5 Cold Email Templates for Sales Teams to Nail Inbound Lead Generation

Attracting high-quality leads is one thing…

But making the most of these opportunities takes strategy, testing, and consistent refining.

To turn fresh prospects into interested buyers, you need to communicate with them as optimally as possible. 

That means understanding what they’re struggling with and conveying how you can help them better than anyone else can. 

That also means nurturing them so they feel seen and heard. This nudges them to conversion with ease.

Let’s take a closer look at how to move inbound leads down the sales funnel using cold emails. 

In this article, we’re sharing four cold emailing best practices and five cold email templates to inspire your campaigns.

Introduction to Cold Emailing 

Cold emailing plays a critical role in reaching out to potential customers. 

It gives your business the perfect outlet to proactively connect with your ideal customer one-on-one and generate leads. 

Well-crafted emails are incredibly important in this process as they serve as the first point of contact. 

In other words, they can make or break a potential relationship. 

Follow the tips in the next section to build meaningful relationships with your cold email prospects. 

Best Practices for Cold Emailing 

Cold emails should grab your recipient’s attention, clearly convey your value proposition, and provide a compelling reason for them to engage further. 

By personalizing your message, addressing pain points, and offering solutions, you can encourage a positive response and higher conversions.

Let’s review four specific practices you can implement to send better cold emails:

Test your email subject lines

Email subject lines trigger immediate responses—or lack thereof.

When a lead scans their inbox, they intuitively know which cold emails they’re interested in by reading the subject lines (and preview texts).

While you might pique their attention with a click-bait-like subject line…

You’ll quickly lose trust if it’s misleading, out of context, or if your email doesn’t convey enough value.

To encourage better open rates, click-throughs, and subscribe rates, A/B test your subject lines.

Remember to test only one variable at a time to accurately evaluate its impact. Continue refining your subject lines to consistently optimize your email marketing efforts.

Personalize emails by customer segment and individual 

Give inbound leads the ultra-personalized experiences they crave by segmenting your emails. 

If you sell services or subscriptions, consider form input data when segmenting your prospects. 

For instance, if you sell a password manager to businesses, your form likely has fields asking for the lead’s team size, main pain points, and industry type. 

In this case, you might segment your leads by size, such as small teams, mid-size companies, and enterprises. Or you might segment them by a specific industry or pain point. 

If you sell your password manager to a broader audience, you might segment it by customer group, such as:

• Extra-large teams
• Mid-size teams
• Large teams
• Small teams
• Individuals 
• Families

Integrate valuable screenshots (or custom illustrations) and pain point messaging that showcase how your tool solves each segment’s problems.

Bonus points for including trust elements and social proof, too, like the following email does:

If you sell products, consider contextual evidence when segmenting your leads. 

For instance, if you have a group of recipients that signed up for your hair loss newsletter, another group that signed up for mental health quiz results, and a third that signed up to receive a coupon on skin care products, you could segment them by contextual pain point.

In this case, you’d have:

• Segment 1: Prospects struggling with hair loss 
• Segment 2: Leads who need help with their mental health
• Segment 3: Potential customers who have dry or irritated skin 

You can then edit or create branded email templates dedicated to solving each point. 

When mentioning products, make them stand out with professional images. Be sure to also include plenty of opportunities for the lead to “solve” their problem. In other words, include (and test) a few CTAs. 

Here’s an example of a branded hair loss treatment email you could send to cold prospects in audience segment one:

This email works because it’s:

• Actionable with relevant and easy-to-spot CTAs
• Tailored to the prospect’s needs and problems
• Easy to read and understand
• Visually captivating

Time your emails well 

Maximize impact and engagement by sending your campaigns at the best times. 

Analyze audience data to see when recipients open your emails most often. Then, schedule your cold emails to send at these optimal times. 

Schedule follow-up reminders 

Keep in touch with inbound leads that have promising lead scores. Schedule follow-up reminders so you never forget to send an email. 

