10
14 Comments

15 Cold email examples to sell your services

While the dream of most Indiehackers is to create a product with recurring revenue, services are often the easiest way to get the ball rolling. Also, there are many IHers who are operating full-time service-based businesses. But selling these services can be a tough job and you can't always rely on inbound/referrals.

Cold emails, done right, can definitely help.

I've been compiling cold email templates for a new project and came across some interesting ones. The examples are specific to services and can be used to start conversations from scratch.

Hope this is useful!

Web Design:

credit:grade.us

credit:lemlist.com
credit:jake-jorgovan.com
credit:lemlist.com

SEO:

credit:thehoth.com
credit:grade.us

Content Services:

credit:ryrob.com
credit:grade.us
credit:copyhackers.com
credit:hubspot.com

Others:

credit:videofruit.com
credit:mailshake.com
credit:hubspot.com
credit:grade.us
credit:nutshell.com
credit:@blackhatwizardd

  1. 3

    This is a great roundup @akhilmk, and I'm sure folks could pull a lot of great inspiration from the personalized, solution-focused nature of these examples. However, as a copywriter, I semi-agree with the commenter who said "ignore copywriters" lol. In my experience with cold outreach, the initial email isn't the place for a full Problem-Agitation-Solution pitch. They're the place to spark initial interest. The shortest, most personal emails are the most effective in my experience!

    1. 1

      That's an interesting perspective coming from a copywriter Anna. Appreciate it!

      Personally, I had some success with shorter ones and also with ones such as this: www.indiehackers.com/post/an-indiehackers-sales-case-study-209e23c496

      As others rightly pointed out, some of the examples here are lengthy and salesy. 
      But even if the copy doesn't work, it's helpful to understand how some of these emails offer value before asking and also find different angles to pitch.

      1. 1

        Oh wow, yeah your email to Brendan is awesome! Thanks for sharing that link. Agree that there are different angles and mileage may vary :)

  2. 2

    Gotta agree with @watus on this one. I think people forget that cold email is for PROSPECTING, not selling. Lemlist featured one of my prospecting campaigns on their site which has worked really, really well for us.

    You can check it out here: https://www.lemlist.com/lotw/lachlan-fea

    In short, I'd say:

    • Keep it brief. Really brief.

    • Make it personal and relevant to them. People get hundreds of spam emails every day. Stand out and show you care about your prospects, and that what you're about to pitch them is actually useful.

    • Quick value proposition.

    • Show a couple of similar companies you've worked with.

    • Ask to send through more info. This is a frictionless ask; they're not committing to anything, but they're open to learning more.

    Oh, also, have a GOOD list. Better to send to 50 qualified leads than 1000 junk ones.

    1. 1

      That's an interesting example @realfeal and a helpful breakdown.

      Agree that some of them are a bit too salesy and way too long. But I'd like to mention the script wasn't meant to be the major focus for this particular post but the framework and angles were.

      Personally, I'd prefer to be brief and stick to a framework similar to yours, but it's important to explore other angles as well depending on the use case.

      For example, if it's a niche with tight competition, highlighting a competitor would be the best way to grab a prospect's attention. Or if it's based on a trigger event( company announcement, executive change, etc) then leading with the topic might be.

      1. 2

        Good insight :) I think you're right. There's no perfect email; it's all contextual. I think the best trick is just not to sound like a salesperson, haha.

  3. 2

    gonna have to play devil's advocate on this one, most of these are pretty weak, either extremely salesy or I can smell their marketing breath from here.

    1. 1

      I may not use most of these scripts as a whole but carefully study the angles to craft my own.

      For example, a personalized offering, citing previous work in a similar domain, including competition benchmark, and such.

      But even if someone uses these as templates with enough personalization (with some of the above-mentioned pointers, not just merge fields)I'd feel obliged to reply. Sadly the bar for a good cold email is set too low!

  4. 1

    Hi Sean,

    A quick follow up to check if you had the chance to review my previous email.

    Let me know if we can get on a quick chat to discuss more on our offerings.

    Awaiting your response.

    Regards,
    Dan

    1. 1

      I don't think this email ever works.

      If I didn't care about your first email, I certainly won't care about your 2nd and this is not interesting enough for me to even look back at your first.

      If you're cold emailing every email must provide some level of additional value, build rapport, better explain who you are / what you solve.

  5. 0

    Wrong, wrong, wrong -
    Contact folks with cold email. Try to start a conversation.
    Never sell to them before there is trust in the relationship.
    A conversation can lead to trust. Without a conversation, any attempt at a CTA, will just end your chances.
    So far we have experience with 47,000 cold out reach emails.
    If you work with a tool, that can't space your outgoing by variable time, you will fail.
    If you work with a tool, that can't insert variable text in the subject or body every three emails, you will fail.
    If you can't inbox successfully you will fail.
    Don't listen to copywriters and their wisdom.
    All you need is a conversation to start. Everyone you contact will respond to different tests. Or not at all.
    Drip email tools are obsolete, because the industry does not want one direction promotions. You will be frustrated.
    Opt-in is a fallacy, since a recipient is never acknowledged opt-in by yahoo, outlook or gmail servers.
    Think conversations.
    Contact me

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments