Julien Bréal

B2B commercial prospecting specialist

Toolbox

Training: Generate B2B meetings

How to write a prospecting email in 2024?

If you master the art of writing a prospecting email, then you will be unstoppable in your contact with prospects. 

 

In this article, I will share my best advice to convince you by writing a few lines.

 

I will share you in detail everything you need to know about copywriting in commercial prospecting.

What is a prospecting email for?

To nothing.

Yes, really.

A prospecting email is not effective.

Several prospecting emails must be sent to have results.

I give you a figure.

80% of contacts do not respond to the first email.

The purpose of a prospecting email is to generate a conversation with the recipient.

The error made is to think that we have to sell in email.

No, we must make the recipient want to answer us because he wants to know more.

We can compare with the dredge, the approach must be subtle to make the prospect want the email to go further.

The number 1 objective of a prospecting email is to generate a conversation and not to sell. 

How to write an email?

To help you write an email, you can start from copywriting techniques like Aida or Bab that I will introduce you later.

 

But the starting point is to find the excuse that explains that you enter conversation with a prospect.

 

This is where your database comes into play. 

 

I'm not going to talk about it in detail here on how to create a quality database but simply tell you that you can no longer limit yourself to contact a person because simply, he is commercial director of a company of 20 employees.

 

These are old approaches that report little conversation today.

 

Let's go back to writing an email.

 

For a prospecting email to get an answer, the prospect must have the impression that you only send him to him.

 

This means that it is personalized.

 

It is the greatest difficulty of a prospecting email.

 

For that, integrate 2 - 3 variables which are personalized fields but naturally.

 

For personalized fields, we are used to using the first name, family name or company name.

 

It's a good start but the problem is that we have all received a lot of prospecting emails in recent years and our eyes have managed to capture automated email.

 

You must therefore be able to have a relevant approach to generate a conversation.

 

Let's start from an example that works well.

 

Here the company is recruiting a salesperson.

 

This is the right time for me to get into conversation with a sales director.

 

I know that it has objectives to achieve and that I could sell training or support.

 

Especially my approach is perfect because I will capture the attention of the recipient by telling him that I know that he is in full recruitment.

 

Let's look at the 1st email I send to him: 

Prospecting email example

As you can see the email is short and goes to the essentials.

 

I use a line to specify who I am to give context for the rest I address the recipient.

 

In this email, there are 3 personalized data: SDR, president and gardening.

 

As you can read, I am not trying to sell but to offer a conversation.

 

On this 1st email, generally for 100 emails sent, I have 3 positive responses.

 

Hence the importance of recovery emails to increase its response rate.

 

I will talk in detail about the types of response emails you can use.

 

Let's move on to a short summary of what to do to write a good prospecting email. 

Good practices for your prospecting emails

Here is a short list of what to do:

  • Write an email between 50 and 150 words
  • Focus on the prospect and a problem
  • Offer to start a conversation, an exchange and not to sell
  • Reread aloud your email to cut complicated words or turn of heavy sentences
  • Just write, like a conversation. Use a complicated or technical word if it is really necessary. (In general, to give context or show that we are talking about the same language) 
  • Jump lines to facilitate reading
  • You can break the codes by forgetting civility or sometimes a point at the end of a sentence to give a more natural side
  • For your recovery emails, brings value, not a simple recovery

How to write an object of email that works?

An email object that works with two objectives that this encourages the prospect to open the email but also that he created confidence.

 

For example, I have customers who will use quick Jacques question but will write a very long email and speaking only the company.

 

Your email object must give a context but tell the truth.

 

The objective is not only to have an opening rate of 80%.

 

We also have a rate of response rate, so we must create confidence by writing an email object in line with our message.

 

So here are some examples of email object to use: 

 

  • Quick question Bernard
  • Linkedin Bernard
  • Weird question Bernard
  • Booking X Total 
  • Following your post LinkedIn
  • Your interview on BFMTV

How many email in a prospecting sequence?

Limiting yourself to a single email is an error.

 

90% of people do not respond to your first email because they do not know you and surely something more priority to do.

 

It's up to you to boost them with subtlety to generate a positive response.