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Cold Email Copywriting: An Easy Guide to Create Cold Emails That Convert in 2024 [Update]

By Leah Clark Last updated: 21 minute read Marketing Guides

Cold email marketing can have powerful benefits for B2B and B2C brands. Businesses can network, build brand awareness, generate high-quality leads and develop stronger customer relationships. 

But cold email marketing isn’t easy, and many businesses end up with low conversions or high bounce rates. You can avoid this for your business and use the best cold email copywriting tools to get real results!

About 1 to 5% of cold email marketing receivers respond to cold emails. And with personalization tactics, you can increase the likelihood of these receivers responding by 70%, pushing your response rate to between 1.7 and 8.5%. 

With this increased chance of receivers responding to their cold emails, businesses with cold email campaigns make almost $40 for every $1 invested.

Plus, the average conversion rate for cold emails is 15.11%, which is slighter higher than typical sales emails at 15%. 

But what does it take to run a cold email campaign that converts leads more than bothers them? 

We have the best cold email copywriting tactics to accomplish this and engage your prospects. And you don’t have to worry about winding up in the spam folder either!

Ready to learn the recipe for cold email copywriting success?

Let’s go!

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    The Potential of Cold Emailing When It’s Done Right

    Taking the right approach to cold email marketing offers so many benefits!

    For one, you get a greater chance to network and develop valuable relationships with buyers or stakeholders. You can also provide information to your target buyers for improved brand awareness.

    Plus, cold email marketing allows businesses more opportunities to personalize their brand experience.

    Let’s explore these cold email marketing perks, and how they positively impact businesses:

    Increased Networking Potential

    A notable benefit of cold email copywriting is the opportunity to network. Cold emails aren’t completely sales driven but aim to inform leads about your brand and build relations. It’s easier to network with cold emails compared to sales emails.

    When you use email newsletters to promote your product, receivers notice this immediately. Cold emails are less salesy, and give you the foundation to understand your audience and share your brand’s mission.

    For B2B brands, cold emails can help you reach the right people. While a receiver may not be looking for a solution like your brand, they could connect you to other brands that would like to work with you. 

    But networking isn’t only essential for B2B businesses, and B2C companies need this advantage too. Many buyers want brands to build relationships with them before closing a sale. Cold email copywriting tactics can help you achieve this. 

    Provide Key Brand Information for Brand Awareness

    I just mentioned how cold email copywriting allows you to inform your audience, not just sell your product. This advantage leads to increased brand awareness. Consumers may not have known your brand exists or your product is what they’re looking for, but once they receive your emails, they become aware.

    Compared to cold calling via phone call, cold emailing offers a few more benefits. For one, receivers can always refer back to your email and don’t feel pressured to act instantly. If your audience really needs consideration before purchasing your product, cold email copywriting is the way to go.

    Cold email copywriting stats
    Source: Hunter.io

    Sales emails are crucial because they persuade buyers to purchase your product. Yet, cold emails are critical because they tell buyers about your product and why they need it. Most buyers need this information before becoming confident enough to purchase from your business. 

    Greater Personalization Opportunities 

    This may be the first time we stress the effectiveness of personalization in this guide, but it isn’t the last. Buyers need personalized marketing tactics to relate to your brand and see how they can benefit from its products.

    Because successful cold email copywriting relies so much on personalization, this can help your brand in several ways. First, it’s easier to develop customer relationships because buyers receive communications tailored to them. 

    Second, personalization builds your credibility because it shows customers how well you know them. Lastly, personalization is a marketing tactic proven to persuade targeted buyers toward a purchase.

    When recipients receive your cold emails, they’ll feel more appreciated and valued by your business because you took the time to personalize your communication. The more reasons buyers have to purchase from your brand, the better!

    Summary: Cold Emailing Potential When Done Right

    • Increased networking potential
    • Provide key brand information for brand awareness
    • Greater personalization opportunities

    Source: Robert Allen

    10 Tips to Crafting Cold Email Copywriting that Converts

    Tip #1: A Personalized Subject Line is Vital

    Personalizing your cold email subject line is the first element you must work on. As short as subject lines are, they determine how likely the receiver is to open your email, and there’s a lot of research to confirm this.

    About 64% of receivers decide to open an email based on the subject line. Almost 70% of recipients mark emails as spam based on their subject lines.

    You must write a captivating subject line to catch buyers’ attention the second they read it. And this may take a few practice rounds before getting right. HubSpot confirms that nearly 50% of marketers test email subject lines before using them, and you should too.

