How to Write a Great Cold Email Sequence

Imagine a heartfelt email journey, crafted just for you. It’s like a warm hug in your inbox, reaching out to people who haven’t crossed paths with our company before. These carefully crafted emails are designed to captivate your interest, ignite meaningful conversations, and, in the end, transform you into a happy customer.

Crafting a cold email sequence is more than just a sales strategy. It’s an art that we pour our souls into. We believe that the perfect cold email sequence template can work wonders for your business, breathing life into your lead generation efforts and opening the floodgates to a steady stream of potential customers eager to explore what you have to offer.

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How a Cold Email Sequence Works

The foundation of a great cold email sequence lies in understanding the buyer’s journey. This buyer journey often starts with the initial email, followed by a nurturing email sequence, and can often culminate in a conversion email sequence.

The initial email, often a cold email, is the first contact point where you aim to grab the attention of the recipient, typically your target audience. A successful initial email should arouse curiosity and inspire the recipient to learn more about your product or service.

The nurturing email sequence, comprising follow-up emails, aims to build trust and cultivate a relationship with potential customers by providing them with helpful content personalized to their needs and interests.

This sequence continues to remind the recipient about your product or service, its benefits, and how it can address their specific pain points.

The conversion email sequence is the final part of the cold email sequence, where the aim is to convert the warm leads into paying customers.

This phase often includes a clear and compelling call to action, urging the recipient to make a purchase, schedule a quick call, or take another definitive step toward becoming a customer.

Crafting a Cold Email

To create a cold email that stands out in a crowded inbox, it is crucial to keep a few key elements in mind.

The subject line, email body, and call to action are critical elements that can make or break your cold email.

The subject line is the first thing that the recipient sees. It should be compelling and induce curiosity.

Good cold email subject lines are concise, personalized, and relevant to the recipient’s interests or pain points.

The email body should be succinct yet engaging. It’s essential to address the recipient’s pain points and highlight how your product or service provides the perfect solution.

Using social proof, such as customer testimonials or success stories, can also be powerful in establishing credibility.

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The call to action is the part of the email that prompts the recipient to take the next step.

Whether it’s scheduling a quick call, downloading a resource, or visiting your website, the call to action should be clear, concise, and persuasive.

Importance of Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is a fundamental part of a successful marketing strategy. It’s a cost-effective way to reach your target audience directly, increase brand awareness, and generate leads for your business.

Despite the prevalence of other marketing strategies and tools, cold emailing continues to be a top choice for businesses across various industries.

That’s primarily because of its scalability, the ability to target specific audiences, and the potential for high returns on investment.

By utilizing cold email templates, sales reps can save time and increase efficiency while ensuring that their emails are professionally crafted and effective.

Cold email templates are pre-written emails that can be customized to fit various situations, target audiences, and goals.

Cold email outreach software, like Mailarrow, can further enhance your cold emailing efforts by automating email sequences, providing valuable insights and analytics, and making the process of generating leads easier and more efficient.

With a strong understanding of what a cold email sequence is and its importance in your sales process, it’s time to delve deeper into creating an effective cold email sequence.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to move potential customers along the buyer’s journey, from being solution aware to becoming paying customers.

Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

The Art of Creating a Powerful Cold Email Sequence

Building an effective cold email sequence involves more than stringing together a few persuasive emails.

It requires a strategic approach that keeps your target audience’s interests and pain points at the forefront while ensuring the sequence aligns with your sales process.

Understanding Your Target Audience

The first step in creating a cold email sequence is to thoroughly understand your target audience.

You should have a clear picture of who your potential customers are, what their needs are, and what they value. It’s also crucial to understand their pain points, and how your product or service can solve them.

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By developing a buyer persona, you can ensure your cold emails resonate with your potential customers and prompt them to take the desired action.

This understanding should guide the creation of your cold email templates, shaping the subject lines, email body, and call to action to align with the interests, needs, and behaviors of your target audience.

Structuring Your Cold Email Sequence

The structure of your cold email sequence is vital to its success. It should guide your potential customers through the buyer’s journey, from initial awareness to the point of purchase.

