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Free Cold Email Marketing Software
While sending cold emails can be tricky, you now have hundreds of cold email tools to streamline the process for you! So you need to narrow down the right tool to help you with every aspect of the cold email process, from personalization to follow-ups to reporting.
In this article, I’ll highlight the 15 best cold email software solutions and show you how to choose a cold email marketing tool according to your needs. I’ll even cover three FAQs about cold emailing.
Cold Email Software: Table of Contents
(click on the links below to jump to a specific section.)
Top 15 Cold Email Software
GMass
Woodpecker
Lemlist
Yesware
Overloop
Gmelius
Streak
SalesHandy
Klenty
MailRush.io
5 Bonus Cold Email Tools
How to Choose Cold Email Marketing Software
3 FAQs About Cold Email Marketing
What is Cold Emailing?
What Are Some Best Practices for Cold Email Marketing?
Is it Legal to Send Cold Emails?
Let’s dive in.
Top 15 Cold Email Software
Here are the leading cold email tools for 2022:
- GMass
gmass
GMass is a powerful cold email software with built-in cold email automation tools that lets you run sales and marketing campaigns right from your Gmail account. Its powerful mail merge capabilities have made it a popular cold email outreach tool used by employees of Uber, Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
GMass is also perfect for solopreneurs, startups, salespeople, and anyone who wants to use Gmail for cold outreach.
One of the best things about GMass is that it’s incredibly simple to use, and you can quickly get started — all you have to do is download the Chrome extension and sign up with your Google account.
Key Features
Here’s a detailed look at GMass’ key features that help you send effective cold email campaigns:
A) Email List Builder
GMass’ Build Email List feature makes it super easy to create massive mailing lists.
All you have to do is perform a Gmail search using a keyword, and GMass automatically builds an email list using the IDs in the search results.
build-list
For example, let’s say you are the business owner of “Ted’s Tadpole Tanks.”
If you want to send emails to everyone you’ve interacted with about your product or service, you can perform a Gmail search using the term “tadpole.” GMass will then auto-build an email list using the email IDs from the search results.
Additionally, if your recipient details are stored in an Excel, CSV, or Google Sheet file, you can quickly create a mailing list by connecting the file to GMass.
B) Powerful Email Personalization
As cold email prospects are usually people who don’t know you, they’re likely to mark your email as spam if it’s a generic message.
Instead, you should send personalized cold emails!
This increases your chances of connecting with your prospects without risking your sender reputation. Personalization can help your emails avoid the recipients’ spam filter and also boost your open rates.
GMass offers automatic personalization settings to help you out here.
It gives you powerful features like automatically:
Adding personalized paragraphs – customize large blocks of text on a person-by-person basis.
Including personalized images and links – add unique pictures and links for each email recipient.
Detecting and entering first names – GMass auto-detects a person’s first name from their email ID and adds it to an email addressed to them.
C) Advanced Email Analytics and Mail Merge Reports
GMass auto-generates a Campaign Report each time you send a cold emailing campaign that gives a detailed breakdown of important email statistics.
Here’s an overview of some of the stats present in a Campaign Report:
Total Recipients: The number of recipients to which you sent an email campaign.
Unique Opens: The number of unique recipients who opened your email. Note: GMass only tracks the first instance to avoid inflating the number of opens in your report.
Didn’t Open: The number of recipients who didn’t open your email.
Unique Clicks: The number of unique recipients who clicked at least one link in your email.
Replies: The number of recipients who replied to your email.
campaign-report
The best part?
Most cold email tools like Mailshake, Saleshandy, and Mixmax, require you to open a separate interface to view reports, and having to switch between tabs to manage your stats can become an issue.
However, GMass places your reports under the [CAMPAIGNS] label in the Gmail sidebar — making it easy to access all your campaign data right inside Gmail. You also get web-based responsive reports and a dedicated dashboard for maximum flexibility.
D) Automatic Follow-Ups
Most email marketers have to follow up on prospects after the initial cold email.
Fortunately, GMass makes following up on even hundreds of recipients a breeze. It automates the process of sending follow-ups to help you engage your prospects and boost open rates.
You can even customize everything about these follow-ups, like:
The trigger for sending follow up emails to recipients. For example, you can set GMass to send follow-up emails only when recipients reply to your campaign.
The number of follow up emails a person receives.
The automated follow up message.
The time gaps between follow-ups.
