9 Cold Email Examples to Help You Write Your Own

If you’re asking yourself, “How can I get more prospects?”, know that you are not the only person doing so. One surefire way of generating leads, when done properly, is cold emailing. This method is a proven practice for entrepreneurs, but it also works well with email marketers and sales leaders — or any professional who wants to find prospects.
In this post, we will go over nine cold email examples that have been tested and proven by knowledgeable sources to help you write your own.

But before we go into what makes a good cold email surefire, let’s go over the elements you want to avoid. If you are having trouble receiving responses to your cold outreach, you might be unknowingly making a few of these mistakes.

What separates an ignored cold email from an opened one?

The main difference from a cold email that performs sub-optimally to one that exceeds expectations is somewhere in the copy. To create a healthy body of a cold email, you need to know its anatomy. This is the basic skeleton of a cold email:

1. From name
2. Subject line
3. Body
4. Pitch
5. Call-to-action

From name

The first thing a prospect will see is the “from name.” Try looking at your Gmail inbox folder; you will see your bank’s name, maybe a newsletter, or a colleague. In a cold email, you usually want your first and last name to appear — so try to avoid abbreviations or initials.

Subject line

Your subject line is the next thing they will read, and that is what will get your email opened. Bad subject lines will be too long and too boring. Try to keep it short, enticing, and sometimes a little mysterious. Your number one goal is to pique their interest and grab their attention.

Body

The most important part of the body of your cold email is in the first few sentences. These sentences should tell the reader why you are emailing them and form a personal connection. The last thing you should be writing in those first couple sentences is about yourself or your offering. That tactic simply won’t make your potential leads want to read more.

Pitch

This is the part where you start nudging them towards why they should bother responding. It helps if you tell them how your product or service has helped others like them. This is another part of the email that you don’t want to talk about yourself. The recipient of the email is wondering what is in it for them, so you should be explaining exactly what they are going to get.

Call-to-action

Now that you’ve sold them with your pitch, you can ask them to do something. But the only way they are going to take action is if you make it easy and simple for them. That’s the trick about CTAs — don’t make them too complicated, and certainly don’t give them multiple options. Help them click your call-to-action instead of the delete button.

9 Successful Cold Email Examples

Now that you have an idea of what a successful cold prospecting email should look like, it’s time to see some real-life examples. Since most people are visual learners, the best way to improve your outreach skills is to see how an experienced emailer does it.

1. The Free Offer

Hello Dr. [Last Name],

I’m following up on my previous email with a free tool I think you’ll love.

It’s a brand analysis survey I created just for you (literally, your name is on it), that will help you understand how your practice is different from other doctors in [insert city they’re in].

Click here to begin the brand differentiation analysis survey. When we speak, I’ll benchmark your responses against the top physician brands around the country.

I’m sharing my calendar (click here) so we can schedule a convenient time to discuss.

Enjoy your weekend,

[Your Name]

(Source: HubSpot)

People can’t resist free offers. By providing your recipients with something of value, they might return the favor. Ensure that your free offer specifically applies to your receiver and solves one of their pain points.

2. The Video

Hi [First Name],

I saw [Name]’s job ad for a Regional Sales Manager on Glassdoor and I wanted to ask you — is this current hiring strategy getting you sales candidates with the proven ability to produce immediate results, meet growth goals, and generate more profit?

Winning the war over the top 1% of sales talent in [City] is no easy task. We help sales leaders, like yourself, get candidates they actually want to talk to:

[Insert short, personalized video]

Let’s talk about your current sales hiring strategy. Feel free to book a meeting in my calendar or give me a call: [Phone number]

[Your Name]

(Source: Sales Hacker)

Why use personalized videos in your cold emails? Because they work! They are a great way of conveying your message, and you can include much more content and deliver it faster. You can also personalize your videos to each recipient to make your cold emails even more relevant.

3. The Connector

Subject Line: Hi [Name]

It looks like we both know Mary Gonzales. She’s one of my favorite people at work. She told me you do XYZ and thought it’d be a great idea to connect, since I also work in the XYZ field. Would you consider meeting up on a Zoom call? My schedule is pretty open during the weekdays. What about Tuesday afternoon?

