Whether you like it or not, there is both art and science in learning the writing a cold email that converts predictably new customers.

Today we are going to talk about both. And we'll be using the cold email templates and case study examples that made my freelancing side business a huge income last year.

However, while I would love to tell you that there is a clear, easy to follow, copy and paste formula for writing a cold email that brings you new deals every time, the reality is not so simple. That being said, it's incredibly helpful to start with a cold email template and pitch process that's been honed over five years and hundreds of pitches from real-world freelancers.

In this post, I'll show you real cold emails that led to life-changing deals at my business. Content marketing freelance. Perfecting my cold email outreach process has done a lot for my freelance business – which is primarily based on writing and promoting high-quality blog content for my clients.

One of the cold emails we are reviewing converted into a deal for 2 articles per month, which continued for ten months. Another has resulted in a contract for 7 blog posts so far. And the last one we're going to look at got me a contract for 4 articles a month.

This process of writing cold emails has generated multiple freelance contracts for me from numerous companies.

But here's the truth about freelancing: Success is never guaranteed.

And you can't compare where you are today in your freelance journey with that of others. I will be the first to tell you that it took me a long time to get where I am today. And believe me, I still often get refused offers.

There will be good times when you are overworked and turning down new clients right and left. And yet, there will be other times when you'll be tempted to accept whatever comes your way – or you'll spend most of your days prospecting for new projects.

In my experience, it takes a lot of hard work and hard work to hit the six figure mark as a freelancer. Especially if, like me, you are risk averse and want to get there before you quit your job.

If you're not careful, it's easy to slip into a feast or starve cycle. But if you have a high-converting cold email template and a process for introducing new customers, you can stay busy — with the right kind of customers — all year long.

As you do good work for your clients, start getting referrals, and build a reputation in your niche, you'll be able to move further and further away from the need to check in regularly. long stretches of time sending cold emails and introducing new clients.

Good clients and solid projects will start coming to you.

For now, let's talk about cold emailing and look at the cold email templates I've tested and improved on for years. That's what you're here for, right?

5 Steps to Writing Cold Email Templates That Convert

We'll cover both components of learning how to write a cold email that converts – the art and the science.

First of all, theArticle.

The art of writing a cold email that converts.

Even the best cold email won't get you a response if you're reaching out to the wrong type of customer or a point of contact that doesn't have the authority to take action to engage you.

Context is everything when introducing yourself to new clients as a freelancer, especially in the case of an unsolicited message.

1. Identify the right customers.

If the majority of your experience is writing about finance or real estate, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for you to offer your freelance writing services to a company in the healthcare industry.

The same goes for designers. If your style favors flat design, motivational quotes about hard work, and retro color schemes, you probably won't appreciate working with stuffy, well-established brands that don't intend to bring in their brand image in the 21st century.

Choose to approach only clients you imagine yourself working with.

If you're not in tune with their brand, style and tone, forget it. You will be able to do better work elsewhere. And they will have everything to gain by hiring someone else.

Equally important is choosing the right client to introduce yourself to and making sure you're a match for them.

Too few freelancers think about it.

But even when you think about it, it can be quite difficult to judge, right?

Answer these questions when vetting a prospect to make sure they're the right customer for you (and you'll be right for them):

• What makes you uniquely qualified to help this particular client?
• Have you done similar work in the past?
• Does the prospect of working with this client excite you or is it a purely financial decision?

As part of my activity Content marketing as a freelancer, I present myself in a very thoughtful way in order to attract a certain type of client.

I'm not a marketing consultant for anyone who wants to hire me. I've drawn on my experience over the years, developed my own marketing tactics, and found a very specific set of clients that only I can help – where my services are overpriced.

This led me to position myself specifically as a consultant in Content marketing, a small niche in the broader marketing world.

Also, I only work with experts from the corporate world and growing startups, where I can write about topics related to business, freelancing, productivity, and entrepreneurship (which I'm already doing here and the initial motivation for start a blog, and what I have been doing for years). It's only recently that I learned how to make money blogging through passive sources that don't require as much freelancing work.

I also clearly highlight the clients I have worked with, in order to encourage the same to want to work with me. For many reasons, choose a niche is one of the best decisions you can make as a freelancer.

Here is the logic behind choosing a niche.

Let's say you're a coffee shop owner and you're looking to hire someone to help you spruce up your image, create new visuals, a new logo and marketing materials… and you have two different options to choose from: freelancers who say they can help you.

