How To Write The Perfect Sales Cold Email Sequence?

Cold email outreach is one of the best ways to reach out to prospects with an ROI of $38 on every $1 you invest. However, even if you put your best efforts into crafting an email, if you stop with just one email, you will not land anywhere. People are busy, and they may miss your first email, which is why you should create a sales cold email sequence.

You would be surprised to know that your reply rate would get tripled when you send more follow-up emails. If you don’t know where to start, here’s help. So, let’s begin with understanding what a sales cold email sequence is and how you have to craft the emails for it.

What Is An Email Sequence?

An email sequence refers to a chain of emails sent after pre-decided time intervals or after an event occurs, or both. 

In an email sequence, you send a pre-set number of emails to prospects automatically without having to intervene manually. 

The following are the two types of email sequences used:

Sales email sequences – These involve cold email campaigns for generating leads. 

Marketing email sequences – These aim at nurturing leads

Our focus throughout this post will be on the sales cold email sequence. And now that we know that the sequences are about cold emailing let’s revisit the basics of cold email outreach and writing cold emails. 

What Makes A Good Cold Email?

When you carry out cold email outreach for outbound lead generation, you have to choose leads that are a perfect fit for the ideal customer profile you created. However, they may not be willing to make a purchase straight away. They may need your solution, but there is no urgency, and they are not aware that your product or service can change their lives. 

So, you have to do two things,

1. Show that your product is what the prospects need

Craft a cold email in such a way that it points out the problem the prospect is facing and how your product or service provides the best possible solution for it.

2. Stay on top of the prospect’s mind

The other thing that your email should do is stay on the top of the prospect’s mind. It is helpful when prospects are not willing to make a purchase immediately. By being on top of their mind, they will turn to you when they need your product or service. 

Tips To Write Effective Cold Emails

To carry out cold email outreach that increases conversions, you must focus on several parameters. It is essential to build a long-lasting relationship with the prospect and not sound too sales. You have put your best foot forward with your email. Let’s take a brief look at all you have to bear in mind while crafting cold emails.

1. Personalize

If you spend time on every email by doing some basic research and personalizing them, it can help in the long run. Upon seeing an email with a personalized subject line, the prospect will most likely read the email. They can get impressed with the amount of effort you have put in to make the email relevant enough. It is one sure-shot way of outshining the crowd. You can use automated sales outreach tools that offer the mail merge feature where you use macros to personalize emails at scale. 

2. Appreciate prospects

Flattery does its work most of the time. If you appreciate someone for their work, they will feel elated. A little appreciation can help you build lasting bonds with the prospects. Just make sure that you don’t fake it because the prospect can find that out. 

3. Look for common ground

It is a human tendency to get interested in those similar to you. That is why if you highlight that you have something in common with the prospect, the person will get drawn towards you. 

4. Provide social proof

If you have Customer testimonials from top-level executives in your industry, you should include them in the outreach email. It is social proof that would make you look credible. Include case studies as well if possible.

5. Add a relevant CTA

Use a CTA that seems relevant and is not too aggressive and salesy in nature if you want to increase reply rates. Something on the lines of – ‘Do you want to know more?’ Rather than booking a demo directly, the prospects would like to know a little more about your offering. 

Common Cold Email Mistakes To Avoid

Now that you know what you should do with cold email outreach, here’s what all you must not do in your cold email,

1. Using generic templates

Recipients can make out that you have probably sent the email to hundreds of other people and, therefore, would ignore your email altogether. 

2. Keeping it too lengthy

If your email has several long paragraphs in it, it will end in the trash folder as nobody has the time to read novels in the name of emails. 

3. Focussing on yourself

Singing praises of your product or service cannot draw the prospect towards you. Instead, show how your solution can help solve the prospect’s pain points. 

4. Forgetting to add a CTA

Without a clear CTA, the prospect would not know in which direction they should head after they finish reading your email. 

Not adding an email signature – An email signature makes you look more professional. With a carefully-designed signature, you can look more trustworthy, and the prospect is more likely to engage with your email. 

