How to Write a B2B Sales Email?

What is a B2B sales email?

The B2B sales email is our bread and butter here at LaGrowthMachine:

In Layman’s terms, it is a message sent to a list of pre-established contacts through either a manual or automated process.

It’s the basis of any B2B prospecting strategy, just like the example below:

The purpose of these emails is to establish a relationship between you and the recipient.

It can take the form of a sales pitch, an introductory email, or even a follow-up to a meeting.

They’re also there to generate leads and, ultimately, sales.

When crafting a B2B sales email, it’s important to keep in mind that you must be able to capture the recipient’s attention, explain why they should care about your product or service, and provide an easy way for the recipient to contact you or get more information.

But that’s for a later part of this guide 😉

As you can see, getting B2B sales emails right is essential if you wish to take your business to the next level. So let’s dive into it!

How to write perfect B2B sales emails?

A good sales email is like a good handshake. It should be engaging, to the point and leave the recipient wanting more.

It’s safe to say that almost all businesses use emails as their primary channel to engage with customers – so it’s no surprise that getting them right is important.

We have put together 7 crucial tips that will help you write an effective B2B sales email:

Tip 1: Write an attractive subject line

Starting with the first key component, the subject line of the email is just as important as the content.

It should be unique and interesting enough to make recipients want to open it.

Financesonline’s report states that 64% of email recipients decide to open an email only after reading the subject line, and 33% of the recipients are more likely to open an email with a catchy subject line.

And to be honest, I find myself among these people, when you receive hundreds of emails per week, you tend to rely on the subject line when deciding which ones to open.

It should also be succinct and relevant to the content of the email – as this will increase your email open rates and chances of getting a response.

Basically, your sales subject line should have the perfect balance between urgency and curiosity, as a generic subject line will simply not get the attention you’re looking for.

Whatever subject line you choose, make sure it’s short, personalized, and includes some information about why they might want to open this email.

But enough theoretics, here are 3 examples of good subject lines:

Tip 2: Be clear, concise, and compelling (the 3C’s)

You’ll hear a lot about the 3C’s when it comes to emailing!

The challenge here is that it’s harder than ever to connect with your audience in a way that will build trust and credibility.

The main reason why recipients stick to emails is because they see value in them. So it’s important to make sure you’re clear about it in your email body, as this will help you make an impact and get your message across to the recipient.

This is the part where you need to hone your sales copywriting skills.

I realize all this is pretty hard to do when you need to also be concise, but trust me, if you try at it a few times, you’ll get better.

We keep saying it because it’s true: Like anything related to prospecting, sales outreach, no matter the channel, is all about trying, analyzing, reiterating.

If that still seems too hard, well we still got you! In fact, we released a new feature called Magic Messages.

LaGrowthMachine has updated this feature to leverage the power of Generative AIs that are transforming the market. Now you can craft personalized and relevant messages for your prospects in minutes with Magic Messages.

All you need to do is:

• Tell us about your product, key benefits, buyer personas, language, and tone you want to use
• Generate all the messages you need for your campaign (e.g. invitation notes, LinkedIn DMs, emails, follow-ups) or just the ones you want, maybe you only want your follow-ups to be generated.
• You can then edit these messages as you like or save them as templates for future use.

Magic Messages is the ultimate feature for creating engaging and effective messages for your prospects. It saves you time, effort, and money by using Generative AIs to produce high-quality content. Try it today and see the difference for yourself!

Tip 3: Use personalization to your advantage

This goes for the whole email! As you saw in my subject line examples, you can also include personalization tokens over there, it’s even encouraged!

The same goes for the body of your email, you should always try to personalize it as much as possible.

This means taking the time to segment your prospects and working hard on your targeting, in order for you to eventually use that data to customize your emails with the recipient’s name, company, job title, etc.

This is where tools like LaGrowthMachine shine! Thanks to our stellar enrichment function, we provide you with over 20 different variables for you to customize your offering as you please.

Not only that, but you have the option to create multiple identities, you can leverage this function to craft an A/B test if you want to compare the results of two different approaches.

This feature gets really helpful when it comes to personalization, as you’ll be able to pinpoint the best approach for each segment of your target audience.

On top of that, you can use our detailed Analytics boards to filter results per campaign, audience, or specific leads! Get up-to-date insights about your campaigns’ performance in real-time, and see what’s working and what needs to be improved.

Tip 4: Optimize your email design

Design matters for email marketing, especially when it comes to your automation campaigns.

