As the popular saying goes, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression!"
This saying rings true even in our professional interactions. Take prospecting emails, for example. Depending on how it is worded, the first few lines can either intrigue your correspondent or completely discourage them from working with you. Whether you're sending a cold email to a new prospect or following up with existing buyers, that first impression is crucial.
It is therefore essential to take care when writing it in order to create new opportunities for collaboration or sales, whether you're reaching out for the first time or trying to re-engage a prospect who has gone quiet. Because we want you to succeed, here is our comprehensive guide to prospecting emails, complete with several examples!
A prospecting email is a targeted outreach message sent to potential customers or clients who have not yet engaged with your business. Unlike general marketing emails, prospecting emails are highly personalized and focus on building relationships with specific individuals or companies. These emails aim to introduce your product or service, demonstrate value, and initiate a conversation that could lead to a business relationship.
Prospecting emails can be cold emails (sent to completely new contacts) or warm emails (sent to prospects with some prior connection or interaction). The key is to provide value while showing genuine interest in the prospect's specific challenges or needs.
The 5 P's of prospecting are fundamental principles that guide effective sales outreach:
These principles apply whether you're sending your first cold email or following up with existing buyers.
Here's a simple but effective example of a prospecting email:
This example demonstrates personalization, shows genuine interest, provides a relevant case study, and includes a clear but low-pressure call to action.
The 30/30/50 rule is a best practice for structuring cold emails effectively:
This rule ensures your cold email has the right balance of personal relevance and business value, significantly improving your response rate compared to generic outreach.
Yes, you read that right, 20 tips for writing your prospecting email, no less, because your success is priceless.
Apply them, and your emails will become real contract magnets, whether you're making initial contact or reconnecting with existing prospects! Your cold email and email outreach efforts will see improved response rates when you follow these best practices.
Your professional email isn't necessarily intended for prospecting, but you still need some writing tips? Find out how to write a professional email.
Before you dive headfirst into writing your prospecting email, whether it's your first outreach or a follow-up to re-engage a quiet prospect, you need to lay the groundwork by doing a little research on your correspondent!
Gather all the relevant information to define their persona: their age group, socio-professional category, and above all, their expectations and needs. Understanding their pain point and specific need will help you craft a more compelling cold email.
With this data in hand, you can tailor your message and tone so that it really resonates with your prospect. The more you tailor your message to the specific profile of your reader, the more likely they are to respond to your email. This personalization is what separates effective email outreach from generic spam.
Don't forget: your recipient probably receives dozens of emails every day. To make your message stand out from the crowd, personalize it by including the reader's first name and referencing past interactions when possible. Even decision-makers appreciate genuine interest in their specific challenges.
The email subject line is the short but powerful text that your prospect sees first in their inbox, in the header of your email. Think of it as the window display of your email: like a shop window, it needs to catch the eye and make people want to see more.
To maximize your chances of being read, whether it's a first contact or a follow-up, craft your email subject line to intrigue your correspondent:
Subject lines for engagement and re-engagement that work well include: "Quick question about [specific project]", "Following up on our last conversation", "New insights for [company name]", or for first contact: "Partnership opportunity for [company name]". These cold email subject lines have proven to improve response rates across various industries.
You can find all these tips in detail, along with many other techniques, in our article on email subject lines.
A solid, impactful prospecting email is a structured email. The structure is the skeleton of the email. It allows you to deliver your message in the most coherent, clear, and effective way possible. There are different types of structures, depending on the purpose of your email.
For example, you can use the AIDA method (attention, interest, desire, and action), which is widely used in copywriting. With this approach, you immediately grab the reader's attention and spark their interest before creating a desire and offering a solution.
With the PAS approach (problem, agitate, solution), you start by confronting the prospect with their problem and its negative consequences before offering a solution.
Finally, the BAB (before, after, bridge) method consists of describing the reader's current situation and their frustrations/aspirations, then the desired situation, and finally proposing a "bridge" between these two situations.
Speaking of structure, take a look at our article where we provide tips and examples of professional emails for a 100% concrete professional email!
Imagine the scene...
