In a crowded market you only get one chance to make a good first impression on your prospects. In a crowded inbox your window of opportunity is the handful of seconds it takes to scan your email and decide whether to read it or delete it. To stand out you need a relevant opener that shows you have a valid reason for reaching out.
Many salespeople fluff their opening lines because they waste their opportunity on out-of-context small talk, generic observations, uninspiring questions or seller-centric laundry lists of features.
Your email opener needs to get to the point quickly, be super-specific and pique your prospect’s curiosity, so that they want to continue reading.
If you find yourself struggling to write something that checks those boxes, it’s a sign that your ICP is too broad, because broad ICPs produce generic messaging. Go listen back to your sales calls to hear how your customers describe their problems and use their words for inspiration.
As with all things messaging-related, its easier to learn from real-world examples than from theory, so in the remainder of this post I’ve torn down the following bad openers and rewritten them to be more specific and engaging.
My name is X and I’m from Y
Hope this email finds you well / Hope you are well
Sorry to bother you / Know that you are busy
Saw on your website that you are a {BUSINESS}
Saw on your LinkedIn that you are {TITLE}
We’re an award winning marketing agency with 9 years of experience
I’ve been thinking
Hi my name is X and I’m from Y
This is a cold call opener, not a cold email opener. When you cold call someone, they have no clue who you are so need to introduce yourself. When you cold email someone they can see your name and email address in their inbox so repeating it is a waste of space.
Cold emails are not conversations over email. They’re more like ads; unsolicited messages that either get your attention or get ignored, depending on how relevant they are to you. To make a cold email effective, you need to get the recipient’s attention quickly.
Get to the point. Be specific.
For example:
“Noticed A and B on your sales team are selling to healthcare companies like {X} and {Y} who are known for their crazy long security questionnaires. Filling them out takes your reps away from selling.”