Updated on January 24, 2022
There are plenty of B2B cold email templates out there. Ask Google and you will get about 728,000 results. Literally! (I just checked.)
The titles?
- B2B cold email templates that experts swear by
- Cold email templates that won XX (ridiculous number) of new clients
- Top 10 B2B Cold Email Templates [that actually work]
- X email templates to crush SEO outreach
- X number of B2B cold email templates to skyrocket your reply rate to the moon.
The list goes on and eventually enters our neighboring galaxy Andromeda [surpassing the moon].
But please don’t be fooled.
Brian Dean from Backlinko, together with Pitchbox, analyzed 12 million outreach emails and they found that the vast majority of outreach messages are ignored.
On average only 8.5% of outreach emails actually receive a response.
Of course, if you’ve been stuck with disappointing numbers for your key metrics like open rate and click-through rate, those templates must have slightly improved the situation.
At least, according to Campaign Monitor, this is how your emails should be performing in general:
- Your average email open rate should be between 15-25%;
- Your average click-through rate should be about 2.5%;
These email metrics numbers tend to vary from one specific industry to another.
Yes, you have to incorporate the essentials in each sales-driven email outreach.
Yes, lead list segmentation in email automation is imperative.
Writing an engaging email subject line is crucial. At least, to cut through the noise in your prospect’s inbox and get them to open your email.
Using hyper-personalization in email marketing is a must-have to get those higher open & click-through rates.
But they will only get you that far.
“When you only optimize for these front-end metrics like open rate and click-through rate, you miss the real target: increasing earnings-per-lead by creating real transformation in the lives of your prospects and customers and fuelling an ever-growing customer Lifetime Value (LTV).” – Stanley Mungwe.
What about the email conversion rate?
Why are you working so hard for those open & click-through rates when at the end of the campaign you get only 1 sale?
Do you ever wonder why no one in the industry is reporting cold email conversion rates?
Ask yourself this. Do you need your emails to be opened and read? Or, do you need qualified prospects ready to buy your product/service and become big lifetime value customers?
Settling for the 1% conversion rate on cold emailing campaigns is not how you build a sustainable and profitable business.
Besides, those static email templates have been recycled so many times, probably even your prospects have already received plenty of them.
Be careful not to burn your highly qualified leads, sending them a copy-paste template just because an article swears you will get a response and offers you one. You get only one shot at leaving a good first impression. Therefore, use those cold email templates as a source of inspiration. Tweak them according to your own personality, brand voice, and expression style. Add your character to your outreach campaign.
Emails should be genuine and sound like they are coming from real human beings. To achieve this, you got to incorporate some basic human psychology.
Like Sam Oh from Ahrefs <3 explains: “Your emails shouldn’t sound “needy” or like you are asking a friend for a favor. Cold Outreach means your recipients are not your friends (yet). So instead, adopt a mentality of starting a relationship.”
If you were wondering “why are people not responding to my emails?” let me assure you. It is not that cold emails are dead. But your generic email templates are.
Why are you not getting conversions from your B2B cold emails?
[Even though they were opened and read by your prospects.]There are 4 main reasons for this. And what unites them all? They are not targeted. 🎯
- One of the main obstacles that prevent you from getting a response is sending an email without good reason.
Just because you found your prospect’s name & email address, and both of you are in the same niche, is not a good enough reason to contact them. Find a common ground. - The second obvious reason is – your email gives no benefit to the prospect.
Are you asking them to do something for you? Ok. But what is in there for them?
Remember, in the first B2B cold email you’re starting a relationship, not a sales pitch. - You are sending your pitches to the wrong people.
You don’t wanna waste your time contacting people that have no say in the decision-making process. Look for the people whose job is related to your offer. The greatest % of cold outbound email campaigns fail solely on outreaching the wrong folks. - You are sending your pitches at the wrong time.
People respond to solutions to their current problems and acute pain points.
You can tackle all of these issues in one go, using targeted B2B cold email templates, powered by relevant Sales Triggers to guide your:
- Reason for reaching out to them;
- Focus to provide relevant benefit to your prospect;
- Choose the right person to contact;
- At the right time.
Optimize your cold email conversion rate.
How do you reach out to cold leads and prospects?
To help you get responses to your emails and provide meaning behind your cold outreach, we decided to share with you some of our own high-converting B2B cold email templates. All of them are carefully structured. They follow specific sales triggers, to provide you with a reasonable excuse for your targeted cold outreach. Feel free to use them as inspiration and tweak them according to your own business needs.
