According to Campaign Monitor, nearly 129 billion business emails are sent and received PER DAY.
For B2B sales professionals, that’s a monumental amount of inbox competition! How can you make your email prospecting stand out and beat the billions of rivals vying for your prospects’ attention?
We asked 3 members of our high-performing sales team for their advice on crafting winning B2B prospecting emails. Plus, they delved into their inbox analytics and gave us their most successful messages.
Scroll 👇 for 4 email templates that drive sales!
Watch Cognism's training video to get even more email tips 👇
1. The first email in a cadence
Rachel Goldstone, now SDR Manager, started as an SDR at Cognism. When she was SDR-ing, she delivered fantastic results - particularly on email, which is a channel that she made entirely her own.
We asked Rachel for her insights into the first email in a prospecting cadence. This is her template:
Hey (first name),
I hope you are well and are keeping positive!
Your demonstrated (and impressive!) history working in sales over the years led me to believe you would be the right person to speak to.
I can see at (company name), you target a variety of different verticals, and have worked with clients such as (company names).
Our platform can help your team acquire new clients similar to the ones you already work with, by providing you with contact details for these companies and individuals.
Your team will be able to spend more valuable time on revenue-generating activities, with a higher conversion rate and lower cost per acquisition.
Please do check out the success our clients have using our platform.
If maintaining business growth is on your agenda right now, then I’m positive a chat will be worth your time.
Are you open to jumping on a call tomorrow?
Thank you,
Email prospecting tips
- Always research the prospect and their business thoroughly before crafting a sales outreach email template. Include as much of your research as possible in your email.
- Personalise your email. The first email in your cadence should be 20% personalised. Always include the prospect’s name and company name.
- Don’t bombard the prospect with too much information. Don’t give too much away! Instead, spark the recipient’s curiosity. Less is more!
- Include links to relevant content - in this instance, the email contains a link to Cognism’s case studies library, which the prospect can browse at their leisure.
- Try out this as a subject line: “A question for you, ((first name))”. You'll see higher open rates by using this subject line!
2. Email following a content download
Before he started his own business, William Gay worked tirelessly as a Marketing Development Representative for Cognism. Part of his role was to engage with prospects who had downloaded our content.
Here’s an email that Will used for this purpose; it received reply rates of up to 20%:
Hi (first name),
Following on from my last email, I thought I would share another statistic with you.
Salesforce said that it typically takes 6-8 touchpoints to initiate a conversation with someone.
That seems about right because this is touchpoint 7 and you haven't replied yet 😉
Hopefully, I'm not being too persistent here! Do you have 15 minutes to discuss your interest in our sales material and to find out if Cognism could assist you with getting direct contact details for key decision-makers in your chosen verticals?
Best,
Email prospecting tips
- Buy email lists from reliable sources only, such as Cogism
- Keep your emails as short as they can be. 100 words max!
- Try out this subject line: “Cognism referred by (colleague name)”. It can be very powerful to mention in your subject line that you’ve been referred by someone else in the prospect’s company.
- Don’t be shy in bringing out your humorous side! Emails containing an element of humour are usually the most successful, boosting reply rates to 28% or more.
- A/B test your emails. Split your prospect list into 2 groups. Send one style of email to the first group, and another style of email to the second group. Whichever email performs better is the one you’ll use going forward. Be guided by the B2B data in everything you do.
- Timing - schedule your emails to send at 6-7am, so they’re the first thing your prospect sees when they log on in the morning. Be aware of the time difference if your prospect lives in a different country from you!
3. Email including video
Tom Gyngell was an SDR at Cognism in 2020. During that time, he became a master at using video for email prospecting.
It’s a skill that all modern sales reps have to acquire - after all, emails that contain videos see open-to-reply rates increase by 8x!
Here’s an email that Tom sent to a video conferencing prospect, with his Vidyard embedded:
Hi (first name),
Being at a company called (company name) I thought this would be more fitting…
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Kindest regards,
Email prospecting tips
- Keep the email copy short and snappy - especially if you're emailing CEOs and senior executives; let the video do all the work.
- Have the prospect’s LinkedIn profile/company website open as you record your video. Scroll through the page and use the information you see in your video.
- Use the prospect’s name a LOT. This is crucial for building rapport during your video.
- Never go over 90 seconds. The shorter your video, the more likely it is that the prospect will watch it!
- Ask for feedback at the end of your video. This is a good technique for starting a conversation with the prospect.
- Block out time in your calendar to record all your videos in one go. Say, an hour at lunchtime when you’re not making cold calls.
- When you connect with a LinkedIn prospect, always send them a video. You’ll see increased conversion rates with this approach!
4. The last email in a cadence
The last email in a cadence (also known as a “break-up email”) is the hardest one for an SDR to write. You want to close things off, but also leave them open.
Rachel Goldstone provided us with a perfect break-up email. Here it is:
Hey (first name),
I've been so persistently trying to reach you, but not sure how much more I can handle our one-sided relationship....I'm starting to feel like a bit of a stalker, (first name)!
If you are open to helping me deal with my rejection and heartache, please choose one of the following options:
- Give me 5 minutes of your time to explain why I have been stalking you
- Cry it out with me to this old school gem by Etta James https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP-8dzS1_rM
If neither option tickles your fancy, please let me know a better time to reach out?
Miss you already,
Email prospecting tips
- The final email is where you can really indulge in some humour. Get the prospect smiling when they read your email! You never know, it might just be the catalyst for them to hit “Reply”!
- The opening line is the most important line in an email. After the subject line, it’s the thing most prospects look at before making a decision to read on. Take your time in crafting your opening line. Make it strong and compelling.
- Always include a final question or CTA at the end of the email. It’s a possible end, not the definite end, to this opportunity!
- The 3 top email metrics to track are: open rate, read rate, and click-through rate. Study these 3 email marketing KPIs for every email you send.
💡 Tip! If you'd like to expand your knowledge on email prospecting, check out this article containing 5 email templates that convert.
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