E) Bulk Email Scheduling
With GMass, you can easily schedule bulk emails to reach your recipients at the right time.
All you have to do is just compose your email and schedule it. GMass will then automatically send the email at the specified time — you don’t have to be online when it goes out!
And if you want to change the schedule, you can simply reschedule it from the Gmail Drafts folder.
test-email
Pros
Simple setup.
User-friendly interface.
Can build bulk email lists using any search criteria in your Gmail account.
Quickly import any contact list from a Google Sheet file.
Can automate email sequences using Google Sheets and Zapier.
Can test email deliverability.
Send drip campaigns on a set schedule or triggered by the actions of email recipients.
Has a free email verification service.
Has a powerful Gmail add-on for Android devices.
Salesforce and HubSpot CRM integration.
Active customer support.
Cons
The tool works only with Gmail and Google Workspace accounts.
Only works with the Chrome browser.
Pricing
GMass offers three comprehensive pricing plans to suit various user needs:
Free:
Can send up to 50 emails/day
Supports all features except auto follow-ups
Individual:
Standard ($19.95/month or $199/year):
Supports unlimited use
Supports all features except email sequence and follow-ups
Premium ($29.95/month or $299/year):
Supports all Standard plan features
Supports sequences and follow-ups
Enterprise ($49.95/month or $499/year):
Supports all Premium plan features
High-priority support
Team:
Premium (starts at $125/month for a team of five): supports all features
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.9/5 (680+ reviews)
G2: 4.8/5 (660+ reviews)
Go back to the list of tools
- Woodpecker
woodpecker
Woodpecker is a cold email marketing software that integrates with Gmail and Outlook. It allows you to send personalized emails and follow-ups and also lets you track them.
Key Features
Automate email sequences.
Cold email campaign scheduling and tracking.
Automatic reply detection.
Powerful team-activity dashboard.
Pros
Auto-detects duplicate contacts in your cold outreach campaigns.
Dedicated features for B2B lead generation agencies.
Has a Google Chrome extension.
Cons
No free plan available.
Can’t send email attachments.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $39/month per user to contact up to 1,500 addresses per month. ($44/month to contact 6,000 people; $49/month for unlimited contacts.)
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.8/5 (10+ reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (30+ reviews)
Want to find out more about Woodpecker?
Read my detailed Woodpecker email review.
Go back to the list of tools
- Lemlist
lemlist
Lemlist is a popular email tool that lets you personalize anything in your cold emails or other methods of outreach (like LinkedIn).
Key Features
Email automation triggers.
Create personalized images and videos.
Schedule automatic follow-ups.
Domain warming to help your email reach the primary inbox instead of the spam folder of your target audience.
Pros
Use the A/B test feature to determine your most effective emails.
Can use any customized cold email template.
Integrates with Zapier and CRM software.
Cons
As it works as a separate interface from your email, you’ll have to switch through multiple tabs to manage each cold outreach campaign.
No free plan available.
Can be challenging to set up a drip campaign.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $50/month per user with unlimited cold outreach campaign emails, text personalization, and email deliverability features.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.6/5 (320+ reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (70+ reviews)
For more information on Lemlist, read my comprehensive Lemlist review. And see how the campaign creation process works in GMass versus Lemlist versus Mailshake.
Go back to the list of tools
- Yesware
yesware
Yesware is a sales prospecting tool used by professional sales reps and email marketers. It lets you create and send personalized cold email marketing campaigns in Gmail and Outlook.
Key Features
Create custom email templates to personalize your emails.
Schedule drip campaigns.
Set follow-up reminders.
Email tracking with real-time notifications.
Pros
View each campaign’s data on a campaign dashboard.
Can track how prospects use your email attachments.
Has a Salesforce integration.
Cons
Doesn’t have a free plan.
No mobile apps for Android or iOS devices.
May not clearly show who opened an email if it has multiple recipients.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $15/month per user with email tracking, productivity tools, and reporting features.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.3/5 (160+ reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (710+ reviews)
Not sure if you should say ‘yes’ to Yesware?
Read my in-depth Yesware review to help you decide.
Go back to the list of tools
- Overloop
Overloop
Overloop (formerly Prospect.io) is a lead generation and email automation tool that helps companies and freelancers find leads and reach out to them via cold emails.
It uses a credit-based system to discover email IDs of potential customers or prospective clients from their social media and other websites.
