Sales email templates are partially pre-written emails that salespeople can quickly customize to fit their needs. Salespeople often save email templates for a variety of sales situations, from emailing a cold lead to following up with a warm prospect. It saves them time, and as long as they personalize each email to the prospect, it can increase conversion rates as well. Prepared sellers have a generic master email template and scenario-specific ones at arm’s length.
Once you understand the elements of the best sales email templates, learn how to write and send effective sales emails with our article on how to write a sales email.
We created a free generic sales email template that you can customize to fit each specific lead. The email template is designed to help you introduce your business offering to potential buyers in a way that inspires them to schedule a meeting with you to learn more. It does this by opening with something you’ve learned about the lead, listing common pain points the recipient likely suffers from, pitching the solution, and finally asking for the meeting.
An effective sales template consists of a from line, a subject line, an opener, a pitch, a call-to-action, and an email signature. Let’s briefly describe each component and give you some examples from our free template.
When your email arrives in your lead’s inbox, the first thing they’ll look at will likely be the from line so they can see who the sender is. For this reason, consider updating your from line for your emails in Outlook or Gmail to entice the recipient to open it in the first place. This is especially helpful if you’ve spoken with the lead before since they can understand that the email is from you and can be trusted, but it can also help you be clear and straightforward in cold emails.
Here are a few examples of upfront from lines:
This is the example shown in our template:
After the sender, your subject line is the next thing your prospects see when your email arrives in their inbox. The purpose of the subject line of a sales email is to get the lead or prospect’s attention. It should spark curiosity and motivate them to open up the email. Sellers do this with various techniques, from listing a shocking benefit to asking a question specific to the recipient.
Effective sales email subject lines are:
Here’s an example of a powerful subject line from our template:
Typically, the opener greets the reader, introduces you and your company, and states the purpose of the email. It might also be used to hook the reader by stating something you learned about them during your research, such as a recent promotion.
Effective sales email introductions include:
Use your opener to build rapport and give your prospect context so that they keep reading.
Here’s the generic opener from our template:
Your pitch is where you describe your offer, typically in the form of an elevator pitch that mentions a common pain point of your target audience and then briefly explains your value proposition.
Here are some great ways to frame the pitch:
Starting the pitch with problems or pain points is a great way to get the lead’s attention. It also helps you come across as a problem solver instead of a spammer.
Check out our pitch from our sales email template:
Your CTA states the next steps you want the recipient to take. Typically, this means asking for time on their calendar to have a call or meeting. Your CTA should be clear, concise, and easy to comply with. To do so, we recommend using a meeting scheduler tool like Calendly that gives the lead access to your calendar to schedule time on their own. Simply link out to it in the email and tell the recipient to schedule time.
Here are some examples of CTAs:
The last example is best suited for a cold lead who might not be ready just yet for a call. Always have your lead or prospect’s feelings in mind when crafting each part of your emails.
Here’s an effective CTA from our general sales email template:
Your email signature includes your sign-off, such as “Sincerely, {Your Name}” and then details about you and your company, such as your company name, phone number, job title, personal website, and LinkedIn profile link to build credibility and give the recipient an easy way to research and contact you.
Here are effective sales email sign-offs:
Keep the information below the sign-off clear, professional, and concise. There’s no need for quotes or cliches here.
Take a look at our template's straightforward signature section:
Salespeople find themselves in various sales situations, each demanding a different type of email to help them move the deal forward. We’ve created sales email templates for the 11 most common sales scenarios, from reaching out to a cold lead to pitching a webinar attendee. Each template is customizable so that you can personalize it to fit each specific lead and circumstance while keeping the process efficient.
This cold email template is designed for sales reps reaching out to B2B decision makers in an effort to get them interested in a business offer. The goal is to get a reply back in which the lead expresses interest in learning more. This email does this effectively by opening with a line about the recipient and then listing common pain points that your recipient likely has if they fit your customer persona. Check out our cold email templates article for even more first-touch templates.
Use this template if someone recommended that you speak with one of their connections about your offering. This could be a referral from a friend or someone who passed you to someone else in their company. The goal is to book a call by name dropping the connection in the subject line and giving a quick pitch. If you'd like help crafting this pitch, check out our article on the elevator pitch, where you'll find the steps to create an effective one plus quality examples.
Use this template if you’re following up with a cold lead who hasn’t responded to your first email. The goal here is to remind them to read and respond to your sales message, while also providing value to them. Our template does this by politely reminding the lead about your last email and giving them a useful piece of content — either from your brand or another.
Sometimes your prospect forgets to respond to your email, which can stall the sales process. To keep the wheels moving, send them a friendly reminder about your previous email that will spur them into action, whether that’s signing a contract or scheduling time for a presentation. Our email template galvanizes them by focusing on the benefits they’ll receive by taking next steps.
Website visitors coming to check out your product or pricing page are often expressing buying intent, so it’s smart to email them directly to get the ball rolling. This email template will build interest within the lead by mentioning the page they visited, create desire by making a quick pitch, and then influence action by asking them if they have interest in a quick call.
A trigger event is a change in the lead’s situation that creates a new opening for you to sell your product or service to them. Examples include promotions, company reorganizations, or investments and expansions. This email will help you seize this new opportunity by mentioning the trigger event and explaining why this is the perfect time for your lead to check out your offering. This template also shows the lead you’ve done your research.
If you’re selling software, your leads might request a live demo by filling out a form on your website or ad. If so, you’ll want to send them an email to set up the web demo. The email should focus on the specific feature they expressed interest in seeing. Sometimes they’ll specify their needs and interests in the form. Or, in your marketing automation software, you can look at the ad or web page that brought them to the form.
If you meet a lead at a trade show, conference, or baseball game, you’ll want to follow up with them with an email to schedule a meeting to talk with them more about your business offering. Do this with an email template that leverages the rapport you’ve already built by first mentioning something you two discussed when you met. Then, state why the lead would benefit from your product/service, and end with a strong CTA for a meeting.
Sellers following up with leads who attended your webinar and fit your ideal customer profile should use this email template. The template focuses on connecting the issue or best practice discussed in the webinar to your product/service in an effort to turn them from someone interested in your brand to someone interested in a specific business offering.
Salespeople often reach out to leads who signed up for a free trial in an effort to get them to look at the paid option. The email should be friendly and paint yourself as a useful resource at your company, while also educating them on the benefits of switching to the paid version. Our template does this by asking if they have any questions, highlighting three benefits of the paid option, then asking them if they’d like a personalized demo of it.
Salespeople selling into companies might be unsure of who within the company is the right person to talk with about their product or service. Therefore, they need an email template like the one below that will help them get passed along to this decision maker. The template below does this by introducing your solution and politely asking who would be in charge of evaluating it. Ideally, send it along to a slightly higher-level executive who can refer you down the ladder.
Sales email templates help you speed up your emailing process while maintaining a high level of personalization for each email, thereby increasing the number of emails you can send and their open and response rates. Sales emailing is a great way to generate new opportunities as well as nurture current ones along toward a close. Equipped with these templates, go forth and try to send 10% more sales emails today than you did yesterday.
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