From Inbox Zero To Hero: How To Write A Cold Email For Sales With Snov.io

Are you looking to generate more sales leads and build new business relationships?

Cold emails could be your most powerful weapon. 

However, in today’s crowded inboxes, the real challenge is making your message rise above the noise and capture your prospect’s attention. 

This guide will share the essential strategies on how to write cold emails for sales that convert. We’ll walk you through every step of the craft, providing the best tips and tech support from Snov.io.

Understanding cold emails

Cold sales emails are messages sent to prospects who have had no prior interaction with you or your company. Businesses worldwide rely on cold outreach to generate leads, build relationships, and expand their networks. And it’s not a surprise: email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective sales communication strategies.

However, not all cold emails bring the desired conversions. 

What makes sales cold emails impactful?

Best cold emails are always driven by a clear purpose and research-backed personalization. The core of these messages is always a compelling value proposition. It shows a prospect you’re here to address their needs, laying the groundwork for building strong relationships.

Of course, an impactful cold email follows the best copywriting practices. Crafting these mailings is a real art that requires a step-by-step approach.

In the next section, we’ll discuss all stages in a logical order. Moreover, you’ll see how to build high-converting sales emails faster and more efficiently with Snov.io.

How to write a cold email for sales? 

1. Find prospects with ICP in mind 
2. Create a compelling email copy
   1. Subject line
   2. Introduction
   3. Main body 
   4. Ending 
3. Track email performance, test, and improve

1. Find prospects with ICP in mind 

Understanding your audience is the key to creating a resonating cold sales email. Never build a prospect list chaotically. First, ensure every lead you’re about to add to your campaign aligns with your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Then, research your prospect’s industry, company, community, role, and pain points. This will help you address their specific needs and interests in your messages, creating a bond right from the start.

The rest will be a matter of minutes. Snov.io Email Finder will collect your prospects’ email addresses from every web corner of the world. The tool works as both an app and an extension, allowing you to search emails most conveniently.

Plus, with the Snov.io LI Prospect Finder extension, you can find leads’ addresses on any corporate site and even LinkedIn:

Every email Snov.io will find for you will be automatically verified so you can see whether it’s valid or not:

💡Pro-tip: We recommend implementing multichannel outreach into your marketing and sales strategy. With the Snov.io LinkedIn Automation Tool, you can send targeted campaigns and add automated LinkedIn touches, such as profile views, connection requests, messages, and InMails. Email or LinkedIn? Don’t limit yourself. Use both channels and grow your business Start today

2. Create a compelling email copy

a. Subject line

Your cold email subject line is crucial for making a solid first impression. Avoid vague subject lines like “Exciting opportunity“ or “Check this out.” Instead, aim for clarity, relevance, and curiosity without resorting to clickbait.

Example of a good subject line: “Boost your team’s efficiency with our new tool.“

Add some personalization to grab a recipient’s attention among the clutter of emails in their inbox. If you’re sending your messages in bulk, the Snov.io cold email tool will help you personalize it automatically.

For example, you can insert a name variable so that each prospect is addressed in the subject line by name.

You can make subject lines personalized with a more advanced feature: Dynamic content. It allows you to change the content based on the recipient’s information.

For instance, prospects from the USA may receive an email with one subject line, while Europeans may receive another. This way, your email will be relevant to different leads, increasing your chances of getting the desired opens.

You can also use variables. This is an effective feature for improving your inbox placement rate, randomly changing subject lines in messages within your bulk campaign.

b. Introduction

Start your email in a friendly way. A polite semiformal ‘Hi+Name’ greeting formula always works. With Snov.io, it’s very easy to personalize your salutation, just like you would for the subject line.

After greeting a prospect, try to capture their attention with your opening sentence. Reference a recent event, mutual connection or community, shared interest, etc. A strong, personalized opening builds trust and ignites curiosity, drawing the reader into what the rest of the message has to offer.

Example of a good subject line: “I saw your recent post on LinkedIn about sustainability initiatives and wanted to discuss how I may be of help to you.”

Tell recipients who you are (your name and company) and why you’re reaching out. By introducing yourself, you show respect and a professional attitude.

Example: “I’m Jane Doe, a solutions architect at TechInterSolutions. We specialize in streamlining data processes for companies like yours.”

An eloquent email introduction helps your leads quickly understand the value of your cold message.

The Dynamic content feature will help you personalize email openings if you’re a bulk email sender.

c. Main body

The main body of your cold email should focus on the value your solution delivers. Start it with a sign of empathy. Show yourself as a problem-solving ally who truly understands your prospect’s pain points. That’s your shining moment to create a connection that would go beyond a simple sales pitch.

Example: “I understand how overwhelming it can be to manage complex data systems while trying to maintain efficiency. That’s why I’m reaching out — so we can help alleviate that burden and make your processes more seamless.”

Articulate the benefits recipients will get from the cooperation and your offering. But don’t talk much about your remarkable features. You don’t engage with leads for boasting, after all. Instead, share the value of your product and show how positively it will change the prospect’s state of affairs.