Why Creating Follow-Up Email Sequences Is Important?  

Coming back to what we discussed in the introduction, stopping with one cold email after no response will not help you achieve your sales quota. If you want to win the cold emailing game, you have to create a follow-up email sequence that resonates well with the prospects. With the right follow-up approach, the prospects may eventually turn towards you. Using the right cold email software will help you considerably. 

Characteristics Of A Great Sales Cold Email Sequence

Here are the main characteristics of an effective email sequence,

1. It nurtures the prospect 

You can’t start by selling your product or service right in the first email of the sequence. You have to choose a step-by-step approach as it is highly likely that the prospect doesn’t know about your business and your offering. Even if the prospects have some interest in your solution, they may not intend to purchase it. With the right kind of email sequence, you can take the prospect through the sales funnel in a step-by-step manner.

2. It engages the recipient

You are mistaken if you want to pose as that ‘responsible salesperson’ who wants to save the prospect’s time by being direct and to the point. It will make your email sound too formal, and most people won’t engage with it. Remember that you are cold emailing not to sell but to build a rapport with the prospect. A good email sequence is the one that helps in trust-building, and you can do that by providing value to the prospects. It will leave a good impression on prospects, and they will reach out to you when they need your product or service. 

3. It is well-structured 

It is not easy to convert a prospect into a paying customer overnight. There is a need to send several emails that have a time gap between them in outbound sales. The sales cold email sequence should be structured in such a manner that it follows various stages of the sales process. Have a plan that takes the prospect through the buyer’s journey. It will simplify your job as a sales rep as well. 

How To Create A Cold Email Sequence That Converts?

Creating a cold email sequence that fetches your results is the need of the hour. Take a look at how you can do that,

1. Know who you are targeting

First things first, you have to know your target audience. Having a vague idea like ‘We are targeting B2B companies’ is not enough. To identify your target audience, you have to determine what needs or problems your solution solves. It will help you understand who will find your product or service helpful.

Next, you have to check whether or not the audience you are targeting is eligible to use your solution to the fullest, i.e. will they be able to make the most of it or not? 

Another thing you should focus on is determining whether or not the target audience is actively looking for a solution to the problem your product or service is solving. Find out if they are using a competitor’s solution at present and will they be ready to purchase your product or service. 

2. Align the email sequence with the buyer journey

Your sales cold email sequence can convert better when you build it around the buyer’s journey. You have to determine the stage in which the buyer is, i.e. whether a prospect is unaware or aware (pain-aware or solution aware).

But how can you find that out? It is simple – you only need to get the answers to a few questions, and they are the following:

Are the prospects aware of their problem?

Are they aware of existing solutions for it?

Do they know about the product you offer?

If yes, are they willing to purchase?

Are they facing any issues that prevent them from going ahead with the purchase?

Once you find the stage the prospect is in, find which level they are, i.e. are they in the low, mid, or high levels. If they are at the lowest level of being solution aware, you can’t take them from the solution to the product stage with a single touch-point.

3. Come up with an effective way of presenting the offer

As your sequence considers the stages of the buyer’s journey, you have to present your offer in such a way that there is the highest possibility of a conversion. 

If you have a segmented mailing list and not everyone is in the same stage of the buyer’s journey, you possibly cannot put your offer in front of the prospects in your cold email sequence. You can’t send the same offer to a person who is unaware and to another who is pain-aware.

There is the need to give a different treatment to each prospect when they are in different stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Types Of Email Sequence 

There exist different types of email sequences, and they have different purposes. Take a look at them below,

1. Nurturing Email Sequence

Using a nurturing email sequence, you introduce yourself to the prospect. Even though the prospects subscribe to your newsletter, they are not ready to purchase. With a nurturing email sequence, you can make them more likely to purchase by providing value, giving social proof, and overcoming sales objections. 

2. Engagement Email Sequence

With an engagement email sequence, you can build a relationship with prospects. The aim is to get them interested in what you offer and stay on top of their mind. It is possible to find out which prospects engaged with the email by tracking opens and clicks. You can then add those individuals to other sequences that cater exclusively to their Stage in the buyer’s journey.

