Writing for B2B purposes isn't exactly easy, especially writing emails.
At least it isn't when you're going into it blind. But there are plenty of ways to ensure that your message has the best chance of getting through.
And one of the biggest challenges is the pacing and timing of your emails, making sure you don't come off as a salesman.
But there are some other challenges along with some tried and true methods to overcome those challenges. So let's get into the 8 cold email copywriting tactics that spark conversations with B2B prospects and get the most out of your emails.
Table of Contents
Before we get into exactly how to write them, we need to understand what makes emails effective. Some of it is pretty easy, but some of it is difficult to master. And it's all categorized by three levels of difficulty: simple, challenging, and difficult.
Let's start with the easiest audits.
Chances are you already have these down but they're worth going over. They're some of the most basic rules of copywriting, but they're still worth noting.
Because if you can't get the basics right, you definitely won't be getting the rest of it right. The simple audits are:
As you can see, they're pretty simple. And once you're sure you can get them right then you can focus on some of the harder stuff.
So far so good, but you'll still need to hone your skills. When going through these audits, you'll want to start focusing on your brand and how your copy reaches your prospects. The challenging audits are:
There's definitely more on your plate in this section, and sometimes you might not hit the mark on all these. But it's important to try your best to fulfill all these criteria.
If the challenging section is challenging then you can be sure this one lives up to its name as well. As with the last section, it's entirely possible that you'll fall short with some of these.
And that doesn't mean your copy won't be effective.
But your goal should always be to work toward getting all of them right in every email. Difficult audits are as follows:
You'll need some nuance and a lot of practice to nail these consistently. But they're necessary for crafting effective emails. Some of it sounds simple, and it is, but that can make it harder to get right.
Learn how to audit your copywriting in emails and other different types of copy here.
With that out of the way, we're ready to take a look at some ways to really make your email stand out. These are just some of many, and you'll probably find others that work great for you too.
So just keep these in mind while you're writing, but don't limit yourself and keep working, making note of tactics you find that make your emails shine.
This might seem like it goes without saying, but it's of the utmost importance. The first thing to know is that your subject line should be 7-10 words tops.
Only include essential information, because everything can be detailed within the email. Seeing as your subject line is what actually gets your prospect to read your email, it also has to be optimized.
And to optimize it, you need to make sure your subject line does a few things.
Namely, it should be friendly, funny, and relevant. It should also tease something or open a loop to create some curiosity. And all of this should be done using the language of your target audience because that'll help your email stand out.
If you need some help here, check out this guide:
Put into practice it can look something like this:
When you're writing a welcome email, you need to keep the timeframe in mind. To reduce the risk of your prospect feeling forgotten, you need to reach out within 48 hours.
Because if they feel forgotten, they probably won't like how you run your business. Not only that, but they'll probably think you don't know how to run your business.
But you have to keep in mind that you can have prospects all over the world. What that means is that you have to assume you're dealing with every time zone in the world.
So a solution is to send your automated emails based on the timezone of your prospect's time. Typically your automation tool does this automatically, but it's worth checking your settings to make sure.
The three things a welcome email needs to do are: build trust, list benefits, and set the stage for what's to come. And telling a story while doing these things shows that you understand your prospect, along with increasing their desire.
To establish trust you can do a few things. One of which is to give them free stuff, which everybody likes. And it doesn't even have to be physical goods, it can be anything like resources that they might otherwise have to pay for.
In addition, you can link to a community page where people are talking about your brand and your social media to give your brand some authenticity.
Listing benefits is a little more self-explanatory. You just need to explain how you're offering something that can solve their problem and how it'll make their life easier.
Not only that, but you should also tell your prospect why you're a better fit for them than the many other businesses they can choose from.
Setting the stage for what's to come boils down to what you're offering in the future. Maybe it's a limited-time offer or a special offer where they can get a discount or an added bonus. Or maybe you're offering freebies.
Whatever you'll eventually offer, you want to point toward it.
Without trust, your prospects have no reason to give you a chance. So you want to include some testimonials, reviews, demo videos, anything that proves that your offer does what it claims to do.
And the fact that you're providing proof from clients goes a lot further than your own claims since people trust their peers much more than they trust businesses.
You want to think about what makes your business tick and how you can show that to your prospect. Try to be as transparent as possible and let them see what goes on in your business.