Key Features
Search or verify email IDs of your list of prospects.
Create personalized campaigns, including drip sequences.
Customize and share email templates with your sales team.
Reply detection – including tracking of bounce rates and out-of-office responses.
Pros
Works with Gmail and Outlook.
Powerful integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot CRM.
Has a Chrome extension that helps you find prospect details from LinkedIn.
Cons
Creating drip campaigns can be complicated.
No free plan available.
Unused email credits in a month don’t roll over to the next month — you lose them.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $42/month per user with unlimited email campaigns, reporting features, and 50 email finder credits.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.3/5 (10+ reviews)
G2: 4.3/5 (50+ reviews)
Go back to the list of tools
- Gmelius
gmelius
Gmelius is a sales automation and cold email outreach tool that works with Gmail and is meant for team collaboration. It helps streamline your sales processes with its lead generation and email campaign features.
Key Features
Personalize your outbound sales campaigns.
Customize and share any cold email template with your sales team.
Monitor your email campaign performance with advanced analytics.
Schedule recurring emails to send weekly or monthly reports.
Pros
Get real-time desktop and mobile alerts for lead engagements.
Has a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Salesforce and HubSpot CRM integration.
Cons
No Zapier integration in the basic plan.
Email campaigns are missing important features.
No free plan available.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $12/month per user and includes email open and reply rate tracking, automations, and unlimited email templates.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.7/5 (30+ reviews)
G2: 4.4/5 (330+ reviews)
Go back to the list of tools
- Streak
Streak
Streak is a CRM platform that integrates with Gmail. It can be a handy tool for the busy sales rep or marketer.
Streak helps you manage your sales funnel, send mail merges, and track cold calling and engagements.
Key Features
Personalize mail merges with custom email templates.
Schedule automated emails and follow-ups.
Detailed email tracking reports.
Email sidebar provides immediate context about each email.
Pros
Has email filters to help you sort through prospect responses.
Collaborate with your sales department on cold email campaigns.
The Android and iOS mobile apps can log cold calls.
Cons
No dedicated sales dashboard — your sales processes can clutter your Gmail inbox.
Will have a lot of redundancy if you use another CRM.
Base plan doesn’t offer any native integrations or data validation features.
Pricing
Has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $19/month per user and support 5,000 contacts and 800 mail merge emails per day.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (400+ reviews)
G2: 4.5/5 (120+ reviews)
Go back to the list of tools
- SalesHandy
SalesHandy
SalesHandy is a sales automation and email marketing tool that enables you to send cold emails and engage with leads.
Key Features
Send personalized emails to multiple recipients.
Automate follow-ups to individual emails or entire email campaigns.
Built-in email limiter ensures you don’t send many emails per day and risk your domain reputation.
An email verification tool helps check the validity of email addresses before sending emails.
Pros
Free email tracking with Gmail.
Schedule bulk emails to be sent to recipients in different time zones at a time they are most likely to be opened.
Link tracking and real-time notifications when emails are opened.
Cons
You have to pay separately for verifying email lists.
No native mobile app for both Android and iOS devices.
Limited mail merge capabilities.
Pricing
SalesHandy has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $12/month per user with features like email tracking, templates, and analytics.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.5/5 (80+ reviews)
G2: 4.4 /5 (110+ reviews)
For more information on SalesHandy, read my complete SalesHandy review.
Go back to the list of tools
- Klenty
Klenty
Klenty is a sales engagement platform for sending personalized email and automated follow up messages.
Key Features
Email automation and personalization.
Open, click, reply rate, and bounce rate tracking with live-feed reports.
Detailed reports to optimize every outreach campaign.
Duplicate detection helps ensure no contact in your prospect database is accidentally contacted multiple times.
Pros
Simple user interface.
Easily import prospects from CSV, Google Sheets, or CRM in one click.
Integrations with Zapier and Pipedrive CRM to automate your workflow.
Cons
Contact management issues — adding a contact to one list could remove them from another.
Lacks team management and collaboration features.
No free plan available.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $55/month per user with features like unlimited contacts, email cadences, API, Gmail plugin, and mail merge.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.8/5 (30+ reviews)
G2: 4.6/5 (120+ reviews)
Go back to the list of tools
- MailRush.io
Mailrush
MailRush.io is a prospecting and cold outreach tool that lets send personalized cold emails for marketing campaigns.
