It’s not easy drumming up new customers. Attempting to lure new clients can be exhausting – as well as expensive – yet it is essential for freelance designers and web design companies.

The thought of cold emails, sent or received, may not sound like a very welcome prospect. However, if they are done the right way, they can net a surprising number of beneficial results. 


So here below are 6 tips for putting together an excellent cold email template with which to get you more clients that you first found through an email finder

What Not To Do

Before we get to what you should do, here are two things that it’s important not to do:

  • Don’t churn out thoughtless automated emails;
  • Don’t sound too opportunistic.

For cold emails to stand any chance of success, first and foremost, you need to sound like a human reaching out to another human. Making cold emails personal is key. Despite all the best advice available, you may be surprised how many companies will still bombard inboxes indiscriminately, making a nuisance of themself firstly, and secondly, wasting money from the advertising budget.

Not all website owners will have the same problems or be in need of the same services. The way insurance agents get clients will be different than how website designers get clients.

Churning out emails detailing specific features you have to offer is a long road that is unlikely to take you to many places you may be needed. Make the emails personal – and show how you provide solutions to various problems.

Regarding the second point: you also will not want to come across as some random chancer hoping for the best. Speak in your email as if it were a real conversation and with actual direction. Don’t throw a hundred stones hoping one might hit a target. Take specific aim at selected problems and let it be known how you can resolve them.

What You Should Do 

Now that you know two key points to avoid when devising your cold email templates and strategies, here are the core elements that you should tactically deploy within your cold emails.

1. State Who You Are


Cold calling over the phone can be nerve-wracking on one end of the line and a plain annoyance on the other. Cold emails make cold ‘calling’ a lot easier and can be less anxiety-inducing for both parties. That said, the email sender – you – should not hide behind the screen either. State the name of the company you work for, as well as your own name, immediately. Reveal yourself and your business from the off.

This helps reassure the reader right away that you are an actual person from a genuine business, not some bot from a basement on a phishing mission. Supplying ID and credentials off the bat lets the reader know that you are there to offer assistance.

It should be kept in mind, too, if you have a massive email list or an accurate email list that when you personalize an email and use the recipient’s first comename, that is not a shoo-in to a sale. It’s going to take more than friendly familial terms to bag results. Consider also:

  • Putting some time into explaining why you are there; 
  • Specifying how you can help to establish trust;
  • Avoiding immediately hitting them with a pitch. 

A great way to be personal and gain trust is to customize your opening salvo. For example, after introducing yourself and stating the firm you are working for, say something along the lines of: “Congratulations on the launch of your *name product*. We here at *name your company* are really loving it.” You can also make your message more personable by recording a short video and sending it with your email

Ensure it makes sense and is relevant – don’t use the same line with every send-out.

2. Communicate Like a Human

You’re off to a good start. Now, you are using an email template. Don’t spoil it by using speech templates. Talk naturally, throughout, like a real person having a conversation with another human being. Personalization is the key to every email you send, so always try to add the receiver’s name to the email.

An email that reads like a machine dropped every word from a great height into each sentence will stand out a mile. It will also be unlikely to be read all the way through. Avoid a formulaic approach, sound natural and enthusiastic – about the company you are addressing and your own line of work.

Being down-to-earth and not pushy is crucial. You don’t want to come across as either a robot or a cliched used car salesman. 

3. Provide Relevant Testimonials

Show the recipient what you’ve got. Don’t be shy but don’t cross the line into showing off too much. Testimonials from previous clients make for superb strategy leverage when it comes to B2B sales. Proof of past customer satisfaction really brings some heat to a cold email. By including it, you’ve answered a question before the reader has had time to think of it.

Crucially, it also shows that your company cares about its reputation and takes pride in all that it does. 

Even further to this point, it shows that you would love to see your recipient’s company name in a testimonial, equally happy with what they can do. This is a method that can really stroke the fur the right way. Just make sure that the testimonials you supply are in keeping with the solution you are offering the reader. 

4. Supply a Case Study

To be even clearer and really drive the point home, also provide a case study for the recipient to look at. Again, it’s imperative that the case study matches the problems you can solve for the reader and their website. In today’s world, as an MDI in Design Management teaches us, design is a pivotal strategic tool when it comes to innovation and change (involving organisations, society, technology, and businesses) owing to its potential to offer co-creative solutions that simultaneously meet the needs of the brand, the market and the company by studying users and their needs. 

5. Pinpoint Pain Points

 A sure-fire way to capture the attention of your reader is to show them explicitly their pain points. Revealing these – and then how you will make things better – can be an especially effective way of causing your reader to sit up straight in their chair and reflect.

For example, business owners know how important their websites are to their firm’s success. Small details can have large consequences. By showing the potential effectiveness of even small improvements, your recipient will even subconsciously be mulling over the possibility of enhanced success rates and growth in revenue.

Whatever the most obvious pain points are though, shine your light on those, be clear when addressing why these are pain points and just how you can fix them. 

6. Supply a Tangible Benefit

At this point, you have already:

  • Let your reader know who you are and where you are from;
  • Told them what could be improved in their business;
  • Gotten their full attention. 

So, now is the time to reveal the quick and painless solution to the issues you have revealed and brought to the recipient’s attention.

Should the pain points you have put on display be ones that the reader was already conscious of, there is a good chance that your recipient will take solid note of your correspondence and engage with it, and your company, further. 

Example of a Cold Email Template for Web Designers

Dear *add name/company name*,

I am impressed by *add the company name* and your work and, most recently, with your *add product or service name*.

I would love to assist you with your website and make it every bit as good as your *add product or service*.

For *add number* years I have been a web designer, creating beautiful and engaging websites for a variety of businesses. 


I couldn’t help but notice a couple of issues with your website after looking at it for a few minutes.

You may or may not be aware of the following:

  • The site behaves badly on mobile devices – which is now the prevalent method potential clients browse the Internet;
  • It has adjustment difficulties when switching screen sizes;
  • Compared to your two closest competitors, it is outdated. You can check this for yourself here at two following links:

    *add links*

My company and I are in the business of solving these problems and making websites optimal across all platforms and devices.

We have vast and comprehensive knowledge in the field, as well as *add number*  years of experience between us.

Below are testimonials from past clients with similar problems to that of your own website and to which we were able to find solutions. Below these, I have also included a free mock-up of what your site may potentially look like after we have worked on it.

*add testimonials and mock-up example*

Costs for such work are usually in the range of *add figure* but this can be worked out and decided upon after a free consultation by phone.

If this is something you feel you may be interested in, please contact me between 9am and 5pm on weekdays at:


*add contact details*

Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you in the near future,

Sincerely, 

*add your name*
*add your company name and address*
*add your business website address*

Conclusion

As a concluding point, it’s worth remembering to update the blueprints for your emails a couple of times a year at least. Include fresher client testimonials or a better case study if you have one. Also mention – when relevant – any changes to your company or new solutions you may have developed for old, routine pain points. As a final tip, it can be worth mentioning that you have previously helped companies just like the recipients.

‘Cold calling’ is never easy and it can be difficult to know what to expect in response, but with the right approach to cold emails, the chances of successful out-reaches to prospects can be significantly improved. 

About the Author

author photo

Mirko Humbert

Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.