A typical cold email sequence structure may look like this:

  1. Initial Email: The first email is the introduction where you pitch your product or service. It should be intriguing and pique the interest of your target audience.
  2. Follow-Up Emails: If you don’t get a response to your initial email, don’t give up. Send follow-up emails that provide more information about your product or service, emphasize its value, and address common objections or concerns.
  3. Engagement Email Sequence: If you get a positive response to your initial or follow-up emails, the next step is to engage your potential customer. This could involve sharing helpful content personalized to their needs or situation or showcasing customer success stories or testimonials for social proof.
  4. Re-engagement Email Sequence: If a prospect doesn’t respond to your engagement emails, you might need to switch strategies. A re-engagement email sequence could involve addressing a different pain point, offering a special deal, or even asking for feedback to understand why they haven’t taken action.
  5. Conversion Email Sequence: Once your potential customer is engaged and has shown interest in your product or service, it’s time to nudge them towards making a purchase. A conversion email sequence could include a strong call to action, an exclusive discount, or a limited-time offer to encourage them to take the final step.

Crafting Compelling Cold Email Templates

When it comes to writing your cold email templates, there are a few key elements to keep in mind.

  • Subject Line: The subject line should grab your recipient’s attention and make them want to open the email. It should be personalized, concise, and relevant to the recipient’s needs or interests.
  • Email Body: The email body should engage the reader and provide value. It should clearly communicate how your product or service can solve the recipient’s pain point, and why they should choose your solution over others.
  • Call to Action: Your call to action should prompt the recipient to take the next step, whether that’s scheduling a call, requesting a demo, or making a purchase.

With a clear understanding of your target audience, a well-structured cold email sequence, and compelling email templates, you’re well on your way to crafting a killer cold email sequence.

Let’s dive deeper into how to optimize your email sequences in the next section. Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

Optimizing Your Cold Email Sequences

So you’ve set up your cold email sequence structure and drafted some compelling emails, but your job doesn’t end there.

An integral part of developing a killer cold email sequence involves continually optimizing your cold emails based on performance and feedback.

Monitoring and Analyzing Performance

Once your cold email sequences are up and running, you’ll need to regularly monitor and analyze their performance.

This will give you insight into what’s working, what’s not, and where there’s room for improvement.

For example, if you notice that your initial email isn’t generating the desired open rates, it might be time to revise your subject line or the timing of your email.

On the other hand, if your follow-up emails aren’t resulting in responses or desired actions right person, consider revisiting the email body or the call to action.

Adapting to Your Target Audience’s Behavior

Understanding your target audience’s behavior is key to optimizing your cold email sequence.

You can gain these insights through email metrics like open rates, click-through rates, response rates, and conversion rates.

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With these metrics, you can identify patterns and trends in your target audience’s behavior.

For instance, if you notice that a particular subject line results in high open rates, consider using similar phrasing or structure in future cold emails.

Similarly, if a certain call to action consistently leads to high conversion rates, it would be wise to incorporate that call to action in other parts of your cold email sequence.

Incorporating Feedback

Feedback from your target audience is a valuable resource for improving your cold email sequence.

This can be direct feedback received through responses to your cold emails or indirect feedback gleaned from the actions recipients take (or don’t take) in response to your cold emails.

Use this feedback to continually refine and improve your cold email sequence. For example, if you receive feedback that a particular cold email template was confusing or didn’t provide enough information about your product or service, this is an opportunity to improve clarity and detail in your future cold emails.

Testing Different Approaches

Don’t be afraid to test different approaches in your cold email sequences. This could involve testing different subject lines, email body content, call-to-action phrasing, or even the sequence and timing of your cold emails.

A/B testing can be a powerful tool for this purpose. This involves creating two versions of an email with one key difference, such as the subject line or call to action.

By sending each version to a portion of your target audience, you can see which performs better and make data-driven decisions about your cold email sequence.

Leveraging Cold Email Outreach Tools

Cold email outreach tools can significantly simplify the process of creating, managing, and optimizing cold email sequences.

With features like automation, analytics, and A/B testing capabilities, these tools can save time and enhance your email marketing efforts.

Optimizing your cold email sequences is a continuous process that involves constant learning and adapting.

But with diligent monitoring, analysis, and a commitment to improvement, you can maximize the effectiveness of your cold email sequences and turn more potential customers into paying customers.

Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

Tailoring Cold Email Sequences to the Buyer’s Journey

An effective cold email sequence should mirror the buyer’s journey, subtly guiding potential customers from initial awareness to making a purchase.

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Tailoring your email sequence to the different stages of the buyer’s journey not only shows your understanding of your potential customers’ needs but also builds trust and increases the chances of conversion.

Awareness Stage: Grabbing Attention

During the awareness stage, potential customers are recognizing their problem or need and looking for information to help understand and frame it.

In your initial email, your aim should be to grab attention and present your product or service as a potential solution.

Your subject line should be eye-catching and provoke curiosity. In the email body, briefly introduce your product or service and how it addresses a specific pain point of the potential customer.