3. Conversion Email Sequence

In this email sequence, you ask the prospect to take action, such as book a demo or schedule a meeting. You can craft the email copy in a way that the prospect gets driven to act on the CTA. Use the sequence to make the recipient act on it. 

4. Follow-Up Email Sequence

If a prospect doesn’t reply to your email, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have an interest in your product or service. There might be a need for a few touchpoints before they act. With a follow-up email sequence, you can reconnect with prospects following a few attempts to reach out. It minimizes the need for sales reps to send emails manually.

5. Reminder Email Sequence

You may get super-excited when a prospect books a demo with you. It may seem like they are planning to close a deal with you. But, what would happen when the prospect ghosts you? That’s where reminders come into play. They help ensure that leads don’t forget about the demo they booked or the meeting they scheduled. 

6. Re-Engagement Email Sequence

You require a re-engagement email sequence as a last resort to revive the contacts that have gone cold or are uninterested. This sequence aims to make recipients open the emails and perform some action. If it doesn’t evoke a response, you can remove the prospect from your database to ensure your mailing list stays healthy. 

What Should Be The Length Of An Email Sequence?

There is no fixed length for a sales cold email sequence. It depends on various factors such as buyer persona, the stage of the prospect in the buyer journey, the sales cycle length on average, the goal of creating the sequence. 

For example, if you are creating a sequence to nurture prospects and want them to act, here’s what you would expect your email sequence to do,

1. Draw the prospects towards purchasing the solution

2. Overcome the doubts and objections they may have

3. Win the prospect’s trust and look credible

4. Stay on top of the prospect’s mind till they are willing to buy

However, it won’t be possible to achieve so much from one email, so you must have a series of emails focussing on each aspect. Also, based on where the prospect is in the buyer journey and what you expect, you will decide the length of your email sequence. 

Steps To Create An Email Sequence

As you have a clear idea of a sales cold email sequence, we can move over to create one. Here’s how you should proceed, 

1. Determine what is the purpose of the sequence

There is no prize for guessing that the email sequences close deals with potential customers. It is the bottom line of every profit-making business, but there may be different ways to reach that goal. When you know the purpose of your email sequence, it will be easier to create the content. You will also know which of the email metrics you should track.

Suppose you aim at building a sequence to drive the prospect to book a demo. Here, the sequence’s success depends entirely on the prospect booking a demo through your meeting scheduler. 

Do you get the idea? Knowing the purpose can easily help you build the sequence using an automated cold outreach tool.

2. Find the trigger for the sequence

It is essential to specify what would trigger the email sequence. It can be anything like the lead filling out a form, visiting a page on your company’s website, moving to another stage of the buyer’s journey or booking a meeting. 

3. Determine the timeframe of the sequence

There is no cap on the sequence duration and the number of emails required. It would help to build a strategy for the number of touchpoints and how often you should send emails. 

Suppose the average sales cycle is 30 days, and you want to send emails twice a week; your sequence can have eight emails easily. It is up to you to plan the email sequence. What matters the most is that it should yield results. 

4. Write the emails for the sequence

After creating the outline, it is now time to work on the emails. This is the most significant stage of forming a sequence. While crafting the emails, do bear in mind that each email will reach several prospects, and it should resonate with each one of them. You can choose to personalize them at scale using variables provided by automated cold outreach tools. 

Make sure that you stick to having only one purpose and one CTA in each email to have higher chances of succeeding. 

5. Set up the email sequence

Setting up your email sequence requires you to do the following,

1. Specify the trigger

2. What action to perform and when

3. Setup the time gap between each action

6. Test how the sequence works

There is the need to test the sales cold email sequence before running it to rest assured that it works the way you planned it to. Sending test emails is one way of doing it. Also, make sure your emails are mobile-friendly as a huge percentage of users use mobile devices to check emails. 