You're walking through the market on Sunday morning when a vendor stops you to offer you some vegetables. You decide to give him two minutes of your time. The vendor then starts talking to you about his fresh broccoli with the enthusiasm and energy of a funeral director on a busy day. Unless you're a goth yourself (nothing wrong with that!), there's little chance that this introduction will make you want to buy the broccoli.
All this to say that the opening line of your prospecting email is crucial. To make your reader want to continue reading and to pique their curiosity, work on the first few lines of your email. Be dynamic, include a short introduction about yourself, and get straight to the point. Use short sentences to maintain clarity and keep your reader engaged.
You can also use calendar events to make a warm introduction, such as in a New Year's email. Timing your outreach at the right time can significantly improve your response rate. Congrats emails for company achievements also work well as conversation starters.
The opening line is also the time to create a connection between you and your potential customer. Show them right away that you understand them, and briefly explain why they need you.
If your prospect doesn't understand who they're dealing with, they're unlikely to follow up. It makes sense: with a busy schedule, they can't afford to waste time and energy corresponding with someone they don't know.
In the first few lines of your prospecting email, introduce yourself clearly and concisely, mentioning your first name and last name and your position/services/company. Add any necessary details about your business so that the recipient immediately understands what you can offer them.
When dealing with a cold prospect, this introduction becomes even more critical as you need to establish credibility quickly. Your cold email needs to immediately communicate value and build trust with buyers who have never heard of you.
Your prospecting email must be tailored to the recipient: you must speak the same language so that they understand you and are inclined to respond.
Use vocabulary (or "jargon") commonly used by your prospect; this will show them that you fully understand their challenges. Also use the appropriate tone and style. Your sales teams should develop a consistent voice that resonates with your target audience while showing genuine interest in their business.
For example, for a sales professional, adopt dynamic and engaging language that is action-oriented. If your contact works in the wellness industry, on the other hand, use the corresponding semantic field and an empathetic tone.
Do you feel like you didn't use the right time in your email... after sending it? Don't panic: we'll explain how to delete a sent email!
Your prospecting email has a purpose: it may be to propose a collaboration, sell a product or service, or even establish a new contact. Whatever the reason, you must specify its purpose early on in the message so that your prospect can quickly get to the heart of the matter.
Before you start writing, make sure you clearly identify the reason for your email and your specific proposal, and how it can help your recipient. Then summarize it in two or three lines in a draft. Try to keep the essence of your proposal and make sure all the key information is there before you write the final version.
Remember, people are busy, so your pitch needs to be compelling and concise. Address their specific need rather than focusing solely on what you're selling.
Your prospect, especially if they hold a position of responsibility, probably has little time to spend reading emails. Therefore, one of the keys to a successful prospecting email is conciseness!
Do your best to be concise: don't get lost in long sentences and get straight to the point. But don't leave out the essential points!
To help you, use the "one sentence = one idea" technique. You can also write a draft beforehand to gather the most important ideas, then try to summarize them in a few simple sentences.
Your prospect must be quickly convinced that your proposal is relevant to their needs and any difficulties they may encounter. Therefore, be sure to use arguments that speak directly to them, linking them to the issues they may face.
Each argument must be clearly worded and based on solid logic: "If you are experiencing problem X, it is because Y, so you need Z to solve this problem." It must also be specific enough to make your correspondent feel concerned, and ideally include concrete data/figures.
For example, let's say you want to sell e-learning software to a human resources manager. Instead of saying "Our e-learning software is the most effective," try "Our e-learning software reduces the time needed to train your employees by 50%."
Including evidence in the body of the text makes your prospecting email all the more impactful and convincing. You show your prospect that the solutions/services/products you offer are able to meet their expectations.
So add figures, percentages, and any concrete information to back up your claims. A case study or testimonials are particularly effective because they anchor your product/services in reality, giving them a tangible quality. Your reader can see that real people have used your solutions and are satisfied with them, and are willing to share their experience!
What makes you remember a brand? It's not just the product or service it offered you, but the experience you had and everything else the brand gave you. This principle also applies to prospecting emails!
Your prospect should not feel that you have something to sell them, at least not solely. Instead, they should feel that you care about them and their problem, and that you want to help them. To create this feeling, focus on the added value of your message by providing useful advice or information.