I’m no designer, so when I’m talking about design, I mean using whitespace, visuals, and other elements to create an email that will look good in all kinds of devices, from desktop computers to smartphones.

The idea is to make sure that your email looks clean and professional, even if the various elements of your design are simple.

So what have we learned:

• Use short paragraphs and even shorter sentences. Stick to 2 to 3 sentences per paragraph with no more than 3 lines!
• Use bullet points. They’re such a great way to not only cover a big amount of information in a digestible manner but also help break up the text and make it look more attractive.
• Experiment with visuals. Emojis are the safest bet here. And even then, it depends on your target audience. Other, more advanced visuals like GIFs are much riskier, hence the need to experiment. The upside is that they can add some fun and flair to your message.

When you’re doing B2B sales, it’s easy to fall into a dull or formal tone, because you’re dealing with a ‘business’. But you shouldn’t forget that behind every outreach email, there’s another person, just like you. And so, you should always add a friendly and human touch to your emails.

Lastly, we also recommend you use HTML-friendly tools, as this will enable the recipient to see your message the same way it was sent.

Although this doesn’t guarantee that your emails will be opened, it’s a good way to make sure they look professional and optimized for all devices.

Tip 5: Include a one-line Call To Action (CTA)

The ultimate goal of your B2B sales email is to get your leads to take action. Whether it’s booking a demo, downloading a case study, or signing up for a free trial, you need to make it clear what you want them to do next.

Think of your lead as a child that needs to be taken by the hand and guided through the process. You need to make it as easy as possible for them to take that action.

Otherwise, they literally don’t know what to do. And what does someone in this situation do? Well, they move onto the next thing (email) and forget all about you!

So, let’s take a gander one more time! A good call to action (CTA) should be:

• Short and simple: Avoid long and complex sentences that might confuse or overwhelm your prospects. Use clear and direct language that tells them exactly what to do and why.
• Specific and relevant: Don’t use generic phrases like “click here” or “learn more”. Instead, use words that relate to your offer and the benefits it provides. For example, “Schedule your free consultation today” or “Download your exclusive report now”.
• Urgent and enticing: Create a sense of urgency and excitement by using words that imply scarcity or limited time. For example, “Don’t miss this opportunity” or “Offer ends soon”. You can also use numbers or statistics to make your CTA more appealing. For example, “Join over 10,000 happy customers” or “Save 50% on your first month”.
• Visible and clickable: Make sure your CTA stands out from the rest of your email by using a different color, font size, or style. You can also use buttons or links to make it easy for your prospects to click on your CTA. Make sure your CTA is above the fold, meaning it’s visible without scrolling down.

Here are some examples of effective CTAs for B2B sales emails. Yes, I’m taking inspiration from our own CTAs at LaGrowthMachine because we know they work:

Tip 6: Follow up with your prospects

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in B2B sales is to send one email and then forget about it. According to a study by HubSpot, 80% of sales require five follow-up emails after the initial contact. However, 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up, and by the 4th follow-up, 94% of salespeople give up.

This means that you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities if you don’t follow up with your prospects.

Following up shows that you’re persistent, professional, and interested in helping your prospects. Most importantly, it keeps you top of mind and increases the chances of getting a response.

But how do you follow up without being annoying or spammy?

Here are some tips to follow up effectively:

• Don’t wait too long: Ideally, in B2B you usually follow up within 2-3 days of sending your first email. This way, you can remind your prospects of your offer while it’s still fresh in their minds.
• Add value: Don’t just send the same email over and over again. Instead, provide some additional information, insights, or resources that can help your prospects make a decision. For example, you can share a customer testimonial, a case study, a blog post, or a webinar that showcases your solution.
• Create urgency and or a FOMO feeling: Give your prospects a reason to act fast by creating a sense of urgency or scarcity. For example, you can mention a limited-time offer, a deadline, or a risk of missing out on an opportunity.

Another way to make sure your messages get through to your leads is to use multichannel prospecting.

Don’t rely on email alone to follow up with your prospects! You can also use other channels like LinkedIn, or Twitter to reach out to them.

Why those channels specifically? Well, it’s simply because those are the channels we cover at LaGrowthMachine!

Create personalized sequences that mimic human behavior and adapt to each action and condition of your prospects.

Here’s a simple campaign I ran some time ago:

You can see that:

• I start by adding the lead as a connection on LinkedIn and I wait 4 days for them to accept.
• If they do, I start by sending them a voice message because of the reasons stated above followed by a text message.
• I follow up once on LinkedIn, if they still don’t reply, I try one last time with an email saying “Hey, I tried to connect with you on LinkedIn…”
• If they don’t accept my LinkedIn connection request, I reach out to them by email.