Emotion is a powerful tool in any copy, and emails are no exception. One of the best ways to use emotion is to appeal to your prospect's feelings of inadequacy, but without making it their fault.
The next step is to explain how you can help them. But you need to make it clear that you understand them and their problem and that you want to help.
These are the 4 key emotions you should highlight in your copy.
You want conversions, of course. I mean, that's the whole point of copywriting, right? Well, you should make sure to detail your offer if that's the case.
Bullet points are essential, and you want to lay things out in as much detail as possible. Your goal is to make your offer look as appealing as possible from any angle.
As I said, bullet points work well, but they work even better when you use them effectively. The specific method is called copywriting bullets and it works on the premise of providing detail while playing on emotion.
This method builds tension and at the same time gives vital information so it works on two fronts.
When you know you're close to a conversion, you need to seal the deal quickly. That's where urgency comes in. And there doesn't even need to be a legitimate cause, you just need to imply a sense of urgency.
There are a few ways to do this. One way is to tell your prospect that they're getting something before others. Make them feel like they're getting a special, exclusive offer.
Or you can tell them that you're running out of stock, using a stock counter, or something like that.
The last method is to have a limited-time offer, implying that the price will increase eventually or that a bonus you're including won't be available at a later time.
And in the worst-case scenario where you don't end up getting a reply, you can always reach out to your prospect. The best way to do this is in a friendly way, sort of giving them a pass.
That could look something like these examples:
Just following up with you on this! Not sure if my last email got lost.
---
Hey there -- just following up! Did my last email make it to your inbox?
---
Just getting back in touch -- not sure if my last email got trapped in an email filter somewhere.
---
Hey, just following up again! Did you get my last email?
---
Reaching out again. My last email might have gotten lost in the shuffle!
---
Just reaching out -- not sure if you got my last email?
---
Just following up...
My email got trapped somewhere, didn't it?
---
Hey again!
I think my last email got lost somewhere.
---
Hey, it's me again!
I don't think my last email made it to you.
---
Hey again, just reaching out!
My last email might have gotten lost in a filter somewhere.
---
The goal is to not come off as rude, to open up some communication, and to not make any negative assumptions about your prospect. And this can end up helping you get more conversions in many cases, so it's always worth a try.
Use these formulas for your next B2B email campaign for better conversions.
Now that you have an idea of how to make your emails effective, you could probably use some information about how to put them into practice. Luckily, there are some proven templates that work.
But they don't exactly work alone, they have to work in a sequence as I mentioned before.
Also, like any templates, you want to be sure to revise these and make them your own. Templates are usually boring when followed to the T and chances are others are just filling in the blanks.
So if you do the same, you're not going to stand out amongst everyone else. You want your emails to suit your brand, so just use these as a general guideline.
And before we begin, it's worth noting that each of these emails needs to use tactic #1 for an optimized subject line.
The first email in the sequence, the welcome email, has to be timely and use tactic #2. Otherwise, it's probably not going to do you much good. It also needs to use tactic #3 to build trust, list benefits, and set the stage.
This kind of email basically looks like this:
The next step in the sequence uses tactic #4 in order to build some trust and give some truthful information about your offer.
This email looks like this:
In this email, you want to use tactic #5. The idea is to appeal to their emotion, especially their feelings of inadequacy and what they want to change in their life.
The formula for this email is:
Here's where you'll use tactic #6. You're trying to give them an idea of what you're offering, so you want to detail it.
This email is building up to a hopeful conversion:
*NOTE: Use the word "imagine."
Finally, this is where you want to pull out all the stops. If you've got your prospect to this point, you have a good chance that they'll convert. And that's why you'll want to use tactic #7 to really nudge them along to make that decision.
This final email goes like this:
And at any point in this process, you can use tactic #8 to try to start the conversation back up. It's a useful tool when all else fails, so don't forget that it's available.
While you might be having some trouble getting results right now, I'm sure you can use this information to optimize your B2B emails. When you have an idea of what they need and how they should look, you give yourself the best potential for conversions.
And it's probably going to take some practice. But keep at it, and remember the tactics. You'll get it in no time if you follow the formulas and keep in mind how they work.
Just think of the drip sequence as an arc, where each email serves its own purpose. You're not going to make any sales upfront so you want to focus on the value of your offer until you get to the end where you can propose a sale.
And if you're still having trouble, I'm always here to help. So reach out at any time, for anything you might need.
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