Offer something of value like a helpful resource, exclusive access to content, or insights into their industry. This will have a threefold positive effect. First, your reader will feel understood and listened to. Second, they will remember you as an attentive, knowledgeable, and helpful contact. Finally, providing them with relevant information will show them that you are knowledgeable about their subject and trustworthy.
Timing is an essential factor for a successful email campaign. Think about it for a moment: it would be a shame to send a prospecting email that you've worked hard on, only for it to go unread because you sent it at the wrong time!
To boost your open rate, send your email at a suitable time of day, which corresponds to your target audience's rhythm. As you might expect, the best time varies from one audience to another: a baker who works from dawn will not have the same habits as an executive who starts their day around 9 or 10 a.m.
It's up to you to do some preliminary research on your prospect to determine the best time to send your email. Consider their time zone, industry patterns, and typical work schedules. This research will also help you understand if you're facing a competitor for their attention.
A leopard should never be ashamed of its spots! Embrace your originality, both professional and personal, and infuse it into your prospecting email.
If your uniqueness lies in your services, for example, highlight all your relevant qualities and specific expertise, even if they are out of the ordinary. These are the things that may set you apart in the eyes of your prospect and lead to a fruitful collaboration!
Don't hesitate to share your unusual background or questions to add a human touch to your message.
Your originality can also shine through in the form of your message. For example, you can use humor. Slip in a pun or an amusing reference if it seems relevant and appropriate for your correspondent. Be careful not to overdo it, though, to remain professional and credible!
An email signature can also help you stand out by creating a unique email!
Discover email signature tools to create an original personalized signature, as well as Outlook signature templates if you use Microsoft's email service.
In your prospecting strategy, it's better to send a few well-written emails than loads of low-quality ones. An email sent relatively infrequently, but rich and captivating, is more likely to be opened. You'll also avoid annoying your recipient, which could send your emails straight to the trash.
For example, send one email per month with a well-thought-out structure, concrete arguments, added value, and an original style. This will only strengthen your image as a professional. Another bonus: you'll save time and energy!
Take advantage of key moments in the calendar to send high-quality emails. For example, warm greetings by email during the holiday season are often noticed and always appreciated.
To those who are shy or don't want to bother anyone: rest assured, following up is not only legitimate, it's common practice in prospecting! Whether you're making initial contact or trying to re-engage a prospect, far from making you a nuisance, it shows your commitment and professional reliability.
So don't hesitate to send regular follow-up emails. Ideally, these should follow up on your previous emails: for example, you could elaborate on an idea or come back to a point you mentioned earlier in your last conversation.
Just make sure to keep it concise. If your recipient has not responded, they probably don't have the time or availability to read your email. Your follow-up email should therefore be a little shorter than the initial email.
ProTip: When following up, always reference your past interactions and add new value to justify reaching out again.
Most email software allows you to schedule the time and date your emails are sent. This handy feature will save you time and energy by automating your email campaign. All you have to do is choose a sending time that suits your audience (see point 12) and schedule your emails!
If you use Outlook, go to Options > Other commands > Delay delivery, then choose your sending time. In Gmail, in the email composition window, click on the down arrow at the bottom left next to Send, then click on Schedule sending.
Are you familiar with professional email signatures? This dynamic insert at the end of an email can significantly boost your prospecting emails.
Firstly, because it can be customized with your company's colors, an email signature allows you to cultivate a strong brand image that conveys your values and your world. This sets you apart from the competition and makes it easier to make an impression on your target audience.
An email signature also allows you to include dynamic links to your social media accounts, your calendar for scheduling appointments, and your awards. Your prospects then have direct access to your services and can get an idea of the quality of what you offer.
Finally, this tool promotes less intrusive prospecting. Because it concentrates a large amount of data into a simple and effective visual, it allows you to design emails that are lighter and less "aggressive" for the reader. What's more, it adds a touch of visual appeal, provided your signatures are well designed!
Here's how to create an email signature in Outlook!
Once you've presented your offer in the right format, it's time to finish on a high note with a CTA, or call to action. If your prospect is interested in your proposal, you need to give them the opportunity to find out more or contact you.