Basically, give yourself a chance to reach your lead wherever they are and go multichannel!

Tip 7: Measure and optimize your email performance

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, right?

By tracking and analyzing your email metrics, you can get valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t in your email campaigns.

You also identify areas of improvement and test different variations of your emails to see what resonates best with your prospects.

Here are some of the key metrics you should track and optimize for your B2B sales emails:

• Open rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email. This metric indicates how effective your subject line is at capturing attention.
• Click-through rate: The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link or a button in your email. This metric indicates how effective your email content and CTA are at driving action.
• Response rate: The percentage of recipients who replied to your email. This metric indicates how effective your email is at engaging prospects and starting a conversation.
• Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who completed a desired action after clicking on your email. This metric indicates how effective your email is at generating sales or leads.

If you’re using LaGrowthMachine, then you already know you have access to all this information and more!

You can even run different campaigns in the form of A/B tests to compare different versions of your emails.

If you apply these few tips, your cold email prospecting should convert much more effectively than a hastily thrown together campaign.

Thanks to LaGrowthMachine, you can automate your entire prospecting process, from contact to follow-up, and this on several channels simultaneously!

You can add as many actions and triggers as you want:

For a 100% organic result, and a very high conversion rate on cold prospecting!

How not to write a B2B sales email?

Now that you know, in excruciating detail, what to do when writing a B2B sales email, you should know that there are certain things you should be aware of while writing your sales email.

Here they are:

Don’t #1: Make sure the recipients recognize you

No one likes getting emails from strangers they don’t recognize. You might feel comfortable doing so since the recipient has signed up to receive your emails.

However, if they don’t recognize you right away, they will most likely see your message as spam and delete it without reading it.

The best way to avoid this mistake is to make sure you properly introduce yourself in your email.

You should also always include a link to your website and/or social media so that if they don’t recognize you, they can find out more about you if they want to learn more about your business.

Don’t #2: Avoid asking redundant questions.

If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who repeats everything you say, then you know how irritating it can be.

And yet, we often do this in our emails to clients. It’s important to ask questions that are relevant to the recipients.

Research your leads and find out what they like to talk about and how they’re talking about it. Incorporate all the information you can find about them in your sales email so that a lot of redundant questions can be avoided.

Free B2B Sales Email templates

We’ve all had that feeling of dread when it’s time to write a new email, you don’t know what to say and you feel like you’re wasting your time.

The time for that is over! Here I have laid out a list of scenario-based email templates that will help you write like a pro.

Finding the right decision-makers

Scenario: Sometimes you will find information about the decision-makers of a company on their website or LinkedIn, but that’s not always the case.

In this scenario, you should reach out to other people who might be available and ask them to connect you with the decision-makers.

Introducing yourself & Establishing your value

Scenario: The following template will help you introduce yourself and the values of your company to a potential prospect.

Following up on a previous convo or action taken

Scenario: Follow-up emails are one of the most effective ways to get noticed by prospects, so it’s important to send them at the right time.

The following template will help you to craft your own personalized follow-up email:

Retargeting

Scenario: Retargeting is a way to go after warm leads or existing customers based on their behavior.

Pushing prospects into a meeting or attending an info session

Scenario: Asking prospects for a meeting is a big ask, and it can be difficult to get people to commit. This email is designed to get them to take the next step in your sales process.

The Before-After-Bridge (BAB) formula

Scenario: This method is a very simple way of taking them from the past to the future and accomplishing this by showing them how you’re going to get them there.

Offering a Free Trial

Scenario: You are asking the prospect to try your product or service.

Asking for feedback on a completed trial

Scenario: The prospect has already completed the trial and you’re looking to convince them to become a full-time customer.

“Love your […], check out our product” (Exchange ideas Email)

Scenario: This template is useful when you feel you will have a mutually beneficial relationship with your prospect (e.g. you use their product in your company).

Now that you have figured out your sales email template strategy, you will need a tool that helps you execute it just the way you want to!

Final Thoughts

No matter what you’re selling, there’s a lot of competition out there. To leave your mark and attract the attention of potential buyers, it’s essential to craft sales emails that rise above the fray!

By following the tips in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to faster, more effective sales with email.

If you’ve enjoyed this article or have any questions, please leave a comment and let me know. I hope the tips I shared will help take your email conversation to the next level. Cheers!