Key Features
Tracked email engagement metrics include delivery rate, click rate, open rate, and bounce rate.
Email warming to improve email deliverability and avoid your email ending up in the spam folder.
LinkedIn sales navigator searches for lead generation.
Identify invalid email addresses.
Pros
Create a drip sequence for your email marketing campaigns – automate emails and follow-ups based on recipient actions.
Easy-to-use drag and drop email template builder.
24/7 live chat support available.
Cons
No free plan available.
Downloading large contact lists for email campaigns can be time-consuming.
You have to pay extra for email warming, email validation, and Linkedin prospecting.
Pricing
Pricing plans start at $19/month per user with one domain link, email automation features, and 10,000 total emails sent during the month.
Customer Ratings
Capterra: 4.2/5 (5+ reviews)
G2: N/A
Go back to the list of tools
5 Bonus Cold Email Tools
I’ve highlighted some of the best cold email tools above.
But if you want to explore more tools, here are five bonus software you could check out:
MailShake: A cold email marketing tool with live campaign management features like pausing email sending or adding new recipients to active campaigns.
Contact Monkey: A powerful tool to manage cold email campaigns within your Gmail or Outlook email account.
Snov.io: A cold outreach and sales engagement platform for marketers and sales teams, primarily for prospecting.
QuickMail: This is a popular tool for managing sales outreach with detailed analytics on email campaign performance.
SmartReach.io: A cold email platform for email automation, prospect management, and team collaboration.
Now I’ll explain how you can choose the best cold email software for your needs.
How to Choose Cold Email Marketing Software
Using a cold email tool is a surefire way to boost your email outreach and conversion rate.
But with hundreds of such tools available, how do you choose the right one?
To help you out, here are three key things to look for in excellent cold email software:
- Personalization Features
Personalization is an essential feature of any cold email software.
Why?
Because it helps you make a meaningful connection with each potential customer or client.
While every cold emailing tool offers some personalization, the extent to which they provide it differs from tool to tool.
Some tools offer only basic personalization features such as automatically adding recipient names and addresses, while others (like GMass) also let you include customized images and links to your emails.
Invest in an outreach tool with a wide range of personalization features to make your emails more targeted. This will make your recipients more likely to engage with your emails, as they won’t feel like you’re mass emailing them.
- Email Tracking and Analytics
A key feature of any email marketing software is email tracking and analytics.
Look for a cold emailing tool that tracks your email open rates, link clicks, bounced emails, and response rates. These statistics help you determine how effective your campaigns are and modify your future emails accordingly.
As most tools make this a premium feature, it’s smarter to invest in those that provide powerful email tracking features in their base plans.
- Campaign Automation
A major benefit of using cold email tools is that they automate the process of creating and sending emails.
Look for a cold emailing tool that does most of the heavy lifting for you — like creating mailing lists, mass email personalization, and automatically sending cold emails and follow-ups or drip sequences.
(A drip sequence is a campaign that includes your initial email followed by a triggered sequence of one or more follow-up emails.)
And if the tool provides all these essential settings in a single compact tab, that’s even better. You can quickly launch an email campaign in seconds without having to juggle between different browser tabs!
Now that you know how to choose the best cold email software, I’ll go over some FAQs related to cold email marketing.
3 FAQs About Cold Email Marketing
I’ll answer three FAQs about cold email marketing to help clear any confusion you might have:
- What is Cold Emailing?
Cold emailing involves sending outreach emails to people you haven’t interacted with before.
In a way, cold emailing is similar to cold calling, where you ring up prospects to see if they’re interested in a product or service. But unlike cold calling, cold emails are less intrusive.
Well-crafted, effective cold emails don’t push a hard sell but rather engage your ideal customer and give them the necessary information to encourage a response.
- What Are Some Best Practices for Cold Email Marketing?
Here are three things to keep in mind for cold email success:
A. Have a Powerful Subject Line for Your Email
Subject lines matter.
Remember, it’s the first thing people see when your email lands in your prospect’s inbox. It could be the decisive factor in whether they open it or not!
How do you master it?
Including your prospect’s first name in the subject line is a smart way to add some instant personalization to your outreach emails.
With GMass, you can use recipient details like their name, company name, or other information to create subject lines that get your emails opened instantly.
You could also pose a question to the recipient to quickly grab their attention.
For example, if you’re marketing link building services, you could write:
“Hey John, does (company name) need a hand with SEO?”
