7 Email Outreach Examples and Ideas for Inspiration

email outreach examples

No matter your type of business, you’ve probably had to send out an email outreach at one point or another.

Email outreach play a huge role in your business growth strategy.

They are the key to reaching new business partners, influencers, or customers.

What is an Email Outreach (And Why Should You Use One)?

Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re on the same page by defining an outreach email.

Email outreach is the process of reaching out to people to achieve a specific goal. And in most cases, this involves reaching out to people you’ve never communicated with before. 

And that’s what makes email outreach tricky.

An outreach email, therefore, is the email you send to initiate these conversations.

Depending on what you want to achieve, you can use an email outreach for:

Although intimidating, reaching out to strangers is the only way to move your business forward. But for those strangers to respond positively to your outreach emails, you need to do it right. 

Email Outreach Best Practices You Should Follow

For your outreach emails to elicit the right response from your recipients, you need to get some basics right. You need to follow email outreach best practices. Here are some of the top ones:

Compile a List of Relevant Targets

No matter the goals of your outreach campaign, not everyone will be the perfect fit.

To succeed, you must compile a list of carefully chosen targets. 

Never, ever solely rely on software to scrape email addresses without confirming if the targets are relevant.

To increase your chances of success, vet your candidates well.

Besides getting on the wrong side of your recipients, sending an irrelevant email outreach could lead you to be reported for spamming.  

So, get the best email outreach tools, but make sure to add a human touch by verifying the data. To enhance your outreach efforts further, consider using a bulk email verifier to ensure the accuracy and deliverability of your email list”

If you don’t have time for this, consider hiring an email marketing expert to help you out. 

Put Yourself in Your Recipients Inbox

One of the first things you must do before you send out an email outreach is to put yourself in your recipient’s inbox.

According to Statista, over 300 billion emails are sent daily. And the numbers are still on an upward trajectory.

daily emails send stats

On a more granular level, studies show that the average employee receives 121 emails per day.

That’s a lot of emails to go through. 

This is why, before you even craft your email, you must consider that your recipient is not just busy, but that their inboxes are usually cluttered.

You must devise a way of making sure your email stands out.

Do Your Research

Researching your prospects is a crucial step in an outreach campaign. You must never skip this part, no matter how tedious it may be.

Research them on social media and any other online platforms they may hang out on, such as Instagram. Get as much information about them as you can as it will help you find common ground to start your conversations.

Your research will help you create an outreach campaign that’s personalized. And studies show that personalized outreach emails enjoy a 30% higher response rate than generic emails. 

Along with this, be sure to use a proofing tool to ensure everything is on the up and up prior to pressing “send”.

But more on personalization in a moment.

7 Email Outreach Examples and Ideas to Inspire You

Writing outreach emails can be tricky if you don’t know how to go about it. But once you know what makes for the perfect one, you’ll be sending out emails that convert like gangbusters.

Let’s take a look at seven tips on how to craft outreach emails that elicit a response. And with each tip, I’ll show you examples you can get ideas and inspiration from.

1. Craft an Irresistible Subject Line

The subject line is the first thing your recipients see when they receive your email.

And it determines whether they’ll open your email or not.

For most outreach campaigns, terrible subject lines are the cause of low open rates. 

That’s why you must carefully craft an irresistible subject line. To do that, you must know your audience.

Here are a few pointers to get yours right:

  • Arouse curiosity
  • Use humor
  • Leverage statistics
  • Use emojis to stand out and tell a story

Need an email outreach example for crafting subject lines that get opened?

May I quote you in my article for {publication name}?

This subject line works well if you’re reaching out to an influencer and want to collaborate with them on an article.

{Publication name} needs your advice on scaling a blog

One thing that makes this subject work is the way it’s direct, making it obvious what the email is all about. And it’s something the recipient is interested in.

Here’s another example that works well for a prospect who needs help promoting their new online business:

Hey Joe, Need help building an engaged email list?

The first battle-front of any email outreach campaign is the subject line. If you can get your audience to open your email, you’re well on your way to success.

2. Effective Email Outreachs Have a Catchy Intro

A catchy intro is your next hook after the subject line. Written well, it will ensure that your reader pays attention to what you have to say.

To craft catchy intros:

  • Show interest in what your prospect does. If possible, go beyond just expressing interest. Prove that you’ve interacted with your prospect, their publication, or product. 
  • Be on point. Being catchy doesn’t mean opening with a joke. It means addressing a significant pain point your prospect has or something relevant to what they want to achieve.

Here’s an example of a catchy email outreach intro you can swipe:

Hey Adam,

I saw your last income report, and man, you’re really crushing it.

Would you be interested in sharing your top tips with the audience at {publication name}?

I’m writing a post to be published there and plan on quoting 3 influencers who have built successful businesses through blogging.

I’d love for you to be one of them.

Let me know if you’re interested.

Thanks for being an inspiration.

Cheers.

One of the most powerful ingredients for writing catchy intros is ego-bait. This is when you leverage something your prospect is possibly proud of to:

  • Grab attention
  • Get them interested in collaborating with you

Hooking your prospects right from the start is essential to achieving your outreach campaign’s goals. Start strong, and the chances of you achieving your goals improve significantly.

3. Personalized Email Outreachs Work Best

If there’s one thing that gets people interested in what you have to say, especially strangers, it’s when you make things personal. 

That’s why you must make your email email outreach about your recipients. 

