There’s no other sales channel that’s as direct as email outreach.
Ryane Tully from Pitchlane says this about emails:
A targeted sales introduction email allows you to elevator pitch your ideal prospects as if you had met them in person.
On top of that, it’s highly scalable, thanks to outreach tools like QuickMail.
In this guide, we’ll show you the best ways to craft an effective sales introduction email, including actionable tips and examples for when you write yours.
Let’s dive in.
What Is a Sales Introduction Email?
A sales introduction email is the first point of contact you have with a cold prospect. You’ll be reaching out to start a conversation, usually in order to later pitch your product or service.
Your sales intro email is a critical part of your email campaign. If a prospect thinks your email is relevant, it can be the start of a positive relationship. If they don’t feel it’s worth their time, they’ll delete it or worse, mark it as spam.
So, how do you write a killer sales introduciton email? Read our five key ingredients that make up an effective intro email in the section below.
All good sales introduction emails have several factors in common. Here are five to consider including when writing your email templates.
5 Key Ingredients in a Successful Sales Intro Email
1. A Personalized Opening Line
Your prospects receive a high volume of sales emails – particularly if they’re a high-level decision-maker.
The fastest way to stand out in their inbox is to use a personalized email opening line. This is a completely unique intro that couldn’t be sent to anyone else.
You’ll need to reference something highly relevant to them personally or professionally.
Examples include:
Really enjoyed your recent article on [topic] – will test those rapport-building strategies in my next sales meeting.
Loved your feature on [podcast] - the story behind what inspired you to start {{company.name}} was incredible.
Saw that {{company.name}} was nominated for [award] – I’m rooting for you to win.
Whatever angle you use in your opening line, the important part is that it’s unique to your prospect. When they see it, they’ll know that you’ve done your research into them.
If it’s between responding to you and another sales outreach email that hasn’t included any personalization, you’ll be the one they choose.
2. The Reason You’re Reaching Out
It’s important that you quickly get to the point of why you’re contacting them.
The best way to do this isn’t to describe every key feature that your product/service has. Instead, it’s to focus on a clear outcome that your prospect can realize if they respond to your introduction email.
Here are some examples of how to frame it:
Our agency helps companies like {{company.name}} send personalized outreach campaigns and book 30+ meetings with qualified leads per month.
I work with SaaS companies like [similar company] to build backlinks and help them generate 2x more traffic from their existing website pages within six months.
Our platform helps promote companies like {{company.name}} to an audience of CEOs looking for new software to use in their company.
When your prospect reads this, they won’t be thinking of the pros and cons of your product/service or making a final decision immediately.
Instead, you’ll incite curiosity and make it more likely that they respond to your intro email.
3. Social Proof or Evidence of Results
As you’ve seen in the examples of your short pitch in the previous section, you need to include social proof in your sales intro emails.
The reason this is so vital is that your prospects don’t already know you. You could be making up a bold claim just to get a reply, but don’t have the results to back it up.
Adding social proof in the form of a client name, statistic, or result you generated is an excellent way to show you’re focused on the outcome and not just reaching out to sell to them.
Here’s how RePurpose house do it:
Name-dropping well-known clients instantly builds credibility, and it gives the sales rep an opportunity to show examples of campaigns run for these clients in a sales call.
As soon as your client sees your social proof (and knows you can back it up) they’ll trust you and be more willing to have a conversation.
4. Leverage a Mutual Connection
There’s no better way to make a sales intro than by highlighting a mutual connection with your prospect.
The best possible situation would be to ask for a mutual connection to make an introduction. However, that’s not always possible.
If you do have a mutual connection, it’s best to use that as your opening line.
It will be more powerful than any personalized opening line you could create if you’re a complete stranger. Keep it simple, such as:
[mutual friend] told me to reach out about [topic]
Saw that you also worked at [past company] with [mutual connection]. It’s a small world!
As soon as your recipient sees this, they’ll instantly feel more rapport than if it was a cold sales intro.
5. A Call to Action That Generates Replies
An often overlooked part of an effective sales introduction email is your call to action (CTA). This is the final “ask” that you’ll make of your prospect.
In nearly every sales introduction email you send, the main goal is to start a conversation.
In this sales email from AppSumo, they use a one-word, simple CTA: “Interested?”
By doing this, the door is open for your prospect to reply with whatever they want.
On the other hand, if you ended your email with a more high-commitment call-to-action such as “Do you have time for a 30-minute call where I can walk you through our SaaS platform”, you’re asking a lot more of your recipient.
By keeping it simple, you boost your chance of a response and make life easy for your prospect.
Here are some similar examples of CTAs you can use in your intro email:
Is [pain point] on your radar?
Sounds interesting?
Are you the best person at {{company.name}} to discuss this?
Whatever CTA you choose, make sure it fits the content of your email and doesn’t complicate things for your recipient.
If the rest of your sales email intro template was relevant, you’ll consistently get replies to your campaign.
3 Sales Introduction Email Examples
Here are three example sales introduction email templates you can copy, edit, and use in your campaigns.
As usual, make sure to tailor each one to your unique business and avoid copying these word-for-word.
Template #1: Introducing Your Service
Subject: Help with hiring?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Noticed you recently published a new case study with [Client Name]. Looks like your ad strategy transformed their acquisition funnel, nice work.
I’m reaching out because we help agencies hire qualified freelancers and VAs to improve agency productivity and complete 30% more tasks than they would otherwise.
Is expanding your team on your radar?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Template #2: SaaS Sales Intro Template
Subject: Saving software costs for {{company.name}}
Hi {{prospect.first_name}} – noticed you recently opened an office in {{prospect.custom.City}}. Great choice, you’ll love it here.
I run a SaaS platform for accountants that helps them automate the tax filing process for clients. We recently helped [accountancy firm] reduce software costs by 40% as our platform includes tools that people usually use [competitor] and [competitor] for.
Worth a chat?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Template #3: Podcast Invite
Subject: Connecting with CEOs in {{prospect.custom.City}}
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Noticed your team is based out of {{prospect.custom.City}}, great to see other fast-growing companies here.
I’m hosting podcast episodes with other CEOs here and telling their story. We have 20,000 audio listeners and 5,000 YouTube subscribers.
Interested in coming on the podcast?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Sending Sales Introduction Emails with QuickMail
When you’re ready to start sending sales introduction emails that get opened, create your free account on QuickMail to start sending personalized sales emails on autopilot.
Once you import your prospect list, you’ll write your personalized sales intro email templates, and then schedule them.
If a prospect doesn’t respond, QuickMail can automatically follow up with them for you.
Every response to your campaigns are logged in a shared team inbox, which makes it simple to stay on top of your replies and ensure no prospect ever gets ignored.
You can track every key metric in your email campaigns to understand how effective they are and run A/B tests to ensure you’re sending the best email copy in every campaign.
You can start on QuickMail’s free plan, which lets you send 3,000 emails per month. If you need to send more than 3,000 emails, you can upgrade from just $49 per month.