As this shows that the email is clearly meant for John, he is more likely to open the email if his answer to your question is “maybe” or “yes.”
Additionally, ensure that the text in the subject line is fully visible to the recipient.
Think about it.
Would you bother opening an email if its subject line ends with “…”?
No, right?
While subject line length varies with email service providers and the device used by the recipient to check their inbox, it’s a best practice to keep the subject line to six to ten words.
Takeaway: Use a subject line that’s short enough for a potential client to view clearly but long enough to be informative and engaging.
B. Make the Email About the Recipient
Remember, the trickiest part of sending cold emails is making a connection with the recipient. That’s why, to craft highly effective cold emails, you should take a moment to get into their head.
The key is to make the email 95% about the recipient and 5% about your business.
And while email personalization is essential, it doesn’t end with just including the recipient’s name.
You need to mention why you are emailing that person specifically and show them that you’re familiar with what they do. For example, including personalized images and links are effective ways to make the email about the recipient.
Another email strategy to follow is to get straight to the point.
No one wants to read an email that talks at great length about your company and its product or service. It’s best to give the recipient what they would like to know at the start of the message.
For example, if you offer content marketing services, you could point out:
How your target audience can improve Google rankings for each blog post.
The conversion rate boost their blog post will receive.
Case studies to show your track record helping people like them.
To get this right and boost efficiency, you can create custom cold email templates that focus on the recipient.
Takeaway: Keep the email message short, personalized, and straightforward.
C. Make It Easy for the Recipient to Opt-Out
It’s always essential to include an unsubscribe option in your emails.
Why?
As you’re sending cold emails to people who don’t know you, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be interested in hearing from you. And if they aren’t, it’s a good email strategy to let them opt-out of your mailing list.
This way, you won’t be risking your sender reputation when cold emailing prospects.
The easiest way to do this is to provide an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your sales emails. This way, the recipient can quickly opt out from receiving your emails without marking your message as spam.
With GMass, you can insert an unsubscribe link anywhere in your cold email campaigns with the click of a button. If anyone opts out of your cold emailing campaign, GMass automatically removes their email IDs from your recipient list — you don’t have to do it manually!
Takeaway: Always include a simple opt-out link in your cold sales emails.
- Is it Legal to Send Cold Emails?
It’s important to remember that different countries may have different legislation on cold emailing and spam emails.
In the United States, cold emailing is legal, and you can send emails to individuals you’ve never met. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates spam emails and cold emailing for business purposes. It has relatively liberal spam laws under the CAN-SPAM Act.
In the European Union, cold emailing is legal under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). However, it does have strict requirements similar to those enforced in the U.S.
Generally, both the U.S. and E.U. laws permit you to send cold emails as long as you:
Mention how you found the recipient’s information and why you’re reaching out to them.
Provide email recipients with the ability to opt-out or unsubscribe.
Accurately include your contact details in the email.
Identify any advertising in the email.
Avoid using contact lists that third parties have obtained illegally, such as via website crawling bots.
If you fail to comply with these regulations, you may receive fines exceeding $43,000 in the U.S. and €20 million in the E.U.
Cold Email Software: Final Thoughts
Choosing the right cold email software doesn’t have to be confusing, and it can help you create rewarding cold email outreach campaigns with ease.
While all these tools offer something, GMass stands out for its simple UI and powerful cold email outreach features. It’s got everything you need to run cold email campaigns effectively.
best cold email templates
In our blog post “Six simple steps to getting started with cold sales emails”, we discussed the basics of cold emails and offered some simple benchmarks on what results to expect.
Many of you asked us for some effective cold email templates. Today, we want to share five cold email templates that will generate warm leads and get you started on the right foot!
Every company, of course, is different but the below cold email templates and best practices will be a good starting point you. Keep in mind that the average business user gets 97 emails per day—these templates will help you stand out, get noticed, and elicit a response.
Grab these FREE cold email hacks
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But before we dive in, let’s address a question that often comes up: Is sending cold emails still an effective way to drum up business?
We’ve all seen examples of terrible cold emails—they’re annoying, and often do more harm than good for the company sending them. But good, targeted, relevant cold emails can be a great way of initiating business conversations.
Take the example of Dhruv Ghulati, a startup founder, who sent a cold email to Mark Cuban and landed an immediate $250,000 investment (plus an additional $250,000 later on). At the time, he didn’t even have a product yet.