The call to action at this stage of marketing campaign might be to read a blog post, download an informative eBook, or watch a video about your product or service.

Interest Stage: Sparking Engagement

In the interest stage, your potential customers have defined their problem or need and are committed to researching and understanding all the available approaches or methods to solve it.

Your follow-up emails should provide more in-depth information about your product or service, emphasize its unique selling points, and clarify how it addresses the specific pain points of the potential customers.

The call to action might be to sign up for a free trial, schedule a demo, or take a survey.

Consideration Stage: Nurturing and Building Trust

At the consideration stage, potential customers have chosen a solution strategy and are compiling a list of viable vendors or products.

Here, your nurturing email sequence can offer detailed product comparisons, case studies, success stories, or customer testimonials for social proof. You could also share helpful content personalized to their specific needs or situation.

The call to action could be to attend a webinar, schedule a quick call with a sales rep, or visit your product’s landing page.

Decision Stage: Driving Conversion

In the decision stage, potential customers have their shortlist and are ready to make a purchase decision.

Your conversion email sequence should address any final concerns or objections the potential customer might have.

It can also include a strong call to action, such as an exclusive discount or a limited-time offer, to encourage them to make the final step towards becoming a paying customer.

Tailoring your cold email sequences to the different stages of the buyer’s journey ensures that your communication aligns with the needs and mindset of your potential customers at each stage, increasing the likelihood of a positive response and eventual conversion.

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Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

Best Practices for Cold Email Sequences

Following best practices can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your cold email sequences.

From the subject line to the call to action, each component of your email should be thoughtfully crafted to increase the chances of engagement and conversion.

Crafting Compelling Subject Lines

A compelling subject line can significantly increase the open rate of your cold emails. To craft a good subject line, keep it concise, clear, and intriguing.

Personalize it with the recipient’s name or the prospect company name, if possible. Avoid using spammy words or phrases that might trigger email filters.

If you are planning on cold emailing for a job, we’ve made an article here about subject line for a cold email job that you might be interested in.

Personalizing Your Emails

Personalization can go a long way in making your cold emails stand out in a crowded inbox. It shows the recipient that you’ve done your research and that you’re not just sending a mass email.

For example, if you are cold emailing professors for research, it is best to research and review their published work and mention it in your email.

Providing Value

Each email in your cold email sequence should provide some form of value to the recipient. This could be in the form of helpful content, a free resource, or a solution to a specific pain point.

Providing value not only helps build trust with your potential customers but also increases the likelihood of them engaging with your emails and taking the desired action.

If you are cold emailing for an internship, it is best to explain what you can bring to the table or what makes you a strong candidate for an internship.

Incorporating Social Proof

Including social proof in your cold emails can help build credibility and trust. Social proof could come in the form of customer testimonials, case studies, or success stories.

You could also mention high-profile clients or notable achievements of your product or service.

Clear and Compelling Call to Action

Each email in your cold email sequence should have a clear and compelling call to action (CTA). The CTA should be easy to find and understand.

It should also be compelling enough to encourage the recipient to take the desired action. Try to keep your CTAs varied throughout your email sequence to keep your recipients engaged.

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By incorporating these best practices into your cold email sequences, you can increase the effectiveness of your cold email campaigns and generate more leads for your business.

Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

Nurturing and Re-engagement Cold Email Sequences

It’s important to note that not all potential customers who engage with your initial cold emails will immediately become paying customers.

Some may need more nurturing before they are ready to make a purchase. Others may disengage at some point in the buyer’s journey, requiring re-engagement efforts. This is where nurturing and re-engagement cold email sequences come in.

Nurturing Email Sequences

Nurturing email sequences aim to educate potential customers about your product or service, build a relationship with them, and gently guide them down the sales funnel.

These sequences often include emails that share helpful resources, provide more details about the product or service, showcase customer testimonials for social proof, or share success stories.

The goal is to continuously provide value and maintain the potential customer’s interest in your product or service until they are satisfied customers are ready to make a purchase.

Re-engagement Email Sequences

Re-engagement email sequences are designed to reignite the interest of potential customers who have become inactive or unresponsive.

These sequences might start with a reminder email about the value of your product or service. If the recipient doesn’t respond, you might follow up with an email that addresses potential objections they might have or offers a special promotion.

For recipients who continue to be unresponsive, you might send a “break-up” email to let them know you’ll stop emailing them unless they express interest in continuing the conversation.

This can often prompt a response from recipients who are still interested but may have been too busy to engage.

Nurturing and re-engagement sequences are a crucial part of your overall cold email strategy.

