11 Cold Email Templates To Sell Your Digital Marketing Services

Remember the last time you went up to a stranger and introduced yourself at a party? Started off on a slightly awkward note, no?

You had so many will-they-won't-they scenarios running through your head.

Well, running a cold email campaign can feel a lot like that. You're reaching out to a prospect you don't know, hoping to grab their attention and start a conversation. So, how do you introduce yourself in a compelling but not pushy way that gets them to actually respond? How do you craft the perfect email subject line? How do you avoid landing in their spam folder?

Here, we give digital marketers, marketing generalists, SEO specialists, social media specialists, and freelance writers uniquely crafted cold email templates they can use to do cold outreach. We also share the framework we used to create these emails so you can recreate them with your own varied parameters. 

How To Write A Great Cold Email In 4 Simple Steps

Colin runs a small full-service digital marketing agency. Like a good business owner, he spends the day pulling the many levers that his agency runs on. Like many of us, he’s frustrated because his prospects don’t ever seem to hit ‘Reply’ to his cold email pitch.

Even the best have had a mere 8.5% reply rate in Colin’s line of work.

Just like a successful sales pitch, a good cold email pitch does two things:

● empathizes with the prospect’s woes

● offers what they get out of your service 

Simply follow that strategy, and your cold email will get replies, of course, considering you’re getting all the behind-the-scenes activities right. 

Here is a step-by-step breakdown of that formula—a framework that gives any cold email the Midas touch.  

i) Start With A Subject Line They Just Can’t Ignore

A good email can make itself stand out by setting expectations for the prospect about what is in store for the recipient. Besides, 33% of the recipients open emails based on the subject line alone. But what makes for a scroll-stopping subject line?

We studied over 100k sales emails and found that subject lines that were personalized, posed as questions, and had numbers had better open rates. 

Now the important bit–how do you achieve this? Simple. By name-dropping, mentioning the prospect’s key pain points, or using relevant info you find on their LinkedIn account.

Here are some examples-

• {Tom}, This is probably why your digital marketing isn’t working
• Tired of dealing with unreliable freelancers?

ii) Personalize The Intro

What do SDRs consistently crushing their quota do? We interviewed 8 SDRs who are crushing their quotas in SaaS sales, and they suggested they typically personalize the introductions of the first cold email in their outreach campaign. Why does that work? It shows recipients that you’re not just spamming everyone in your contact list but are genuinely interested in building a relationship with them.

The opening line of your email must be a friendly greeting that instantly warms the recipient up to you. Tailor your content to the recipient's interests and preferences as a starting point. Show them you've done your homework and that you have a good sense of their business and industry. Some flattery never hurts, either.

iii) Be Clear About The ‘What’s In It For Me’?

Now comes the hero of your email—why should the recipient care about your offerings? In other words, what's in it for them?

No, we're not asking you to sing praises of the 101 amazing features of your solution. We're asking you to highlight how exactly these features will benefit your prospect. Will it increase their website traffic? Will it shorten their sales cycle? Will it help strengthen their social media presence?

Be specific. And back it up with social proof. You can also do some A/B testing with different WIIFM messages in your email sequences. 

iv) Lastly, Follow Good Email Etiquette

• Don’t Forget To Include A Call-to-action

CTAs are the heartbeat of any cold email. Think about it, what’s one of the most difficult parts of communicating with an infant? It’s not knowing what the kid wants! Be specific about the next steps or what you want them to do after reading the email; otherwise, your emails, much like a child’s plea for attention, get ignored.

• Say Goodbye To Standard Salutations

We repeat, personalization is key! Avoid generic salutations like "Dear Sir/Ma'am." Instead, address your prospects by their name. This shows you've taken the time to research the decision-maker, improving your email response rate.

• Add A Unique Email Signoff They’ll Always Remember

It's time to retire the 'best,' 'regards,' and 'sincerely' from your emails. End your email with a unique signoff that will stay in your audience’s memory.

• Keep It Simple

Keep your emails clean and professional. Thumb rule – one font only. Any number greater than that and your email looks like it’s straight out of a teenager’s slam book. Don’t use colors that are out of the ordinary, and avoid going crazy on the punctuation marks.

