start early, end late
* Offer product bundles.
You can read more on the following [Link].
Happy reading.
[Your Name]
[Title]
[Company]
7. Send helpful content
Even if it isn’t yours!
You can use trigger events to send your prospects other people’s content that they will find useful. This way, you’ll show that shameless self-promotion isn’t something that you’re after and that your main idea is to help.
How to successfully manage a team?
[First Name],
First of all, congratulations on taking over the position of Head of Sales. It’s very well earned.
Now, since I know that this job can be tough, I’ve found an extremely useful read on how to build and manage a successful sales team. I think you’ll find it very helpful. Here’s the link to the [Book].
What do you think?
Regards,
[Your Name]
8. Check who viewed your LinkedIn profile
Here’s another sneaky tactic that will help you connect with people who viewed your LinkedIn profile but failed to send you a connection request.
You can use a humorous remark as an effective icebreaker:
What did I do?
Hi [First Name],
I see that you visited my LinkedIn profile yesterday and you didn’t send me a connection request.
Hope that you didn’t find me too boring.
Anyway, I still think that you should give me a chance because from what I can tell from your LinkedIn, we can have a lot to talk about, given that both of us are in sales.
How does that sound?
[Your Name]
9. Elicit a response
Many times you’ll see that your prospects’ opened your email, but for some reason, they failed to reply.
This can be extremely frustrating because you have no idea whether they just forgot to do so because they were busy, or they ignored you on purpose – for example, your offer didn’t strike a chord or they didn’t see any value in it.
So, in case you failed to interest them enough, you can spark the conversation again by highlighting the top benefits of your product or service:
How about boosting your revenue?
Hi John,
I see that you opened my previous email but failed to respond.
It’s ok, I know that you’re busy.
As a matter of fact, Autoklose can help you a lot with that.
If you decide to give it a try you’d be able to:
- Automate and personalize your sales emails down to the latest detail in no time
- Save up to 5 hours a week per sales rep
- Allow your prospects to schedule meetings with you effortlessly without having to email you back and forth until you agree on a date
And these are just a couple of time-saving features.
We’ve got a lot more, so click on the link to my calendar below to schedule a demo with me when it works for you (see how it’s super easy!)
I’ll be happy to walk you through the platform and show you how to work smarter and not harder and close more deals.
Shawn Finder
10. Use Trigger events
Touching base just for the sake of it isn’t a good idea, as your prospect will be left wondering what the purpose of your email is.
Trigger events serve as an excellent opportunity to get in touch with your prospects.
Use different reasons to reach out such as promotions, new fundings, various company announcements, or even recent social media updates.
Congrats on your new position
Hi Evan,
I see that you’ve been promoted to Head of Marketing Department.
That’s awesome news! I’m sure that you invest a lot of hard work in everything you do.
But, you’re in for a lot of challenges too. Should you need any help regarding email marketing, feel free to contact me.
It would be a good idea to have a quick call very soon, as I’m sure I can offer you some really valuable advice.
Pick a date and book a call with me on the following link: calendly.com/autoklosedemo
Let’s keep in touch,
[Your Name] [Title] [Company]
11. Offer help
Another way to connect with your prospects is by offering them your help and providing immediate value.
The following template does a big favor to your prospect because it points out to an error that needs to be fixed, and it offers a solution:
Your website is awesome but…
Hey [First Name],
I stumbled across your [Website] the other day, and I must say that it looks really great.
It’s visually appealing and full of interesting and educational content (like those case studies).
However, my wording in the opening sentence of this email was purely intentional.
Namely, I found you only by accident.
That’s something that can seriously damage the growth of your business. In other words, you need a sound Search Engine strategy that will put your website among the top search results and bring it closer to your prospects.
Here’s the link to my [Calendar], let’s have a quick discussion.
Best,
[Your Name] [Title] [Company]
[Your Name]
12. Social proof
Don’t expect your recipients to take your word for it — let them know how others benefited from implementing your solution.
Including social proof in your sales email templates is much more powerful than talking about how amazing your products or services are.
Offer your potential customers relevant case studies, customer testimonials, and reviews, so that they can see right from the start you’re working with and helping companies similar to theirs achieve their goals.
Join top industry leaders benefiting from [product/service]
Hi [Recipient’s Name],
I am reaching out today because we have recently helped industry leaders like [renowned company A], [renowned company B], and [renowned company C] optimize their [specific area you helped with] and saw phenomenal results.
In fact, [briefly describe a compelling case study or statistic on how you significantly impacted those companies], thanks to our unique approach to [what your product/service entails].
I am confident we can replicate these impressive results for [recipient’s company] as well.
Would you be available for a quick chat or a demo next [day of the week]?
Looking forward to our potential partnership.
Best regards,
Follow-Up Email Templates
Follow-up emails can make a big difference.
That’s why Autoklose pays great attention to this element of email marketing by providing you with a number of high-converting, customizable follow-up email sequences for various business situations.
13. Follow-up 1
Last call, [First Name]
[First Name] I noticed you never scheduled a time for our chat and wanted to try one last time. As you can see, I’m pretty persistent.
I really hope we can jump on a call this week to discuss potential synergies. If I don’t hear back from you, I can’t promise I won’t try again 🙂
You can use the link below to book the time that works for you best:
calendly.com/autoklosedemo/demo
Stay well,
[Your Name]
14. Follow-up 2
Don’t you feel bad for me yet?
Hi [First Name], I emailed you 4 times, called you once, but never gave up like Tom Brady in the second half of the Super Bowl. I hope you can appreciate my persistence as I believe I can be of assistance.
All I need is 15 minutes of your time and I actually booked off the entire week for you. 🙂
You can use the link below to book the time that works for you best. My calendar: calendly.com/autoklosedemo/demo
Have a great day,
[Your Name]
15. Follow-up 3
⦋First Name⦌, you can’t blame me for trying
[First Name], you are a salesperson.
I’m sure you’ll agree with me that persistence is the key to success. The reason I’m insisting on this 15-minute meeting is that I’m convinced both you and I could create a great, profitable synergy
Click on the link below to pick a free slot in my calendar and let’s connect this week: calendly.com/autoklosedemo/demo
Best regards, [Your Name]
Break-up Email
After you’ve exhausted all other options to engage your prospects who have been inactive for some time, here’s your last resort – a breakup email. This way, you’ll offer them one last chance to become your customers. If that doesn’t work, then it’s definitely time to remove them from your contacts.
16. Break-up email example
Tell me where I stand
Hey [First Name],
We have the practice of closing files of prospects who don’t respond over a period of time. I know that you’re super busy, you’re not interested in automating your sales process, let me know, and I’ll close your file.
If you’re interested, let’s move on to the next step.
Book a demo on the following link, and I’ll show you what Autoklose can do for you: calendly.com/autoklosedemo/demo
Cheers,
Closing Words
As you can see, there’s a number of possibilities to reach your prospects and by not using the tremendous potential of sales email prospecting, you’re leaving the money on the table.
These templates can help you craft your templates properly and increase your open and click-through rates.
So, how do you write a strong sales email?
Here’s a quick recap:
- Research your recipients
- Segment your list
- Personalize beyond the first name level
- Craft an irresistible subject line
- Have a powerful opening line
- Keep your message short and to the point
- Include a visible and strong CTA
- Polish your signature
- Conclude with a question.
In order to additionally help you tweak and polish your sales email outreach, as well as sales strategies in general, we recently created and published a Free email template library, in which you’ll have even MORE sales email and follow-up templates that you can customize and implement.
It’s worth mentioning that these templates are tested and proven to work. Our sales reps use it regularly with a lot of success.
