Every good business relationship starts somewhere, and sometimes it starts with an intro you make yourself. (No shame in making things happen, fam!) When shopping for new clients, one of your options for planting the seeds that eventually grow into relationships is the cold email.

But if the thought of sending cold emails leaves you feeling, well, cold, then it’s time to shift your strategy and get fired up—because cold emails can work!

A cold email by definition is unsolicited and considered a form of introduction, since the recipient of the email has no idea who you are. They may not know about your company, either. (In fact, they probably don’t.) So, no pressure, right? You simply need to convince some total stranger that it’s in her best interest to give you some time out of her busy day. Ok, ok, not so easy, but hear us out.

Here’s how to write a cold email pitch.

At NEAT, we use a five-part framework for cold emails. Consider these five components to be must-haves for a cold email to work:

1. Attention: The attention piece of the framework consists of a catchy, relevant, and personalized subject line. We said catchy, relevant, and personalized—be sure to check all three of those boxes! By relevant, we mean making sure you’re putting some info in the subject line that references a specific problem you plan to help that person solve. 
2. Engage: Next, you engage the person by describing the problem or pain point that your business can help solve. The goal is to get them to keep reading! Note: This is not the time to introduce yourself.
3. Desire: Now you can introduce yourself! Except do it in a way that also lays out the benefits of working with you and your business. Example: “My name is [NAME] from [COMPANY], and we’ve helped [hundreds/thousands/a specific number] of businesses grow their launch-day events by magnitudes.”
4. Bridge: It’s time to give some specifics. Don’t give away your full strategy but provide enough details to let the recipient know that you are in fact very good at what you do and you’ve got a plan that they should really want to hear in full.
5. Action: Wrap up your cold email with a CTA—a call to action that will prompt the reader to get in touch with you or take some other action that will lead to next steps. 

For more examples and details on this five-part framework, check out our Team Trainings story highlight on Instagram. 

Incorporate these five steps in your cold email and you can feel confident that you’ve done everything you can to make your outreach a success. But perhaps you’re wondering why you should send an email in the first place. Why not DM someone instead? At NEAT, we prefer cold emails to DMs, primarily because DMs can get crowded fast, and decision makers are typically not going to their DMs with the intention of responding to people they don’t know. 

Ready to give cold emails another shot?

Remember: Keep it short. Keep it relevant. Keep it enticing. 

Cold emails CAN work!

If you’re ready to warm up big brands with cold emails, book a call with us to talk strategy!