Sure, you’ve got goals to achieve. But making the email about what your audience will increase the chances of you getting a positive response.

This is what personalization in email is all about. And yes, personalization is a big deal when running an outreach campaign. Here’s a statistic to prove it:

Personalized Email Outreachs stats

Source

Contrary to popular belief, personalization goes just beyond using the recipient’s name. It’s all about being relevant.

It’s about how you align your goals with something relevant to your recipient’s aspirations, interests, or pain points.

Here’s how you could do it:

Hey Don,

My name is Zack Stone and I’m an affiliate marketer and podcast host at {name of podcast}.

I recently ran a survey asking my audience which top 5 affiliate marketers inspire them the most.

Guess what?

You came first. Congratulations — even though you don’t win a prize. (Sorry.)

Anyway, I’m reaching out to ask if you’d like to be a guest on one of {podcast name}’s episodes. We could discuss your top strategies and how listeners can enroll in your upcoming course.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers.
Dan

Notice how this email outreach is all about the recipient. Even though you’re making a pitch, your email in such a way that it’s about your prospect. This is the best way to add a touch of personalization to your outreach emails.

4. Keep Your Email Outreachs Short and Sweet

Remember, the average person receives about 121 emails/day. And they don’t have the time to go through every email they open.

To increase the chances of yours being read, keep it short.

Don’t send a long sales pitch. Instead, quickly get to the point. Your readers will appreciate that you value their time.

Here’s an email outreach example that fits this bill:

Hi Gail,

I’ve been following your LinkedIn Mastery challenge and I must say, my LinkedIn game has 10X.

Your challenge inspired me to check out your website and I must say your blog is one of the best I’ve seen that’s dedicated to LinkedIn.

However, I noticed the link pointing to the {XXX article) on the {title of blog post} article is broken. I just created a similar resource with updated stats and techniques, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in seeing the post.

Thanks a ton for the valuable content you’re always sharing.

Looking forward to your response.

As much as you may want to pitch your entire idea to your prospect, resist the temptation.

Instead, only include the most important information. If they’re interested, you’ll have the opportunity to share more details in the subsequent emails you’ll send.

5. Frontload the Important Information if Reaching Out to Busy People

One of the biggest mistakes most outreach emails contain is too much unnecessary information in the introduction.

Remember, people are busy. Don’t beat around the bush. It will just result in you losing the prospect.

Get to the point right up front and show your recipient why they should read your email.

So, besides keeping your email short, make sure to put the most important information right at the top.

This way, you’ll hook the reader and increase the chances of them reading your email in its entirety.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be rude and just jump into your pitch. Be tactical in your approach. 

Break the ice with one or two lines, then immediately introduce the reason for your email. Like this, for example,

Subject line: 6 great bloggers (like Adam Enfroy) are in. Interested in being the 7th?

Hey Bill,

I’m running a webinar on how to run a blogging business on the 15th of June 2021.

Would you be interested in being one of our guests?

You’d be joining the likes of {list other bloggers who’ll be participating}.

Our average webinar attendance is 200, so these are quite big events.

Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in doing.

Thanks

Notice how the email goes straight into talking about hosting a webinar. This works because the subject line was used as both a subject line and an introduction.

This way, you can go directly into your pitch.

Send this type of email outreach to busy people. They appreciate this kind of approach as it saves them the time of looking for the main gist of the email.

6. Name Dropping Increase the Effectiveness of Your Email Outreach

Another tip that will help get you more positive responses is name dropping. Name dropping simply means mentioning a person (or event) that you have in common with your recipient. 

What this does is put you and your recipient on common ground. It helps gain their trust.

Of course, to succeed at this, you’ll have to do a bit of digging around. It may take a bit of your time but it will be time worth spent as it increases the chances of your email outreach converting.

Here’s an example email outreach that used name dropping perfectly:

Name Dropping email outreach example

Source

That’s one of the best email outreach examples of all time (my opinion, of course). From the friendly tone to the way it gets to the point, it’s a well-crafted email. But the deal-sealer is the way the sender applied name dropping. Not only did it validate the sender, but it also showed the value of the pitch.

7. End on an Interesting Note

Even though you’re supposed to keep your email outreach as brief as possible, make sure to add an interesting finish.

There’s one simple reason for this. The main part of your email was serious business, and for some people, it may feel a bit awkward. You don’t want your recipient to remember your email as awkward. You want them to remember it as enjoyable.

Here’s how you could end your outreach email:

Looking forward to your response (and breaking the internet together).

Ending your email on a light note will make your recipients associate your email with positive feelings. 

The result is they’ll respond in a more positive manner.

Even if they don’t immediately grant your request, chances are they’ll remember you when they’re able to.

With these important email outreach best practices out of the way, let’s look at some of the best email outreach examples to inspire you.

Put these Email Outreach Examples and Ideas to Work

Email outreach don’t have to be complicated. And they all don’t have to have low open and response rates.

Well executed, your outreach campaign should help you achieve your business goals. Whether it’s an influencer outreach campaign or building backlinks to a new blog you’ve just launched, an outreach campaign is essential to giving you the traction you need.

Remember, you’re reaching out to complete strangers, so you only have one shot at getting it right. To do this right, the three most important things to remember are:

  • Research your prospect
  • Nail the subject line
  • Personalize your outreach emails

Use the email outreach examples and ideas above to improve your chances of getting a positive response from your next campaign.

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