You don’t know how to get in touch with a prospect? Are you unable to get appointments? Do your commercial prospecting emails remain unanswered? What if we told you that it was possible for your contacts to answer, to get in touch quickly and to be interested in your company! Here is our advice with a prospection email example for each situation.
How to write an effective prospecting email? 6 tips
1. Write a short and attractive email subject
The subject of an email is above all a key piece of information that must be written with care since, along with the sender’s name and the preheader, it is the data that the recipient sees, even before he decides whether or not to open it. A catchy email subject line is therefore preferable to a flat expression. Remember that your b2b customers are inundated with emails throughout the day, so try to make the difference and stand out from the competition!
Therefore, instead of simply writing: “Get in touch”, write: “Win 5 customers per month! The majority of btob companies are constantly looking to increase their revenue and find new customers. So, a b2b decision maker who sees this is certainly intrigued and clicks, if only out of curiosity.
Also make sure your email subject line is no longer than 35 characters! This is short, but remember that half of all emails are read on mobile, so the subject line is often truncated. On Gmail, for example, a 70-character email subject on a computer is only 33 characters long on a cell phone!
To write an effective email subject line, keep it short but effective! Try to catch the reader’s attention and if your activity allows it, place an emoji at the beginning. This is also a very effective way to catch the eye and gain visibility in an inbox!
In a moment, we’ll reveal the 3 most effective ways to make contact with a prospect!
2. Design a clear and readable email
By clear and readable, we mean of course the content, but also the structure of your email. When it comes to prospecting emails, you usually contact new prospects in order to break the ice, this is called cold emailing. Therefore, your interlocutor must quickly understand who you are and what you propose.
It is therefore advisable not to wait until the last paragraph to reveal your identity to prospects and the reason for this contact. Indeed, this could be misinterpreted by your customers who may then doubt your professionalism. So, take a short and concise sentence to clearly explain your intentions and make a good impression!
Regarding the content of your emails, make sure it is organized and structured with paragraphs and that the text is airy. In emailing, this is essential to hope for a response. Indeed, who would take the time to read a block of text? Just by looking at the format of the email, the person determines if they want to go further. If the text is too dense, they may be discouraged and not bother to read the content, even if the subject line has made them want to read the rest!
3. Prioritize quality over quantity
A prospecting email should not be too long. Whether it is a follow-up email, a loyalty email or a contact email, prefer a short and concise content!
Don’t send an email with spelling mistakes, sloppy sentences and long paragraphs !
Discover soon our 3 examples of commercial prospecting email templates!
4. Customize the content
Mass sending 100 identical emails to prospects who have different needs is not an effective sales prospecting method! Today’s B2B customers are looking for individual customer service, based on trust and personalization. When they receive a prospecting email that doesn’t fit their objectives, they quickly understand that you didn’t bother to inquire about their situation. It’s an impersonal approach that generates very little results.
Personalize the email by placing the name of the company, the name of the person, the city where it is located and especially, by evoking the solutions that you propose to help him to progress (to improve its rate of return, to boost the sale of its services, to carry out relevant emailing campaigns…).
So, to personalize an email, doing research beforehand is essential to understand how to hit the nail on the head and capture the recipient’s attention. It also allows you to involve the reader, to make him feel concerned by your words.
5. Place a call to action
If there is one thing you absolutely must do in a prospecting email, it is to insert a call to action or CTA! It is indeed the element that allows to get answers and to go further if the prospect is interested.
The call to action is presented in the form of a link, a clickable button or contact information (email address, phone number, pages of your social networks …). The goal is of course that the customer can contact you or get more information about what you offer. For example, this could be downloading your marketing guide to successful emailing campaigns, visiting your website, requesting a free trial of your prospecting automation tools or contacting you to set up an appointment.
A prospecting email without a CTA is destined to fail since the contact has no opportunity to act, even if he is interested!
6. Be kind and courteous
When you try to approach someone by e-mail, always be polite and friendly! Keep in mind that you are the one who allows yourself to intervene in your client’s day. The least you can do is to send them pleasant content.
In btob more than anywhere else, companies want to surround themselves with reliable, qualified and friendly partners. This is a key point to never neglect! Thus, a warm and personalized email attracts and seduces more than a cold and impersonal email.
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Example of prospecting mail: 3 models to adapt
Depending on the relationship you have with your customer, the email template to follow is not the same! We offer several effective email templates to make a good impression. Here are 3 examples of emails that allow you to contact a company in the best way!
1. Congratulation email to the prospect
This consists in making contact by congratulating the prospect. This is an effective way of prospecting and is generally well received. However to congratulate a contact you need to find a good reason to do so! LinkedIn™, the ultimate professional social network is a goldmine for learning about your prospects. Promotion, new position, fundraiser or article publication, find all the information you need on the LinkedIn™ platform!
