30 Email Outreach Templates to Grow Your Business
Having a fancy website used to be enough to promote your business, but that stopped working at least 10 years ago. Now you’re competing for attention with millions of websites and SEO algorithms that change constantly. Social media may seem like a good idea but is increasingly pay-to-play for businesses.
That’s why we’re firm believers in email as the best way to grow your business. It’s how we built our company, and it’s how we help thousands of customers build theirs too.
However, it can also be intimidating. Staring at a blank email and waiting for a bolt of inspiration can be time-consuming and if we’re honest, a little scary.
We want to help you get past that. That’s why we include a comprehensive library of templates for all our customers in Reply. Have a sneak peek at thirty of our top-performing email sequence templates you can put to use today, free of charge, whatever kind of outreach you’re doing.
Another way we help is with Jason AI — our built-in AI-powered Email Assistant that create unique emails and outreach sequences from scratch and can even handle incoming emails on your behalf.
Table of Contents
Inbound sales and follow-ups
When most people talk about email outreach, their first thought is outbound email. While outbound is an important part of any email outreach strategy (spoiler alert: our next section will show you how), it’s important to remember that not all outreach sequences have to be cold email. In fact, emailing your inbound leads is a great way to turn casual visitors into happy customers.
Inbound traffic refers to all those leads who’ve come to you, usually in search of help to solve a pressing problem. When someone hands over their email in exchange for some kind of value, it’s important your emails over-deliver. By the end of your inbound campaign, your prospects should be excited to see what your next email contains and what other ways your business can help them. Every email, every sentence, every word, should contribute to the feeling that they’re in the right hands, and giving you their email address was the best decision they could’ve made. You don’t want them regretting giving out their email and marking all your messages as spam.
An inbound email outreach campaign is a golden opportunity, and easy to set up with Reply. To help you get started, here’s one of our best outreach email sequence templates for when people sign up for a webinar.
Email #1: The webinar opening
Hello {{FirstName}},
Thank you for registering to attend our recent webinar on “How to Create 3x More Opportunities”.
If you are still evaluating ways to increase your sales efficiency, I would love to chat about your current workflow and how Reply.io can assist you in booking more meetings. With Reply, you can set your sales outreach on auto-pilot so that your sales professionals can focus their efforts on revenue-generating activities.
Would you have any availability this Tuesday or Thursday?
I look forward to any opportunity to be of assistance.
Kind regards,
Email #2: The webinar follow-up
Hello {{FirstName}},
I just wanted to circle back around on my previous email. Is there any interest in a consultation on how to optimize our platform to scale and automate your personalized 1:1 communication?
If your schedule permits, I would love to chat this week.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Email #3: The webinar final follow-up
Hello {{FirstName}},
I have reached out a few times but haven’t heard back. I know things get busy but I’m hoping to assist you with automating your sales outreach efforts in order for you to focus your energy on revenue-generating activities.
If interested in testing Reply for your needs, please click on the following link to download your free 14-day trial, Reply.io
I look forward to any opportunity to be of assistance.
Kind regards,
Email #4: The trial sign up (v1)
Hi {{FirstName}},
It is my pleasure to welcome you as our trial user.
I understand you are looking to generate more business through sales outreach, focusing on personalization for maximum performance?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. I’d be happy to share some best practices on account setup, levels of personalization, follow-ups, and other features you might not otherwise know about, including important security measures.
Let’s connect for 10-15 minutes for a quick chat {{#if is_monday}}today or this Tuesday{{/if}}{{#if is_tuesday}}today or this Wednesday{{/if}}{{#if is_wednesday}}today or this Friday{{/if}}{{#if is_thursday}}today or tomorrow{{/if}}{{#if is_friday}}later today or early next week{{/if}}{{#if is_weekend}}early next week{{/if}}?
Thanks in advance.
Email #5: The trial sign up (v2)
Hi {{FirstName}},
The reason for my outreach is that you’ve created a Reply account, and, more importantly, I noticed {{#if Title}}that you are working as {{Title}} at {{Company}} {{else}} that you are working at {{Company}}{{/if}}
Given your role{{#if Title}} as {{Title}}{{else}}{{/if}}, my assumption is that sales team efficiency falls in your wheelhouse. What if your team can outreach prospects in a personalized and more human manner and drive more meetings as a result?