    The best way to test email subject lines is through A/B testing. Write two or three different email subject lines, and evaluate which performed the best. So, there will be a bit of trial and error before you find the perfect subject line.

    Effective email subject lines also rely on personalization. To tailor your email line to your audience, consider these factors:

    • Use the recipient/business name.
    • Mention a mutual connection.
    • Mention a pain point the receiver is experiencing.
    • Use a valuable statistic relevant to the receiver.
    • Mention goals that the receiver has in mind. 

    Cold email copywriting takes a lot of time because you must research and become familiar with the receiver. You can find valuable information about your recipient, welcoming more personalization opportunities. 

    Tip #2: Personalize the Body Text to the Receiver

    Don’t focus on only using a personalized subject line for cold email marketing, personalize the body text too. Cold emailing is a tricky business because prospects haven’t come to you, you’re trying to put your brand in front of them.

    Because of this, emails that use generic copy won’t connect to the reader, making it harder for them to take your desired action. Your prospects must feel special and as if you’re directly talking to them, offering them value, not just a product or service.

    cold email copywriting vs spam
    Source: Snov.io

    But as I mentioned in the previous tip, you must take the time to understand the receiver first. Without taking this step, you won’t have enough information to personalize your body copy as you don’t know much about them.

    For your cold email text, you’ll start with an opening line. After you’ve intrigued prospects with your subject line, your opening line convinces them to read your email. Your opening line must tell readers why they should read your email and how you can offer value.

    If your opening line does the trick, readers will continue to the main body. This is the majority of your email, and over the following tips, we’ll discuss which elements you must include here.

    To personalize your cold email’s opening line, use these tips:

    • State why recipients should read your email.
    • Briefly mention what your main text will cover.
    • Be concise and direct, without using too many words but still capturing your purpose. 
    • Use the recipient’s or company’s name.

    After personalizing your opening line, you can do the same for the main text with these pointers:

    • Mention why you reached out to them and who they are.
    • Show appreciation for the work they’ve done. For example, if the recipient has a few published books, mention your favorite one and quote a phrase that stuck out to you the most.
    • Highlight their pain points and how you can help solve them.
    • Mention a mutual interest.
    • Provide insights or statistics about their industry. 
    • Create a connection between their needs and your brand.
    • At the end of your email’s body text, use their name to thank them and prompt them to take your desired action.

    Like writing personalized email subject lines, it takes time and testing before you decide on the most effective approach for your email’s opening line and main content. 

    Tip #3: Avoid Overselling 

    You’re using cold email marketing to sell your products and promote your brand. But don’t be too obvious about it. Your reader will appreciate value more than constant persuasion to purchase from your brand. And the more value you provide, the more motivation they’ll have to convert.

    Remember, readers are already on the fence about opening cold emails, so if you make the email about selling your product, you’ll harm your click-through rate (CTR). The golden approach here is to make the email all about your reader, what they need and how your business can help them, instead of marketing your brand.

    Think about it from this angle. Your friend is experiencing the same problem over and over again. They’ve tried different solutions, but none has worked the way they want. Fortunately, you understand what they’re experiencing and have the perfect solution.

    You approach your friend, acknowledge the problem they’re experiencing, and give them the best tools and advice on how to solve it. You focus on providing valuable and actionable advice to help your friend.

    To avoid overselling for cold email marketing use these tips:

    • Don’t upsell products.
    • Steer clear from a direct sales pitch.
    • Focus wholly on the reader and their pain points.
    • Use statistics, research, or real-life examples to prove you understand the problem they’re facing.
    cold email response rate
    Source: Woodpecker

    Tip #4: Be Clear About Your Value Proposition

    Why are you emailing this specific reader? And how well are you making this obvious to them? The last thing you want is for readers to be midway through your email and ask, “What’s the point of this email?”. If you don’t make your value proposition clear enough most readers won’t get that far.

    Many businesses use too much of a sales approach in their value propositions. Some don’t state their value proposition clearly at all. In both cases, readers won’t understand the point of your email as it will get blurred into the rest of your text.

    Of course, you could write a super-obvious value proposition. But it may not be convincing enough. 

    So, how do you write the perfect value proposition for cold email copywriting? Here’s how:

    • Always keep the reader in mind and what pain points they’re experiencing.
    • Prove how your products or services can solve these pain points.
    • Be clear and concise.
    • Mention other buyers that have benefited from your product.
    • Explain why you reached out to them as the perfect prospect for your offerings rather than someone else. 
    • Avoid industry jargon or long, complicated words.
    • Rather than mentioning many goals your brand can help readers achieve, focus on just one for a specific and clear value proposition.

