In this article, I’m going to share with you the best prospecting email sequence to build a connection and get more calls that I personally use.
Why it is the best? Simply because cold email prospecting templates that I’m going to share here can be adapted for any goals and used if:
Just add the infinite number of ways you can personalize images and you're golden.
Let's crack on!
Back when I was working for a US startup in the moving and transportation industry, I had to deal with loads of scraped and recycled email lists that had thousands of prospects in them.
Over the course of 2.5 years working there, whenever I had clearance from the top, I tried to leverage content. Regardless of whether we were doing outreach or classic email marketing, my game was about sending something useful.
The goal was to either inform or educate, make them consume our content and somewhere down the road go for the sell.
During my last year there, I've done some light consultancy work for a couple of projects on the side, which is where I was able to really test this approach on a few different audiences and in a few different ways.
In short, this email outreach sequence has an objective to find a common ground between you and your prospect... and build a connection on top of it.
To break it down - here is how my email sequence funnel looks:
First, you need an email list of people that share a common interest with you. In other words, you want to find a point of connection between you and these prospects. It's super important.
The sequence I offer you in this article consists of three emails in total.
It has been structured to help you do some cold prospecting and here's what you need to know to create one based on our template:
In this prospecting email example, let's imagine that both you and I admire the work of Rand Fishkin, founder and former CEO of Moz.
My first email will contain an actionable article that's deeply connected to Rand or Moz, and that you can use to your benefit.
This piece of content may or may not be written by me or someone else. It will depend on your personal preference and what kind of a campaign we're talking about.
In this case, I'm going to leverage an article that's hosted elsewhere and that isn't written by me.
Why?
The idea is to stop you from thinking that I'm promoting my stuff.
One big benefit of this approach is that you don't have to create content yourself, especially if you're doing multiple campaigns.
The drawback is that you have to spend time trying to find an article that's really good and that fits into our common interest plan.
Rand Fishkin is extremely popular, so I'm hoping it will be easier to find such an article.
Once you stumble upon something you can use, the next step is to transform that into a cold email copy and add a personalized image that grabs attention.
Something like this:
As a link, I could be taking you to Buffer's amazing article about Rand's mindset.
Remember, the goal here is to connect with your prospect. You can't just waltz in their inbox and think they'd be thrilled to hear you promote your product or service.
The second email leverages deeper personalization.
In our prospecting email example, I could do a quick Loom video where I'd be applying Rand's growth strategy on your business.
But I'd be applying it as if I was working for you and would be giving everything to show you I'm the man for the job.
The general advice to make this campaign lean and scalable would be to keep your email list super targeted and small. That way, the videos and pitch quality become more personalized.
Alternatively, if you wanna do it on a bigger scale, you can shoot one main video that's applicable to everyone and be addressing the person as "you". Still works, but it's less personalized.
The important thing is that you use a good thumbnail image in your follow-up emails (with a play button) to drive clicks. You'll see how it looks in a second.
The third email is a follow up where you actually try to get on a call with your prospect.
Now, as we finish with the strategy - let me show you the entire email sequence.
Email 1:
Subject line: {{commonInterest}} / Rand Fishkin's Growth Engine: The Story You Didn't Know {{firstName}}
Hi {{firstName}},
I know for a fact that you're a fan of {{commonInterest}}! That said, I thought you'd enjoy this piece of content by Buffer.
IMAGE
That's it! Figured it might deliver some value your way and it's always great to connect with another fan of {{commonInterest}}.
Take care,
{{signature}}
Email 2:
Hey {{firstName}},
How are things going over at {{companyName}}?
Hope you had a chance to check out {{articleName}} I've sent you earlier and that it brought you value.
If you ever thought about using {{commonInterest}}'s strategy for your business, I've made you a quick video covering the need to know things... in great detail. ;)
IMAGE
Really hope you like it.
Take care,
{{signature}}
Email 3
Hey {{firstName}},
Following up one more time and leaving you alone... I promise. :)
Take care,
{{signature}}
To automate this emails sequence you need to use email sequence software. For example, to send these emails I was using lemlist and that’s why I was able to add personalized images that worked so good for me.
Here is how to set up everything on lemlist:
Don't have a lemlist account? We got a free trial ready for you to test this sequence today:
.png)
