The importance of an email signature in an intro email

An email signature serves as a crucial component in an introductory email, functioning not only as a professional email sign-off but also as a tool for conveying essential contact information and establishing credibility.

When you introduce yourself to a new contact or potential client, your email signature acts as a digital business card. It includes your name, position, company, and contact details, which can enhance the professionalism of your correspondence and make it easier for recipients to reach out to you.

Furthermore, an email signature can include links to your company’s website or social media profiles, aiding in branding and networking. When making a strong first impression is vital, having an effectively designed email signature can significantly impact your professional interactions.

Additionally, the ability to generate an email signature for free is a convenient and cost-effective way to ensure that every email you send contributes positively to your professional image and communication goals.

What is email etiquette?

Email etiquette is the socially appropriate code for greetings, salutations, titles, pronouns, tone of voice when writing an email. This code is meant to convey courtesy and goodwill. Professional email etiquette rules are rooted in the social context in which the email is composed. So, they may change significantly across industries, social circles, and cultures.

At its core, email etiquette is simply email-courtesy. Professional email etiquette is about making your recipients feel comfortable by making them feel valued and respected. This means going the extra mile to make your message clear and concise, which respects the other person’s time and attention span. In a highly hierarchical setting etiquette would also mean acknowledging the recipient’s status and achievements.

Email etiquette broad rules of thumb

Professional email etiquette and business email etiquette are a lot about communicating status. So, it’s very much governed by the need to acknowledge hierarchy. By understanding the degree to which hierarchy is present in the correspondence you can gauge your level of formality.

When writing an email use the following etiquette rules of thumb:

• The more hierarchical the culture the more formal you should be (think cultures with strict social classes)
• The more hierarchical the organization the more formal you should be (think big corporations)
• The more important the person the more formal you should be (think CEO, or politician)
• The older the person the more formal you should be (think 45+)
• The more you are dependent on your recipient the more formal you should be (think a big client, an important supplier, your boss, etc.)

It’s also true that in general email tends to incorporate stricter etiquette the more formal the setting. Most people will address their boss very formally unless instructed otherwise. The higher up the boss the more formal the email becomes.

That said, in most western countries email does not tend to be very formal. When writing an internal email to a colleague we know or when writing an outreach email we do not usually open with “Dear Mrs. Windsor…” for most of us being called Mr. or Ms. feels, well… old. So we open with “Hi Elizabeth”. Or if we know how they address themselves, then why not “Lizzie”?

This email etiquette rule book was made to help you maneuver the sea of social context to avoid misstepping and offending the wrong person. Take note that this rule book was made with Western culture in mind. In Asian countries, in the Middle East, and in Eastern Europe, email etiquette is still more formal, so take this into consideration.

Different aspects of email etiquette

Email etiquette is used to give your recipients a sense of being appreciated (in order to gain good favor). This complex goal makes email etiquette impossible to achieve by simply doing one thing. Instead, to gain good favor, you will have to abide by a range of aspects that tie together.

1. How you address your recipient

The way you address people immediately spells out their social status and their hierarchical relationship to you (are they your colleague, your boss, your subordinate, your client, your service provider, etc.). In formal circumstances, people are very sensitive to how they are addressed because of the status it implies. 

This is why it’s important to use a title when formally addressing someone.

What to do:

• Use conventional title such as: Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss, 
• Use professional titles such as: Dr., Prof., Congressman, Sgn. (see full list of military abbreviations), Judge, etc.
• Use the person’s last name after their title (for example: Mrs. Windsor, or Dr. Freud)

2. What language you use

The language you use is made out of different things. It’s simple things like the pronouns you use, the slang words, or the industry words you use. But language is also made up of more complex things like your tone of voice (warm or formal, direct or indirect, assertive or placating, and so on) and how honest and clear you are.

All of these moving parts, simple and complex, translate into how a person feels when reading your email. 

If you use slang words they may feel like you are unprofessional, and if you use industry jargon that they don’t understand they may get frustrated and feel like idiots. If you use the wrong pronouns then they may feel offended. And if your tone of voice is out of tune with their expectations or you come off as insincere then they will form a negative opinion of you.

What to do:

• To assess the right tone of voice, look for the person’s age, job title, and culture.
• Gage the right amount of industry jargon according to the person’s job title, and education (look to Linkedin for this information).
• Look for the person’s preferred pronouns in their email signature or in Linkedin. Otherwise use the standard gender pronouns.
• Avoid abbreviations or shorthands
• Avoid humor, sarcasm, or cynicism

3. How you close your email

The way you choose to close your emails, your closing words, and your sign-off, also have etiquette considerations. It is one of the most important places to observe proper email etiquette because the last thing people read tends to be the most memorable. And this means it will decide how you are remembered for good or for bad. 

What to do:

• Compose your closing paragraph so it simply reiterates respectfully the main point of your email.
• Choose your sign-off based on the specific social context, the content of your email. Be mindful that email sign-offs can take many forms depending any thing from social context, the time of day, and even the time of year. Take a look at our email sign-off lexicon for every possible occasion. 

4. What time to send your email

The time your emails are received is a known factor that influences your email open rate, but most people don’t take into account the way it influences how you are perceived. If your email is received at the wrong time it can annoy or anger your recipient. So it definitely calculates into email etiquette.

It’s important to understand that some people have their work email connected to their mobile phone or private computer. In this case, any email you send to their work email will likely show up on their personal devices as a notification.

As a result, if you send an email on the weekend, late at night, it can be interpreted as an intrusion into a person’s leisure time, which will paint you as a nuisance. Unless it really is urgent, avoid sending work emails after work hours, or over the weekend. 

What to do:

• Coincide your emails with conventional working hours (09:00-17:00, and not on weekends)
• Send your emails according to the recipient’s time zone (it may be office hours for you but not for them)
• Make sure it’s not the weekend according to the country of your recipient (for example weekend days in Israel are Friday-Saturday, in Muslim countries the weekend days are Thursday-Friday, and some counties are pursuing a 4 day work week)
• Schedule emails to send at the appropriate time (you can schedule emails on Gmail and on Outlook)

5. Who you include and who you address

Email is a form of social interaction, but most of us don’t give it any thought. There are emotional implications to decisions like who to include in an email and how to include them (CC or BCC), and also who we reply to when there is more than one person involved in an email.

In general you want to include everybody that has a stake in the topic at hand, from colleagues to managers. You do not want it to look like you are leaving someone out intentionally. It may be interpreted as an attempt to take sole credit, or manipulate team decisions. 

When it comes to addressing people, you do not want to address one team member using “Reply all” when talking about something that’s relevant for the entire team. And similarly you do not want to use “Reply all” when stating anything that is specifically relevant to one person.

What to do:

• Include in BC anybody who is either a stakeholder or a decision maker with regard to the email topic
• Include BCC only people that need to be in the loop, but should not be seen as taking part (these people should never “Reply all” since that reveals their participation)
• Use “Reply all” when addressing everyone 
• Use “Reply all” when making moderate positive statements about one or more people
• Use “Reply” for personal messages, or critical statements
• If your email addresses specific group members on a few different issues, precede each issue by tagging the relevant person/s using “@member name” (this technique should bring up the person’s email contact name).

See detailed section about email Reply etiquette
See detailed section about CC and BCC email etiquette

Where in the email is etiquette important?

Email etiquette always matters, but some parts of the email have more impact than others.

These are:

1. Subject line
2. Email opening
3. Email body
4. Email signature

1. Subject line

Your subject line is crucial because the recipient sees it before they open an email. If the subject line is vague, confusing, or badly spelled, the other person might decide not to open it. 