You can also automate follow-up emails, but make sure to turn off the automation if the lead catches up with your email first. 

This stains the personalized touch you’ve worked so hard to integrate into your outreach emails.

To take this tip up a notch, include valuable content the recipient can read to learn more about the unique value you’re offering them.

For instance, if you run a Divorce Mediation firm in Arizona, and your prospect filled in a lead capture form to learn more about child support laws, consider attaching a Child Support guide like the following one: 

You can also point them to blog posts and other online resources you’ve created: 

Go the extra mile by also including a link or screenshot to a dedicated information page about the specific product or service they’re asking about:

Here’s a cold email script you could test for this scenario:

“Hey Sara,

I’m sorry to hear Benny’s having trouble alternating between your and Martin’s homes.

Yes, we can absolutely walk you through child support options. Karoline’s available at 2pm Thursday and 10am Friday. Would you like her to give you a call at either of those times to discuss? 

In the meantime, here’s a helpful guide you can look through: 

(Paste/link/attach guide)

You might also find the following Resources and Information Pages helpful:

• (Paste link)
• (Paste link)
• (Paste link)

Talk to you soon. 

Best,
Lorraine

5 Cold Email Templates 

Now that we’ve covered the basics…

Let’s run through five cold email templates you can edit and use to complement your inbound lead generation strategy.

Gated Download Cold Email Template

Modify and send the following template when a lead fills out an opt-in form to download a gated asset: 

Top benefit of using this template: Encourages qualified leads to book a meeting with you.  

Best for: B2B companies with complex or specialized offers.

Bonus tip: After the initial email, send these leads a series of value-based emails focusing on the benefits of the solution or product they learned about. Include actionable tips, examples, and case studies to demonstrate authority.

Virtual Event Invitation Cold Email Template 

Send an email like the following to LinkedIn prospects—or to leads who’ve shown interest in the topics you’ll cover at your virtual events.

Top benefit of using this template: Nurtures potential clients who are aligned with what you sell.

Best for: Sales teams with target audiences that follow a longer customer journey.

Bonus tip: Set up dedicated email sequences that remind and get leads excited about your upcoming events. After they attend, add them to a separate lead nurturing email campaign if they don’t convert. Have attendees fill out forms during or after the event so you can hyper-tailor these emails.

General Interest Form Inquiry Cold Email Template 

Edit and send the following template when someone fills out a general form to learn more about your service:

Top benefit of using this template: Nudges the sales-qualified lead to apply for a service they’ve shown interest in. 

Best for: SaaS brands, service-based companies, and subscription-model businesses. 

Bonus tip: Offer a generous trial period on all your plans or packages. Recommend the best plan for each lead according to the customer behavior data you’ve collected.

Solution to Pain Point Cold Email Template

Modify the following template when you’d like to help a lead solve a specific pain point based on guided selling data:

Top benefit of using this template: Personalizes the customer experience by positioning your offer as the solution to the prospect’s problem.

Best for: B2B brands and ecommerce stores that offer guided selling experiences, i.e., product quizzes or interactive content.

Bonus tip: Include social proof, such as formal ratings, reviews, and testimonials, to build trust with inbound leads. Go the extra mile by integrating informal user-generated content—use a social listening tool to find and collect these branded mentions.

Contextual Evidence Cold Email Template

Send an email like the following to turn previous website visitors into leads:

Top benefit of using this template: Warms up potential leads who showed interest in the past and encourages them to book a meeting.

Best for: SaaS and B2B brands that prioritize win-back campaigns. 

Bonus tip: Include video content or valuable screenshots to captivate the lead. Share how your current SaaS or B2B customers use your software (or service) to increase time and money. 

Conclusion 

Implementing best cold email practices and refining your cold email templates with data-backed insights encourages better conversion rates. 

Personalizing your content, testing your subject lines and send times, and staying close to data can help you stay one step ahead at all times.