Freelancer #1 is a generalist. He has a lot of experience managing marketing campaigns, knows how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, has created a few logos over the year, and does his personal website design mostly for fun, but you love his style.

Freelancer #2 is a specialist (with a well-defined niche). He is self-employed as a full-time graphic designer and has worked on the branding of several cafes over the years. His style appeals to you just as much, and you can tell he has plenty of experience in the kind of work you need.

Which freelancer would you choose?

Any day of the week, I would take freelance #2. The specialist.

I will also pay him a lot more, because I know that I call on his expertise.

In your freelance business, you want to portray yourself as that expert with a niche. Make you the obvious choice. This is the first step to ensuring your cold emails are answered.

Now you're ready to start looking for freelance clients.

Start with people you know.

While I love cold emails, warm introductions are definitely more effective, so start there.

First look at these groups of people within your network to determine if there are freelancing opportunities with those who already know your work ethic, are personally invested in their relationship with you, and want to see you succeed:

• Friends (and their friends)
• Family (and friends)
• Former work colleagues who now work elsewhere
• Classmates

Regardless of your contact's exact role at the company they work for, if that company can allow you to offer freelance work, that's a great opportunity.

Pick up the phone to chat, grab a coffee, and ask if they'd be willing to introduce you to the right person within their Organisation to discuss possible freelance work.

At the very least, walk out of those conversations with the name of the person you should be contacting — and then you can use the magic of cold email.

Once you've exhausted your network, check out these quality freelance job sites.

Personally, I never advise freelancers to set up on big sites like Upwork ou Freelancer.

Sure, you can find success stories of freelancers earning six figures on these platforms (usually promoted by these companies), but that's the extreme exception. Compared to the number of freelancers you'll be competing with on price, hardly anyone makes a living wage on these sites.

The reality is that most people looking for freelance help on these sites are really shitty clients to work for.

It's the fast track to being treated like a commodity.

You're here because you want to land better-paying contracts – not $25 to find jobs. blog post ideas and write them… or $10 for new logos.

While I think it's generally okay to do inexpensive (or free) jobs in the very first few days to gain experience and build a portfolio, you should start charging as soon as possible. It also needs to be viable from day one, and then as you grow you can keep increasing your prices.

You're worth more than a $25 blog post or a $10 logo, and you should charge for the value you provide.

So what are the websites that find quality freelance clients who will pay you what you deserve? Start with these options:

• Angel List
• Toptal
• Coroflot (designers)
• Authentic Jobs
• Indeed
• Hacker News

When sifting through opportunities, I recommend creating a google spreadsheet to add and follow interesting posts. Keep updating the status of your blogger outreach efforts so you can see the effectiveness of your cold email approach over time.

Important: Before applying for any of these opportunities directly on job boards, pause here. If you hit the apply button and upload your LinkedIn profile, you become just another drop in the ocean – that's not how you'll get noticed.

Instead, let's talk about how to get your cold email straight to the decision maker.

2. Find your ideal point of contact.

When I'm trying to land a new client, I don't want to spend time convincing a member of the company's HR or recruiting team that I'm the best for the job – I go directly to the person who will have control over the hiring decision.

Sure, HR gatekeepers probably have criteria they know how to look for, but that leaves too much to chance.

I want to email someone who speaks my language.

As a content marketer (or freelance writer), my ideal point of contact in a potential client company usually has one of these job titles:

• Content Marketing Director
• Content Marketing Manager
• Senior Content Marketing Manager
• Marketing Director
• Blog manager/editor
• Vice President of Content Marketing

You must opt ​​for a point of contact at the management level. The type of person who will have a say in hiring contractors for your discipline.

If you're a freelance designer, you'll probably be looking to connect with a creative director. If you're an independent developer, your ideal point of contact will likely be an engineering manager.

Sometimes, if you can't find the director's point of contact, making a first (authentic) contact with a copywriter – or a designer, an engineer – can lead to an introduction up the chain to their manager if you are able to add significant value in your approach email.

The important thing is to skip the application and opt for a direct connection with real people.

Use LinkedIn to find your ideal point of contact.

Open a new tab and go to LinkedIn.

In the main search bar, type the job title you want to connect to – choose to show results for people with that job title or skill.