Your CTA should be short, direct, and include an action verb that encourages the reader to take the next step right away. For example, "Let's discuss your project" or "Discover [your product]" create a desire to continue the experience with you and encourage them to take action.
Consider offering a quick call to discuss their needs or schedule a brief meeting to explore future opportunities. A simple "Would you be open to a quick call this week?" can be very effective.
Tip: for an even more engaging and interactive CTA, harness the power of the email banner!
To hit the mark, you need to have your target in your sights! Your prospecting emails will be all the more effective if you think about your mailing lists in advance.
Segment your contacts by classifying them according to different criteria, including age, location, email open rate, level of engagement with your brand, and position in your sales funnel. Consider creating different lists for cold prospects versus warmer leads who have shown previous interest.
By tailoring your email marketing to this segmentation, you'll boost your open rates and therefore the chances of success for your prospecting.
To monitor the effectiveness of your prospecting emails, don't just rely on responses (or lack thereof) from your readers! Use email tracking tools, which will provide you with valuable data about your emails, such as open rates and the most popular subjects.
With this information, you can then adjust the form and content of your emails to make them more impactful. Track which touchpoints generate the best lead quality and focus your efforts accordingly. Also, consider using email prospecting tools to automate tracking and improve your overall response rate.
You can read 100 books on physical fitness, but nothing beats a good workout at the gym for building big biceps. The same goes for emailing! Work on your writing skills with these different examples of prospecting emails for both initial contact and re-engagement scenarios.
There are a thousand ways to make contact with a prospect. The key is knowing how to address your reader and capture their attention. Here is an example of a first email to send as part of a B2B prospecting campaign. This cold email template focuses on building that crucial first impression.
There are a thousand ways to make contact with a prospect. The key is knowing how to address your reader and capture their attention. Here is an example of a first email to send as part of a B2B prospecting campaign. This cold email template focuses on building that crucial first impression.
Subject: Boost Your Sales With [Your Solution]
Is your goal to sell a product or service to a prospect with whom you have already established contact? No problem! Follow this example of a classic sales prospecting email, which you should always have in your business emails templates toolkit.
There's nothing like a detailed presentation of your company to build trust and commitment! Here is an example of a prospecting email focused on the company and its business.
Being recommended by a colleague or acquaintance is the best way to get in touch with a prospect! A recommendation is a sign of trust for the prospect. Use the following email as inspiration for your first contact.
A prospecting email will be better received if it provides useful information or advice to the prospect. Follow the example below for an email with real added value!
By offering a strategy to solve a specific problem in your prospecting email, you show your prospect that you have what it takes to help them. Use the following example for an email focused on providing solutions.
This type of email is aimed at prospects who are well advanced in your sales funnel. It is a good way to encourage them to continue their experience with you!
Everyone likes to see their accomplishments celebrated! Congratulating your prospect on their success is a great way to introduce a service or product.
Did your first prospecting email go unanswered? A well-written follow-up email can remedy this problem! Here is an example that references your previous email while adding new value.
Here's a proven cold outreach email template that works well for sales teams targeting new prospects:
Sometimes the best approach is to let prospects come to you. Here's a reverse prospecting approach:
For more systematic prospecting, here's a template that can be adapted for different buyer personas:
When working with prospects, it's important to understand that engagement strategies differ depending on where they are in your relationship. New prospects require trust-building and value demonstration, while existing prospects who have gone silent need a different approach focused on re-establishing connection and addressing potential obstacles.
For new prospects (engagement):
For existing prospects who've gone silent (re-engagement):
The key to polite reiteration is adding value with each touchpoint rather than simply repeating your previous message. Here's how:
Template 1: The First Contact Value-Add Approach
Template 2: The Re-engagement Value-Add Approach
Template 2: The Honest Check-in (Re-engagement)
The best lead often comes from highly personalized outreach that shows you've done your homework, whether you're making first contact or reconnecting with an existing prospect. For new prospects, research recent company news and industry trends. For re-engagement, reference your previous email and any changes in their business landscape.