    When writing your value proposition, read it several times to evaluate how direct and well-written it is. You want to engage readers to read your entire email and take your desired action, so use a conversational tone.

    Tip #5: Perfect Your CTA

    Like email subject lines, CTA’s have a lot of responsibility. You could use incredible copy for cold emails but lack a direct, customer-centric CTA. So how would readers take your desired action if they don’t know what it is?

    To write the perfect CTA for your cold email copywriting, you should:

    • Avoid using complex words.
    • Avoid using too many words.
    • Be straight and direct about what you want.
    • Provide resources to support your CTA. For example, if you want readers to make an appointment include your contact details.

    While you should be direct with your CTA, don’t be forceful or boring. Ensure your CTA excites readers to take your desired action because your email has proved they need to. 

    Also, don’t use a salesy CTA, like “Buy this now”, or “Subscribe today”. Use an organic but suggestive tone, like “Let’s schedule a call for this week and start developing a cold email marketing campaign that works”.

    Like most components of cold emails, it may take a few tries before pinning down the perfect CTA. 

    CTA for cold email copywriting
    Source: ConvertKit

    Tip #6: Include Insightful, Open-ended Questions

    Open-ended questions increase the chances of readers taking your CTA as you’re starting a conversation with them. Cold email marketing campaigns are less about making an on-the-spot sale and more about developing relationships with targeted prospects.

    To establish a relationship with cold email recipients use insightful, open-ended questions. “Insightful” is the keyword here, as irrelevant or basic questions make you appear less of an industry expert.

    For example, let’s assume your prospect is struggling to retain employees. Asking an open-ended question like, “How is this affecting your business” is too basic. You and the client know it’s completely turning their company upside down, hence you have a solution.

    Instead, use an analytical approach for open-ended questions in cold emails like:

    • Have you tried the x approach?
    • Have you considered implementing employee engagement strategies like x?
    • Why do you think this problem is persisting?
    • How have you approached this problem before?

    When you’re posing open-ended questions, you must prove your expertise. By suggesting strategies or gathering more information about the problem, readers will have more confidence in your value proposition. 

    Tip #7: Use an Urgent or Exclusive Approach

    Nobody likes missing out, and everybody loves to feel special, so this is where adding urgency and exclusivity come in for cold email marketing.

    When readers receive your email they could be hooked by your subject line and then captured by your opening line. But what if they don’t have enough time to read your email? Or what if they think it could wait for later?

    You want to reduce the chance of this happening because life happens, and readers probably won’t return to your email.

    Adding urgency and exclusivity to your email copy helps increase the number of recipients reading your emails immediately.

    Here’s how you can do this:

    • Exclusivity: Make your recipients feel special by giving your cold email list an exclusive offer. This offer could be a discount code, a freebie, first dibs on a new product, a free one-on-one consultation, etc. Get creative about this exclusive offer and ensure it’s tailored to your audiences so they take the bait. 
    • Urgency: If you’re running a sale, use a timer to express how urgent prospects must act to get in on this action. You could add this element in your subject line if it’s appropriate. For instance, “2 hours left to buy shoes 50% off!” or “10 bags left at $3 each – act fast!”. 

    Urgency and exclusivity are fantastic ways to pressure prospects into taking your desired action without overselling. 

    Tip #8: Add Social Proof

    How can prospects trust you have a solution for them if you don’t prove credibility? That’s why your cold email copywriting must include social proof.

    cold email marketing response stats
    Source: YotPo

    On average, customers read 10 reviews before making an online purchase. And buyers will spend 30% more on businesses with excellent reviews.

    Leverage the power of social proof to convince your prospects, and include this in your cold email copywriting. 

    To add social proof in your cold email copywriting, you should include:

    • Customer reviews
    • Case studies
    • Testimonials
    • Industry awards
    • Press mentions
    • Endorsements from industry experts

    Once prospects see any of these forms of social proof, you’ll stand a better chance of converting them. 

    Tip #9: Ensure Your Follow-up Emails are Packed with Value

    Many of your prospects may not respond to your first email. And that’s OK. You can send follow-up emails! 

    But many businesses go wrong and use these emails as reminders to respond to the initial email. In some ways, this makes sense, but be more strategic than that.

    Regardless of the reason some prospects didn’t respond to your first email, the point is that it didn’t engage them well enough to convert them. So, you need to boost your efforts and ensure your follow-up emails are packed with value to regain their attention.

    Your follow-up emails must logically align with your primary email. If you’re talking about apples in your first email, you can start talking about pears in your second and grapes in your third. Stick to one value proposition throughout all the cold emails you send. 