If you give me a shot on {{weekdays_from_now 2}} to unpack how {{Standardized_Title_Plural | ‘other companies’}} are booking more meetings using Reply.io; I promise we can part ways if you are not impressed.
Either way, I hope you are having a good {{now_quarter}}. {{#if time_of_the_day == ‘morning’ }} Have a wonderful {{now_month}} {{time_of_the_day}} ???? {{else}}{{/if}} {{#if time_of_the_day == ‘afternoon’ }} Have a wonderful {{now_month}} {{time_of_the_day}} ☀️ {{else}} {{/if}} {{#if time_of_the_day == ‘evening’ }} Have a wonderful {{now_month}} {{time_of_the_day}} ???? {{else}}{{/if}}”
Email #6: The trial sign up follow-up
Hi {{FirstName}},
I can’t believe it’s almost been two weeks since you signed up for your trial with Reply. Time flies! If you feel like you need just a bit more time to use the tool and get some results from your active sequences we can make it happen.
We can extend your trial for another week, provide you with our newly developed lead generation functionality and additional incentives.
Is this worth exploring?
The results? This particular sequence had an impressive 78% open rate and 29% reply rate.
For a full list of all the inbound templates we personally use at Reply, including our top-performer with an awesome 89% open rate and 57% reply rate (yes, those aren’t typos), check out our collection of inbound sales templates.
What goes into a successful inbound email?
- Make it clear why you’re emailing. Use the email’s subject line and opening lines to tell the prospect why you’re emailing them. Reassure them this isn’t a cold email. Sending a ‘warm’ email has a major advantage over cold emails, so make the most of it.
- Establish a strong relationship. In our inbound campaigns, our rep will introduce themselves and offers to act as a guide, helping with best practices to increase their open rates and grow their business.
- Follow-up. Use Reply to automate your follow-up emails and remind them they were interested in your service (else they wouldn’t have given you their email?), and why they were interested in the first place; spell out the key benefits of your service.
Rather than leaving things to chance, you can easily set up an automated drip campaign in Reply. Once you’ve added your inbound leads to a campaign, Reply will email them the full sequence (including your follow-ups), stopping when you get a reply and automatically sorting the business email responses.
Outbound sales and follow-ups
As amazing as inbound email campaigns are, they’re not always possible. They rely on an already established source of traffic, which may not be practical for a new business who don’t have consistent leads coming in or a lead magnet to leverage.
In this situation, outbound is a great way to get some initial traction. You can get great results in a short amount of time. Once you’ve researched your ideal customers and added their details to your email outreach software, you can get in touch with them at scale.
However, cold email doesn’t have the best reputation. For many, it’s just another term for spam. To overcome the inevitable barrier, try using one of the following cold email outreach templates that help show the value you can offer:
Email #7: The technology they use
Hey {{FirstName}},
My name is Daniel.
The reason I’m reaching out is that I was browsing {{Company}}’s website and I noticed that you’re using Shopify as your eCommerce platform.
While we are focusing on marketing services for stores that are built on {{eCommerce platform}} and already helped {{Company1}} and {{Company2}} with SEO and PPC for their online stores, I thought we might have a great synergy.
Are you available for a brief call next Wednesday at 1PM EST?
Email #8: Hiring intent
Hi {{FirstName}},
I’m reaching out to you because I noticed that you are expanding your sales team at {{Company}}. I assume, as a {{ProspectTitle}}, you want your company’s sales to grow as well, so would you like an idea of boosting {{Company}}’s email outreach activities?
Reply is designed for sales teams and helps them to grow their pipeline by using our platform to double their number of conversations with right-fit accounts and contacts by automating sales communications with existing and prospective clients while keeping them warm and personal.
Are you available for a 10-minute call to see how we could help {{Company}}’s sales team?
Results from a cold email, sent using Reply, based on a company’s hiring intent.