Here’s the exact wording of the message:
Subject line: Reaching out — Factmata
Dear Mr. Cuban,
Apologies for my cold message. I am the founder of a Google-backed startup called Factmata that uses artificial intelligence to perform automated fact checking and referencing. We are a team of three NLP researchers and scientists with 30-plus published and cited papers within natural language processing, question answering, and information extraction. I am currently fundraising from people who care about the problem of online misinformation, want to reduce mistrust in the media, and change the way we consume online content. I would love to tell you more about us if of interest, especially given your recent public discussions about this topic.
Look forward to hearing from you soon,
Best regards,
Dhruv
There are many example of companies raising money, building important relationships, or initiating sales conversations that close deals of all sizes—but for now, let’s get into the practical how-to aspects.
Step 1: The art and science of effective cold email subject lines
cold-email-subject-lines
It’s obvious, yet many people don’t realize this: The subject line is the most important element of every cold outreach email you send. Because if the subject line doesn’t appeal to the prospect, they won’t open the email in the first place—and no matter how perfectly worded and relevant the body of your cold email is, if they don’t open the email, nothing else matters.
I can’t tell you how many times I asked sales reps to draft up a cold email and send it to me for review—and they forgot to include the subject line. Don’t make this mistake!
When it comes to subject lines, follow these guidelines:
Use their name in the subject line when it makes sense.
Make the subject line as specific as possible. The more personal the subject line, the higher the open rate.
If you wonder if it sounds too much like a “marketing email”, then it does sound too much like a marketing email.
Experiment with questions in subject lines.
Always deliver in your email what you promise in your subject line (if the disconnect is too big, you’re going to get good open rates but bad responses).
Tip: Save time by using a CRM to automatically add fields like first name in your subject line. In Close, you can personalize email templates using Template Tags, which dynamically add details like first name or company. Try Close for free to try out these features, whether you’re sending emails one at a time or in bulk.
Here are 4 cold email subject lines that get open rates of +35%:
“[Introduction] [name]” or “[Introduction] [your name/company] <> [their name/company]”
“quick request”
“Trying to connect”
“[Name of their company]”
Make sure to check out Sales email subject lines: 50+ tips, examples, and biggest mistakes for a more in-depth guide on writing subject lines that get your emails opened.
Step 2: How to write effective cold emails
write-effective-cold-emails
There are 2 approaches to cold call emails used today:
You’re emailing someone high up in the organization asking for a referral down to the right person (aka Cold Calling 2.0).
You’re emailing the decision maker, directly pitching them to sign up, hop on a call, book a meeting or otherwise.
Let’s get started with three best cold call email templates that ask for referrals within your target organization.
Cold email: Referral V1
Hi [first name],
My name is [my name] and I head up business development efforts with [my company]. We recently launched a new platform that [one sentence pitch].
I am taking an educated stab in the dark here, however based on your online profile, you appear to be an appropriate person to connect with … or might at least point me in the right direction.
I’d like to speak with someone from [company] who is responsible for [handling something that’s relevant to my product].
If that’s you, are you open to a fifteen minute call on _ [time and date] to discuss ways the [company name] platform can specifically help your business? If not you, can you please put me in touch with the right person?
I appreciate the help!
Best,
Sig
Cold email: Referral V2
Hi [first name],
I hope I’m not bothering you. Could you please refer me to the person in charge of [something that’s relevant to my product]?
Thanks for your time,
Sig
Cold email: Referral V3
Hey [first name],
My name is [my name] and I’m with [my company name]. We work with organizations like [company name] to [insert one sentence pitch].
[One sentence unique benefit].
Could you direct me to the right person to talk to about this at [company name] so we can explore if this would be something valuable to incorporate into your events?
Cheers,
Sig
The next referral cold email is a template directly from the team at Predictable Revenue.
Cold email: Referral V4
Hey [first name],
I’m sorry to trouble you. Would you be so kind as to tell me who is responsible for [insert your biggest pain point here that resonates with your ideal customer; OR insert function like “sales” or “recruiting”] and how I might get in touch with them?
Thank you,
Sig
Let’s check out two cold email templates that are using approach #2 and pitching the decision maker directly on the value proposition and next action steps.
Cold email: Engaging a quality prospect
You know who the right person in the organization is. A highly personalized, targeted outreach email can really break through the noise. Look at this example from tray.io.