    You can send valuable follow-up emails to cold email marketing prospects in any of these ways:

    • Offer an exclusive discount.
    • Provide case studies on past clients.
    • Share guides, whitepaper, or valuable blog posts.
    • Offer tips and best practices.
    • Offer an invite to a webinar, talk, live event, etc.

    When you offer value in follow-up emails and not just remind prospects to reply, they have more reason to convert. 

    Cold email copywriting follow-ups
    Source: MailShake

    Tip #10: Check and Remove Copy Errors and Spam Text

    You’ve managed to master all the components for cold email copywriting we just went over! But didn’t triple-check your grammar. 

    Making this mistake is a surefire way to lose credibility and professionalism with your cold email prospects.

    Correct grammar is one of those elements prospects expect as a standard procedure for email marketing. But if you have loads of typos and incorrect words and sentences, how would your buyers trust you as an industry expert?

    To ensure your cold email copywriting is free from errors, use online editing tools like Grammarly or ProWritingAid. You can access many of these tools online without paying to access basic features.

    Another aspect to consider for your cold email copywriting text is spam words. These are words used in spam emails and instantly defer prospects from opening your email. 

    What’s worse is spam filters can automatically block your email if they detect certain spam words. Your open rate will suffer, and you must avoid this at all costs.

    Here are a few common spam words to avoid for cold email copywriting:

    • Earn money
    • Big bucks
    • Extra cash
    • Free gift
    • Once in a lifetime
    • Pure profit
    • Quick cash
    • Free trial
    • Prize
    • Promise
    • Risk-free
    • Giveaway
    • Full refund

    You may notice that many legitimate brands use these words. But the trick is to only use one or two of these words at most for subject lines. When you start stuffing a bunch of these words into one sentence, your cold email will wind up in the spam folder. 

    Summary: 10 Tips to Crafting Cold Email Copywriting that Converts

    1. A personalized subject line is vital
    2. Personalize the body text to the receiver
    3. Avoid overselling
    4. Be clear about your value proposition
    5. Perfect your CTA
    6. Include insightful, open-ended questions
    7. Use an urgent or exclusive approach
    8. Add social proof
    9. Ensure your follow-up emails are packed with value
    10. Check and remove copy errors and spam text

    6 Excellent Cold Email Copywriting Examples

    1.Star Story Solution

    This is a storytelling approach to cold email copywriting. You’ve most likely seen it before.

    Star-Story-Solution cold email example
    Source: Yesware
    • The Star: This is the main character in your cold email. It could be your prospect, you as a person, or a product. 
    • The Story: The story explains how the star is challenged with the same pain points as your audience/market. 
    • The Solution: Wraps up how the star finds the perfect solution.

    This approach works for cold email copywriting because easy for readers to understand your value proposition through a story. You’re giving them a real-life example of how they can solve their pain points in a relatable and digestible way. 

    2.Problem Agitate Solve

    Unlike the storytelling method above, this cold email copywriting example proves how your offerings are required to solve customers’ pain points.

    Problem Agitate Solve Cold email copywriting
    Source: Seattle Web Search
    • The Problem: This is when you directly identify your prospects’ pain points. 
    • The Agitate: Now you’re going to agitate the problem. 
    • The Solve: Here’s where you’ll end the email with your business as the solution.

    A direct cold email copywriting example like this works because it focuses on your buyer’s pain points. Not only is this relatable for receivers, but reminds them about the market challenges they face. 

    3.Star Chain Hook

    If you want to start your cold email with a big idea and show how your business can help prospects achieve it, use this cold email copywriting example.

    Star, Chain, Hook email template
    Source: Snov.io
    • The Star: A big idea of success.
    • The Chain: A collection of statistics, facts, research, and advantages to support the star. 
    • The Hook: Your CTA

    Use some of your best case studies as the focal point for this cold email copywriting example. OR The angle is to start with stating the success of some of your buyers, using “the chain” to support this, and then wrapping it up with a powerful and persuasive CTA.

    4.But You Are Free

    Unlike many of the other cold email copywriting emails we’ve reviewed, this strategy gives prospects the freedom to make any choice they find fit. So, you’re not going to follow a set structure like the other examples. 

    BYAF email marketing example
    Source: Yesware

    Instead, encompass all the ten tips for cold email copywriting we discussed and request prospects take your desired action.

    You may think giving prospects this level of freedom is too risky. But you’re keeping prospects in their comfort zones and using an organic approach. You’re technically suggesting the best solution rather than selling it. 