• Run A Grammarly Check To Avoid Silly Errors

Even the best of us sometimes miss the part where an email needs to be proofread before hitting send. To avoid the embarrassment of discovering a silly grammatical error much later, run your emails through free tools like Grammarly. 

Cold Email Examples For Different Scenarios In Digital Marketing

1) When You’re Pitching Your Full-service Digital Marketing Agency

Start with acknowledging your prospects’ challenges before you present your shiny solution.

Highlight issues with managing multiple freelancers and dealing with high employee attrition rates when your audience does digital marketing on their own. Then, dive into how your services can help them save money and scale super-fast. Be it a streamlined workflow or some impressive numbers, show them that your agency is the best bet for achieving their business goals.

Pro Tip: Link to a published case study on your website, preferably for a brand in their niche, to build more trust.

Here's a sample template for you.

Subject: This is why your marketing dollars aren’t working!

The other day, I stumbled upon an ad for your business on LinkedIn and found it quite interesting. 

But you know what I noticed? Your website took forever to load. As a 
digital marketing expert, I assume there might be an issue with your 
image optimization or your website’s code.

Having worked with plenty of small businesses, I understand how running a marketing ship, especially with a 3-person team, can be like. 

Given the stage you’re at in your business, do you think it’s time to invest in SEO to grow your organic reach so you can be less reliant on paid media in the coming months? 

We’ve helped Client #1 achieved 35% landing page conversion rates from demand capture sources. Client #2 achieved a 10% jump in sign-ups after we helped optimize the home page, pop-ups and banners.

Interested to know where we could help? 

Have a great day,
[Your name]

2) When You’re Pitching SEO Services

a) Pitching Website Audits

Ask a business where they’d like to rank and hear them quip, “The first page on Google!”, then take a look at their website and realize why that isn’t the case.

Start with building a connection and then shine some light on your agency. 

Here's a cold email template to help you out.

Subject: SERP ranking troubles?
 
Hi [Name],
 
I know you’re scratching your head, wondering why your blog is just not ranking on the most coveted first page on the internet.

Short answer: Something’s missing in your SEO efforts. 
Long answer: We run audits on websites to spot the missing culprit. 

For small businesses, it’s mostly because of its inconsistent XML sitemaps or broken links and redirect chains. 

Client #1, Client #2, and Client #3 were all able to rank their blogs on page 1 of SERP within a month’s time and were able to boost conversion rates by up to at least 10%.

Interested in finding out what’s stopping you from reaching the SERPs?

 
Warmly,
[Your Name]

b) Asking For Backlinks

"You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" doesn't work for quality backlinks. Like referrals, they depend on your product or service quality and work best only if you have a similar audience. This is why sourcing them can be something of a struggle.

That said, when you find a website that fits the bill, you only need to ask nicely!

Subject: Request for a backlink to [Your website's name]
 
Hi [Recipient's Name],
 
I came across your website through this blog [link to the blog you like from their website] and was impressed by the quality of your content.
 
As a fellow [topic] enthusiast, I wanted to reach out to ask if you'd be willing to include a link to my website [your website name] in one of your upcoming blog posts. I believe we share a similar audience, and your readers would benefit from the content we share.
 
In return, I'd happily include a link to your website in our upcoming blog post. This will be a great opportunity to build a strong relationship in the [topic] community. You can also check out my LinkedIn profile for more information.
 
Maybe we can get on a quick phone call next week?
 

[Your Name]

c) Pitching Website And Blog Content

When cold emailing your prospects to pitch your website and blog content services, don't just focus on the skilled storyteller, weaving out-of-the-world narratives and content-creator-extraordinaire bits.

In short, don't focus on yourself. Instead, focus on the prospect, their challenges, and how you can change their life in your first email, instead of the hard sell.

Here's a template to get started.

Subject: We love [Company] blog! Let’s make it even better
 
Hey [Name],
 
I read your recent blog on [blog topic you liked] and was very impressed with the insights, particularly [add at least three key insights you gained from the blog].
 
Don’t you think your content could use some spark to connect with your audience and drive lead generation? Let me prove it to you.
 