Elements of effective personalized outreach:
With these tips and examples, we're confident that your prospecting emails will work wonders! Need help writing your emails, for example, your automatic replies when you're out of the office? Check out our sample out-of-office messages.
Every effective prospecting email should include these essential elements:
Using email prospecting tools can help you track which elements are most effective for your specific audience and improve your overall response rate.
Yes, with the 'Campaigns' offer, it is possible to track the number of clicks on the email signatures of all your employees in the 'Statistics' area of the platform.
You can then access a detailed or global view of the number of clicks on the email signatures of each employee. You can use the search option to target a specific signature or a given period. Finally, you have the possibility to export all statistics to an Excel document.
If you launch campaigns with banners inserted in your email signatures, you can also access their performance via this same space.
With Letsignit, you can easily add social network icons in your collaborators' email signatures and link to your company pages. Also, our "attributes" feature allows you to manage personalized URLs for each of your collaborators such as their individual LinkedIn profile.
And that's not all: you can add links to an appointment-setting application, allow your customers to leave reviews easily, and integrate our 'Chat on Teams' widget to let anyone start a discussion via Microsoft Teams chat.
It’s up to you! As an administrator of the Letsignit platform, you choose whether or not to grant modification rights to your employees. These permissions are managed on an attribute-by-attribute basis, which means that you can decide to allow the employee to change their phone number, but not the address of your premises, for example.
This feature applies to all attributes in your directory, including custom attributes created on Letsignit. When your employees change one or more attributes, your directory is obviously not affected.
It often happens that employees make their email signature their own: custom format, bad fonts, colors inconsistent with the brand standards... all of this has an impact on your brand!
A consistent visual identity is considered authentic and outperforms a perceived weak one by 20%. And, your customers are 2.4 times more likely to buy your products.
With Letsignit, take back control over your brand identity by standardizing all your email signatures. Our tool has many features that allow you to customize your signatures by department, by audience or by subsidiary. Not to mention the possibility of carrying out campaigns within your email signatures thanks to our Campaign offer.
What is the user experience like for our employees?
In both cases:
In short, they have autonomy in their email signature, but you keep control on the field, signatures, and banners they can edit or use.
With our "multi-signature" feature, your employees can benefit from multiple email signatures. No technical manipulation is required. Thanks to our Add-in for Outlook or the desktop app, they can change their email signatures as they wish with just a few clicks.
Regarding the creation of email signatures, you can make several variations such as:
Everything has been thought of to go further in the personalization process based on the recipient of your emails.
If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.
As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:
As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.
If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.
As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:
As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.
To propose a collaboration by email, be concise, clear, and get straight to the point. Don't hesitate to add a personal touch to your message to really connect with your prospect! Make sure to use their first name and reference any past interactions to show you value the relationship.
Want to sell your expertise? Your prospecting email must prove to your customer that your services are effective. No more modesty! Include figures and customer testimonials to highlight your successes. A strong pitch combined with social proof will help close the deal.
To write a prospecting email that grabs attention, use your originality. Writing style, storytelling, and humor (in the right amount) are sure to make an impact! Remember that people respond to authentic, human communication.
Engaging and re-engaging prospects requires a strategic approach that combines personalized outreach, value-driven content, and persistent but respectful follow-up. For new prospects, focus on building trust and demonstrating value. For re-engagement, acknowledge the relationship history and add fresh value to restart the conversation.
Polite reiteration involves acknowledging their busy schedule, adding new value or information, and giving them an easy way to respond or decline. Always assume positive intent and focus on being helpful rather than pushy.
When emailing a prospect who has gone silent, try a different approach than your initial outreach. Reference your last conversation, acknowledge that priorities may have changed, and offer a helpful resource or insight. Sometimes a simple, honest check-in works best.
Using a re-engagement email template can save time while ensuring consistency. The best templates are adaptable, allowing you to personalize the first name, company details, and specific challenges. Keep templates as starting points, not rigid scripts.
Learning from both engagement and re-engagement email examples helps you understand what works in different scenarios. Study examples that match your industry and prospect type, then adapt the language and structure to fit your specific situation and value proposition. Remember that initial engagement focuses on building trust, while re-engagement focuses on rekindling interest.
