The Guide For Great Prospecting Emails (Templates & Examples)

Outreach marketing is an affordable way to get leads. Sure, LinkedIn InMails has a better reply rate, but the former is still reliable.But you need a few techniques to get prospecting emails right.

In this guide, we’ll help you craft compelling B2B prospecting emails. These include writing the subject line and opening message. You’ll also learn to place the call-to-action (CTA) and, lastly, how to schedule your email follow-ups. Templates and examples are given also, to get you started with B2B email marketing.

What is B2B cold email?

B2B cold email or prospecting is an unsolicited email sent by a business to another business. It aims to introduce products or services, create a connection, or start a conversation with potential clients or partners who haven’t previously shown interest or interacted with the sender. Your goal is not to sell in prospecting; rather, create interest in a prospect’s mind and schedule a call or appointment.

Does copywriting techniques apply in B2B prospecting?

Yes, but in B2B, the focus is on providing value, addressing pain points, and offering solutions tailored to a professional audience.

Forget about screaming (and sleazy) copywriting that taps into a buyer’s emotional staet in consumer markets. In B2B, your emails should sound professional. They should exude industry expertise to get your prospects’ nod, who, by the way, isn’t one individual. You’re usually dealing with a team of decision-makers eager to spot a chink in your armor.

Get email prospecting right and you’ll leverage the B2B email open rate, which is slightly above 20% while conversion rate is around 3%. Yes, that’s a lot cheaper than PPC.

Let’s go over the B2B email prospecting techniques.

How To Wrtite A Great Prospecting Email

1. Understand Your Audience

The first step to a compelling email outreach is to know who you’re talking to . We’re not just talking about their prospect’s names, job title, prospect’s company…these are basic information.

Instead, go deep. What are their goals? What are the obstacles to these goals? Their pain points? Their aspirations? The prospect’s needs? And even deeper, you need to address these questions for different sets of people.

To help you understand your audience, you need to create buyer personas. Sort buyers along distinct fault lines using data on demographics, purchasing power, and other details already in your customer database. For additional information, you can also scrape verified emails from LinkedIn profiles and get the prospects’ professional details.

For example, a software vendor cold-calling to explain its product’s benefits to potential customers taking online courses will do well to talk about learning management systems. In contrast, the same vendor should focus on lead generation when dealing with people with marketing backgrounds.

Adding names and creating the typical look of your buyer personas help you visualize who you’re talking to.

2. Craft a Compelling Subject Line

It’s your email’s heavy hitter. It carries in one punch all the awesomeness of your email message. After all, your recipients will decide if they should click your email based on those few words you put into the subject line. It is indeed tough to craft compelling email subject lines. As there are different types of writing, you can combine two or three of the following techniques to hit the right notes:

• Pose a question. A question triggers curiosity. It piques your prospects’ interest.
• Use a pain point. Address your prospects’ problems and it’ll surely get their attention. You can combine this technique with our question tip. For example, “John, how do you handle your tax auditing?”
• Be clear about the value. What will prospects gain from reading your email? The value can be discreet to avoid sounding sales-y, for example, “Why your sales dropped last quarter.” This hints at a solution (value), an irresistible bait for any marketer.
• Fear of missing out (FOMO). Instead of offering a benefit directly to the prospect, highlight what others are already enjoying. For example, “75% of CEOs read this report. Have you?” (we combined FOMO with a question). What you’re saying to the prospect here is: “Better read my email and catch the train or you’ll be left in the dust.”

These subject lines may seem random but if you analyze them closely, they are either using curiosity, value, or FOMO or a combo or all in varying degrees.

3. Give the Opening Line a Hook

If the subject line is the heavy hitter, your opening line is the follow-up hook. It’s crucial you write a punchy, intriguing opening line that sets the tone for the rest of the email.

Be concise and specific without giving everything away. In short, tease prospects. Let them want more. You can use the subject line techniques here but with more details and some angling.

Take our FOMO case above. The opening line can be a crucial insight in the report while implying more highlights are in the email body.