Reply to this email with the most boring topic you can think of in your niche, and let me take a shot at spicing it up for you. No strings attached.

Hit reply, and let's begin a partnership.
 
Have an awesome day!
[Your Name]

d) Metadata Assessment

The guest list to a high-profile party is what meta-data is to a web page. While the guest list helps the party organizer vet entrants, metadata helps Google vet a website’s suitability for ranking. 

Many companies fail to make sense of how badly they need a metadata assessment to rank well. Here’s how you can convince them to pay attention.

Subject: Your content is like a library without a catalog. Reach your audience with metadata
  
I have been an active subscriber of your blog for [number of years you have subscribed to their content]. So, when I didn't see your blog post rank #1 for [insert search term], I was surprised. I'm guessing this is because some metadata is missing from your website.

Your site metadata is the key to ensuring your audience can easily find what they're looking for on SERP, and a thorough metadata assessment can help you discover what is lacking. I’ve done such assessments for Client #1, Client #2 and many more. 
 
Want to chat about why metadata is one of the #1 ranking factors?

Hope you have a fantastic evening!
[Your Name]

3) When You’re Offering End-to-End SEO Services

Sites that rank well, do so on the back of a solid SEO strategy. Even so, few companies recognize it, and fewer still want to outsource SEO to a third-party service provider. The reasoning is simple– ”we (the client) know what's best for our business." Additionally, Semrush's content marketing report suggests that only 26% of companies outsource SEO services.

How to get them to pay attention to you? Position yourself as an expert, and you want what’s best for them. Pro-tip: Adding a dash of flattery can do wonders for your pitch!

Subject: Does your website need some love?
 
Hey [Name],
 
Your blog on [link a niche topic] was super helpful and had all the 
information I was looking for. It actually helped me resolve [pain point related to the blog].
 
But even though it was packed with value, I was surprised to see it didn't rank on Google's top search results. I can't help but wonder about the traffic it could generate had it been optimized for SEO.
 
Here are some tips that I believe will help you-

-Run a hygiene check on your blogs. Delete the ones that are no longer relevant to your website.
-Update your existing content. Add an FAQ section and relevant resources.
-Optimize images and use caching to reduce page load time.

Worth a chat? Let me know if you're interested. 

Waiting to take your SEO game to the next level,
[Name]

4) When You’re Offering Video Marketing Services

Video content tends to stick with audiences, and 45% of marketers, surveyed by Semrush agree with it. After all, it is easy to consume, tell a story, and work wonders for your SEO.

But how do you convince your prospects to give it a go? Well, this email template can help you with it.

Subject: Want to create clean, useful SaaS product videos?
 
Hi [Name],

Video content improves the success of your content marketing campaigns by 40%. So why not give it a shot? {Competitor X}, {Competitor Y} are repurposing many of their TOFU blogs to rank faster on SERP and drive traffic from social. 

Is now a good time for {their company} to explore this?
 
Have a great day.
[Your Name]

5) When You’re Offering Google Ads/PPC Optimization Services

Google ads or PPC are sure-shot ways to attract qualified leads and reach them at the right moment—when they're searching for products or services like yours. Plus, with expert optimization, businesses can maximize their ROI and generate the most bang for their buck.

Your cold email must convince your prospect of this. 

Here is how you assure them that you'll impact their bottom line and help them meet their business development objectives on the back of a tried-and-tested advertising strategy. 

Subject: Quick question. Do you want to get your business on the first page of Google search?
 
Hey [Name],
 
Are you annoyed to see your competitors ahead of you on Google? With a paid ads strategy, you can now be at the top of the search results and attract more customers to your business.
 
45% of small businesses have already recognized the benefits of such ads and have a paid ads strategy in place. You can create yours with our help.
 
Interested in learning more?
 
Have a great day.
[Your Name]

6) When You’re Proposing CRO

Businesses with a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategy are able to convert their existing traffic to actual revenue. But how do you convince a business that doesn’t know a hoot about conversion rate optimization to invest in it?

Well, you can start by focusing on the behavioral and psychological roadblocks that prevent their customers from converting. 