Email #9: Short and sweet
Hi {{FirstName}},
I’ll keep this short to make the 26 seconds it takes to read this(yes, I timed it.)
Reply helps other companies like FreshWorks, WeWork, 99tests, Dribbble, Hubdoc with new business development and allows them to send cold emails that feel warm, whether it’s inbound, outbound, a trial or an existing customer – we put their outreach on autopilot while keeping communication personal.
If this sounds useful, I can explain how it works.
Thank you for your time.
Email #10: Personalized to job/industry
Hi {{FirstName}},
William from Reply.io here – an outreach and sales acceleration platform for sales teams.
I’m reaching out to you because, recently, I went through your Linkedin profile and noticed that you are {{Standardized Job Title}} at {{Company}}. While we have already helped companies in {{Industry}} industry automate communications with existing or potential clients and put email outreach on autopilot, you, as {{Standardized Job Title}}, might be interested in the features which Reply has:
1. {{Related feature N.1}}
2. {{Related feature N.2}}
3. {{Related feature N.3}}
I’m wondering if you’d find this kind of solution useful? If so, I’d be glad to explain how it works.
P.S. I just checked the weather in {{City}} and it will be {{Weather}} degrees and it’s going to be {{Weather Condition}} tomorrow – {{Weather Comment}}.
Email #11: Valuable content
Hi {{FirstName}},
I thought, you, as {{Title}}, would find value with this {{Content Type}}, {{Content Description}}.
We see ourselves as an effective sales acceleration platform for {{Industry}} related companies like {{Company}} to scale email outreach while keeping communication warm and personal.
If this sounds useful, I’d be happy to explain how it works.
Email #12: Website visits
Hi {{FirstName}},
AJ from Reply here leading the Growth Team – an outreach automation tool for sales teams.
I’m writing to you because I noticed that a number of your colleagues at {{Company}} have visited our website a lot during the last few weeks.
I was wondering whether they were trying to figure out how {{Company}} might improve cold outreach to your existing and potential customers?
With the number of people researching our company, would it make sense to talk for 10 minutes these days?
Thank you for your time.
Email #13: The follow-up
- Hey {FirstName},
I just wanted to float my emails to the top of your inbox one more time.
I’ve been trying to reach out to you a few times about the possibility of attracting new customers at {Company} using an outbound channel. I’d love to know if you have any plans for this.
Thank you for your time.
Email #14: Competitor issues
Hey {{FirstName}},
We’ve heard from several of {{Competitor}}’s customers that they’ve been having a lot of issues recently. We imagine your team would be frustrated if that’s also happening at {{Company}}.
We’ve developed our app to help leading enterprises such as {{Customer 1}}, {{Customer 2}} and {{Customer 3}} with {{Benefit 1}}, {{Benefit 2}}, and {{Benefit 3}}, so you can relax knowing you wouldn’t face these problems with {{Your Company}}.
We’d love to see how we can help you increase your {{Success Metric}}. Are you available early next week to see why companies like {{Customer 4}} and {{Customer 5}} moved from {{Competitor}} to {{Your Company}} this year? If not, please let us know when it’s best to reconnect.
Best,
{{Sender.FullName}}
What goes into a successful cold email outreach template?
- Personalization. That doesn’t mean just including a {FirstName} merge tag though. Your email should be tailored to the reader, showing you’ve done your research and have clearly demonstrated what’s in it for them.
- Base it on prospect’s actions. We’re a big fan of triggered cold emails, reacting to and referencing your recipient’s actions. We have templates based on what technology the prospect is already using, their hiring intentions, or visits to our website. Other examples would include social media mentions, abandoned cart sequences, or re-engaging warm leads.
- Clarity. Cold email is a harder sell. People have their guard up, which means it’s essential to make it clear why you’re getting in touch with them and what value they can get from your email.
It’s also important to make sure the email addresses you’re using are the right ones. Incorrect email addresses hurt your overall delivery rate and can get even the best cold outreach templates flagged as spam. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, validate all your email addresses before starting a campaign (Psst: Reply includes free email validation for all users, with advanced validation options for high-level users).