Reminder. Being the 1st, introductory email, keep your cold emails light but specific.
#1. Cold email template for sales trigger: Company Expansion or Relocation
Email subject line: Welcome in the neighborhood {{first_name}}!
Congratulations on opening a new {{company’s_name}} office in {{location}}!
We at [Sales.Rocks] just found out the great news – {{company’s_name}} is expanding/relocating in this area, and wanted to say Hi. 👋
We are delighted to have your brand here!
Should you need any info on some local know-how, it would be a pleasure to share it with you. Do not hesitate to contact me.
P.s. If you are looking for the best {{office-products supplier}} in town, I just know the one.
{{HR agency}}
{{Recruiting tool}}
{{Talent Acquisition Services}}
A warm welcome & see you around,
[your signature]
B2B Cold email templates for sales trigger: New Tool Adoption
In this case, there are two scenarios.
1st scenario: The sales trigger signals you that your prospect is looking to adopt a new tool.
#2 cold email template:
Email subject line: [Tool’s name] was voted “Highest User Adoption 2021” for sales automation tool among the G2 Crowd 🏆
And we are excited to spread the word of our success.
In case you are looking for one {{first_name}}, I am [name], the sales development representative at [company], and will gladly answer any questions you may have around the topic.
If not, then no worries, we kinda like to brag. 😁
I wish {{company’s name}} much success as well!
Have an amazing day,
[signature]
2nd scenario: The sales trigger signals you that your prospect has adopted a new tool that integrates with yours.
#3 cold email template
Email subject line: [your tool’s name] smoothly integrates with {{their new tool}} for {{lead generation & email automation}} from one place.
Hey {{first_name}},
My name is [Alexander] and I am the Account Executive at [company]. Nice to meet you!
As an active member of Quora’s B2B space, I recently stumbled upon one of your questions there regarding [Zoho CRM]. Has {{company_name}}’s team recently started using it?
What are your first impressions?
I feel obliged to let you know that you can additionally empower it by integrating it with our {{lead generation}} & {{email automation}} tool and execute all your working processes from one place.
Let me know what your thoughts are. and We can schedule a demo to take a peek inside 🧐 at all the possibilities for saving time while growing your business.
Looking forward to your response,
[signature]
#4. Cold email template for sales trigger: New C-Suite executives
Email subject line: Congratulations on your new role at {{company_name}}, {{first_name}}!
You must be quite excited as the new {{job_title}} at {{company_name}}!
Let me introduce myself, I’m [Agnesa] from [company] and I’m actively following the new publications from our {{niche}} industry while sipping my morning coffee. 🤓 That’s how I ran into the great news! Just wanted to congratulate you on your new role.
Starting a new chapter in one’s career can be quite demanding (I imagine). If you are open to new ideas for growing {{company_name}} business database, let me know. I think we might have just the right solution for you.
Cheers,
[signature]
#5. Cold email template for sales trigger: Merger or Acquisition
Email subject line: Celebrate good times, come on! 💃 Great news {{first_name}}.
Hey {{first_name}}, aren’t you the talk of the day? 🌟 Congrats on your merger with/ acquisition of {{company2}}! It’s #trending in the industry! I wish you guys much success!
My name is [Rebecca], the [Chief Product Officer] at [company].
Your new colleague from {{company2}} might remember me. They were very satisfied with our [project management software], and now that you are joining forces I am sure it will be of even greater use to all of you.
We’ve recently upgraded our software with some new cool features as well!
Want to see how they work?
As a matter of fact, if you haven’t tried out our software at all, you might want me to walk you through the basics first?
Let me know what you think and we will set a date when we are both available for an online presentation.😉
Cheers 🍻
[signature]
#6. Cold email template for sales trigger: New Legislation
Email subject line: It’s the dawn of a new era {{first_name}}, is {{company_name}} prepared for it?
It seems like {{the Affordable Care Act}} / {{GDPR Compliance}} will be entering our business lives soon, enforcing us to comply. Is {{company_name}} up for the challenge?
My name is [name], the [Account Executive] at [company]. I’m reaching out to ask how well prepared is your company for this new regulation that our businesses are mandated to comply with?
Here at [company], we’ve helped many other businesses deal with this problem by [short explanation of your service [solution].
Are you interested in a quick chat or demo this week? Let me know.
Or if there are any other ways we can help {{company}}.
Good luck,
[signature]
#7. Cold email template for sales trigger: Creation of New Job Title / Hiring Intent
Email subject line: Growing your sales/marketing team {{first_name}}?