Example: “After two months of using our software, companies like yours reported their project management time had reduced by 30% owing to automated workflows.”

d. Ending

Crown your message with a direct call to action that reflects your purpose. Do you want to schedule a meeting or invite a prospect for a demo call? Make your CTA a ‘Yes/No’ question to eliminate confusion and guide leads towards the desired outcome.

Example: “Can we schedule a 15-minute call next week to discuss our cooperation further?”

With Snov.io, you can add a Calendly link to your cold email so prospects can book a meeting themselves.

End your cold email positively by thanking the recipient for their time. Remember to add a signature. Create one that features your name, title, company, and contact information (email address, website, office address, etc.). This will help to remember you and your offering better.

Example: Best regards,  John Smith | Sales Manager | ABC Corp | (123) 456-7890

How do you automate cold email copywriting with Snov.io?

You can dive deeper into Snov.io automation and try its Email AI Writer. Powered by OpenAI, this tool generates email content based on your instructions. You can use in-built prompts or create custom ones to tailor the emails to your needs.

Snov.io AI Email Writer will create compelling subject lines effective email intros, describe your benefits, and add converting call-to-actions in less than a minute.

Here is one of the examples of a template that focuses on product benefits generated by Snov.io Email AI:

And that’s not all! In your Snov.io workspace, you’ll find the best cold email examples of templates for sales and professional follow-ups for any purpose.

3. Track email performance, test, and improve

Learning how to write the perfect email for sales would be incomplete without this point.

Monitoring your outreach performance is crucial for identifying what works and what doesn’t in your outreach strategy. Tracking metrics like open, click-through, and response rates reveals which elements resonate with your audience. These data-driven insights help refine your emails, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

With Snov.io, you can track the performance of your cold campaigns and every email within the sequence. The tool provides detailed statistics so you can analyze the effectiveness of your sales email approach.

With this dashboard, you’ll always get valuable insights on how to write an email to a client next time.

If you’re looking to track your cold emails in Gmail, Snov.io has got you covered with the unlimited Email Tracker. This powerful tool delivers continuous summary reports, allowing you to consistently monitor how many times your emails are opened and clicked.

To improve email open and click-through rates, you can try the A/B testing feature. It allows you to test the subject line, email length, visuals, call to action, and even the level of personalization.

Test variants of your cold message, track performance in the Statistics tab, and choose the best-performing option.

→ Find more recommendations on how to write an email to a potential customer in this post.

Common mistakes to avoid in sales cold emailing

Knowing how to write a good cold email is crucial, but knowing which pitfalls to avoid is equally important. Here are the most common sales email mistakes you should refrain from:

❌Lengthy email copy

❌Unappealing subject lines

❌Poor content structure

❌No personalization

❌No CTA

❌Spelling and grammar errors

❌No follow-ups

Lengthy email copy

When you write a formal email message, it is important to remember the following: you have only 10 seconds to grab the reader’s attention. Long, dense emails are off-putting and unlikely to be read in full.

Avoid writing paragraphs of text that would overwhelm the recipient. Keep your email concise and to the point, sticking to the optimal length of 80-250 words. Longer cold emails would be okay; just stay within the 250-300 word limit.

Unappealing subject lines

Let’s recap: the subject line is a gateway to your cold email. Not surprisingly, Optinmonster states that about 47% of users open emails based solely on this element. Use the above recommendations to ensure it is precise, personalized, and provokes interest to peep inside.

A/B-test different subject lines to find the ones with the highest open rate. As you already know, with Snov.io, you can make it a pleasant part of your cold email sales routine.

Poor content structure

No one will engage with a poorly structured cold email – it looks…well… careless. Break up your text to keep it readable — long, unbroken blocks can quickly lose your reader’s attention. Use bullet points to make your email easy to scan and highlight the most critical information.

No personalization

One of the typical problems with sales emails is using a one-size-fits-all approach, especially for bulk campaigns. Prospects will sense the lack of personal touch, and worse, email providers may detect your activity as spamming. 

Cold emails for sales should never be generic. They require thorough research of the prospect’s industry, company, role, and pain points. The data you gather about prospects forms the foundation of a message that will resonate with them.

So, even if you’re using one template, ensure it’s customized to each prospect in your list and their needs and pain points.

→ In this article, you’ll find the best tips to use cold email templates effectively with 10 failproof examples.

No clear CTA

A common mistake in cold emails for sales is failing to include a distinct call to action. Without a CTA, your prospect may not understand how to engage with you later. A result for you? Missed opportunities, my friend.

Spelling and grammar errors

Typos and grammatical errors make your email look sloppy. Avoid sending emails without proofreading. Use tools like AI Email Writer or ask a colleague to review your email before it flies to your prospects.

No follow-ups

Last but not least, being too focused on cold emails, sales reps often forget about the follow-up strategy. And that’s the biggest mistake ever! In sales, it’s common for deals to be closed after multiple touchpoints, not just the first email.

By consistently following up, you have more chances of turning the initial ‘No’ into the final ‘Yes.’

Final word

Writing cold emails for sales may be a real challenge unless you practice it daily with actionable recommendations in mind. In this post, we’ve armed you with the knowledge of how to write sales emails step by step. Follow the best email writing practices, avoid typical mistakes, and use Snov.io for email personalization and automation.

Sign up for Snov.io today and start sending cold emails that work and produce results!