They help you maintain relationships with potential customers who aren’t ready to purchase yet and re-engage those who have lost interest.

Sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, to start implementing these strategies today.

Monitoring and Improving Your Cold Email Sequences

Once your cold email sequences are up and running, it’s critical to monitor their performance and make adjustments as needed to improve their effectiveness. Let’s follow up email sequences and dive into how you can make this happen.

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Tracking Key Metrics

Monitor metrics such as open rate, click-through rate, response rate, and conversion rate. These metrics can provide insights into how well your cold emails are performing and where there might be room for improvement.

For example, a low open rate might indicate that your subject lines aren’t compelling enough, while a low conversion rate could suggest that your call to action isn’t strong enough.

Testing Different Approaches

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches in your cold email sequences. This could involve testing different subject lines, email body copy, calls to action, or even the timing and frequency of your emails.

A/B testing can be a useful approach here. It involves creating two versions of an email with one key difference, then sending each version to a portion of your email list to see which performs better.

Gathering Feedback

Where possible, gather feedback from your potential customers. This could involve sending a quick survey to those who didn’t respond to your emails, asking for feedback on why they didn’t engage.

Their responses could provide valuable insights into how you could improve your cold email sequences.

Making Data-Driven Adjustments

Use the data from your tracking, testing, and feedback gathering to make informed adjustments to your cold email sequences.

This is a continuous process of refinement and improvement to ensure your emails are as effective as possible.

Remember, the ultimate goal of your cold email sequences is not just to generate leads, but to convert those leads into paying customers.

And by continuously monitoring and improving your cold email sequences, you can increase their effectiveness and see better results from your cold email campaigns.

To start implementing these strategies and create your own killer cold email sequence, sign up for Mailarrow, our cold email outreach software, today.

FAQs

What is the cold email sequence?

Cold email sequence is a series of pre-planned, automated emails that are sent to potential customers who have had no prior contact with the sender.

The purpose is to introduce the sender’s product or service, build a relationship with the potential customer, and eventually convert them into a paying customer.

How do you write a good cold email sequence?

Writing a good cold email sequence involves several steps. First, you need to identify your target audience and understand their pain points.

Then, you craft a compelling subject line and personalized email body that provides value to the recipient. Include a clear call to action in each email. Finally, use cold email software to automate the sending of your email sequence.

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How many emails should be in a cold email sequence?

The number of emails in a cold email sequence can vary depending on the nature of your product or service and your marketing strategy.

However, a typical sequence might include 5-7 emails, each serving a specific purpose in moving the recipient through the buyer’s journey.

What is the correct sequence of email?

The correct sequence of email in a cold email campaign typically starts with an initial email introducing your product or service and identifying a pain point that it solves.

Follow up emails nurture the relationship, provide more information, and address any objections.

The sequence ends with a final call to action, asking the recipient to take the next step, like scheduling a quick call.

What is a cold email sequence structure?

The structure of a cold email sequence usually includes an introductory email, several nurturing emails, a re-engagement email if needed, and finally, a strong call to action.

Each email should be personalized, provide value, and move the recipient closer to becoming a paying customer.

How do you structure an email sequence?

To structure an email sequence, start with a clear goal in mind for what you want the sequence to achieve.

Each email should have a specific purpose, like introducing your product or service, providing value, overcoming objections, or calling the recipient to action. The emails should be spaced out appropriately to avoid overwhelming the recipient.

How do you write a perfect cold email sequence?

Writing the perfect cold email sequence involves understanding your target audience, crafting compelling subject lines and personalized email bodies, providing value in every email, overcoming objections, including strong calls to action, and using email sequence templates and automation tools to ensure the reminder email sequence runs smoothly.

What should be the first line for a cold call email?

The first line of a cold call email, also known as the opening line, should be personalized and attention-grabbing.

It should speak directly to a specific pain point or interest of the recipient to show that you understand their needs and have a solution.

How do you write a cold email sequence?

To write a cold email sequence, start by understanding your target audience and their needs. Then, map out the sequence of emails, from the initial contact to the final call to action.

Craft compelling subject lines and personalized email bodies for each email, making sure to provide value and address potential objections along the way.

Finally, use an email sequence template or cold email software to automate the sending of your emails.

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Serge Shlykov is the founder of Mailarrow. Rotterdam Business School graduate and a long-time software engineer he has been running his own agency and SaaS business before realizing how many people are struggling with cold email outreach. This made him create Mailarrow, the cold email outreach software that helps you build great relationships at scale. Find him on Twitter and LinkedIn