A good subject line is short, to the point, and summarizes the topic of the email. 

Example subject lines:

• Agenda for tomorrow’s meeting

• Marketing analytics Q3 2021
• Your hair appointment next week

2. Email opening 

If it’s an informal email to friends or relatives, you can begin with “Hi,” or even skip the opening and jump straight into your point. 

But business email etiquette needs more formality. Begin with a salutation, like “Hello X” or “Dear Mr. X,” If you’re unsure, it’s always best to err on the side of formality.

3. Email body

Most people are flooded with emails and don’t have time to wade through 500 words. Make your email body short and on point. You should also keep paragraphs short to make it easier and faster to scan. 

Emojis should be used with care. Most people over the age of around 35 might think they look unprofessional, plus what seems to you like a happy smiley face that lightens the mood could seem sarcastic or mocking to the recipient. 

Main rules for email writing etiquette:

• Use the right spelling and punctuation
• Never write in all caps
• Don’t use exclamation points
• Try to keep your email to no more than 3 short paragraphs
• Avoid abbreviations or shorthand, unless you know the other person well
• Avoid humor or sarcasm
• Never put confidential or sensitive information in an email

4. Email signature

The way you sign off your email matters too. In most professional emails, “best wishes” or “kind regards” hits the right tone, but if you’re sending a formal business email, you should use “yours sincerely” or “yours faithfully.”

If this is the first time you’re getting in touch with someone, it can be helpful to include your preferred pronouns so that they know how to respectfully address you. 

Your signature should also include your position, the company where you work/the name of your business, and your email address and phone number. This is called a signature block, and it should look something like this:

If you truly want to look professional, you can create an email signature with the Wisestamp email signature maker that includes your photo, business logo, and/or position, as well as your social media handles.

Email reply etiquette 

When it comes to replies, email etiquette there are 3 important questions to ask before you reply.

1. Should I reply?
2. When should I reply?
3. Who should I reply to? (“Reply all” vs “Reply”)

1) Should I reply?

Before you reply, remember that not every email needs a response. You should avoid replying unnecessarily so as not to clog up other people’s inboxes. Additionally, if the email thread gets beyond about 3 or 4 responses, it’s time to call the other person.

For most people email reply gets tricky when there is more than one person included in the email. The question now becomes whether to reply personally to a single person or to “Reply all” so that everyone can see it. 

2) When should I reply?

For work emails, professional email etiquette dictates that you should reply within 24 hours. If you’re in a customer-facing role, like sales, marketing, or support, you should respond much faster, like within 1 hour. 

If it’s a long or complicated email that’ll take you a while to deal with, acknowledging email is good etiquette. Reply quickly to say you saw the email, and let them know when to expect a full reply. 

3) “Reply all” email etiquette

So who should you reply to? This question is not one to disregard. Hitting “Reply all” at the wrong time has sometimes made international headlines, so it’s crucial to think twice before using it. Even if you don’t end up sending information to the wrong people, your colleagues, etc. Won’t appreciate a string of irrelevant emails. 

When to use “Reply all” and when to use personal “Reply”:

• Use “Reply all” when addressing everyone 
• Use “Reply all” when making moderate positive statements about one or more people
• Use “Reply” for personal messages, providing advice, or being critical 
• If your email addresses multiple members separately on a few different issues, precede each issue by tagging the relevant person/s using “@member name” (this technique should bring up the person’s email contact name).

Forwarding email etiquette

You should always ask permission before you forward someone’s email. Otherwise, you could get into trouble with data privacy laws, as well as annoy a colleague or customer. 

You never know what hidden triggers an email might have when read by the wrong person. The person writing you the message may have addressed a message to you that would be upsetting for the person you intend to forward it to.

Forwarding an email is often the easiest way to send an attachment, but if you do this you need to tidy the email up first. Delete all the extraneous emails in the thread and just send the most relevant parts. Clean up the subject line too by deleting all the unnecessary “Fw:” and “Re:” that appear.

What to do:

• Ask for permission to forward someone else’s email
• Provide clarity by removing parts of the email that are irrelevant to whom you are forwarding to
• Provide context by adding an opening paragraph to the forwarded email with a summary of the email content (for emails longer than 3 paragraphs)
• Remove any private information of the person who wrote the email that should not be exposed to the person you forward the email to (such as email address, phone number, job title, etc.) This type of information is included in the “forwarding” snippet and in the email signature (see example below).

CC and BCC email etiquette

When you send an email you have 3 “Send to” options:

1. “To” – this is used for the primary recipient of the email. Use it for the person who needs to take action when they get the email or who most needs to know this information. The person in the “To” field is expected to reply. 
2. CC – this stands for “carbon copy.” (those strange 2 layer “papers” we used to have in banks and offices,  that when you write on top of the first page it imprints the one below, thus creating a copy). Everyone can see who receives a CC copy of the email, and if someone hits “reply all” then everyone in the CC field will get an email. People in the CC field know that they don’t need to reply. 
3. BCC – this stands for “blind carbon copy.” If someone gets a BCC, no one else will know that they received it, and they won’t be included in future replies. But the person in BCC can “Reply all” and thereby expose the fact of their inclusion to the rest. If all group members are in BCC then none of them can see or contact each other.

In general, work emails should use CC and not BCC, so that everyone knows who’s in the loop. According to email ethics, you should never use BCC to include a superior without telling the other recipients (but we all know that sometimes can’t be helped).

BCC is for when you don’t want everyone to know who’s receiving this email. It’s the best choice when you’re emailing multiple clients, to protect their privacy. 

When should I use either “CC” or “BCC”?

• Use CC when emailing a group where people should be allowed to contribute to the thread
• Use CC when you want everyone to know who the email concerns
• Use CC when you want to be transparent about who is able to read the email, and it’s replies
• Use BCC when you need to keep someone in the loop without exposing their involvement
• Use BCC when you do not want list members to be able to “Reply all” (e.g. a newsletter)
• Use BCC when you do not want to expose the email group members’ addresses to each other

How to decide CC hierarchy?

Email etiquette concerning CC hierarchy simply asks the question “who to place first in the CC field of an email”. Some professionals prefer to list recipients in descending order of importance in the company, placing the highest position first. This is more common in highly hierarchical organizations like the army, or big business conglomerates.

If you know that your boss is the type of person that cares about status and respect, make sure to place him or her at the top of the list. But in most cases, nobody will notice the CC order.

Email attachment etiquette

It’s common to send attachments, but there’s also email etiquette around sending a PDF. Don’t assume your recipients will see your attachment. Don’t make them ask you for it, and don’t make them look for it. Remember, email etiquette is about email courtesy.

What to do:

• Tell the recipient there’s a file attached (e.g. “see attached below, [name of file]”)
• Tell them if it’s large.
• Let them know the format they should expect.
• Compress large files and resize attached graphics so they won’t slow download time.
• Make sure the recipient has the right software to open your files.

Removing or adding recipients email etiquette rules

Sometimes you’ll need to add or remove a recipient from an email thread. That’s fine as long as everyone knows what’s going on. Include a note saying “I’m adding John from accounts to this email to help us understand the finances,” or “I’m removing Jane from sales because I realize this isn’t a sales matter.” 

That way no one gets a shock when they find out who’s seeing their replies, and equally, no one gets offended by being removed.

Email etiquette rules in the workplace

As mentioned above, the way you write an email depends a lot on who you’re addressing. Proper email etiquette is different for your boss than for your teammates, for example. Here are some email etiquette examples for different contexts.