Here a templatized version of this email:
Hi [firstname],
During some research of [company name], I came across your profile – love how passionate you’ve been the past [number of years they’ve been working at the company, look it up on their LinkedIn profile] years to help scale the [department] team, while also being that go-to advisor for your growing customers. This [software review site name] review about [highlight of the review relevant to your product].
However, I imagine you still have customers requesting [address pain point your solution solves]. I’m curious – are any customer accounts at risk that would benefit from [what you offer]? [Recognizable brand name], new [your company name] customer, needed a way to [what you offer]. Since leveraging [your company name], their [major benefit]. As a result, their customers experienced [business impact].
Does it make sense to explore ways we can help your team as well?
Best,
Sig
Drafting a personalized cold email like this takes more effort than loading a template into your outreach tool and hitting “send all”, but by being genuinely relevant, you’ll see drastically higher response rates.
Cold email: Selling V1
Hey [first name],
I hope this email finds you well! I wanted to reach out because [explain how we got their contact information and how we relate to them: talked to a colleague, saw your company online, etc.].
[Name of company] has a new platform that will help (your team at) [organization name]. [One sentence pitch of benefits]. We do this by:
Benefit/feature 1
Benefit/feature 2
Benefit/feature 3 (optional)
Let’s explore how [name of your software] can specifically help your business. Are you available for a quick call [time and date]?
Cheers,
Sig
Cold email: Selling V2
Hey [first name],
I hope this email finds you well! I wanted to reach out because [explain how we got their contact information and how we relate to them: talked to a colleague, saw your company online, etc.].
[Name of company] has a new platform that will help (your team at) [organization name]. [One sentence pitch of benefits].
I know that [our product] will be able to help [name of your company] [insert high level benefit here].
Are you available for a quick call [time and date]?
Cheers,
Sig
Cold email: My higher-up asked me to reach out
Another cold email template is based on the “my higher-up asked me to reach out” technique.
Basically, you, the sales rep, write an email that is written as if a higher-up (e.g. your CEO) asked you to reach out to this company specifically. You then forward that email to the prospect, including the “forwarded email”. The subject line plays into this with “Fwd: YourCompany + ProspectCompany”
Here’s an example of a company that’s been using this cold email strategy a lot recently:
cold email template higherup
While an email like this might earn you some ridicule from people who are familiar with it already, it can be very effective. The prospect won’t just feel like “some sales guy is reaching out”, but that the CEO of your company itself cares.
(And if you care about the ridicule you earn, then you should work on your sales mindset anyway.)
But the biggest take-away here is that you need to intimately understand your ideal customer, and use an approach that’s most appropriate to them. If you’re sending to very sophisticated B2B buyers, then this might not be the best approach, as they might perceive it as gimmicky and tricky. If you’re sending 100 cold emails, and you get 5 positive responses from prospects that match your ideal customer profile and express genuine interest because they could actually benefit from your offer, that’s worth a lot more than sending 100 emails and getting 20 positive responses from prospects that don’t match your ideal customer profile and most likely won’t convert into paying, long-term customers.
Step 3: How to set up and send cold emails
Are you ready to start utilizing these effective cold email templates? You can do so easily within Close by simply creating a new email template for each of these examples. Once created, you can edit and use them without having to retype them, copy and paste, etc.—saving you more time in your day. Here’s how:
First, sign up for a free 14-day trial of Close here (no credit card required).
Once signed up and logged in, create a new email template (Your Account > Your Email Templates). You can customize this further by inserting template tags, adding attachments, and more.
Import your leads and select which lead you would like to send an email to. Navigate to your name in the top left and click the drop down menu. Select “Import Data,” then drag and drop your email list, click to upload it, paste from Excel, or import from a CRM.
Visit a lead’s activity page from your lead list. Click to send an email, choose a template, then schedule the email to send now or schedule it for a later date.
Send more emails and close some deals!
You also have the ability to connect your email account with Close. By doing so, you can send emails right from within your CRM, or continue using your current email client. After you connect your email, Close will begin to automatically track and auto-log your email.
When it comes to email prospecting, the fortune is in the follow-up!
Don’t stop at the first best cold email you send to a prospect. You always want to follow up with prospects multiple times. Which is why we’ve also created the ultimate guide to follow-up emails, where you will find more examples on different kinds of follow-up emails for sales and marketing teams.
Be sure to also download your free copy of Cold Email Hacks.
Conclusion
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