Cold Email Sequence Template

Here are the cold email templates that can find their way in your sequences,

1. The initial email to congratulate the prospect for their achievement

Subject: Are you available for a chat?

Email Body:

Hello {{Prospect’s_name}},

I work with {{industry_name}} and therefore follow the industry news closely. I came to know that you {{achievement}} and want to congratulate you for the achievement. 

When you reach this milestone, {{topic}} is essential. Therefore, I felt that you would like to know how we have helped {{competitors}}. You can check our customer testimonials here. If you wish to know more about our offering, let’s connect sometime this week. Here’s a link to my calendar – click. 

Thanks,

Sara

2. Follow up after 24 hours, providing a valuable resource

Subject: Free tool for you

Email Body:

Hello {{Prospect’s_name}},

I am sending you a follow-up email to provide you with a free tool that will come in handy. It helps in {{mention_use}} and can save a considerable amount of your time and money. 

Click here {{link}} to access this tool. If you feel that it is indeed helpful and want to know more about our flagship solution {{product/service_name}} and how it can benefit you, you can schedule a meeting with me. I am sharing my calendar link, feel free to pick a date – Click

Thanks,

Sara

3. Another follow up email after 24 hours of silence from the prospect

Subject: Connecting with you

Email Body:

Hello {{Prospect’s_name}},

I understand that you are busy and not able to connect. Work and family life can be taxing at times. 

You can connect with me on weekends too if it is suitable for you or after your office hours. I want to help you out with {{pain_point}} and feel that there can be nothing better than {{product/service_name}}.

Feel free to pick a date and time off my calendar to schedule a meeting {{link}}.

Thanks,

Sara

4. Final follow-up email after not getting a reply to any of your emails

Subject: Can I close your file?

Email Body:

Hello {{Prospect’s_name}},

I haven’t heard back from you, and it may be because you are pretty occupied or not interested in the offer. If so, can you permit me to close your file? If you want to connect, I will be delighted to help you. Just reply to this email.

Thanks,

Sara

The last email is the breakup email, and it works most of the time due to the prospect’s fear of missing out (FOMO)

The sequence of cold email templates above is a relatively short one. However, there can be matters that involve more significant decisions and have a higher risk where sequences require more emails from your end. The sales cold email sequence can run for 2 weeks and may seem like the following,

1. Initial cold email

2. Send a gentle reminder 2-3 days after the first email

3. Send an email adding value 3-4 days after the previous email 

4. Send another email adding value 3-4 days after the previous email 

5. Send breakup email 4-5 days after the previous email

How To Add Value To The Email Sequences?

Take a look at how you can add value to the emails in the sequence and speed up the movement of prospects down the funnel.

1. Case studies

Case studies can help get you great results as they let the prospect understand how your solution helped your customer overcome their pain points. It also has statistics to impress the prospect further.

2. Testimonials

The customer testimonials are the opinions of satisfied customers and are quite impactful. If the prospect reads the testimonials, they will trust you more, increasing the chances of conversion.

3. Success stories

Success stories can grab the prospect’s interest as they summarise the amazing experience clients had with your product or service. You can present facts to prospects and draw them towards you using stories. 

4. Referrals

It is possible to close more deals using referrals. When you mention a mutual connection in your email, you look credible enough, and the prospect is more likely to trust you. It often works as the ice-breaker in the conversation and makes things easier for you as the salesperson. 

5. Content that resonates with prospects

By providing relevant content to your prospect, you can pique their interest in you and your product or service. If you understand their pain points and try to be the helping hand they always wanted, you can win the game. 

Create Your Cold Email Sequence Today!

A sales cold email sequence can be quite effective in converting leads to paying customers. As we have already seen above, there are many different types of sequences, from nurturing leads to sequences for following up with prospects. The length of the sequence is not fixed and depends on several factors. Some sequences can do their job with just 3 emails, while others require more emails. As you can see, a lot goes into crafting a cold email campaign, but you can get the job done faster if you have the help of cold email software like SalesBlink.

You can thank us once you start seeing results!

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