Outbound emails are a key part of any account-based marketing (ABM) program. But a single cold email can't convey your entire value proposition.

That's why leading ABM marketers at companies like Snowflake, Qualtrics, and 6sense engage their target accounts with 1:1 personalized landing pages that they include a link to in their outbound emails.

In this post we'll share some cold email templates that we've seen to be the most effective at driving personalized landing page engagement and ultimately improving your conversion rates.

We'll walk through some examples of the two most important aspects of your emails to optimize:

• the subject line (to get prospects to open)

• email content (to get prospects to engage)

Let’s break them down piece by piece.

How to write email subject lines that *actually* get opened

Optimizing for email open rates is the smart move for any ABM program.

Here are some helpful benchmarks to gauge the performance of your subject lines.

• Less than 20% open rate: You are likely flagged as spam

• 20-50% open rate: Iterate on your subject line

• 50-70% open rate: Healthy range

Next we're going to look at what you should be focusing on to create great subject lines.

Write subjects as if you're sending a 1:1 email

You’re more likely to get a response if it seems like the outreach is being sent 1:1 instead of a mass outreach or marketing campaign. Your tone should be familiar and brief, but compelling enough to open.

Tactically, try shorthand/familiar subject lines that your prospect would expect in their inbox. Exclusive offers work well also as they entice the reader to open to see what they're missing out on.

NOTE: If you make a promise in the subject, you better be able to follow through, or it won't matter how good your email body copy is.

Here are a few examples of subject lines we've had success with. Test them out:

• intro: {first} ({account}) + molly (mutiny)

• hey {first-name} qq

• Fwd: {account} growing like crazy, good time to reach out

• Fwd: {account-possessive} page is ready

• Fwd: would love to work with {account-possessive} - buy them dinner

• onboarding fees waived for {account} until end of month

• made this website for you {first}

• Exclusive offer for {account}/{first}

• meeting

After sending the first outbound email, run a test to see if sticking with a similarly formatted subject line on your follow up emails against trying totally different subject lines. For example, if the first email in your sequence is "intro: {first} ({account}) + molly (mutiny)", the following email could be: "Were you able to connect with Molly?"

Writing email body copy that drives action

Now let’s move on to the actual content of your email. Here are 4 examples of email content that has worked well for customers, and that we use ourselves at Mutiny.

Choose one of these tactics for your first two emails, and supplement additional drips with other value adding content, like case studies, ROI sheets, competitor comparison, and so on.

Tactic 1: Brief introduction with ROI and social proof

Why this email works:

1. Social proof shows you're legit: Opening with social proof of your customers works best if the brand is recognizable. Make sure you're mentioning customers who are the same size (SMB, enterprise) and industry (healthcare, manufacturing) as your target prospect so they're recognizable and relevant.

2. Give a number: Mentioning a number that quantifies how you've helped others makes it concrete. Choose a metric that's as close to revenue as possible (conversion, pipeline).

3. Personalized webpages tell the full story: The purpose of your email copy is to entice the prospect to click the link to their personalized landing page. Why? Because that's where you can share the full story about the value you can bring to the table. It's also where you should include a link to a calendaring tool to allow prospects to book a call with your sales team.

Tactic 2: Napkin math and forward from another internal teammate

Why this email works:

1. Back of napkin math helps to price anchor: Even if your estimates are off slightly, showing the math behind how you can help your prospect improve their efficiency (something all CEOs care about), showing them a number sets an anchor in their mind they can compare to as they evaluate your product. Note: only use this tactic if you are confident in your data sources and try to under-promise and over-deliver by toning down your predictions by ~20%.

2. Give a number: Mentioning a number that quantifies how you've helped others makes it concrete. Choose a metric that's as close to revenue as possible (conversion, pipeline).

3. Include other teammates to make it feel less salesy: Depending on their role, some prospects will ignore any email that has the faintest whiff of a cold pitch. To combat this, include a personalized page as a forwarded attachment from your engineering team. The secret here is you didn't actually need to get dev help to make these personalized pages if you use Mutiny to do this at scale.

Tactic 3 - Forward from boss authorizing special offer

Why this email works:

1. Special offer encourages action: Only use this tactic if you have a legitimate offer you can give them. Instead of discounts, offer them a few months free. This costs the same revenue-wise, but keeps your ACV up and gets them to start using the product faster.

2. Use a relevant title: Definitely get permission from the person you're including in the email before executing this tactic. Also, make sure it's from a title of someone relevant to the prospect. If a head of marketing got an email from a director of product, this wouldn't have the same effect.

Tactic 4 - Forward from the CEO asking you to reach out

Why this email works:

1. Shows that you've done your homework about the ICP: For another layer of personalization, include a reason why reaching out now is a good time. For example: they hired a new role, launched a new product, entered a new market, or hit a revenue milestone. This shows you did your homework and understand the challenges of your ICP.

Putting it all together: Mutiny’s full 5-email campaign

 Here's the exact outbound email script Mutiny has used to book meetings that led to pipeline and revenue.

We recommend you start by testing one or two tactics at a time, then refine based on the responses and open rates. Mix and match the components of these tactics to create an ABM outbound program that's repeatable and effective.

How to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of outbound marketing

Ready to make ABM one of your highest performing marketing programs? Here are four more playbooks that you can follow to drive more meetings booked and pipeline using ABM and outbound:

• How 6sense broke into new verticals and 5x'ed meetings booked

• How Brex gave their target prospects an offer they couldn't refuse

• How Transmission ran the world’s most effective ABM program

• How Directive crafted 1:1 offers for their highest value ABM accounts

Learn more about how you can create personalized ABM landing pages for every prospect in minutes using Mutiny.