Subject: 2x your landing page conversions with this 1 tweak
 
Hey [Name],
 
What's worse than running a website that doesn't convert? Running a website that could convert but doesn't.
 
The good news is there's a fix—conversion rate optimization. With this 1 tweak, you can unlock your landing page’s hidden potential and see conversion rates soar. We've helped many in the [your customer's niche] space improve theirs. 

Here are a few case studies for your reference

{link to case study #1}
{link to case study #2}
 
Reply to know what change we’d suggest you make on your landing page. 
 
Have a great day.
[Your Name]

P.S. If you don’t have case studies? Fret not! Customer testimonials or screenshots of CRO percentage increases can be great alternatives.

7) When You’re Pitching Social Media Marketing

Here's the bitter truth—you're not the only person offering social media marketing services in your prospect’s inboxes. To stand out, you need a catchy cold email that convinces your prospect that you're reliable and can drive results.

So, when crafting your cold email, prioritize conversations over conversions. Here's a template to help you sail toward success.

Subject: Your social media game needs a little pizzazz!
 
Hello [Name],
 
Do you feel like your posts are just shouting into the void, with no engagement or interest from your audience?
 
You need the right strategy to create content that engages your audience and drives traffic to your website.
 
Whether it's mouth-watering photos, tantalizing captions, or a pinch of humor, your social media pages will be the talk of the town.
 
Sounds interesting? Let's chat about how we can whip up something delicious for your business. No need to bring your apron–I've got you covered.

Here’s my portfolio—for LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. Grids included. 
 
Bon appétit!
[Your Name]

8) When You’re Offering Content Marketing Services As A Freelancer

The world of content marketing is booming. Yet, according to the Semrush report, 38% of marketers find it difficult to create consistently and find relevant resources for it. Another 19% struggle with hiring highly qualified content marketing talent. This is your cue to craft a killer pitch and address the challenges of these brands.

If you're a freelancer looking to pitch your writing skills, here's a cold email outreach template that will help you bag the gig and will improve your reply rate by a mile.

Subject: Need a wordsmith? I'm your guy/gal!

Hi there [Recipient’s name],

I'm [Your name], a freelance content marketing expert who has helped brands like [add a few names of brands you've worked with] increase their traffic by X%.

If you're looking for something similar to amp up your content marketing, I'm your person.

Here's my portfolio [insert link].

Are you interested?

Warmest, 
[Your Name]

Signing Off With General Cold Outreach Tips:

• Verify Your Prospect Email List

If you’ve downloaded your email list from some website, which is very likely, ensure that the email addresses are valid and that the prospects fit your ICP criteria. Use an email validation tool to remove invalid email addresses, doing so will ensure you don’t suffer a lot of bounces. The more bounces you get, the higher your chances of meeting the spam filter. 

• Don’t Be Spammy

The difference in the way one writes email marketing copies and B2B sales emails are as stark as the squares on a chessboard. Think of cold outreaching a simple conversation you have with a new colleague. You don’t want to use cheap tactics to win their respect, you simply let your work do the talk. Same way, showcase how you can be a reliable resource to your prospects. 

Don’t use different colored emails, out-of-the-box fonts, clickbait subject lines, or too many links in a bid to get your prospect’s attention. 

• Have A Well-defined Target Audience

A target audience is a huge cohort of people spanning different markets and geographies. There’s a lot of filtering you’ll have to do if you’re targeting such a large group. If you’re reaching out to offer your digital marketing services, we suggest you create ICPs.

Built a solid list of prospects who match your Ideal Customer Profile. What’s an ICP? Think of your 5 best customers. Create a profile of a person who has all the characteristics of your 5 best customers, et voila! You have your ICP. Build a list of ICPs and send them your cold outreach, you’ll see better open, CTR, and response rates. 

In Short

The act of cold emailing prospects might look more comfortable than selling a product door to door. But the fact that you're in your sweats doesn't make it any easier.

After all, a dozen salespeople are lined up in your prospect's inbox, using one gimmicky tactic after the next to make themselves seen.

Opening your email conversation with empathy and leading with authenticity and proof of expertise can help you stand out. The above-personalized email templates are just one way to make it easier.

FAQs