Then, you can filter those results by only looking for people with that job or skill set at the company you're targeting, by entering that company's name in the " Current company“. Your results will then be hyper specific.

If I want to find Trello as a content marketing client, my search will look like this:

Naturally, this works best for companies of a certain size.

If they are smaller, you may not immediately find a very clear point of contact. The same goes for medium-sized businesses that have dozens of potential touchpoints.

Make your best guess and keep moving forward rather than getting stuck or spending more than 5 minutes at this point.

3. Get their email address.

Now that you have the name of your ideal point of contact, let's get their email address.

Get started by signing up for an account Hunter free – which in my experience is the best (free) tool for quickly finding accurate email addresses today. You'll get 50 free searches per month, which is more than enough if you send carefully curated prospecting emails and maintain a high response rate.

Once you type in the company website of the person you're trying to send a cold email to, you'll get a list of all the email addresses in that company's Hunter database.

Filter the results by typing in your target prospect's first and last name, and nine times out of ten, you'll instantly get exactly the person you're looking for. For example :

Even if your prospect is not 100% verified in the database Hunter, their tool will analyze the main email address formats used in the business and give you a recommendation as to the person's most likely email address, which will help you continue your cold email campaign.

In case Hunter doesn't give you a clear cut result, here are the five email address naming conventions most used by businesses today:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]

In almost every scenario, you'll get your prospect's email address within a minute of searching Hunter or testing these formats. If Hunter doesn't return any results for your search, I highly recommend trying one of these other top tools:

• Prospect.io
• Voila Norbert

If you still can't verify their email address with these tools, find them on Twitter to see if they have contact information (or follow a link to their personal blog which might contain their contact information).

When these tools don't provide much information, I use a fallback method: I hover my cursor over the email address and see if a Google Plus account is associated with that address.

Once you have your target email address, you are ready to craft your cold email and come up with a winning proposition.

The science of writing a cold email template that converts.

You are always with me ?

Now that we're on the same page, here's where you need to be before you even start writing the actual cold email:

1. I'm sure the company I'm talking to could use my freelance services (and it looks like they might need it now).
2. I found the person who seems to be the right point of contact, a decision-maker for hiring freelancers in my department.
3. I have his email address.

But before you jump into sending cold emails, you need to set sales goals to know what exactly you hope to achieve with your cold email approach. Will you stop once you land your first client? The second ? The fifth ? The tenth ?

Know how much work you can take on before you overload yourself.

Then we can talk about what the perfect cold email should contain to land a freelance client, starting with an example.

4. Choosing your cold email template and outreach approach.

Let's start at the beginning: As a freelancer, you need to use the tools you have and not make excuses for why you can't land a particular client. If you go above and beyond to wow a client you really want to work with, you can do it. It's in your power.

For me, long before I became a contributor on many sites, which have since helped me increase my visibility, I was using my blog as my most powerful asset to land freelance contracts. I leveraged my marketing skills in a way that I could present them as real-life examples on the internet, as blog posts, online blogging courses, e-books, publishing my own books on blogging, etc.

Cold email template #1: “Your article on my blog”.

This first cold email template, designed specifically for influencers and startup founders, revolves around using my blog as a way to provide value before asking for something in return.

Here's how the process works:

1. Ask for a quote to include in an upcoming article they want to comment on.
2. Publish my blog post with their citation(), promote it and their bring traffic.
3. Reconnect with them to update them and thank them for contributing to the article.
4. Highlight early successes in this email (number of social shares, traffic, articles in posts).

At this point, some will ask me outright if I can help them create this type of content for their blog – often because titles of my blog posts will resonate with their readers. In other cases, I will have to introduce them to my content marketing services (like developing and implementing a content marketing strategy) if they don't tell them about it themselves.

It's not always a good fit for everyone I reach out to, but since I've already delivered value AND basically given them a real-time demo of my services through the article in which they are included, my conversion rate into a paid customer relationship with this method is extremely high.

This cold email template looks like this, with customizations for each person I contact…

*Important : Never send copy-and-paste cold email templates to high-value potential customers. They know how to recognize a cold email template when they see it (hint: I always know this), and it's worth spending 3 minutes researching to make a more memorable impression.