    5.Before After Bridge

    Show your audience how you can add value to them using this “Before and After” approach.

    cold email copywriting template
    Source: Klenty
    • The Before: Your prospect’s challenges before your business. 
    • The After: Your prospect’s position after you’ve solved their problem. 
    • The Bridge: How prospects can leverage your solution.

    Pleasure and pain are the basis of this approach and this is why it works. You’re highlighting your prospects’ challenges and giving them an idea of how much they can progress with your solution. 

    6.Attention Interest Desire Action

    Grab your prospects’ attention by highlighting their challenges and gain their interest by showcasing brands that have used your solution.

    AIDA cold email template
    Source: RockContent
    • The Attention: You use your subject line and opening line to gain the reader’s attention. 
    • The Interest: You use an example of a prospect that used your solution and achieved success. 
    • The Desire: To create FOMO (fear of missing out), you elaborate on The Interest with statistics or a case study. 
    • The Action: Your CTA

    This formula works because you’re creating FOMO and using real-life examples of how your solutions work. 

    5 Best AI Cold Email Copywriting Tools You Can Use

    We tested 11 AI copywriting tools and these five are the best ones:

    Best AI Copywriting Tools

    Pricing 

    Our P2P Rating 

    Jasper

    (formerly Jarvis.ai)

    • Free Trial: 5 days (credit card needed)

    • Starter: Flexible monthly pricing, from $29/2 000 words to $499/990 000 words, and custom pricing for 1M+ words per month

    • Boss Mode: Flexible pricing, from $59/50 000 words to $279/290 000 words per month, and custom pricing for 300 000+ words per month

    4.5/5

    Writesonic

    • Free Trial: 10 credits (no time limit), 1 user seat

    • Basic: $15/month for 100 credits/up to 50 000 words, 1 user seat

    • Professional: $45/month for unlimited credits, 1 user seat

    • Startup: $45/month for unlimited credits, 2 user seats

    4.5/5

    Hypotenuse AI

    • Free Trial: 7 Days

    • Starter: $29/month for 75 credits for product descriptions, 20 plog posts, unlimited ad copy 

    • Growth: $59/month for 500 credits for product descriptions, unlimited blog posts, unlimited ad copy

    • Enterprise: Custom pricing for unlimited blog posts and ad copy, custom AI model tailored to your brand voice and custom platform integrations and data mapping

    4.5/5

    Copy.ai

    • Free Forever: 10 credits per month

    • Pro: $35/month, unlimited credits

    • Custom: Custom pricing, billed yearly

    4/5

    Rytr

    • Free Plan: For to 5000 characters per month

    • Saver Plan: $9/month for up to 50 0000 characters per month

    • Unlimited Plan: $29/month for unlimited characters per month

    4.5/5

    Conclusion

    Cold email marketing can help businesses network with targeted prospects, get their brand in front of the right people, and develop trusted buyer relationships. But many brands don’t use the best cold email copywriting strategies, to write emails aimed at informing prospects and adding value rather than selling your product.

    To write cold emails that convert, you must personalize your subject lines and the email’s content, use a direct and persuasive CTA and include social proof for credibility. Using the best cold email copywriting tactics will help you reach success!

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What are the benefits of cold email copywriting?

    The benefits of cold email copywriting done right include networking. greater brand awareness and the opportunity to personalize customer communications. Read this full article to understand why cold email copywriting matters and the best tips for cold email marketing that works!

    What are the best strategies for successful cold email copywriting?

    The best strategies for cold email copywriting that drives results includes personalizing your email subject lines and the main text, using a clear and direct valuable proposition, and avoiding overselling. Read this article for more of the top cold email marketing techniques and how to use them for increased profits!

    What are the best cold email copywriting tools?

    The best cold email AI-powered copywriting tools are Drift Email, Smartwriter.ai, Optimove, Zeta Email and Seventh Sense. These tools can help you write powerful cold emails quicker! Read this article to find out about the key features of these tools, what they cost and the best 10 cold email copywriting tips to boost conversions!

    References

    GMass: What’s the Average Cold Email Response Rate in 2024?

    Smartwriter.ai: 41 Vital Cold Email Statistics For 2022 – Improve Your Emails

    Whitecream: Top 10 Cold Email Statistics That Will Blow your Mind

    Invesp: Email Subject Lines – Statistics and Trends and The Importance Of Online Customer Reviews [Infographic]

    Barilliance: Abandoned Email Subject Lines: Definitive Guide (Updated 2023)

    HubSpot: 20 Tips to Write Catchy Email Subject Lines [+ Examples]