If you’re still struggling to get replies to your cold outreach email template, check out our full guide of tips to get more engagement from your cold emails.
Staffing and recruiting emails
You can use email automation software for more than just selling a product or service. One popular use for Reply is getting in touch with potential candidates for a job opening.
When talent teams were asked about which outreach channels they used in 2018, 37.6 percent of respondents stated they use email the most, making it the most popular candidate outreach channel.
So rather than relying on job boards or hoping your next dream candidate will come knocking on your door, take the initiative and try one of these cold outreach email templates for recruiting.
Email #15: From the CEO
Hi {{FirstName}},
My name is Jason and I am CEO at ABC Inc. I found your profile on github while looking for the top engineers with Ruby experience. I was impressed by your background and decided to drop you a note.
You probably don’t often see CEOs reaching out to potential candidates to discuss career opportunities. But our company success so far is based on finding the best people and putting them together to work on fun, challenging and exciting projects. That’s why I focus a lot of my personal time on recruiting the greatest talents for our company.
We might have a position to tell you about, but that conversation can’t begin until we listen to you first and make sure we are on the same page.
Please, let me know if you interested to learn more and I will connect you with someone from our team.
Email #16: The personalized invitation
Hey {{FirstName}},
I’m an engineer at Stripe. I came across your github profile and really liked your ABC, XYZ projects. I wanted to see if you’d be interested in working with us at Stripe — if you’re up for it, I’d love to grab coffee next week to chat.
Best regards,
Email #17: Make a connection
Hi {{FirstName}},
I know a little bit about your background and had some ideas in mind. However, I work differently, and if you are open to chatting I’d like to begin with a dialogue instead of a pitch selling you a job. We might have a position to tell you about, but that conversation can’t begin until we listen to you first and make sure we are on the same page.
I realize that my email may or may not have arrived at the right time. However, my goal is to connect with and understand an outstanding individual’s professional frustrations/aspirations and then align those needs with the startup that can best fit or help achieve that person’s goals.
What’s the best way for us to connect?
Email #18: The quick question
Hi {{FirstName}},
I wanted to get in touch to find out if you are keeping half an eye open for a new job?
I’m looking for developers urgently for a client of ours in the {location} area and wondered if this may be of interest to you…Let me know
Kind regards
Email #19: The short follow-up
{{FirstName}},
Is the below of any interest to you?
P.S. If you prefer other channels for contacting your candidates, you can as well adjust the listed messages to use them as the LinkedIn outreach templates.
What goes into an effective staffing and recruiting email?
- Skip the long introduction. People’s time is precious, so don’t waste time explaining what your company does. If the candidate is familiar with what you do, it’s pointless. If they’re not, they’re not going to sit through a detailed history. A few words about your company or the industry covered will be enough.
- Do your research. Your cold email will be better than 99% of the others if you can demonstrate you’ve done your research. Include evidence, such as comments on recent projects and achievements, so people can see they’re not just another entry in a database.
- Have a realistic CTA. A change of career is a huge decision, one that takes time. You’re unlikely to get people to sign up for a job on the spot. Instead, try and get them to have a chat, or encourage them to learn more about the job opening. Either way, make sure your call to action is clear.
For more advice, check out our complete list of tips and templates for staffing and recruiting emails.
When sending out a recruitment campaign, you’ll often be working as part of a larger team. You might need to collaborate with other people in other departments and delegate different tasks to different staff. That’s why we created Reply Team Edition, to help teams with their collaboration and workload management. Whatever your team looks like, Reply Team Edition can help you do your optimize your campaigns, available on all subscriptions at no extra cost.
PR and link-building emails
Want to spread the good word about your business? You can use Reply to get the attention of journalists and influencers. Whether you want a backlink from a popular site or news coverage, sending the right email can get your foot in the door. But you only get one chance to make a good first impression. The right business email template can help you appear professional and increase the odds of a favorable response.
Art of Emails has a massive collection of email templates, including these examples of great PR and link-building emails.