Example of a congratulatory prospecting email
Hello Alexandre [first name of the contact],
I am Timothée Brunet [your first and last name], marketing manager at X [your position and company name].
I just saw that you are joining the marketing team at [prospect’s company name] and I wanted to congratulate you on this great promotion!
To accompany you in your new responsibilities, I wanted you to test one of our marketing automation softwares for free, essential to generate impressive results but also to relieve your marketing teams of time-consuming tasks!
Call me at [phone number] if you are interested!
Wishing you a pleasant day,
Yours sincerely.
[Signature of your first and last name and your position in the company].
2. Email to offer a solution
With this email, you offer your prospects a solution to gain in performance. Your sector of activity fits perfectly with the companies you contact. The objective is for your customer to see that you take the time to find out about them and that you quickly identify their needs. This type of prospecting email is benevolent because it is simply offering help, often welcome, to a company.
Email prospection example to offer a solution
Hello [prospect’s first name],
I am [your first and last name], a management consultant at X [your position and company name].
Our agency is at your side to help you achieve your goals. Elaboration of an efficient and feasible business plan, expert advice and implementation of management methods to better collaborate, here is a sample of what we can do for you.
The quality of a company’s internal organization directly influences the results generated. Is this a current issue for you?
To discover our services and make an appointment with our consultants, I invite you to visit our website [place link].
I wish you a pleasant day,
Yours sincerely.
[Signature of your first and last name and your position in the company].
3. Email for constructive criticism
To send this type of prospecting email, it is necessary to do some research beforehand and identify the flaws of the company. Therefore, highlight the problem in order to support the pain and propose an appropriate solution.
Example of a constructive criticism prospecting email
Hello [prospect’s first name],
I am [your first and last name], web marketer at X [your position and company name].
I’ve noticed that your website pages take a while to load and there are small inconsistencies when switching to mobile. [Quickly list the problems to support your approach]
We have been accompanying professionals for x years [date of creation] by carrying out audits of their website. This procedure allows for example, to improve the referencing, the user experience, as well as the marketing and commercial aspects of the site.
On average, our clients get 20% more visitors to their website in just a few months!
I’ll be happy to tell you more over a phone conversation! Contact me at [phone number] for more information.
Thank you for reading,
I wish you a pleasant day,
Yours sincerely.
[Signature of your first and last name and your position in the company].
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Prospection email example, to conclude
- To write an effective prospecting email, introduce yourself in the first paragraph by giving your first and last name as well as your position and company.
- The content should be clean, structured and not too long. Choose quality over quantity!
- Personalize the email as much as possible to involve the reader. Insert their first name, the name of their company and, above all, their needs. Offer them real solutions!
- Placing a call to action is essential in prospecting. It is the element that allows the contact to act if he is seduced by your email. It is a clickable button, a link, an email address or a phone number for example.
Example of a prospecting email to summarize in 4 questions
How to write a prospecting email?
Here is a template for a commercial prospecting email:
Hello [first name],
Can I share a small idea that has helped our other clients achieve [result you helped achieve]? This is an effective and simple strategy to implement! It’s not well known, but it allows you to succeed in your email campaigns with a response rate of x%.
When can we get a call so I can explain?
Thank you very much,
Sincerely.
[Your name and surname]
What are the characteristics of a good prospecting email?
For it to be effective, make sure your prospecting emails contain:
- A short, punchy and catchy item. Write a short sentence of 35 characters and if you wish, add an emoji to attract the eye and arouse curiosity.
- Ultra-personalized content is essential to hope to find new customers through emailing.
- Placing a call to action in an email is absolutely essential for prospects to act if they are interested. The CTA is usually in the form of a link, a clickable button or contact information.
- Prefer a short, but qualitative text and always be warm and polite!
- To get in touch, there are 3 examples of e-mails that work very well: congratulate the prospect, propose a concrete solution to one of their problems and offer a little constructive criticism, giving them the opportunity to remedy it.
How to successfully make contact with a prospect?
In order to succeed in making contact and seducing your prospects, you must first obtain as much information as possible about your target beforehand. The goal is to understand how you can help them, what resources you have to help them reach their goal?
For example, find out about the size of the company, its general condition, the decision-makers, its field of activity, its history, its values, its marketing and communication strategy, etc. The more you know about your contact, the better you can help them.
What are the mistakes to avoid in a prospecting email?
Here are the most common mistakes not to make in a prospecting email:
- Do not insert call to actions;
- Propose a uniform solution for all your prospects;
- Write a text that is too long and not structured;
- Not introducing yourself;
- Make spelling mistakes and bad turns of phrase;
- Writing a subject line that is too long and not punchy;
- Sending an email that has little or no interest.
If you make one or more such mistakes, don’t expect to get a response!
