{"id":4847,"date":"2018-06-14T15:06:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T14:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/?p=4847"},"modified":"2025-01-21T10:26:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:26:03","slug":"first-email-template","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/first-email-template\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Write in an Opening Message to Ace Cold Outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the blog post for cold email<\/span> newbies. Or those of you who want to try something new with email<\/span> outreach but lack inspiration. I’d like to\u00a0propose that we rethink the ways of writing an opening message.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0you type “cold email<\/span>” into Google, you’re sure to find a great load of articles about the pros and cons of this lead generation method. You learn that cold emailing<\/span> is used to target ‘cold’ prospects, that is business people who might not have heard about your company, let alone buying from you. But you believe you’re a great fit for each other based on your Ideal Customer Profile<\/a>, so you initiate the contact.<\/p>\n

Then you discover that there are many tools that let you\u00a0automate sending, such as Woodpecker<\/span>. Great. What a huge time and effort saver.<\/p>\n

How Email Automation Helps Us Manage Cold Outreach >><\/a><\/p>\n

You soon\u00a0notice that you don’t need to write each email<\/span> separately. You can use a template and include mail merge fields<\/a> to personalize it. So you google “cold email<\/span> templates” to find out what an email<\/span> template looks like. You come across the one you like,\u00a0paste it into the cold email<\/span> automation app, and your job of writing an opening message is done.<\/p>\n

But is it?<\/p>\n

Is\u00a0using a cold email template wrong?<\/h2>\n

Using a cold email<\/span> template that you found online can get you into trouble.<\/p>\n

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  1. People use them constantly, so they become a cliche<\/a>. They will contain a lot of widely-recognizable tactics that everybody uses to grab attention. Just read this >><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Chances are your prospect got the same email<\/span> from somebody else before. Your competition has access to the Internet too. They may have used the email<\/span> template you’ve chosen before you.<\/li>\n
  3. They affect your deliverability<\/a> in a negative way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But we shouldn’t rule out cold email<\/span> templates altogether. They perform a very important\u00a0role. They teach us how to write a cold email<\/span> <\/a>copy. We get good at cold emailing<\/span> by reading\u00a0emails<\/span> after emails<\/span> and analyzing why they worked.<\/p>\n

    If you want to learn how to analyze a cold email<\/span>, download the Woodpecker ebook with 15 Cold Email Templates\u00a0<\/a>that Cathy wrote, and see what important lessons she extracted from those email<\/span> templates. Think of those lessons when writing your\u00a0very own template.<\/p>\n

    The problem with cold email<\/span> templates starts when we\u00a0replicate them word for word.<\/p>\n

    How to\u00a0come up with an original email template?<\/h2>\n

    I believe that you’ll be much more likely to come up with a unique cold email<\/span> template when you ditch\u00a0a popular\u00a0belief that cold emails<\/span> are supposed to\u00a0close a B2B sale<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    As a matter of fact, cold emails<\/span> are supposed to start conversations. Conversations that may eventually lead to sales<\/span> in the future. But you won’t close a deal by sending a few emails<\/span>. The people on the receiving end are not ready for that just yet.<\/p>\n

    Since cold emailing<\/span> is about beginning a conversation with a cold prospect, you need to switch your mindset.<\/p>\n

    Think\u00a0of email<\/span> outreach, not as a method of generating fresh leads for your business<\/span>, but as a method of starting a dialogue with a new person. Forget about making a sale<\/span>. It will come later.
    \n\n