The art of email prospecting (or how to fill your sales pipeline)

Email prospecting means emailing potential customers who don't know you yet to start a sales conversation. To fill your sales pipeline with it, send fewer and better emails: pick a focused list of people who match your ideal customer, give each one a personal reason for writing, keep the message short and plain with one clear question, and follow up with something new. Stay within deliverability and legal rules, or your emails won't reach the inbox at all.

You can have the best product in the world, but if you can't reach your target market, you won't make sales. Email remains one of the most direct ways to do that at low cost.

What is email prospecting?

Email prospecting is the process of reaching out by email to potential customers who have not contacted you, with the goal of starting a conversation that leads to a sale. It is one part of outbound prospecting, next to phone calls and LinkedIn. Read our overview of prospecting strategies for the bigger picture.

Done badly, it is spam. Done well, it is a relevant, personal note to someone who has a problem you can solve.

Why use email instead of social media?

Social media is useful for building awareness, but email has clear strengths for prospecting:

• It is personal. An email goes to one person, and it reads like a message to them rather than a post to everyone.
• You control the message. On social platforms, an algorithm decides who sees your post. An email arrives in the recipient's inbox, as long as your deliverability is in order.
• It is low-cost. Sending email costs far less than most paid social advertising.
• It fits how businesses buy. A clear email is easy to forward to a colleague or manager who is part of the decision.

That doesn't mean you should abandon social media. The best results usually come from combining email with phone calls and a genuine LinkedIn presence.

What are the best practices for email prospecting?

Be personal

Instead of sending the same message to everyone, give each prospect a reason why you are writing to them specifically. Good reasons include a new role, a company announcement, a job opening that signals a need, a shared connection or a problem common in their industry.

Use the person's name and company, but go further than that. A first line that shows you understand their situation does more than a merge field.

Full personalization doesn't always scale. A practical middle ground is to personalize the first line for each prospect and write the rest for a segment, such as one version for finance leaders at mid-size software companies.

Keep it simple

Don't try to impress with long words and long sentences. Boomerang analysed more than 40 million emails in 2016 and found that:

• emails of 50 to 125 words got the most responses
• emails written at a 3rd grade reading level got 36 percent more responses than emails at college level
• emails that asked one to three questions were 50 percent more likely to get a response than emails with no questions

Compare these two openings:

"I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out to see if you would be interested in learning more about our product."

"Hi Sam, are you still planning to hire two SDRs this quarter? I have an idea that might help them ramp faster."

The second one is shorter, more specific and ends with a question that is easy to answer. Simple doesn't mean dumbed down. It means anyone can understand it in one read.

Choose quality over quantity

A smaller, well-chosen list beats a large, generic one. When you know exactly who you are writing to, it is easier to be personal and relevant, and fewer people mark you as spam.

Start by segmenting your prospects by industry, job title, company size or another trait that changes what they care about. Keep each email focused on one topic and one ask.

Never buy email lists. Google's sender guidelines say not to purchase email addresses from other companies, and bought lists bring bounces and spam complaints. Verify addresses before your first send. Our guide to email deliverability explains why.

Apply basic copywriting rules

The rules of good copywriting apply to prospecting emails:

• Use active voice. It is clearer and easier to read.
• Spark curiosity honestly. Hint at a useful insight, but never mislead. US law requires subject lines that match the content.
• Show social proof. A short mention of a similar customer and the result they got builds trust.
• Keep it short. Long emails are easy to ignore.

Classic copywriting books, such as David Ogilvy's, still teach the basics well. See our tips and tricks for copywriters or read about the benefits of a professional copywriting service.

Always follow up

Many replies come after a follow-up, not the first email. Prospects are busy, and your first message may simply have arrived at the wrong moment.

Be persistent without being annoying:

• space out your follow-ups, starting with a few days and growing to a week or more
• add something new each time, such as a relevant resource, a customer example or a different angle
• switch channels, for example a phone call or a personal LinkedIn message
• stop when the prospect says no or asks you to, and record it in your CRM

More follow-ups are not always better. Every unwanted email risks a spam complaint, and Google asks senders to keep their spam rate below 0.1 percent and never let it reach 0.3 percent.

Automate where it helps

Prospecting takes time, so automate the repetitive parts. Keep prospects and their status in a CRM, save your best emails as templates and use a sales engagement tool to schedule follow-ups and track replies.

Automation should save time, not replace thinking. Review every personalized line before it goes out. Be careful on LinkedIn: its help center says third-party tools that automate activity on the site violate its User Agreement and can get accounts restricted.

What rules apply to prospecting emails?

• United States: the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. You need honest headers and subject lines, a valid postal address and a clear way to opt out, honored within 10 business days.
• EU and UK: the European Commission lists an email address that identifies a person as personal data, so GDPR applies to named business contacts. National ePrivacy rules decide whether you need consent first, and they differ by country. Check the rules for each country you email.
• Mailbox providers: Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require authentication (SPF, DKIM and, for higher volumes, DMARC) and low spam complaint rates.

How do you measure email prospecting?

Track replies, positive replies and meetings booked. Don't rely on open rates: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection downloads email content in the background, so many emails count as opened even when nobody read them. Read more in our guide to email analytics for B2B campaigns.

Is email prospecting worth the effort?

Yes, when it is done with care. Email is still one of the most direct ways to start a conversation with a business buyer. A focused list, a personal reason for writing and a short, clear message will fill your pipeline with better leads than any volume play. For ready-made examples, see our guide to converting clients with cold email templates and how to pitch your business in a cold email.