And if you decide to use a tool that helps automate and scale your cold email campaign, I invite you to check out my favorite tools:

• list : This cold emailing tool is unique in its ability to help you automate and personalize your emails on a large scale thanks to its technology that allows you to insert and overlay screenshots, images or logos images in your emails – adding that much-needed personal touch without sacrificing the ability to send emails at scale.
• Woodpecker : This tool features a unique delivery process that allows you to automatically send cold emails to a mailing list, while making them look like they are coming one at a time (as if you were manually sending them yourself ).

Now, here is my first cold email template:

No promotional links.

No service locations.

Don't ask if they are hiring.

You must be patient at this stage. Your goal is to provide value and show your value.

By doing this premier, instead of just making promises of the value you can bring in the future, you'll earn their trust and get their attention in a way that's very different from the 99% of other freelancers who send cold emails and pitch them to get hired.

It sounds simple, but hardly anyone has the patience to execute this kind of deep sell strategy. That's why many freelancers waste a lot of time writing cold emails that get no response, largely because they're too short-sighted.

Sure, it can take weeks to turn into a paid contract — and sometimes it never will — but freelancers who take my course to learn how to pitch their offers effectively are seeing massively positive results by following this strategy.

Cold Email Template #2: Warming up the “Referral”.

What's better than sending a cold email? Well…send a hot one.

Compared to the first cold email template we discussed, this warm intro strategy typically converts much faster.

It's straight to the point and doesn't rely on getting a quote first, publish a blog post Or other.

I use it when I approach a company that is a little bigger and doesn't have a figurehead that it would be reasonable for me to get in touch with individually by emailing them.

This cold email template is for directors and content marketers, not founders.

But first, you have to establish contact with another freelancer, a contractor or an employee of the company. This is why this process is particularly interesting for freelance writers when the company obviously has many collaborators who write for it on a contractual basis.

Here's how the process works:

1. Tag a current freelancer/contractor of the company and share a recent piece of their work.
2. Send an email complimenting their work and letting them know about the social share.
3. Ask the right person to contact you so you can work with them.
4. Send a cold, warm email to the decision maker referencing your recommendation of the current freelancer.

Once you've established your referral connection, this cold email template (to your target company's point of contact) looks like this…

Subject (dropdown menu) : Contribute to [Company Name] ([Login] referral)

message body : Hello [First name],

I've loved the [relevant (true) work-based supplement in your discipline] coming out of [Company Name] over the past few months, especially the recent [relevant article, design, rebrand, feature, update day and a quick note showing that you watched it].

One of my acquaintances, [name of person], contributes to the site of [name of company] and recommended that I contact you to see if I could contribute. For now, I'm typically [one sentence about the services you offer and the niche they're in, clearly showing you're a good potential candidate for them].

(If possible, add an additional sentence to highlight your relevant past work or to build credibility in the industry).

Let me know if you're interested and I'll be happy to come up with some ideas for a [deliverable] that we can test!

[Your name]

Again, little self-promotion.

Just enough to inspire confidence and show you're relevant.

The purpose of this email is to make your decision maker want to work with you.

Cold email template #3: the direct approach.

The third (and final) cold email template we're going to detail in this post (which has helped me land many home-based jobs as a freelancer) is much more direct than the previous two.

Due to its direct nature, it is, in my experience, somewhat more likely to be turned down or go unanswered if there is no immediate need (or interest) internally in the business. .

However, this cold email always provides real and immediate value.

So do all the homework to make sure you're talking to the right company, identify the contact of the decision maker, and find their email address before you even start sending the actual cold email.

Here's how the process works:

Objectt: [Company name] [Service] (and mention)

message body : Hello [First name],

I wanted to contact you and let you know that I have loved [your service] from [company name] for the past few months. I know how to appreciate a good [your service support] when I see it 🙂 …

I just shared your recent [article, project, design, rebranding work, app, etc] on [xyz] with my audience on Twitter and also mentioned the platform as a great resource in one of my recent articles blog post [link] and in my high-traffic blogging courses.

The other reason I'm reaching out to you is that a lot of my business involves working with brands like [reference any relevant past clients or even full-time jobs] and others to help grow [your main service offer].

Would you be willing to discuss [company name]'s [core service offering] or connect me with another member of your team if that's more convenient for you?

[Your name]

PS Here's where you can read more [link to portfolio page if possible] about my process and the clients I've worked with.

Of all the cold emails, this one is the heaviest on self-promotion — in the context of building your authority with this potential client.

It also directly invites them to work together in your first email.

