7 Cold Email Frameworks to Boost Your Reply Rates [Webinar Transcript]

Having spent 7+ years writing templates and sequences, Vlad Oleksiienko, VP of Growth and former SDR Lead here at Reply, knows a thing or two about cold outreach.

In our recent webinar, he shared some of his most effective email frameworks (+ a few top picks from the top sales leaders out there) along with some actionable tips on how to customize and implement them in your own outreach efforts. 

Watch the full masterclass on-demand here

We’ve decided to share the text summary of the presentation for those of you who are too busy to watch the webinar. Enjoy!

The 4 top-performing email templates we use at Reply 

Before we move on to discuss the frameworks and examples, here are the average results they generate for us (when used as the first-step emails):

• Open rate – 60-65%
• Reply rate – 4-5%
• Interested rate – 1-2%

And these are the results for the complete sequences using these emails:

• Open rate – 70-90%
• Reply rate – 9-20%
• Interested rate – 1-5%

For context, we’re targeting midmarket companies and similar audiences (SaaS, IT sales leaders) for all of these sequences. Now, let’s see the frameworks!

Here’s an example of how we’re adapting this template to our business (while still leaving room for prospect-specific personalization).

Hi {{First Name}},

I’m reaching out to you because I noticed on your LinkedIn profile that you are working at {{Company}}. Given your role as {{Job_Title}}, my assumption is that cold outreach falls in your wheelhouse.

In short, Reply helps our customers in {{Industry}} industry, such as {{Similar_Company1}} and {{Similar_Company2}} to accelerate sales by automating communications with existing or potential clients and putting email outreach on autopilot.

{{FirstName}}, how does your calendar look for a quick call?

Here’s an example of what this cold email framework might look like in action:

Hi {{FirstName}},

William from Reply.io here – an outreach and sales acceleration platform for sales teams.

I am reaching out to you because being {{Job_Title)}, I’m certain you would know more about the current processes in place at {{Company}} for the {{Department}} department.

While we have already helped companies in (Industry}} industry, such as {{Similar_Company1}} and {{Similar_Company2}}, I felt you might be interested in increasing your sales team productivity.

Open to learning a bit more?

And this is how we put the framework into practice.

Hi {{FirstName}}.

I’m reaching out to you because I noticed that ({Company}} has job openings within your sales department.

I’m not sure if you are in the market, but since {{Similar_Company1}}, {{Similar_Company2}} & 3K+ more companies in the {{Industry}} space all use Reply for outreach that feels personalized and more human, I thought you might be interested in improving your {{Department} team effectiveness.

Interested in unpacking how we can help with sales outreach automation?

The framework might look like this if we adapt it to our use case.

Hi {{FirstName}}.

The reason for my outreach is that I’ve been viewing your LinkedIn profile and out of curiosity, I wanted to see how big {{Company}}’s sales organization is.

If I’m not mistaken, the calculations say you should have around {{Sales_Team_Size}} reps. Reply can help them all – whether it’s inbound, outbound, a trial, or an existing customer, we can put their sales outreach on autopilot while keeping communication warm and personal.

Open to learning more? If so, happy to jump on a 15-min call to see how we can help.

Either way, keep up the great work on building your {{Department | ‘sales”}} team.

3 more email templates from the sales influencers

To offer more value (and more proven cold email frameworks) for you, here are 3 more templates from the top sales influencers we follow on LinkedIn.

1. Jimmy Comodeca, Co-founder at The SDR Newsletter

This framework is worth your attention because it uses a personalized hook as an opening and then focuses on the problem the prospect faces and the potential solution to it. Again, there’s a reference to the job title to create relevance, a tailored value proposition, and a soft CTA, as in other frameworks listed here.

And here’s how this framework looks in action:

Hi {{FirstName}} – Congrats on the new SDR role at {{Company}}.

Given that only 68% of SDRs hit quota (according to The Bridge Group), what steps are you taking to make sure you’re up to date on the latest SDR tactics and part of that quota-hitting group?

Other top-performing SDs are finding innovative tactics and real outreach examples by subscribing to The SDR Newsletter.

Any interest in checking it out?

2. Kyle Coleman, SVP of Marketing at Clari

The next framework uses intent-based reason for outreach in the opening then brings up the persona-based problem and offers a solution in a form of a value proposition. This is similar to the first, basic framework shared earlier, but with some extra customization.

Now, let’s put this framework into practice with a real-life example of an email:

Hi {{First Name}},

Saw that you’ve hired 20 salespeople in the last 6 months – congrats. How are you making sure your forecasting process scales with your team?

As hiring ramps up, many growth companies find that processes break down. And forecasting is one of the main culprits.

Clari helps solve that, streamlining your forecasting process to save your team countless hours and save you countless headaches.

Interested to learn more?

3. Will Allred, Co-founder at Lavender

By far my favorite, this framework has all the previously mentioned elements like intent, persona-specific pain point, and tailored value proposition. But it’s also a very short and sweet template that is easily customized to fit any business.

Want to see this framework in action? Here’s an example just for you:

Hi {{FirstName}},

I saw you’re hiring for SDRs. I’m guessing you’re already thinking about how you’ll ramp up those new reps.

Usually, we see customers lean on templates, but wonder why their reps plateau.

We’re helping reps ramp up faster and continue improving with our in-inbox assistant.

Worth a conversation?

How to make these templates your own using AI?

As mentioned a few times, all of the frameworks are customizable and can be easily adjusted to your audience, business specifics, or preferences. If don’t feel like doing it yourself, you can use ChatGPT to do that for you!

Here’s a ready-to-use prompt to customize all of these frameworks:

I sell [Company or Services] to [Persona] in [Segment] space.

[Reason for outreach].

Adapt this email framework and fill text in brackets to my use case.

Keep it under 100 words.

[Framework]

Note: It might take a few iterations or additional requests to make a perfect cold email template based on these frameworks, but it’s still a great time-saver for any SDR.

Watch the full masterclass on-demand here

Useful tools to generate and improve your cold email templates

If you’re not a fan of ChatGPT or want to explore other AI tools, here are some of our top picks:

• Cору.аі 
• Jasper.ai 
• Writesonic.com 
• Rytr.me 
• Type.ai

And below are some more handy AI-powered tools for email writing.

One more handy tool that employs AI and ChatGPT to power up your email outreach efforts is Jason AI by Reply. It works as your personal B2B sales assistant, helping you generate unique emails for every business use case, set up complex multichannel sequences, manage prospect responses, and schedule meetings on your behalf. Learn more about how it works here.

Final word

These are the 7 cold email frameworks that can boost your reply rates. Feel free to test them out and see which one works best for you.

Also, make sure to check out our resource library for more. We’re also regularly holding other webinars and sharing useful resources for SDRs and sales professionals.