Luke from Pest Pro App got his company featured in Life Hacker by offering them an infographic to complement their existing content. You can use the same tactic to get your content shared on popular websites with this template:
Email #20: Help them out
Hey {{FirstName}},
I really liked your article on {{PopularPost}}. Great stuff!
You actually inspired me to take this a step farther and create something even deeper in the subject of {{PostCategory}}.
I thought I’d reach out to you because I just published a {{ContentUpgrade}} on {{PostCategory}} and I thought it might interest you. It covers {{ValueSummary}}, all based on research and with sources to back it up.
Would it be OK to pass it along? I’d love to get your opinion on it.
Either way, keep up the good work with {{Website}}.
Best,
When he didn’t get a response to the first email, Luke followed up with a link to the infographic. You can try this out as a follow-up template.
Email #21: Link-building follow-up
Hey {{FirstName}},
Were you interested in that {{ContentUpgrade}} I mentioned? I forgot to post the link within it.
You can find that here:
{{ContentUpgradeLink}}
Regards,
Email #22: Pitching your personal story
Hey {{FirstName}},
I saw you’re writing an article about {{RelevantTopic}}.
I have a good story for you. I actually {{RelevantStorySummary}}.
My gamble paid off. I {{ResultsOfStory}}.
Happy to provide a few insights with your audience about how to decide {{RelevantTopicQuestion}}.
Let me know if this sounds interesting? Can provide more details to flesh out the story.
Email #23: New major feature
Hey {{FirstName}},
Really enjoyed your recent article about {{Topic}}! {{TopicInsight}}.
Also wanted to share some exciting news: {{NewFeature}}:
[animated screenshot]
One angle that may be interesting to explore: would {{NewFeature}} help {{CommonProblem}}?
Email #24: Interesting patterns or trends based on user behavior
Hey {FirstName},
I’ve following your articles for a while, great insights into {RelvantCategory}.
Our whizzes at {Company} have been crunching a lot of numbers and the data has revealed patterns of {Overview}:
{InsightOne}
{InsightTwo}
{InsightThree}
Some interesting questions this poses:
{QuestionOne}
{QuestionTwo}
Let me know what you think?
Email #25: Guest post inquiry
Hey {{FirstName}},
{{Personalized Intro}}
Just curious if you are currently accepting guest posts at {{Blog}}. I have a couple of blog post ideas that could be a good fit for it:
1. {{Topic 1}}
2. {{Topic 2}}
I’m offering 100% unique content, based on our expertise and first-hand insights, so I am sure it would be a great addition to your blog.
BTW, we have previously contributed to many reputable blogs in {{Industry}}, including {{Resource 1}} and {{Resource 2}}, so you’ll be in good company.
How does that sound?
Best regards,
{{Sender.FullName}}
Email #26: Link building inquiry
Hey {{FirstName}},
{{Personalized Intro})
Just came across your article {{Article Title}} – what an amazing read! Although, it might need an update: the link to {{Resource Link}} is broken and doesn’t work.
In case you want to consider other useful resources to replace it with, I’d like to suggest {{Article Link}}.
{{Article Description}}
Would you consider including a link to it in your article? Please, let me know!
Best regards,
{{Sender.FullName}}
Email #27: The link building follow-up
Hey {{FirstName}},
Have you had a chance to consider my offer?
Also, did I mention that we’ll be happy to return the favor and offer several cross-promotion options in exchange for the backlink in your article?
I am sure this opportunity is worth your attention. So please, let me know what you think 🙂
Best regards,
{{Sender.FullName}}
Email #28: Partnership inquiry
Hey {{FirstName}},
{{Personalized Intro}}
As far as I’m aware, our products cater to the same audience – {{Industry/Job Title}}. So I thought it makes sense for us to team up for a co-marketing campaign.
Here’s what we can offer:
{{Benefit 1}}
{{Benefit 2}}
{{Benefit 3}}
There are a few co-marketing options I would love to discuss, i.e. guest post exchange, social media cross-promotion, newsletter inclusion, etc.
Are you up for a short call this week?
Best regards,
{{Sender.FullName}}
What goes into an effective PR and link-building email?
