The goal of your cold sales email is to either set up a meeting, have your prospect reply with information, or have them click on a response link. But don't get greedy—you should select only one goal for each email you send.

Elements of a Great Cold Sales Email

The Introduction

Make a strong statement or ask a thoughtful question, perhaps related to your prospect’s problems that your product or services may solve. Focus on your prospect, and don’t talk about yourself. Remember to never start an email with something negative or obvious like, “We’ve never met.” No duh. They know this already and it’s a surefire way to get your prospect to quit reading and trash your email, or opt-out altogether.

Benefit-oriented value proposition

Focus on one, and only one, key benefit per email. You don’t want to overwhelm, bore, or confuse the reader with your life story or every single feature of your product. Only share specific details regarding benefits as they relate to the solution of your prospect’s problems or needs.

Your Credibility

Include positive results received by your current or prior customers who are similar to your prospect. You may also choose to include a key statistic that supports the claims of your value proposition; This evidence will strengthen your message and make it more real to your reader.

Call to Action (CTA)

Every email should have a clear one-sentence call to action. Be specific about what you want your reader to do (for example: meet, provide information, or download a white paper) and specify for how long (i.e. a 15-30  minute meeting). Ask for a meeting and include details including method, whether it be the phone, Skype, or in person. This is an important piece of information as everyone's preferred method of contact and meeting has shifted as tech advances and more options become available. And remember, your CTA needs to be a compelling question to inspire a response; don't use yes or no questions as they make it easy for the reader to say “no” and move on. Try using words like “when”, “how”, and “does” to elicit a more positive and detailed response.

Email Signature

Your email signature is more than your name and title; in a cold sales email, it's a great opportunity to provide additional information regarding you, your business, and your services. All email signatures should contain your name, title, phone, website URL, and logo (optional), but it's also a perfect space to add links to recent press articles or whitepapers. Regardless of what you include in your signature, it is important to make them short and sweet.

Opt-out Link

You may want to add an opt-out link and your physical address to be fully CAN-SPAM compliant. This is worth strongly considering because let's be serious, who wants to put in all this effort for their emails to end up snagged in a spam folder.

Going further with Cold Sales Email

Now that you know the elements of a great cold sales email, don't forget to check out the rest of our Cold Sales Emailing Series:

Part 1 - Buyer Persona Research

How to research your prospects, build your buyer profiles, and learn more about your potential buyer.

Part 2 - Building The Framework

The importance of knowing not only your competition but your own business and services, as well as how to craft great cold sales email copy.

Part 3 - Email Tone and Look

How to build your email with the most effective tone, and what design components should (and shouldn't) be featured in your emails.