How to email your boss

Emailing your boss can be nerve-racking, especially about a tricky subject like asking for a raise, requesting an extended leave of absence, or reporting a mistake or misbehavior (even if it wasn’t your mistake). Here are some business email etiquette examples to help you through it. 

• Be formal by default. Write “Dear Mr. Smith” instead of “Dear Mike” unless he asked everyone to address him as Mike. 
• Once again, make sure your subject line is clear and to the point.
• In the body of the email, include only the relevant information. 
• Don’t be melodramatic or exaggerate.

If you need to share a lot of information, just use the email to outline the subject and ask for a meeting.

How to write an email to a colleague

Writing to your colleagues means treading the line between formal and friendly. You don’t want to sound cold, but you do need to stay professional. Here are some email etiquette tips for hitting the right balance when writing to a colleague.

Email etiquette tips when emailing a colleague:

• Address colleagues by their first names, but avoid nicknames
• Use your colleague’s preferred pronouns
• Even if you’re close friends, keep your emails impersonal
• Make your expectations clear
• Stay respectful and positive

If you’re asking a colleague for help or reminding them about a task, make it clear what the action item is and include a deadline. 

Email etiquette when writing to a group or a team

Writing to a group is similar to writing to your colleagues, so you should follow the same rules. But there are some special issues to keep in mind specifically for group emails.

Group email etiquette guidelines:

• Make sure that all sentences are gender-neutral.
• Be clear about who is receiving this email (see also the section on CC and BCC etiquette below).
• Don’t include anything that should be kept private

Unless it’s a very small group (under 5 people), don’t use each person’s name in the greeting. “Dear team” “Dear co-workers”, “Dear colleagues” is enough, or “Hi, everyone” will suffice.

If parts of the email are only relevant to some of the recipients, make that clear too.

Business email etiquette

Most business email etiquette rules were already covered in the prior sections of this article, so if you jumped over them, you should go back and read them first. 

That said, there are many types of business emails, and scenarios that require the use of specific business email etiquette. Let’s go over a few business situations to see the basic email etiquette for each in action.

Specific types of business email etiquette:

• Sales email etiquette
• Customer support email etiquette
• Etiquette for email asking for a quote
• Etiquette in email reminding about payment
• Etiquette for email requesting donations 
• University email etiquette (student to professor)

Sales email etiquette

For sales emails, you want to be respectful and informative in your subject line, so as to encourage them to open the email. You want to avoid being too pushy, too salesy, and focus more on building a trusted relationship before you pitch your wares or services.

Example subject lines:

• Have you thought about [problem your product solves]?
• Ideas for dealing with [problem your product solves]?
• Question about your [problem your product solves]
  

Unlike emails to your colleagues or boss, start a sales email with more than just “Dear [name]”. Don’t jump straight into your sales offer. Instead, remark something about their well-being to show them that you care about them as a person rather than just a lead. 

Example openings:

• I hope you and your family are all safe, now with the new Covid wave,
• I hope you are rested and well now the holidays are over,

Customer support email etiquette

How to write an email for A good customer support email can turn an unhappy customer into a loyal fan. 

CS etiquette rules:

• Address the customer by name.
• Restate their complaint and validate it (when relevant).
• Express sympathy and apologize (when relevant).
• Answer all their questions as fully as possible.
• Proofread it once more to check that every detail is correct.

After you’ve emailed the customer and resolved their issue or answered their questions, follow up a few days later just to check that there’s nothing outstanding.

Etiquette for email asking for a quote

Asking for a quote is routine, but it can set the tone for your whole relationship. When you email to ask a quote.

What to do:

• Introduce yourself.
• Describe exactly what you need.
• Explain when (and where, if relevant) you need the product or service.
• Give a deadline for the quote .

Etiquette in email reminding about payment

Nobody likes to chase payments, but sometimes you have no choice. Here are some email etiquette rules for getting payment without upsetting the client.

What to do:

• Write a clear subject line
• Reattach your invoice
• State the payment date and amount
• Remind the recipient about payment options and include a link to payment
• Ask for confirmation of receipt of invoice
• If necessary, remind them about penalties for late payment

Etiquette for email requesting donations 

If you’re running a non-profit organization or helping out a local cause, you might have to ask for funds. This can be uncomfortable, but the right email etiquette can make it go more smoothly. 

What to do:

• Start with a clear subject line
• Make your ask early in the email
• Explain what the donation will be used for
• Describe what your organization does
• Include a link to make it easy to donate
• Give a deadline if relevant
• Follow up to say thank you

University email etiquette (student to professor)

Regardless of whether you’re sending a short note to your professor to ask about an assignment, or have questions about the material, you want to make a good impression. Here are some points to bear in mind to make your student email easy to read and help your professor send a quick reply.

What to do:

• Include your name and your grade, year, and/or class
• If you have a lot of complaints or questions, ask for a meeting to discuss them in person instead of sending a long email list 
• Stay respectful

Conclusion: email etiquette can affect your professional future

When you get it right with email courtesy, you’ll help strengthen warm relationships and build a reputation for being helpful and reliable. Smooth mail etiquette can advance your career and open doors professionally and personally. 

As you can see, the biggest mistake of this very email template is that it doesn’t show the awareness of a prospect’s issues. Hence, your main priority in sending cold emails for sales must be focusing on building trust and relationships in the first place. Only after that, you will be able to sell your service/product.

2. Media pitch emails

Right before we start talking about media pitch emails, let’s find out what media pitching is.

Media pitching is the activity that includes promoting information about your service/product to bloggers, journalists, and influencers in your business niche. The aim of media pitching is to get more brand exposure and press coverage. 

Practice shows that top publishers receive a huge number of emails each week. Due to this fact, your pitch might be missed. Plus, lots of these pitches don’t provide any value to the people you’re reaching out to. 

The question is how to solve this problem.

First and foremost, you must provide real value to the recipients. Other than that, you can:

• Let a blogger know about a type you found on the blog
• Present some new data or case study that is worth attention
• Reach out and let an influencer know that you have mentioned him or her in your publication
  

Let’s review an example of a media pitch email template:

This example of a media pitch email template aims to let the prospect know about the typo on the blog. It is a goodwill gesture from your end. In this very case, your purpose is to build relationships that will give you more marketing opportunities.

3. Networking pitch emails

Let’s admit that every cold email outreach type focuses on networking. It doesn’t matter what you get from your pitch in return – a backlink to your blog post, new marketing cooperation, or selling a product. Whatever the result it leads to networking. 

Don’t hesitate to use the structure of this template as it is quite actionable.

4. Brand pitch emails 

The name of this type of cold email pitch is self-explanatory. It aims to help you build cooperation between your company and a certain brand you are interested in. 

Why does this type of cold email outreach might be useful for your business?

Obviously, you know your target audience’s needs. You know how to solve the problems people have. And you know what additional services/products might call the interest of your audience. 

So, why don’t help your audience more by connecting the prospects with other companies?

This “brand connection” will help raise awareness among your audience and build new business opportunities on a win-win basis. 

But here you must be very careful with your email template subject line and the content in the body.

The subject line must be eye-catchy and informative. You should go straight to the point. For example, you want to build a brand collaboration with some company. Therefore, the subject line must tell about your intention:

• {first name}, need some additional help with your service?
• {first name}, what about building cooperation between [company] and [company]?

Here is an example of a template that works with the first subject line:

Remember, this type of cold email outreach must focus on providing benefits to the prospects you’re reaching out to. Thus, your template must answer the question “What’s in it for me?” (for the prospects). Otherwise, it will look like a generic cold email outreach pitch that doesn’t deserve feedback. 