Again, the goal is to get in front of the right decision maker and get a phone call so you can really pitch them more effectively on your services.

Overall, of the ~100 types of cold emails I've sent, 10-15 have resulted in deals within a month of first contact. These cold emails also require a more practical follow-up.

But what's really great about this approach is that you're now on their radar. Even if you don't immediately do a concert, you have the ability to stay on top over time.

I always keep track of my freelance leads who seem interested – but for one reason or another don't match when the time is right – and I continue to promote their content on my social media (for free), stay in touch and these contacts often result in contracts over the course of months or even years.

5. (Smart) tracking of your cold email.

Here's another hard truth about freelancing: You have to fight to be noticed. And just having the right email template isn't enough to capture your prospects' attention.

This is because everyone you talk to is very busy.

If I never followed up on my cold emails (especially at the start of my freelance business), I wouldn't stay busy.

But there's a fine line between being that annoying person who sends follow-up emails every other day and allowing yourself to justify not following up just because you haven't heard back yet.

You have to find a balance and add value when you follow up, don't just ask the same question to your prospects every time you follow up with them.

My philosophy is simple. I raise as many times as necessary until I get an answer. I don't care what the answer is, as long as I get one. If someone tells me they need an extra 14 days to get back to me, I put it in my calendar and get back to them in 14 days.

What about when you send your cold email and you don't get a response for a few days?

Here's exactly what you should follow, based on what works well for me.

Follow up with a varied approach every 3-4 business days.

These are working days that we talk about in this calendar. I don't recommend following up over the weekend, as your email will usually be buried in their inbox and less likely to catch their attention on Monday morning.

Important : Before you follow up on your cold emails, make sure you haven't misspelled their email address, sent your email to the wrong person, or sent your email to an account that is no longer active. Verify that your target contact is still working there.

Day 0: Sending a cold email.

Day 1: No response.

Day 2: No response.

Day 3: First follow-up. Send a very brief email to your original thread (mentioning the reply) like below.

Hey [First Name],

I have been thinking about [your service] from [company name] over the past few days and would always love to connect with you when you have a moment. Would you be available to chat for a few minutes this week about your [your service] efforts?

[Your name]

Day 4: No response.

Day 5: No response.

Day 6: No response.

Day 7: Second follow-up. To keep it brief, this time asking yourself if there is a better touchpoint to hit.

Hey [ First name ],

I know you must be very busy, but is there anyone else on your team I could contact to discuss [your department]?

[ Your name ]

Day 8: No response.

Day 9: No response.

Day 10: No response.

Day 11: Third follow-up. This time, I'm going to send my follow-up email to another person who looks like a potential decision maker on the marketing team for this company. Here's what that new email looks like:

Subject: Re: How [company name] works on my blog

Hi [First Name],

I reached out to [name of first person you cold emailed] last week to let them know that I had [shared, featured, mentioned something relevant] on my blog and social media. I never heard back and I guess she's just really busy right now.

Would you happen to know if there is someone in your team that I could contact for collaborations with [your department]?

[Your name]

Day 12: No response.

Day 13: No response.

Day 14: No response.

Day 15: Fourth follow-up. This email is in the same format as our second follow-up email, this time to the new person you are talking to.

At this point, you will have sent 3 emails to your initial contact and 2 to your secondary target.

Personally, I usually choose to slow things down considerably. When you have been trying to make contact for more than two weeks without result (which is very rare). Nine times out of ten you will get at least one no at this point.

I'm going to take a break here and wait two full weeks before reconnecting with the two people I contacted.

Keep track of these emails in your inbox.

In addition to tracking the status of my prospects in a Google spreadsheet, I also use the Gmail inbox to put on hold cold emails sent immediately after sending them, in case I don't get a response.

This way they will resurface at the top of my inbox after the number of days I set for them to reappear.

During all of these follow-ups, I'm also moving on to other opportunities and getting deals through other conversations and cold emails while this company is on the back burner.

If it's a particularly great prospect, I'll continue to feature them in my content, share their work on social media, and check in every couple weeks or so to see if I catch them at the right time.

Every time I feature them in a blog post or share their content with social media, I get a another reason to contact them and show them the value I bring to them.

I never stop doing follow-ups, but the intervals between each follow-up are starting to stretch out over time.

Do you have an effective cold email template to share with us?

Comment below, pasting your cold email template – and if you want feedback, ask for it!