Cold Email Structure - The Context Model

1. Subject Lines

• Salesloft data across thousands of emails show 4 words max is best
• All lower case
• Create curiosity without giving anything away
• Make it sounds as you know the personally

2. Context

• Recent job change
• Recent promotion
• Using a tool that you integrate with
• 1st-degree connections of your Exec team
• Previously worked for one of your customers
• You have a customer in a niche industry that they’re in
• Recent headcount growth in the department you sell to
• Previous account history (maybe you spoke with someone else there last week or have a previously lost opp with that account).
• Literally, anything to get their attention (within reason). I once tried, “Saw you were an SDR back in the day so maybe you can let me know how good my cold email is? :)” and it set a meeting.
• Were just added to linkedin

3. Value Proposition

Trigger: Recent department growth

→ Value Prop: as your sales team scales, are you considering {{XYZ}} tools to make sure the process keeps up? {{social proof}} was in a similar stage of growth when we helped them achieve {{problem}} with {{solution}}.

Trigger: Recent job change

→ Value Prop: Curious if you’ve evaluated the {{XYZ}} process since joining {{company}}? We worked with {{social proof}} to help them achieve {{problem}} with {{solution}}.

4. Call To Action

Data shows that interest-based CTAs (as opposed to Specific CTAs like, “do you have time at 3 pm on Friday?”) get, by far, the highest reply/booking rates.

9 times out of 10 they’re not responding because of your CTA. It’s the rest of the email that got them to respond.

(Optional) PS

If you’ve found something to personalise but can’t figure out how to tie it into your value prop, no stress. Just throw it in a P.S. It “humanises” the email.