5. Content promotional emails 

It is strictly important to build a powerful content strategy for your blog. By producing high-quality content you will be able to drive more traffic to your website organically. But content can’t work properly without a promotion. 

Cold email outreach is the solution at this point. 

Content promotion with the help of cold email outreach helps you acquire backlinks, get mentions, or references to your pieces of content.

For example, the following email template can be used to promote any blog post on your blog. The trick here is that you focus your attention on the specific term that has a direct relation to your topic of the post:

Furthermore, you should show that you have read the prospect’s blog post carefully. That’s why this template contains a section where you point out the place where the “term” has been noticed with detail. 

The next important aspect of this template is that you should ask if the recipient thinks that your piece of content could be included as an additional source of information. 

Plus, you can use this template not just for promoting your content but other landing pages as well. Even if you think that some of them are hard to promote with cold email outreach.

7. Link building emails

Even though SEO strategies vary, they have a common goal – to move your website’s ranking. SEO specialists know how it is important to acquire backlinks for their website pages. That’s why they use cold email outreach to build inbound links.

Link building cold outreach counts a number of ways you can gain links to your website. The most popular are:

• Unlinked brand mentions
• Broken link building
• Guest blogging
• Co-marketing activities with other companies
• Link reclamation
• etc.

For example, we want to promote one of our landing pages by building more backlinks. Let it be a flowchart maker page. In this case, we are going to use the following cold email template:

The structure of this template looks quite simple. But the section where you include differentiating factors of your pitch makes the email look persuasive. 

Nevertheless, you must be a hundred percent sure that you’re reaching out to the prospects who would be related to your message. 

Now, let’s review some actionable tips on how to write cold email messages.

Tips on writing cold email messages 

Cold email is always challenging because it’s like knocking on a stranger’s door. Will they respond warmly or even at all?

Luckily, there are tips for writing successful cold emails that will help you increase receptive replies. And when you send cold emails often, you start to notice patterns – what works and what doesn’t.

Successful cold outreach is based on a comprehensive system that includes choosing the right prospect to reach out to, creating an eye-catchy subject line, and adding an actionable call-to-action. 

We review this system below. 

1. Contact the right person 

Cold email outreach starts with finding the correct contact information of the prospects. If you send your email pitch to the wrong recipient, the message might be left without a reply (in a best-case scenario). In the worst case – it might end up in a spam folder. 

How to make sure your messages are getting delivered to the right prospects?

First of all, you must understand the main goal of the cold email outreach you’re running.

Let’s say, you want to promote your piece of content by building more backlinks from third-party resources. You must reach out either to a blog editor, marketing/SEO manager, or the author of the post you want to get a backlink from. To find the right prospect, visit the LinkedIn page of the company and check out if the author of the blog post is an employee. 

To narrow down the results, use the filters that LinkedIn suggests. You can type the full name of the author or the job title (editor, marketing manager) of a potential prospect. 

Once you figure out the right prospect, you should find the correct email address. Sometimes people show their email right in their profile. But if you can’t see it there, it is time to use a few specific tools for this purpose. 

Chrome extension SalesQL extracts email addresses of the prospects right from their LinkedIn profiles:

If it doesn’t help, you can use Hunter:

When the list of the right prospects with their contacts is ready, you should proceed with writing an eye-catchy subject line. 

2. Perfect your subject lines 

There is no golden rule for creating subject lines. It depends on your cold outreach campaign goal. See more awesome subject lines for different occasions.

Nevertheless, any subject line has to be descriptive but concise. With a clear CTA. 

Here is an example of a subject line for building potential cooperation with the prospect:

The subject line contains a short question with a suggestion for potential cooperation. Hence, the recipient understands if he or she is interested in this request or not right off the bat. 

This subject line works great in terms of building a business partnership. Talking about other types of subject line, you should follow these simple rules:

a) Keep it short
b) Show the purpose of your email
c) Personalize (if need)

3. Personalize your emails

Don’t delude yourself by thinking that email personalization is all about adding the prospect’s name to the subject line and the body of the email template.

Nope. It has a broader spectrum of action:

• Personalization for media outreach includes mentioning a podcast or a YouTube video where the prospect has been featured
• Personalization for sales outreach includes some information about the prospect’s personal achievements
• Personalization for content promotion includes some compliments about the post the prospect has published
• Personalization for network outreach includes mentioning a common friend with the prospect you’re reaching out to

To sum up, make sure you follow the exact cold outreach campaign goal and personalize email templates accordingly.

4. Add a CTA

It has been already mentioned before that a call-to-action should be an integral part of your email. In other words, you should tell your prospect what you want to see in the reply. 

For instance, the following email from an outreach specialist clearly shows the correlation between the subject line and a CTA in the body of the message:

The prospect understands the goal of this email. He can reply whether it is in his interest or not. A call-to-action doesn’t necessarily mean to “force” the prospect to do some action. It helps describe what you want from the person in a short form. 

You can add a call to action in different forms. Sometimes all you need is a simple link placed in the contextual flow of your email, but other times you’ll wanna use a full-fledged button or banner to grab as much attention as you possibly can.

If you’re using an email marketing tool you can add buttons and banners as part of the email template and design. Another great and cost-effective (or even free) way to add a CTA is through your email signature. There is some art to implementing an email signature CTA, so make sure you click the link to get our tips on the subject.

5. Send follow-up emails

Did you know that sending a follow-up email increases your chances to get your message noticed?

Yes, follow-up emails work great but lots of people consider them annoying. That’s why they don’t use them in practice. 

Likely, nobody says that your follow-up email must be annoying. It should remind the prospects about your first pitch. Nothing more. Thus, it must be short and sweet:

You should send your follow-up email in 2-3 days after your first pitch. The maximum number of follow-ups you can send is 2 (sometimes 3). Check out our guide to learn more about the importance of sending a follow-up email.

6. Create more credibility by adding a professional-looking email signature

The first question people ask themselves when getting a cold email is “who is this person”, The second question is “What do they want from me?” and the third question is “What’s in it for me?”.

Most people know this, but what they don’t realize is that there’s a fourth question that makes or breaks all the progress you’ve made answering the first 3; “Can I trust this person?”. To get their business you’ll have to make them answer a resounding “YES” to this question.

A proper email signature will instantly humanize you in the eyes of your readers. This gives you a huge starting advantage over a faceless email address from a stranger. Even so, many professionals don’t take this opportunity to create trust. Mostly due to a lack of awareness about how an email signature can be used as a lead-generation tool through email signature marketing.

A good email signature for your cold outreach should contain:

• Name 
• Good quality image of you
• Company logo
• Current position within the company
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Company website link
• A CTA with your most important offer

Feel free to take inspiration from any of the signature templates in our signature gallery.

7. Test and Optimize

If you’re doing a lot of outreach, you should track your email open and conversion rates using email tracking software, so you could continuously test and analyze the results of your effort. until you’ve measured your campaign you can’t know for sure if it was the bomb or a complete dud.

Once you’ve started measuring now the question becomes, “am I performing as well as I could?”, “Can I get more out of this campaign?”.

To answer these questions you’ll have to start testing your cold outreach campaigns. Testing doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to do is track the performance of different versions of outreach emails.

Test everything you think can influence the conversion metrics for your outreach campaigns. Assuming a decent open rate of about 10% you should make just 2 variations with at least 35 emails sent with each (unless you have huge amounts of emails sent out, in the hundreds or thousands per month). Otherwise, your tests will not statistically represent real-world results.