(Source: Sendoso)

Use that mutual acquaintance to your advantage. If you can find any commonality, don’t be afraid to include it in your cold emails. Also, mention it in your subject line so you ensure your prospect opens the email.

4. The Compliment

Re: Loved your article about radical honesty — Here’s my results after a week

Hey X,

I’ve been following your blog for the past 3 years, so many great insights!

Your recent blog post about radical honesty really resonated with me. I followed it step by step and I found it dramatically reduced my day-to-day stress levels.

You can read my post about it here:

If you’re so inclined, I’d love for you to share it with your audience.

Thanks for sharing your can’t-find-anywhere-else tips with the community.

[Your Name]

(Source: Criminally Prolific)

What if you opened your inbox and saw that someone loved the work you do? Would you open that email? Statistics point to yes; almost everyone likes to be complimented and hear that their work has helped someone. You never know, they might just help you a little more.

5. The Authority Figure

[First Name],

My CSO asked that I reach out to you (see below).

For context, Brex is the first corporate card specifically designed for companies like Close — no personal guarantee, instant approvals and 2%+ in cash back.

Do you have a few minutes for a call this week or next? Book time on my calendar.

Thank you,

[Your Name]

(Source: Close)

Your prospects might not always respond to “a random salesperson,” but they might take your cold email more seriously if it’s your CEO that’s reaching out to them. Just be sure to get approval before using this cold email strategy.

6. The Goodwill Gesture

Hi [First Name].

[Your Name] here with [Company Name], respect your reporting a ton, love everything you put out.

Just finished reading your [Topic] article. It was interesting to learn [insert Article summary].

Noticed a couple of typos and thought I should reach out, it’s my OCD kicking in.

-Spelling error 1

-Spelling error 2

Look forward to your next story. What article are you working on next?

Cheers.

(Source: Wise Stamp)

This one can be tricky at times. By calling out a company’s errors, the recipient could get defensive and think you’re being rude. But if you write the email in a way that sounds helpful, it might just become the start of a new relationship.

7. The Proof

[First Name], I wanted to give you a quick shout to introduce you to FullStory, a new tool that helps companies understand customer experiences like never before.

The easiest way to get a feel for FullStory is to check out the 30-second demo of me interacting with your site:

[Video]

(Source: Proposify)

This works to gather a prospect's attention on so many levels. First, it has a quick introduction that addresses the receiver’s pain points. Second, there is a video included that shows the prospect exactly how their service helps them. And lastly, it shows the confidence in their product.

8. The Simple CTA

Hi [First Name],

I just tried giving you a call and left a message.
Please give me a call back at [Phone Number], or send me a note when you get the chance.

Thank you!

(Source: Leadfeeder)

Keep your call-to-action simple and to the point. “Call me or message me back” is as clear as you can get. When you present too many choices, people tend to not make any choice at all. This is called the “The Paradox of Choice.”

9. The Congratulations

Congrats, [First Name]!

I just saw that [Company] is one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world, and I know your work as the [Job Role] plays a part. I know you’ve only been there for [X time], but let’s be honest — your articles on [Topic] prove that you know your stuff.

Since you clearly know what you’re doing, I thought I’d ask you the same question I’ve been asking [industry] professionals across the market:

“What’s your biggest frustration with [your job]?”

(Source: Active Campaign)

Congratulating your prospect tells them that you have done your research and know your cold email outreach target audience. A subject line that addresses a trigger event will almost always get noticed, which means you have much better chances of your email being opened.

Find the Right People to Cold Email

While these cold email examples will certainly help you write yours, you’ll need to find the right people first. You need to do the research beforehand, such as making sure they will be interested in your offering.

Part of this research is finding a verified email address that is linked to a prospect who would actually be interested in your product or service. With the Skrapp web extension that easily integrates with your LinkedIn and browser, you’ll find the verified email addresses of leads within a second.