17 Best B2B Cold Email Templates To Generate Leads (2023)

Do you need help finding the perfect cold email template?

The best cold email templates follow the below framework:

• Explain how you heard about the prospect
• Explain who you are, what you do and why you are reaching out
• Provide a relevant case study with a tangible result
• Ask the prospect if they are open to the idea of a call

Being the founder of a cold email software (Emailchaser), and having sent thousands of cold emails throughout my career, I have seen what works (and what doesn’t).

In this article, I will share 17 cold email templates that you can try in your next outreach campaign:

1. Classic B2B cold email
2. Selling advertising space
3. YouTube interview request
4. Email interview request
5. Recent event
6. Email the founder
7. Partnership request
8. Mutual connection (talk about a similarity that you share)
9. Referral (talk about how you heard about the prospect)
10. Advice request
11. Direct ask with social proof
12. Mention competitor product
13. Ask for an introduction
14. Highlight problem & offer solution
15. Lead generation offer
16. Work for free offer
17. Share a valuable insight

1. Classic B2B cold email

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick question

Hi John,

I recently read on TechCrunch that your company Veed raised its Series A from Sequoia. Congrats on this amazing milestone!

I am the founder of Emailchaser, which is a company that helps sales teams find leads, send cold emails and manage their entire sales cycle in an easy to use Sales CRM. I wanted to reach out to you because I know that your company Veed recently raised its Series A, and I think we might be able to help your sales team scale its outreach.

We recently helped Gusto (leading HR software company) and their enterprise sales team to grow their monthly recurring revenue from $200,000.00 USD per month to $600,000.00 USD per month over the course of 6 months.

Let me know if you would be open to doing a quick call to discuss whether Veed’s sales team could benefit from using Emailchaser and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

P.s. Sorry if this is out of the blue. Here's my LinkedIn profile so you can see I'm a real person.

Analysis:
This template is your best bet if you are doing outreach to sell your product or service to businesses.

This template follows the below framework, which is proven to have success:

• Explain how you heard about the prospect
• Explain who you are, what you do and why you are reaching out
• Provide a relevant case study with a tangible result
• Ask the prospect if they are open to the idea of a call

95% of people should stop reading this article and use this template. I recommend that you read my other article How To Write A Cold Email That Gets Responses to learn more about this particular template, and why it’s so powerful.

2. Selling advertising space

The below tweet shows the email template that Sam Parr used to sell The Hustle’s first $100,000.00 worth of ads:

I sold The Hustle's first ads. About $100k worth.

Here's the 1st cold email I sent that got a sale. It was Wealthfront.

Maybe sent emails to 20 diff brands, 5-8 showed interest.

We had 93,535 subscribers. I charged them $26 per 1,000 sends. pic.twitter.com/L7uEYaG5Di

— Sam Parr (@thesamparr) December 22, 2022

This is a proven and effective cold email template. This template works well as it is personalized for the prospect and doesn't look like an automated email.

3. YouTube interview request

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I have a YouTube channel that interviews people about [insert topic]. Recently, I interviewed [insert someone that you interviewed].

I think the success that you’ve had with [insert relevant achievement] is impressive and I’d like to have you on my show.

Are you potentially interested in coming on my YouTube show? Let me know and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

4. Email interview request

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am writing an article about [insert topic]. I will be publishing this article to my website and audience soon.

I think the success that you’ve had with [insert relevant achievement] is impressive and I was wondering if I could do an “email interview” with you?

Can I send you a few questions via email, and then you can respond with written answers to my questions? I will then include your answers in my article.

Please let me know if I can send you a few questions.

Thanks,
George

5. Recent event

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question About [Recent Event]

Hi [First Name],

I saw that you were involved with [insert recent event that prospect was involved with].

I work in the [insert industry type] industry, and thought that I would email you since my line of work is related to [insert Recent Event].

[Talk about how your product or service might benefit the prospect].

Please let me know if you are free for a quick call to discuss this further.

Thanks,
George

6. Email the founder

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

[Talk about how your product or service might benefit the prospect].

Please let me know if you are free for a quick call to discuss this further and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

7. Partnership request

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I’m reaching out to see if there is a way that [insert prospect’s company name] and [insert your company name] could work together in a mutually beneficial way?

[Explain how you think the partnership could work in a mutually beneficial way].

Please let me know if you are free for a quick call to discuss this further and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

8. Mutual connection (talk about a similarity that you share)

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I noticed that we both [talk about a similarity that you share with the prospect, for example, you went to the same college].

Are you free to do a quick call to see if [insert prospect’s company name] might benefit from working with [insert your company name]? If so, let me know and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

9. Referral (talk about how you heard about the prospect)

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I think that [insert your company name] could help your company by [insert benefit that prospect would gain from using your product or service].

Interested in discussing this further? If so, let me know and I'll send over a few times to chat.

Thanks,
George

10. Advice request

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I am reaching out to you because I want to ask you for some advice. I wanted to know if you had advice for how my company could best solve the problems that companies like yours face?

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further?

Thanks,
George

11. Direct ask with social proof

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well (social proof)].

I think that [insert your company name] could help your company by [insert the benefit that the prospect would gain from using your product or service].

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further? If so, let me know, and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

12. Mention competitor product

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

[Talk about something that the prospect’s competitor is doing].

I think that [insert your company name] could help [insert name of prospect’s company] [insert way to get better results than the prospect’s competitor].

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further? If so, let me know, and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

13. Ask for an introduction

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I was wondering if you could please forward this email to whoever I should talk with to determine if [insert name of your company] can help [insert name of prospect’s company] [insert benefit that prospect's company would gain from using your product or service].

Thanks,
George

14. Highlight problem & offer solution

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I think that [insert your company name] could help your company by [insert benefit that prospect would gain from using your product or service].

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further? If so, let me know, and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

15. Lead generation offer

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

I was wondering if we could potentially form a partnership where my company sends [insert name of prospect’s company] leads in exchange for a commission.

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further? If so, let me know, and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

16. Work for free offer

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

[Talk about an existing piece of work that you've done for a different client that worked out well].

Would you be interested in trying our service if we can deliver results first before you pay?

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss this further? If so, let me know, and I'll send over some times to chat.

Thanks,
George

17. Share a valuable insight

Subject line: [First Name] - Quick Question

Hi [First Name],

[Talk about how you heard about the prospect and give a compliment].

I am the founder of [insert company name].

[Talk about the problem that your company solves].

I wanted to reach out because [talk about a recent change in the prospect’s industry that will affect the prospect’s business, for example, Google algorithm update that affects SEO rankings].

My company specializes in [talk about how your company can fix whatever problem the recent change in the industry caused].

Are you free to do a quick call to discuss if we can potentially work together?

Thanks,
George

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

The best cold email templates follow the below framework:

• Explain how you heard about the prospect
• Explain who you are, what you do and why you are reaching out
• Provide a relevant case study with a tangible result
• Ask the prospect if they are open to the idea of a call

I recommend that you read my article How To Write A Cold Email before you send your first outreach campaign.

If you send your cold emails through Emailchaser, then you can personalize your email templates at scale by adding "Custom Variables". Custom Variables will automatically add the correct first name and other key information to each email.

You may also enjoy my article How To Send Cold Emails Without Landing In Spam. This guide will help you hit the primary inbox (not spam folders).