As you may have picked up, there are some particular points to consider when writing a link-building/PR email:
- Give them an angle. If you want a journalist to write about you, they need a good reason. As much as you might think your new website or upgraded feature is amazing, most people don’t give a damn. Tell them why they (and their readers) should care.
- Make their lives easier. If you want a link, you need to give something in return. This could be a content upgrade, a new resource, or a front-page story. It should be a win-win situation. Don’t be tight; give this some thought and effort and they’ll be eager to give you a backlink.
- Do your research. If you’re asking a favor from a journalist or influencer, it’s essential to demonstrate this isn’t one of the mass sales email sequences sent to thousands of people. Tell them what it is specifically about their site you enjoy and appreciate. Why would a link or a mention mean so much to you? Why would their particular audience benefit from what you’re offering?
However, as much as a good template can improve your results, it’s important to not rely exclusively on just one email or LinkedIn outreach template. To find the best email for your particular audience, it’s essential to test your campaigns and analyze your results.
For example, if you see your campaign has a low open rate but a high reply rate, you can try out a different subject line to grab more attention. A high open rate and low reply rate indicate you might need to try a different template or tweak your email message to encourage engagement.
By giving you all the statistics and results for your email campaign at a glance, Reply can help you quickly see where you can optimize your message.
Bonus: Fundraising template
A less talked about use case for cold emails, fundraising outreach has helped hundreds of startup founders to get in front of investors’ eyes and attract venture capital.
Yet, asking for a couple of millions of dollars, compared to just a backlink or a quick call, is a whole new ball game!
Considering the limited number of investors, you can’t A/B test your message (unlike the sales outreach email template) to see which approach works best. This leaves you with little to no room for maneuver — you either make it right the first time or let the opportunity slip through your fingers.
That’s why we’ve researched some of the known examples of successful investor outreach to figure out what made them so effective. So, having put together the key ingredients for an effective fundraising email, we’ve crafted a blueprint you can copy.
Email #29: The fundraising cold email
Hey {{FirstName}},
{{Introduction + brief info about the company, including the problem you solve and what makes you stand out from the competition}}. Here are some numbers:
{Stat 1}
{Stat 2}
{Stat 3}
You can find more details in our short deck here {{Deck Link}}.
We’re currently seeking to raise {{Investment Amount/tType}} to {{Growth Outlook}}.
I heard/read your interview/post/talk and your point about {{Key Point}} really stuck home. {{Short note on how the key point relates to your business plans}}.
I’d love to tell you more over a 30min call or a coffee. Do you have any time next week?
{{Sender.FullName}}
Email #30: The fundraising follow-up
Hi {{FirstName}},
Just wanted to let you know we’ll soon be closing this round of financing. We’ve currently raised {{Amount}}, but it would be great to have you and your expertise on board as well.
Are you interested in learning more about {{Sender.Company}}?
{{Sender.FullName}}
What makes an effective fundraising cold email?
- Research. Learn as much about your potential investor as possible. This will help you understand if they’re a good fit for you, as well as help you personalize your email.
- The greeting. Keep it simple — a simple “Hi {FirstName}” is a safe bet. Also, don’t be overly formal (unless your research indicates otherwise).
- The opener. Get straight to the point: introduce your business and tell why they should care. Again, keep it short and clear.
- The stats. Show that your business worthy of investment and back up your pitch with the facts and figures.
- The plan. Tell them what you have achieved so far, what you are currently doing, and what you plan to achieve with the help of investment.
- The personalization. Use the info you’ve collected during your research. The facts you’ll mention should have a clear connection to your business so that it’s clearly relatable.
- The CTA. What do you expect them to do next? Make sure your request is easily fulfilled, e.g. a quick call or coffee. Your goal is to start a conversation rather than make the ‘sale’.
Conclusion
Email outreach is a powerful tool, whether you’re dealing with inbound leads, outbound leads, trying to find your next dream recruit, or get a backlink from a popular site.
While it might seem like a lot of work, by using these cold email templates, applying the tips, and automating your outreach, you can boost your reply rates and get better results for your business.