Keep the changes you do to your variations very small. If you make lots of changes at once, you’ll not be able to single out the change that made the difference. Your opportunity to learn will be lost.

It’s also important to keep testing because even if one version of your campaign works wonders at the moment, but you can’t rule out that you can do better.

What to test?

• Subject lines
• Opening line
• Email body
• Target groups
• Email Signature
• Email signoff
• Times of day sent
• Visuals
• Positive vs. negative message framing

Conclusion

Cold email outreach is not a science that requires extra knowledge and secret skills. However, if you don’t plan properly you will not succeed. 

To summarize:

1. Define and set clear goals about want you as a business want to achieve with your cold email writing. 
2. Research your potential customers and understand everything about them. 
3. Create personalized templates according to your potential customers
   a) Find the right contact details
   b) Creating a perfect subject line 
   c) Email personalization 
   d) Include a CTA that will guide your recipient to take an action
   e) Always represent yourself with a professional email signature

The only question that cold outreach raises is how to get a strong response rate. So, keep in mind important metrics for measuring cold email outreach campaign success:

• Deliverability
• Reply rate
• Conversion rate

Hope this guide has revealed to you the aspects behind cold email outreach. And the tips you got familiar with will help you in your outreach campaigns. 

Formal vs. informal email writing

Formal email writing is usually in a B2B or B2C scenario or a professional email between colleagues, businesses, or partners. Informal email writing is something you might send a friend, or family member, or sometimes even a quick email you’re firing off to a colleague.

When you’re emailing a friend there is not much risk of getting your words or meaning wrong, and there is little risk of hurting your reputation or wrecking an incredible business opportunity. But when writing a business email there is much at stake and many things that can go horribly wrong. This is why our article will deal mostly with formal email writing and how to get it right every time.

Here, we’ll go over all the ins and outs of what goes into an email structure, different email formats you can use, as well as short email templates that you can use in various scenarios. Keep reading to learn how to write the perfect email.

Basic formal & professional email structure

Before we get into different email templates, it’s important to know how to build an email yourself. For the most part, every email, regardless of its contents, will follow the same structure with the same basic elements. You should get to know these elements in order to ensure proper and effective email writing as a whole.

The basic elements of professional email writing:

1. Your email address
2. Subject line
3. Email Opening
4. Email body
5. Email ending
6. Email Sign off
7. Email signature/footer

Now let’s break these down, one by one.

Professional email address

Your email address is oftentimes out of your control. If you’re working for a company or operate under the umbrella of a brand your email address will likely include the company or brand name domain.

For example, the emails in WiseStamp are all in the following format: [employee_name]@wisestamp.com. This ensures that we all have a professional business email address. Since only the owner of wisestamp.com can issue email addresses under that domain name, this ensures our emails appear legitimate.

Imagine if each employee had a random Gmail address like [name]wisestamp@gmail.com, which anyone can create, that would be a bit suspicious. Email open rates are first and foremost dependent on trust, so make sure you have a trustworthy email address or suffer very low open rates.

If you are a freelancer professional, working separately from an established brand, consider buying a domain name for your personal brand. You can look up available domains on Google domain registrar.

Subject lines

Your subject line will be the single most important element in your formal email writing. It is the first thing your recipient will see and unless you convince her then and there that your email is a safe, relevant, and high priority (in that order) it may never be opened. If this happens, any effort you put into the rest of the email elements will go to waste.

Your subject line will depend on the purpose or content of your email, but overall, you want it to be something engaging enough for a recipient to click on.

Email subject line guidelines:

• Be clear and specific – avoid using generic or clickbait subject lines that say nothing or make unrealistic promises, like “find out how to double your business in a week”.
• Be original – avoid using those all too common subject line templates you find on the internet. Instead make original subject lines that are relevant, personal, and concise.
• Add relevancy – address something that the recipient will recognize, like an acquaintance’s name or an article/ show/ book they appeared on.

Studies have shown that personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. You also want to tailor your email subject line to your email goal, whether it’s a sales email, a personal email, a newsletter, or something else. I advise that you take the time to think of 3-4 refined options then consider which of them will likely be most appropriate.

Email Opening

The next most important way to hook a recipient into your email is by writing a strong email opening line. Like your subject line, the email opening is mostly used as another filtering stage for most people. If it fails to meet the promise made in the subject line, your readers will ditch it.

Therefore, it’s extremely important to define your main point in 1 or 2 paragraphs tops. If you clearly convey your request or question and your reader feels it’s relevant and interesting, then they’ll continue reading your email. If you manage to get them to stay after this point, in most cases, they’ll return your email. Good for you.

Email opening guidelines:

• Address your recipient by their preferred name – look up an article they’ve written or their LinkedIn page and see what name they use. Some people will use their full name or their nickname accordingly (for example David vs. Dave, or Anastasia vs. Ana).
• Establish a connection – connect your email to a personal experience that involves the recipient, like an article or a news piece you’ve read about them, or a conversation you had with an acquaintance.
• Match the opening with the subject line – your opening message has to mirror the promise made in the subject line because this is how the reader validates relevancy. If you don’t connect the subject line to the opening, readers will be confused and even assume clickbait.
• Get to the point fast – tell your reader why you contacted her and what’s in it for her.

Email body

The body of your email is where you get into your main message. Whether you’re composing an email to establish a new business connection or just following up on a meeting, the body of your email should be detailed enough that the reader isn’t confused, but also brief and to the point. No one wants to sit and read a long-winded email when they have dozens of other unattended messages in their inbox.

Email body writing guidelines:

• Be concise – detail only what’s needed to get your point across.
• Use words that convey (authentic) positive personal emotions – words like “glad”, “excited”, “intrigued”, and “confident”.
• Use the word “because” when asking for something – it’s been scientifically shown that people are more easily convinced to do something if told why, and more so if the reason is important to them.
• Show don’t tell – if you can’t explain something in a few words, see if you can add a screenshot, a video, or a link that explains it better.
• Use headings to split long content into sub-topics – if you can’t avoid writing a long email, make sure to break it up into subsections with headings. This will help your time-scarce readers to scan and find their points of interest.
• Add your concrete request or question in bold text – to ensure your readers do not miss the most important piece of content (your request or question) – set it in a separate line and put it in bold. You can also use some color. If you do avoid light shades (you want high contrast between the text and the white background. Once you pick a color – stick with it.

Email ending

After you’ve addressed all your main points in the body of your email, you’ll want to end it with a respectful and brief salutation. You can either invite your recipient to reach out for more questions, wish them success, or ask a question. It all depends on the motive for your email. If it was a long email it could also be a good idea to gently reiterate your main request, question, or motivation.

Email sign-off

When closing your email, you’ll want to choose a suitable email sign-off. There are different sign-offs you can use for each occasion, such as “best regards,” “sincerely,” or “with love,” but you obviously wouldn’t want to send the last one to your manager. Make sure your signoff is appropriate to your email content and your recipient.

Email signature/footer

Your email signature (or footer) is your wave of goodbye. The way you do this can affect the impression you’ve made up to this point. If you make this moment memorable, organized, and aesthetic you can get some extra credit and a positive attitude from your reader. On the other hand, if you mess this up, your entire message or offer may be put in doubt. So, make sure your email signature looks visually appealing and well organized.

Consider creating a professional email signature to nail a positive lasting impression. Use the simple text email signature we all used back when email started at your discretion. Whichever you choose, be sure to include all your professional and contact information. It would also be a good idea to add links to your website, social media sites you are most active in, or a landing page.

