Have you ever been on a date with someone who talked about themselves the entire time? It probably seemed like they weren’t interested in you, leaving you wondering why they asked you out in the first place.
A bad cold email is kind of like that. Presumably, sales professionals want to get to know you better, but it’s not always clear why. The language can be so vague, you wonder if they even know who you are. You find yourself thinking, I bet you say the same thing to all your prospects.
But sales emails can also be thoughtful, curious, and perceptive—just like a good date. While you can’t download a template for dating, there is, however, a tried-and-true formula to write sales emails well.
Learn how to write compelling sales emails, plus examples of sales emails that get responses.
How to write a sales email
- Identify your ideal customer
- Conduct research
- Determine your call to action
- Write your first draft
- Choose your subject and opening lines
Emails are an integral part of any outbound sales strategy. Here’s how to write a good one:
1. Identify your ideal customer
Writing an impactful sales email starts with creating your ideal customer profile (ICP). After all, you can’t write a good sales email if you don’t understand your audience.
A good ICP:
- Saves time you would have otherwise spent writing sales emails for prospects who will never convert.
- Ensures your email is relevant to the recipient.
- Allows you to become a category expert and valuable resource for customers.
2. Conduct research
Your prospect knows their business better than anyone. So they’ll know right away whether you’re familiar with their company and industry or if your marketing automation software simply plugged their company name into one of its standard sales email subject lines.
During the research phase, you’ll learn how your business can serve theirs. (If it can’t, move on to the next prospect.)
Make a list of specific topics you’d like to discuss with your prospect, then narrow it down to the one you think will pique their interest. Some topics you might want to explore include:
- Your prospect’s customers
- Your competition
- The market landscape
- Relevant new technology
3. Determine your call to action
Before drafting a sales email, ask yourself: “What action do I want my prospect to take after reading this?”
It would be great if they immediately made a purchase, but it’s not likely. Gartner, a business-to-business (B2B) software platform, found that in 2023, 47% of small to medium-sized businesses took three to six months to finalize a software purchase. Depending on what you are selling, that timeframe can be quicker, or much longer.
Instead, identify where your prospect is in the sales cycle and the appropriate resources to provide them at this stage. Your call to action (CTA) will most likely appear near the end of your message, but the rest of your email will build up to it.
🌟Resource: 15 Ecommerce CTA Examples and How To Write One
4. Write your first draft
An effective sales email focuses on the prospect—not the seller. Instead of simply listing your accomplishments, credentials, and shiny product features, focus on your prospect’s opportunities and pain points.
One trick for ensuring you stay on message is to imagine your prospect asking, “So what?” after each sentence. For example, you might write, “We have X years of experience helping Y businesses achieve Z results.” Imagine your prospect asking you, “So what?”
This exercise can help you get to the point. For example, you might reply by showing exactly how your years of experience can benefit your prospect and rephrase to say, “We have established relationships with your key clients A and B and know exactly how to navigate C.”
Now you have their interest. And if they want to know how many years of experience you have after that, they can find that info on your website.
🌟Resource: Email Copywriting Guide: How To Write Enticing Email Copy
5. Choose your subject and opening lines
Your sales email subject line and opening line should be complementary since most email clients display a preview of the first sentence next to or below the subject line.
Both your subject line and your first sentence should grab your prospect’s attention and indicate what they can expect within the email.
Even though these are the first things your prospect will see, they should be the last part you write. You likely won’t know exactly what you want to say until you write at least one draft.
Tips for writing effective sales emails
Use these tips to craft sales emails that stand out in crowded inboxes:
Write multiple drafts
What do a great sales email and a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel have in common? It takes multiple drafts to get them right.
A sales email might be short, but it should still go through a revision process. Rewriting can help you figure out a better way to communicate your message and spot any unprofessional-looking typos.
When we read blocks of text—whether in a sales email or a blog post—we often skim, filling in missing information without realizing it. Here are a couple of tricks professional editors use to catch errors:
- Read it out loud. Reading your email out loud will force you to slow down, which will help you identify typos, missing words, and unnecessary repetition.
- Read it backward. When you read your writing backward (starting with the last sentence of your email and ending with the first sentence), your brain can’t fill in missing information, because the content no longer follows a recognizable pattern. Instead, you’ll have to consider each sentence individually.
Get to the point
On average, recipients spend just nine seconds reading an email, according to data from Litmus. With this in mind, let your reader know why you’re reaching out within the very first sentence.
Start by writing your email as if you’re actually talking to your prospect:
“Hi, my name is [your name] and I’m a [your role] at [your business]. We [what your business does],” etc.
Then, cut all the introductory stuff (your prospect can see your contact info in your email signature anyway) and open with your most compelling sentence.
Be specific
Your prospect receives dozens of emails a day that aren’t relevant to them, advertise products they don’t need, and ask questions they don’t have the answers to. Unsurprisingly, a vague email will likely land in your prospect’s junk folder.
When they see your email, they’re probably going to assume it’s not relevant, so the burden is on you to persuade them that it is by providing specific details that show you wrote this email just for them.
🌟Resource: 14 Useful Persuasion Techniques to Improve Sales
Tell the truth
According to a 2023 report from Gartner, the trustworthiness of the sales team is the most important factor B2B buyers consider when choosing a software provider. Don’t jeopardize prospects’ trust by exaggerating what you can do for them or how well you know their product in your initial sales email. Be honest about what your capabilities are and how you can help.
Sales email examples
Here’s how to handle a few common sales situations using Shopify’s free sales email templates:
Launching a new product or feature
A new product or feature launch is a great time to reach out to a prospect. Offering to let them test your product doesn’t come across as overly salesy, especially if your product can genuinely benefit their business.
If you can give your prospect early access, even better.
Following up after a download
Downloading content from your website can indicate interest in your product, but not always. If a lead fits your ICP and makes a download, you should almost certainly reach out.
Make yourself useful by offering advice on the best way to use the download or providing additional resources.
Reaching out to a referral
Your prospect is much more likely to respond if a mutual connection can introduce you. The next best thing is to write a sales email that name-drops the referrer within the first sentence.
Then, ask a question that shows you’ve done your research and are familiar with their business. A thoughtful question is more likely to elicit a response than a pushy CTA.
Sales email FAQ
What makes a good sales email?
Successful sales emails are specific, brief, and relevant to the recipient. They should focus on the customer’s needs, not your business’s features or achievements.
Are cold sales emails illegal?
Cold sales emails are not illegal, although the Federal Trade Commission regulates them in the United States. In the US, sales emails must adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act; other countries have their own email regulations. Before sending an email to a new prospect, check out their country’s email regulations to ensure compliance.
Are sales emails effective?
Sales email response rates vary widely by industry. Whether your email receives a response (or leads to a deal) depends on a variety of factors, including whether or not your prospect is the right person for your product and whether your email provides personalized, high-quality information.