Here’s an example: “AI tools will revolutionize how businesses generate leads in the next 2-3 years.”

How? By how much? What are these tools? What industries will be affected? As they read the opening line, these questions race through your prospects’ minds. Their natural reaction is, you got it, to keep reading for answers.

You can also use these time-tested opening techniques:

• Benefit-oriented: “Here’s how you can save $10,000 on PPC ads.”
• Curiosity: “Ever wondered how your competitors are outpacing you in traffic?”
• Storytelling: “Meet Mike, who bumped up his e-commerce sales from $0 to $50k in three months.”
• Compelling statistics: “Companies like yours are seeing a 30% increase in productivity.”
• Problem-solution: “Struggling to scale your operations? Our platform can help.”
• Relatability: “We’re also a small agency like yours. We feel you when you say it’s hard to collect payables.

Your ability to craft a compelling opening line (and subject line) depends on understanding your audience (see no. 1), so it is better to put these techniques into context.

Using relatability can be casual, too, as shown above. The goal is to break the ice to find a common ground before you start selling.

4. Structure Your Email Body

You’re past the hard part—leading prospects to your message. But it doesn’t mean you can blabber away in the body of the email. You need a clear structure to lead prospects from being interested to engaged. Use a problem-solution model since, in most cases, a product aims to solve a problem.

Here’s how your messaging should flow:

1. State the problem
2. Explain the problem’s impact
3. Transition to a solution
4. Describe the solution
5. Show social media proof

Here’s a case study following the outline above:

[State the problem] 

I understand that managing inventory manually can be a significant challenge for small companies like yours.

[Explain the problem’s impact] 

It leads to missed or lost orders, excessive stockouts, or overstocking. You end up hurting your bottom line or stifling your online shop’s growth.

[Transition to a solution] 

Imagine stocking only car parts customers need in the next two weeks. What if you have a way to automate and streamline the inventory process? Have optimal stock levels to fulfill orders fast? And grow the business?

[Describe the solution]

Our software leverages advanced automation and real-time data analytics to provide actionable insights into your inventory performance. Accurately forecasting demand and optimizing reorder points can minimize stockouts and excess inventory, improving customer satisfaction and profitability. (You can be detailed here about product features but keep things concise, about 3-4 sentences).

[Show social proof] 

But don’t just listen to us. Hear from our happy customers: “We’re new to using PRODUCT, but our experience has been great so far. The system is simpler and easier to use compared to manual tracking. What really stands out is the service they provide. We opted for the platinum package, and we’re happy we did! – Lucia from ABC Company” (You can add up to three testimonials).

5. Personalize Your Message

While writing the email’s body structure, remember that you should personalize your message. A human touch draws the attention. You’re more engaged when someone talks about stuff you can relate to, right?

Take a look at our sample email body above. See how we personalize the message for an online shop selling car accessories with these phrases:

“small companies like yours”

“your online shop’s growth”

“stocking only car parts that customers will need in the next two weeks.”

Again, we go back to tip no. 1 before you can personalize your message: understand your audience. Talking about accounting software to a marketer is short of telling the prospect you couldn’t give two hoots about him.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to personalize the message whenever you send an email. Most outreach marketing platforms today, such as Pitchbox, Buzzstream, and Instantly can do that for you.

You only need to write a sales prospecting email template for each audience segment and integrate the templates and your CRM data with the email marketing software.

Here’s an example of pitching to a company with values aligned with sustainability:

I’ve noticed that [Company Name]’s commitment isn’t only about offering sustainable products but also about making a positive difference in the world.

As an expert in digital marketing solutions, we can assist [Company Name] in achieving this mission. Our all-in-one marketing suite—tailored to eco-conscious brands—can help you reach your audience more effectively while conserving resources and maintaining your commitment to sustainability.

6. Don’t Forget a Call-to-Action (CTA)

It’s your knockout punch, to get back to our boxing allusion. A CTA or call-to-action is an instruction encouraging prospects to take action. 