Professional formal email examples: specific formats for specific goals & uses

In order to get a better understanding of how all the elements of an email work together in different types of emails, it’s helpful to look at some templates. Here, we’ll cover a number of email scenarios and provide you with an example for each one. Each of these letters refers to a specific situation, but you can always tweak the content to make it more relevant to your needs.

Our examples of the most common email formats:

• Thank you email
• Formal letter of appreciation
• Letter of complaint
• Cover letter
• Reminder email

Apology letters samples:

• Letter of apology for a client
• Apology letter from boss
• Apology mail for the manager

Sample business emails (B2B and B2C):

• Introduction email to client (outreach)
• Sample email for proposal submission
• Proposal submission email
• Quotation email
• Email asking for feedback

Information inquiry letter samples:

• Email of inquiry requesting information
• Email asking for a status update

Request email samples – professional email asking for something:

• Sick leave mail format
• Letter asking for a discount from the supplier
• Ask for a raise
• Email your boss about a problem (asking for help)
• Email to schedule a meeting

Work update email samples:

• Email to the client sharing the status of project
• Email to the boss about work progress

Confirmation vs rejection email samples:

• Acceptance email
• “This is to inform you that” letter
• Job rejection email

Thank you email

A thank you email is usually one that you’ll send after previous communication with someone. You might want to thank them for their help on a project, for fulfilling your personal request that you previously sent, for a job interview, or even for something as simple as taking a phone call or a meeting.

When composing a thank you email, you don’t want it to be too long, so get straight to the point. Additionally, they aren’t necessary 100% of the time and can sometimes just clog up the inbox of someone who might be really busy, so consider whether or not it will be useful for you before you click send on a “thank you” email.

Cover letter

It used to be common to send your cover letter and CV as an attachment to your email. However, it’s becoming a lot more accepted to use the email itself as your cover letter and simply attach your CV.

When sending a cover letter email, make sure you’re using formal language, addressing the right person such as HR or the hiring manager, you use a relevant subject and opening line, and the body of your email demonstrates why you’d be a perfect fit for the job and company. Since hiring managers likely receive dozens of email cover letters, be sure to make sure yours stands out and doesn’t drag on too long.

Reminder email

If it’s your first time reaching out to someone or a second or even third, the format of your email should be different. A first contact email has to include certain details that provide context.

when writing a reminder email or follow-up email you don’t need to provide a broad context. Instead, you should just briefly and lightly remind your recipients of what you already agreed on (assume that it simply may have been forgotten or placed low in their backlog).

This little push can go a long way in shortening your timetables and making sure you’re items are prioritized. Most people appreciate the reminder and respect you for being steadfast.

Apology letters samples

From time to time we all make mistakes, and we all get something wrong. Sometimes our mistakes hurt others, cause them discomfort, or make them frustrated. In these situations, it’s usually the right call to simply apologize.

Apologizing is something that must be sincere or you risk offending the person further. It’s always the best approach to express genuine regret.

But regardless of whatever you truly feel, be very careful to only use words that express empathy for whomever it is you’re apologizing to. Do not lay any responsibility on them, and do not give excuses.

Business email samples

Request email samples – professional email asking for something

A personal request email is usually straight to the point and involves a sender asking a recipient for something. It could be anything from connecting on a professional network, asking to set up a meeting, or even requesting a professional introduction. Following a personal request email, a recipient may decide to either accept or reject what the sender is asking for. In this type of email, it’s important to be very clear with what you’re asking for.

Work update email

Confirmation vs rejection email samples

You might get an email confirmation after you purchase something online, or you can also reply to a formal email confirming receipt of an email attachment, a meeting time, or a company update. A rejection email is similar in that it might reject the item that was proposed in an email, in which case you’d let the sender know.

What is email copywriting?

Email copywriting is the literal words you put in your emails. These include those on your graphics, as well as your subject line and body content. The goal of copywriting email marketing is persuading readers to take action, such as viewing a landing page, scheduling a demo, or downloading a PDF. FOr email copywriting to work well you need to know your audience and tailor your words to your ideal client.

Why you should use copywriting email marketing

Email copywriting makes email marketing sharp and effective like a whetstone sharpens a knife’s blade. It is as hard to achieve high conversion with dull email writing as it is to make a salade with a dull knife. If you’re not implementing email marketing copywriting, you are leaving money on the table.

Copywritten email marketing is highly cost-effective for your business. Optinmonster puts the figure at making $44 for every $1 you spend on email on average. This ROI is much higher than most other marketing options. Even retail, which is often a difficult niche to get a click-through, had 38% of consumers reporting they’d clicked a link, according to Sailthru.

Your copywriting for email marketing is also an opportunity to present valuable content, which establishes you as an authority. This content could be anything from articles you promote to sales of your new products.

Broad email copywriting guidelines and best practices

Copywriting for email marketing can seem overwhelming. However, you know your audience and who your ideal clients are. Combine your knowledge with these six tips, and you will have a good, compelling email copy.

1. Select your words carefully

Part of good email copywriting is finding the right tone for your audience. As a rule, that tone is more conversational and casual than the average U.S. office email. With that in mind, you should maintain a degree of professionalism since the email reflects on your business.

Additionally, you’ll need to keep in mind your audience. For general purposes, the average American reads at an 8^th-grade level. That means your emails should be written below that level. Try keeping your English to what a ten-year-old can understand without being condescending.

2. Be direct and succinct

Writing a long email explaining what you’re offering is rarely the best option. Instead, focus on keeping everything direct. If a casual reader opens your email, you have about 6 seconds to hook them into clicking.

That means less email marketing copywriting for you, but each word needs to count. Ensure the words are all relevant to your end goal, whether that is getting an email reply, clicking a link, or downloading a coupon.

3. Spelling and grammar should be flawless 

According to Jack Lee, who is a content marketing strategist at Essaysontime, good grammar is more important than you think: “If you haven’t bothered to make your message perfect, your audience might think you have been equally sloppy when it comes to your product or service. Also, while exclamation marks and upper case letters can be effective when used in moderation, overusing them can have an adverse effect.”

4. Use a single CTA

One of the ways many marketing emails go wrong is using multiple calls to action (CTAs). Writers think that they can advertise multiple offers in one go, and all it does is distract readers so they do not pick an offer at all.

You should choose a single CTA for each marketing email you send. This decision will help you clarify the goal and cleanly copywrite the emails. All that email copywriting then only points to one, easy-to-understand CTA.

5. Add an email signature

The email signature is the end of your email and another opportunity to reinforce what you’re offering the reader. A professional-looking email signature like those from WiseStamp also strengthens your credibility – create yours now.

Your email signature should contain the basics, such as your name and preferred business contact information. You can also personalize with quotes, links, and pictures, so long as they fit the purpose of your email copy.

Email copywriting techniques for increased persuasion and better conversion

Up till now, we covered email copywriting in pretty broad strokes. Here is a more detailed explanation of how to go about creating a compelling email message your readers won’t be able to resist.

1. Create a clear and concise subject line. 

We have already discussed this, but what you should also keep in mind are the ingredients of a great subject line. Also, the content of your message should match your subject line. If you have promised your audience something in the subject, it has to be there once they click and open your email.

Otherwise, not only will your click-through rate dwindle, but it may also affect your open rate since you haven’t delivered what you have promised. Also, be specific. For example, “19 New Ways You Can Grow Your Online Business Today” will be a lot more effective than “New Trends for Online Businesses Owners”, which is pretty bland.

2) Make your greetings personal

The opening line we use for greeting is typically included as preview text recipients can see next to the email subject line in their inboxes. This means it can be used to add more info and relevancy that will make more people open your email. The opening line is also the first bit of content your reader will see inside your email (you can call it a second first impression).