Hi {{first_name}},
I’m [name], the [marketing specialist] at [company] and I have something to share with you.
I noticed that you are expanding your {{sales team}} at {{company_name}}. That means increasing {{company_name}}’s {{email outreach activities}}, right?
But I’m sure you don’t want to endanger your {{email domain reputation when your new employees start sending a large number of emails without their new email accounts properly warmed up previously.}}
The thing is, [most of their emails will land in your prospects’ spam folders.] 😰
[Sales.Rocks new feature “The Email Warmer”] was specifically designed to prevent this issue.
Are you available for a 10-minute call to see how we could help your {{sales team}}?
Let me know, I would love to show you.
[signature]
#8. Cold email template for sales trigger: Awards/Recognition
Email subject line: Great job {{first_name}}! {{company_name}} is trending 🔥 in the niche!
The {{B2B / SaaS / industry}} is becoming much more popular and therefore – crowded. Still, {{company_name}} continues to grow and rise above the competition.
Kudos to you and the whole team! I’m [name] from [company] and I wanted to congratulate you on receiving the award! 🌟
Now that you’re industry leaders, I assume your marketing and sales teams will be getting a bigger slice of the budget pie. Our {{soultion/product/service}} can assist them by {{explanation of how your service helps their current pain-points}} to get more things done for a shorter period of time and save your business time, money, and effort in the long run.
We want to see {{company_name}}’s continuing to grow
And I look forward to any opportunity to be of assistance.
[Signature]
#9. Cold email template for sales trigger: Change in Marketing Channel
Email subject line: {{company_name}} deserves better when it comes to {{email, social media, PPC, SEO, content}} marketing
Hello {{first_name}},
[Name] here, the [Marketing Specialist] at [company].
“It’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away” – as Douglas Warner reminds us. With this in mind, your marketing strategy is what makes or breaks your business.
With [product name] you can easily create a multichannel outreach strategy and automate your marketing outreach and nurturing. How cool is that? 😎
It’s another angle that may be interesting to explore, so let me know if this sounds interesting?
Best,
[Signature]
#10. Cold email template for sales trigger: Change in Web Traffic
Email subject line: Keep up the good work {{first_name}}! Your website is on 🔥
Hey {{first_name}},
My name is [Jane].
The reason I’m reaching out is that I was {{using_tool/Ahrefs}} to look for backlink exchange opportunities and ended up on your blog section. I couldn’t help but notice that {{company_name}} website has a pretty steady increase in traffic.
I wanted to know how you handle efficiently converting your visitors into customers at {{company}}? 🤔
In working with other customers, one of the key issues they’re struggling with is {{key issue}}. If this is something you’re challenged with too, let’s set up a quick call. I have some ideas that might help.
Warm regards,
[signature]
Additional things to remember…
Even though being very strategic about the timing of your emails and the reason behind your outreach to drive positive responses and cold email conversion rate, there are a few more things to consider before sending your cold emails.
Remember to check email permissions and regulations.
If you are sending to a worldwide audience, you must ensure each regulation is followed – regulations are not based on where you are sending the emails from, but where your subscribers are located.
- The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 covers commercial email messaging in the United States.
- CASL relates specifically to Canada, the Canadian anti-spam legislation of 2014.
- GDPR is The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and if you are not familiar with this email regulation, here are 5 simple steps for sending GDPR compliant B2B cold emails.
Make sure your cold emails will actually arrive in your recipient’s inbox before you send them.
Email deliverability is the ability to deliver emails to your recipients’ inboxes and therefore a significant concern to check before your start your cold email campaign. What is the point in sending cold emails if they fail to reach your prospect’s inbox and your new account gets blocked as soon as the campaign begins? With the Google spam update in 2019, it has become even harder for your emails to reach the intended inbox without being marked as spam. Under those circumstances, make sure you follow these actionable ways to check and improve your Email Deliverability.
Don’t forget to follow-up.
If you don’t receive a response to your first email, follow-up with a second email. It significantly improves response rates! Emailing the same contact again leads to 2x more responses. People are busy, (our brains especially) therefore sometimes they simply forget to reply. Instead of taking it personally, just give them a couple of days and then remind them.
And before you go, read this article on how to write B2B emails that sell which is filled with valuable insights behind the psychology of selling in general. It will help you understand what works in 2021 and how to improve your overall B2B outbound email strategy by crafting an email sequence for optimal results. Good luck, and I sincerely wish you much success! 🍀
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