As a B2B Salesperson, you know the importance of cold emails. A powerful sales email can be your greatest ally in landing appointments with your prospects and eventually closing a deal.
You may be sending out hundreds of emails without getting a single response back. You know you have a beautiful SaaS, you know it can solve problems for many businesses, and you know cold emails work. Yet it seems like you are the only person who's getting ghosted by their prospects. Here's the thing, the problem probably lies with the fact that your sales email copy is not up to the mark.
Let's think about what you want to achieve with your email campaign. Firstly, you need the right person to open the email. Then, you need them to read the whole email, and lastly, you need them to take action on it. And you don't have long. To put it simply, what you need to nail your email is a subject line, a body, and a call to action.
Let's talk about best practices to keep in mind while writing your B2B sales email and how we can apply them:
Know your buyer personas and group them
Researching your sales prospects will save your time since you will only reach out to those with the budget, authority, and need or intent (BANT) to purchase your SaaS. It will also help you understand their pain points to address them better with your sales pitch.
Instead of sending mass emails, research your buyer personas and divide them into similar groups. This will help you tailor your sales email according to the needs of your target group.
Personalize your sales email copy
Now that you've done your research, it's time to use it effectively. To stand out from the hundreds of sales emails, personalizing yours is needed to pique the interest of your sales prospect. Your research will come in handy here. Using your prospect’s name and company name is one way to grab their attention. But it’s the bare minimum. Mentioning pain points, giving compliments, or discussing an event relevant to your prospect are all good ways to ensure they respond to your email (which is your primary goal).
Read more about why personalized cold emails work.
Make your email copy crisp and conversational
The general rule of thumb is to keep it conversational when it comes to copywriting- be it a newsletter, product description, or email. Write how you talk. Gone are the days when everything had to be formal. Your reader should know that a human wrote this email and not an AI tool. Your email copy should read like a conversation to form a rapport with your prospect.
At the same time, keep in mind that you have limited space to make your point. A long email (something we will elaborate on later in this blog) will lose your prospect's interest. Keep it short, snappy, and relaxed.
Avoid overselling
The tone of your cold email plays an important role. You don't want to put your sales prospect off by using the wrong tone.
One of the problems we make as salespeople is overselling our SaaS. You might feel passionate about your product, and rightly so. But your prospect neither knows the infinite features your product has nor do they care - unless it makes their life easier somehow. Please make sure the tone of your sales email copy is not too... well, sales-y (yes, we do see the irony here). Do not list every known feature of your product as a proud parent.
Apply the Before-After-Bridge (BAB) technique
The BAB technique is a framework to structure your emails so that your solution, aka your SaaS, aligns with your target audience's problems. Divide your cold email into three sections:
The first section of your cold email should start with a problem faced by your prospect. Talk about their pain points.
The second section should discuss how great everything would be if the problems mentioned above didn't exist.
Finally, the third section should bridge the gap between the first and second scenarios. Elaborate on how your SaaS is the perfect solution to all their problems. You can talk about the features your SaaS offers here.
A guide to learn email copywriting for B2B Sales
Crafting a cold email for your sales campaign takes effort, but it also reaps the rewards if you get it right. Let's go through the steps one by one and apply the principles we mentioned above:
Subject Line
The subject line is the first thing your sales prospect will see in their email inbox. According to studies, 69% of email recipients report emails as spam based on the subject line alone and 47% open the email after reading only the subject line. Basically, if you don't nail your cold email subject line, you may not even get the chance to make your pitch.
Things to keep in mind while deciding your cold email subject line:
- Keep it short: Most people prefer to use their phones to check emails while on their way to work. 46% of emails are opened on mobile devices. This means that you don't have a lot of space to write a long, overly complicated subject line. Keep it short and sweet. Ideally, your cold email subject line should be seven words long (to accommodate mobile users).
- Make it personal: Which brings us to the next point: personalization. Think about the number of emails you receive in a day and how many you actually open. If you want to catch the interest of your sales prospect, you need to stand out from the crowd. Instead of using a generic line, make sure it addresses the recipient directly. Using the recipient's name and the company name is one way to go. You can also add a problem statement that fits your B2B sales prospect.
- Add urgency: Do you hate it when your friends are doing something cool, and you're the only one left out? FOMO is real. Especially in the SaaS world where you blink, and you miss an opportunity. Creating a sense of urgency or exclusivity in your subject line can increase the open email rate.
Avoid spam words. Words like "Best", "Promotion", "Free" may get flagged by the email service as spam. Avoid these at all costs.
Here are some examples of cold email subject lines that work.
Body
Nailing your subject line is only half the job done. Now that your prospect has opened your email, you need to ensure they reach the end too.
This brings us to the opening line of your sales email. Like your subject line, you don't have a lot of room to work within your email body (more on this later). An introduction may look more conversational, but it also eats up the space, which can be used in better ways. Also, keep in mind that your prospect can read the first few words of your email before opening it.
We usually like to begin with a "Hi. My name is ABC, and I work for XYZ. I have a proposition for you..." This kind of opening provides no real value to your sales prospect. Assuming that you have done your research, there are better ways to grab their attention.
Starting with a problem statement that resonates with your target audience is always a good idea. If you are using a referral, make sure you add that at the beginning of the email to give them better context.
Do not fall into the trap of writing long emails. Nobody has the time to go through each and every email that finds home in their inbox. People are most likely to skim through their regular work emails.
When it comes to a sales email, you need to make your point as quickly as possible.
Fewer words would result in no digression, reflecting a clear understanding and confidence in your SaaS. It also means you value your prospect's time - which is always appreciated.
Simply put, cut through the noise and come to the point. In fact, according to studies, cold emails with 75-100 words have a high response rate when compared to longer emails.
Take a look at these templates for b2b cold emails that convert.
Call to Action (CTA)/Closing your email
Sending a cold email without a CTA is like a story without a conclusion. Your sales email is incomplete without an appropriate CTA.
The CTA also decides a crucial metric to gauge the success of your campaign. How many people engaged with you to become a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?
Your CTA should be clear, brief, and leave no room for doubts. Of course, you want to engage your prospect in a conversation. But you need to nudge them in the right direction by indicating what you need them to do next.
Here are a few CTA examples for your sales email copy:
- Give them a specific time. Use "Are you available on Wed at 11 am PST for a quick call?" instead of "Are you up for a quick chat?".
- Include a yes/no question.
- Add an open-ended question that piques their interest and compels them to reply. "Have you thought about what's hindering your team productivity?"
Check out some more b2b cold email templates for inspiration.
In the end…
A sales email should be your most effective tool for engaging with potential clients; And sending a poorly crafted cold email can cost you their attention, trust, and interest. You might be a bit surprised to learn that keeping the copy simple is a good thing. They're not reading the first sentence or paragraph over and over again. They're also looking for the high-level benefits of what you're providing. Don't fret about going into every detail or talking in complex terms to try and sound smart—the essential element is describing what brings value to your customers.
Use these copywriting tips and templates for your next sales campaign. Have something interesting to share? Drop us an email at hello@saastitute.com
Also read: How to Write Cold Email Pitches to VCs that Get Answered.