All this makes the opening line the second most important piece of content after your subject line. Writing opening lines that hook your clients is key if you want to keep them reading long enough to convince them to take action.

A great way to hook your readers is to make your greeting personal and tailored to your audience.

Personalize each email greeting with the first name associated with the address. Depending on how you collect the emails on your list, you may be able to do this using your email marketing software. You may also be able to use segmentation features to personalize the text deeper into your message body.

Another trick you can use here is to address your audience in the second person, which means using “you”, “your”, and “yours” whenever appropriate. What this does is shift the focus from yourself to your users. They will only be interested if there is something in it for them, not just you and your brand.

3. Use simple and direct language

It’s okay if you are enthusiastic about all things your new product can do, but flooding your message with technical data will just turn the reader away. You should communicate what you have to say in simple language. Why use a fancy $2 word when there is an equally, or arguably more effective 10 cent word for it?

4. Spark their curiosity

For example, you could say something like “10 Ways to Improve Your Business”, but a better solution would be to sound more provocative, like “10 Devastating Reasons Why Most Businesses Fail”. The latter is a lot more effective, and gives you the opportunity to elicit an emotional response from the reader with powerful words like “devastating” and “fail”. A little drama and flair can go a long way here.

5. Break up your message visually with spaces, bullet points, or lists

In case your message goes on for a bit, divide it into sections that are easier for the reader to consume and scan. This can be achieved by creating a list, leaving plenty of white space, or relying on bullet points. Of course, this should also be used in moderation, and using more than 3-4 bullet points would defeat their purpose.

6. Focus on the benefits rather than features

Whether you are trying to justify the increase in price for your new product or providing a discount for it, instead of going on about all the features it has, focus on the benefits its user will experience if they decide to purchase it. Once they know how it will make their personal or professional life better, they will know its full value and will be able to understand that it’s worth the money.

7. Demonstrate enthusiasm and confidence in your product or service

This is one of the ways to show your audience that you have a truly fantastic product on your hands. If you are projecting a “meh” vibe, they will respond accordingly. If you are not sure how to sound enthusiastic, try writing your message quickly to make it sound more spontaneous.

8. Clean designs

You can use designs elements such as colors, shapes, and even images to guide the readers’ eyes to where you want them to go, or to emphasize the most important parts of your message.

Also, if possible, include colors that reflect those found on your logo or official website in order to bolster your brand’s identity. You can also use professionally designed email templates for regular, recurring content you plan to send like newsletters, sales announcements, and more.

9. Make your call-to-action as clear as possible

This applies both to its visibility, as well as its message. Your readers should be clear on what happens next and reinforce your message on why it would be beneficial for them to take you up on your offer. While not necessarily a rule, it’s always good to have just one call-to-action, instead of several competing ones.

10. Create a sense of urgency

Another method you can use to make your email message more effective would be to create a sense of urgency. For example, let your readers know that your fantastic offer is for a limited time only and that it will expire in several hours. Or tell them there are only 10 invites left, and those who buy them will get exclusive access to a premium version of your website, where they can find even more useful content.

Email copywriting template examples (for sales)

Templates are a good idea when you’re reaching out to a large volume of people. You will need to personalize these templates depending on your company and the services you offer. I can’t imagine everyone reading this is a green company consultant.

A cold lead is someone who has never interacted with your company before. Meanwhile, a hot lead has expressed interest in the product, has the means to buy it, and is currently seeking solutions. In between the two are warm leads.

1) Cold email copywriting example

2) Hot email copywriting example

Top 4 email copywriting services

Whether you’re out of time or unsure where to start, email copywriting services are always an option. These services offer easy access to copywriters who handle email marketing every day. By telling them a little, they can write you the perfect emails.

These services are also nice since there is minimal extra paperwork for you. All you must do is tell the service what you need and how often. In most cases, the customer support team takes care of all the other details.

1) Copify

Copify prides itself on quick, no-hassle content delivery. All you need to do is fill out the brief, and then the site staff chooses the perfect copywriter for your project. That means you’ll get someone who knows what to do for your business.

The company makes several unique promises. First, it says many items have a 48-hour turnaround, which is great if you’re in a hurry. It also guarantees proofreading and formatting, which allow you to use the content without worries.

Key features:

• 48 hour or less turnaround
• Verified copywriting network
• Multiple service offerings
• Professionally managed

Price:

• Prices start at $0.06/word

2) Rightly written

Rightly Written is another content option where you do not have direct content with the writer. Instead, you fill out a brief on the website, and the staff picks a writer that matches. However, you can request the same writer again.

The company offers intuitive options, including a dashboard so you can see all of your orders at once. You can track where the order is within the process, which includes editing by a dedicated team.

One of the things that make Rightly Written appealing is the automated ordering option. This lets you easily scale up your content output to quickly and constantly feed your blog, newsletter, and email automation tool.

Key features:

• Content ecosystem
• Automated monthly option
• Internally verified copywriters
• Professionally managed

Price:

• Prices start at $0.07/word

3) Fiverr

Fiverr has two options for you, marketplace and business. With either option, you choose who works on your project directly. This control is great if you find yourself on a budget or if you find a writer who gets your company brand exactly right.

The marketplace option means you’re vetting the freelancers yourself through their reviews and samples. With business, you get a curated catalog to pick from and a Fiverr success manager to help you along the way.

Either way, you have immense flexibility on this platform. You can even talk to writers before purchase to confirm you’ll get what you want.

Key features:

• Choose your own writer if desired
• Team options, including Fiverr Business
• Wide niche selection
• Completely customizable

Price:

• Prices start from $0.01/word

4) Godot media

Godot Media is an excellent option if you’re looking for other content to go with your email marketing. The platform offers many reasonably priced writing products, including articles and white papers you can use as lead magnets.

Godot Media offers personalized quotes on packages that work for your business. While you may not meet the copywriter, you are assured of professional content. Like other platforms, you do get revisions and the option to select your quality level.

Key features:

• Copywriting only
• Automated monthly options
• Professionally managed

Price:

• Prices from $0.027/word

Final thoughts:

Copywriting for email marketing requires you to keep several distinct things in mind. You need to write to your audience, keep everything direct, and lead them to a specific action. All the while, the email must be personal.

That leaves you with several options, and you can adjust those options to suit your specific business relatively quickly. Modifying templates only takes a little time, while hiring an email copywriting service takes more resources.

Regardless, you know the right email marketing content can help keep your business going, irrespective of how hard the times are. How you get that content is up to you and how it fits in the demands of your time.

With time, email copywriting will start to feel natural. Then you’ll wonder why you thought it was challenging to begin with. Remember, meet your customers where they’re at. Who knows, some may relate deeply to your story about email marketing copywriting.

Copywriting for email marketing helps propel your business forward and improve your overall outlook. It’s there to support your company’s growth, so use it.

We all send emails, we receive emails, we write emails. Yet, somehow, not everyone knows how to write that email that will grab a reader’s attention right from the start. 

Aside from the subject line, your email’s opening line is critical in engaging your reader and making them want to continue reading your message, especially if you’re cold-emailing new clients.

Not only that but there are so many different types of emails you send on a regular basis. An email you send to a friend or family member is totally different than the one you’re sending your boss.

It’s not only the message that will be different, but the overall tone should be, too.

An opening line is more than just a greeting or a simple introduction. In order to have the most impact with your emails, using the right opening line for the right situation is key.

Here, we’ll go over the best email opening lines to use in different scenarios, so that you’re prepared for anything

Tips for writing an engaging email opening line

Before getting into some examples, let’s lay the groundwork for what makes an opening line in an email work well. 