When writing a CTA, consider the following tips:

• Be specific: Do you want the prospect to book a meeting? Sign up for a free trial? Download a whitepaper? Make it clear in the CTA.
• End with a question: The CTA can also be a question to prod a reply from a prospect and avoid the spam filter. Getting a reply “warms up” your cold email, that is, Gmail or any email client recognizes a legitimate conversation between you and the prospect.. For instance, a simple “Would you like me to send the e-book?” is likely to earn a yes or no.
• Make it compelling: Use strong action words (ex. buy, shop, subscribe, etc.). Write short, direct phrases.
• Create urgency: Where appropriate, inject time-sensitive language, such as “Don’t miss out” or “Offer expires in 23 days.”
• Make it the next step, not the final step: The CTA should align with the stage the prospect is at in the buyer’s journey (Awareness, Consideration, Decision). For instance, if you’ve just introduced the product, a good CTA may be “Book a demo” or “Sign up for a free trial” but not “Buy Now.”
• Highlight the benefits: Say how the prospect will benefit by taking the action. For example, “Start streamlining your inventory now” or “Cut down on stock losses from today.”
• Be visual: Highlight the CTA in bold or apply rich text to help it stand out from the body of the email.

No hard-selling here (yet), just a clear CTA on the next step.

7. Follow Up Without Being Intrusive

Following up straddles persistence and patience. You don’t want your email to be forgotten. But you don’t want to appear desperate.

When following up your first email, remember the 3:7:3 formula. That is if you don’t get any response in your initial email:

• Follow up after three days.
• Still no response? Follow up after seven days.
• Then, follow up once a week 2-3 times.

Spacing your follow-ups gives prospects breathing room. Your non-pushy demeanor may pique curiosity down the line.

Also, be brief with your follow-up. Here are some tips:

• Reference your previous email: Restate the purpose of your initial email. Don’t reiterate all the details.
• Address potential objections: Maybe they’re not ready for your limited promo offer. Then extend the period.
• Create urgency: Conversely, you can send a reminder that the offer will soon expire.
• Be brief: 2-4 sentences will do.
• Add a CTA: Restate the CTA.

Here’s a good example of a follow-up email:

Subject: Just floating this to the top of your inbox

Hi [Recipient’s name],

I am following up on the email I sent last week about [Briefly mention the initial content]. I know you’re busy, and this could have drowned in your inbox.

I believe [Reiterate the value proposition or relevant detail]. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Best,

[Your name]

What You Should Not Include in Your Prospecting Emails

Prospecting emails can be a powerful tool for sales professionals and sales teams when done correctly. However, it’s not just about what you should include in your message, but also about avoiding certain pitfalls that could turn off your prospects or land your email in the spam folder. Below, we’ve compiled a list of things you should not include in your prospecting emails:

• Over exaggerations or incorrect information: The quickest way to lose potential clients is to mislead them from the beginning. Always be honest.
• A generic pitch: Each prospect is different, with their own specific problems and needs. Avoid sending a generic pitch, instead personalize your message based on your prospect.
• Negative comments about competitors: Remember, the aim of your email is to promote your product or service, not to degrade others. Avoid comparing or making negative comments about your competitors.
• Overly technical jargon: Keep your language simple and understandable to your recipient. Technical jargon can be confusing and might intimidate your prospect.
• Overly promotional content: Prospects are less likely to respond to emails that feel too “salesy”. Highlight how your product or service can solve their pain points, instead of focusing solely on selling.

By keeping these points in mind, and focusing instead on providing value and aspiring to mutual connection with your prospect rather than just selling, your sales reps’ prospecting emails are likely to be far more successful.

Watch Your Open Rates Increase

You now have a guide on writing the subject line, an opening hook, a well-structured and personalized email body, and a CTA. You already know how to schedule your email follow-ups. Practice the techniques when you use email outreach and, once you’re ready, put them into your prospecting emails and watch your open rates and response rates increase. Congrats!