In general, you should keep your opening line short and to the point, but still leave enough of an invitation and intrigue to get the reader to want to continue reading more. Easier said than done, right? 

Truthfully, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. There are some simple tips you can use to keep your opening lines fresh and exciting. Here are three things we recommend doing;

1. Find common ground

One of the most widely known rules for making any connection, whether digitally or in-person.

Is to try and find some commonality or shared interests. Of course, the common ground you try and look for will vary depending on who you’re emailing.

In a professional email, you might try and point out similarities in your work or mention that you both attended the same conference.

In a more casual or personal email, on the other hand, you might consider bringing up things like the fact that you went to the same school, or even that you liked a post of theirs online. 

2. Create a personal connection

Aside from finding common ground, if you can find a personal connection between yourself and your recipient, then that does a good job of establishing trust and credibility.

You can bring up that you got your recipient’s email from a colleague or professional acquaintance, or that they were recommended by a mutual connection.

Leaning on your network is important here since that personal connection will likely pique the interest of your recipient and make them more likely to answer you if they feel like they know you by extension.

3. Reference an event or trigger

Cold emails don’t have to be impersonal. If you do some research on your recipient, whether it’s a company or an individual, you might be able to learn something about them.

For example, if you see a company launch a new product or have an upcoming event, don’t be afraid to reference that as your opening line. It’ll be sure to catch their attention since the company is already likely focused on that topic. 

This also shows prospective clients, employers, or partners that you’ve done your research and you’re not just sending out random emails, but rather you’re distinctly interested in them or their work.

What to avoid when writing an opening line

Ok, so we covered what to do when writing on an email opening line, but what about what not to write?

When sending out an email to a prospective client, the last thing you want to do is bore them into deleting your email. Likewise, in an email to someone you already know, you want to continue building your rapport. 

In addition to knowing what to write, you should also be aware of what makes an opening line unappealing. Here are a few things you’ll want to avoid:

1. Your opening line isn’t original

“Hi, my name is…” isn’t really a riveting opening line. If you’re going with the tired classic opening of introducing yourself. Then providing a long-winded description of your company or your motivation behind sending an email, your message isn’t likely to land.

Your email shouldn’t sound like you copy-pasted it to a hundred different people on a mailing list. Keep your opening line original, personal, and intriguing. 

2. You lack authenticity

When your email lands in the inbox of a prospective client, a recruiter, or a new connection, you’re nothing but a name on a screen. With a boring opening line, you’re not likely to go far. 

Instead, if you use the tips we recommended and try to establish a personal connection or mention something you have in common. You’ve already made yourself seem more authentic, relatable, and well, simply more human.

3. Your opening line is too vague

If your opening line isn’t to the point and uses vague or general jargon, then your message will probably fall on deaf ears.

No one wants to get an email that’s unclear or difficult to decipher from the get-go, so make sure your whole email, and especially your opening line, is clear, readable, and concise. 

Email opening lines for every occasion with examples

Formal email opening for all circumstances

If you are not sure which business email opening lines to use, you can always fall back on these formal email opening lines.

With a Formal email opening line, you will always sound professional and business-oriented

• I hope this email find you well.
• I hope all is well with you
• Hope you’re having a lovely week.
• I hope you are doing well

Work and business email opening lines

Here are a few opening lines to use in a work or business setting. Some of these lines are more suited to specific scenarios, like a manager communicating with an employee, but in general, these can be used in most work emails.

• Is X a priority for you right now?
• How can I make your life easier?
• Can you give me an update on
• I’m getting back to you regarding
• Following up on our call/meeting

B2C professional email opening lines

When you’re emailing a client, you want to keep things professional. There are a lot of different reasons you might email a customer.

It could be as part of a marketing email, or maybe you’re following up on a previous message. Here are some good opening lines to use for a few different scenarios:

• I’m really happy you purchased X, are you happy with it?
• We’re really excited to tell you about our new product…
• Thanks for purchasing X, I’m here to answer any questions you might have
• In reference to our last call about X…
• What are your thoughts on…

Cold email opening lines

Here’s where you can get very creative and try different approaches to opening lines.

Test out a few different ones and see what elicits the best response. Questions? Open-ended statements? Here are a few we suggest trying out:

• I recently helped a company like yours accomplish/save/gain, etc.
• What would you do with an extra X hours/dollars a week?
• I noticed your company recently…
• I saw your competitor recently did/announced X, how are you planning on responding?
• I enjoyed your insightful talk at the Z conference…
  

Other business email opening ideas

Aside from the ones we already mentioned, here are a few other business opening lines you can consider using in different situations:

• Congratulations on career move/promotion…
• How do you know [mutual connection]? We previously worked together on a project…
• I have some ideas on how we can address [pain point]
• I read this article recently and I thought it brought up some good points about…
• I have a quick request… 

Friendly email opening lines

Of course, you’re not always emailing in a work setting, or even if you are, sometimes you’re really close with the colleague you’re messaging and you can be more lighthearted and friendly in your email.

• How did your recent project turn out?
• I was laughing to myself the other day about [inside joke]…
• This photo/article/video made me think about you…
• I really enjoyed your recent blog post/photo/social post about…
• Congrats on [personal event/accomplishment]!

Funny email opening lines

Sometimes, you just need a little humor to get you through the day. Here are some funny email opening lines you can use to lighten the mood.

Just be aware of when and how you’re using them so that they don’t come off as inappropriate or poorly-timed.

• I hope you’ve already had your morning coffee because…
• Only X more days until Friday!
• Hoping you’re surviving another workweek!
• It’s me again.
• Sorry for ruining your cleared inbox, but…

Polite email opening lines

You don’t always have to start with a very punchy opening line. Sometimes, less is more.

You still want to keep the tone polite and professional, and there are ways to do this without getting very specific about personal connections or common interests.

Here are a few examples:

• Sorry that I missed your call, when can we reschedule?
• I hope you had a relaxing weekend!
• I just wanted to check in with you quickly to make sure that…
• It’s so nice to hear from you!
• Thanks again for your help with…

Best email opening lines

A lot of the opening lines we already went through will work in a lot of different situations.

It’s also nice to have your go-to email opening lines. Especially if you send a lot of emails or are always communicating with customers and colleagues.

Here are a few of the best email opening lines you can use regularly:

• I’m eager to get your advice on…
• Allow me to briefly introduce myself.
• [Shared connection] recommended I get in touch with you regarding X…
• Did you know that [relevant statistic or fact for recipient’s business]?
• I have a really quick question to ask you…

Conclusion: opening and closing email

Once you’ve mastered how to begin an email with a solid and effective opening line, the next step is to keep your reader’s interest throughout your message all the way to the end. It’s no easy task, but it can be done. 

In general, as we’ve already mentioned you should keep your emails short, sweet, and to the point.

No one wants to sit and read a long email when they’re in the middle of a busy day, so by sending a short email, you’ll be able to leave some things open for questions and you also show that you value and respect your recipient’s time.

Finally, when you’ve crafted a well-thought-out email, there’s one more step you should take before you hit “send” on your message: adding the perfect sign-off.

Often, a reader will read only the opening line and then scan the email quickly and check the signature to see who the sender is. 

Your email signature conveys important information, like your name, job title, contact details, and sometimes even links to your website or social channels.

This can all be important if you’re cold-emailing someone since you’re inadvertently providing them with more information without actually including it in the body of your email. 

Use Wisestamp’s personalized email signature generator to create a strong signature that enhances the content and quality of your message.

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