Prefer it or not, there’s each an artwork and science to studying tips on how to write a chilly e mail that predictably converts strangers into new freelance purchasers.
At this time, we’re speaking about each. And we’re utilizing my actual chilly e mail templates, case research examples, and screenshots of the particular chilly emails that generated $110,500+ in 2018 for my freelance enterprise. You may seize these free templates proper right here.
As a lot as I’d wish to inform you there’s an easy-to-follow, clear copy and paste components for writing a chilly e mail that grows your freelance enterprise each single time, the truth simply isn’t that easy.
Nonetheless, it’s useful when you’re beginning with a chilly e mail template and pitching course of that’s been perfected over 5 years and thru lots of of freelance pitches in the actual world.
On this submit, I’m going to indicate you actual emails which have led to life-changing offers for my freelance content material advertising and marketing enterprise (and helped me launch into freelancing full-time in 2016).
Perfecting my chilly outreach course of has accomplished lots for my freelance enterprise—which is based round writing and selling high high quality weblog content material for my purchasers.
- One of many chilly emails we’re analyzing transformed right into a $52,500 deal for two posts per 30 days, that’s continued for practically two years now.
- One other has translated right into a $17,500 contract for 7 weblog posts up to now.
- And the final one we’re diving into landed me a $10,000/mo retainer contract for 4 posts per 30 days.
These chilly emails we’re taking a look at right this moment generated a complete of $110,500 within the final yr.
This course of for writing chilly emails has generated a number of six-figure freelance contracts and high-value gigs for me with corporations like LinkedIn, Zendesk, Quickbooks, Adobe, Vistaprint, Shut and extra.
Right here’s the reality about freelancing although: Success is rarely assured.
And you may’t examine the place you might be in your freelancing journey right this moment with the place others are proper now. I’ll be the primary to inform you it’s taken me loads of time to get to the place I’m right this moment. And belief me, I nonetheless get pitches rejected loads.
You may’t examine the place you might be in your freelancing journey right this moment with the place others are proper now. – @theryanrobinson Click on To Tweet
There shall be nice instances while you’re overflowing with work and turning away new purchasers proper and left. But nonetheless, there shall be different instances while you’re tempted to take something that comes your means—otherwise you’re spending most of your days doing outreach to drum up new initiatives.
In my expertise, it takes a whole lot of laborious work and hustle to hit the six-figure mark as a freelancer. Particularly when you’re danger averse like me—and need to get there earlier than you give up your day job.
Should you’re not cautious, it’s simple to slide right into a cycle of feast or famine.
As you do nice work on your purchasers, begin getting referrals and construct a model for your self inside your area of interest, you’ll be capable to step additional and additional away from spending giant blocks of time repeatedly chilly emailing and pitching new purchasers.
Good purchasers and stable initiatives will start coming to you.
For now, let’s discuss chilly emailing and dig into the templates I’ve battle-tested and tweaked for years.
5 Steps to Write Chilly Emails That Convert
Not even the most effective chilly e mail will get you a response when you’re pitching the unsuitable kind of consumer or some extent of contact who’s not empowered to take motion on hiring you. Context is every little thing while you’re pitching new freelance purchasers—particularly with a chilly e mail.
1. Establish the Proper Shoppers
If nearly all of your expertise is in writing about finance or actual property, it doesn’t make a lot sense so that you can pitch an organization within the healthcare house in your freelance writing providers.
Identical factor goes for designers. In case your fashion favors flat design and retro coloration schemes, you’re in all probability not going to take pleasure in working with stuffy, well-established manufacturers that haven’t any plans to maneuver their branding into the twenty first century.
Select solely to method purchasers that you may image your self working with.
Should you don’t resonate with their model, fashion and tone, go away it’s. You’ll be capable to ship higher work elsewhere. And so they’ll additionally profit extra from hiring another person.
Simply as necessary as selecting the correct consumer so that you can pitch, is ensuring that you simply’re additionally proper for them. Not sufficient freelancers take into consideration this.
As a #freelancer, ensuring you are proper for the consumer is simply as necessary as ensuring they’re best for you. – @theryanrobinson Click on To Tweet
Reply these questions when contemplating a prospect to verify that is the fitting consumer for you (and that you simply’ll be good for them):
- What makes you uniquely certified to assist this specific consumer?
- Have you ever accomplished comparable work up to now?
- Does the prospect of working with this consumer excite you, or it purely a financial resolution?
For my content material advertising and marketing enterprise, I very thoughtfully model myself in a means that makes me interesting to a sure kind of consumer.
I’m not a advertising and marketing guide to simply anybody that’ll rent me. I’ve leaned into my expertise through the years, developed my very own advertising and marketing ways and have provide you with a really particular set of purchasers I’m uniquely certified to assist—the place my providers get supercharged.
That’s meant branding myself particularly as a content material advertising and marketing guide, a small area of interest inside the broader advertising and marketing world.
On high of that, I work solely with enterprise specialists and rising startups the place I’ll be capable to write about matters associated to enterprise, freelancing, productiveness and entrepreneurship (what I already do and my unique motivation for beginning a weblog).
I additionally clearly spotlight purchasers I’ve labored with—Tech startups in San Francisco—to encourage extra of the identical to need to work with me. For a lot of causes, choosing a distinct segment is among the greatest selections you’ll be able to ever make as a freelancer.
Why select a distinct segment on your freelance enterprise?
Let’s say you personal a espresso store and also you’re trying to rent somebody that can assist you with a rebrand, developing with new visuals, a recent brand and advertising and marketing supplies… and also you’re selecting between 2 completely different choices for freelancers who say they may help you.
Freelancer #1 is a generalist. She’s received a broad vary of expertise operating advertising and marketing campaigns, is aware of tips on how to use Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, has made a couple of logos through the years and does the design work for her private website—principally for enjoyable, however you want her fashion.
Freelancer #2 is a specialist (with a transparent area of interest). He works for himself as a full-time graphic designer and has accomplished branding work for a number of espresso outlets through the years. You want his fashion simply as a lot, and may inform that he’s received a whole lot of expertise doing precisely the form of work you want accomplished too.
Which freelancer would you select?
Each day of the week, I’d take freelancer #2. The specialist.
I’ll additionally pay them considerably extra—as a result of I do know I’m tapping into experience.
In your freelance enterprise, you need to model your self as that skilled with a distinct segment. Make your self the plain selection. That’s the 1st step for ensuring your chilly emails get answered.
Now, you’re prepared to begin looking for freelance purchasers. Begin with the individuals first. As a lot as I really like chilly emails, heat introductions are considerably simpler, so start there.
Look first to those teams of individuals inside your community to find out if there are any freelance alternatives to work with those that already know your work ethic, are personally invested of their relationship with you and need to see you succeed:
- Associates (and their associates)
- Household (and their associates)
- Earlier co-workers who now work elsewhere
- Classmates from college
Whatever the precise function your connection has inside the firm they’re at, if that firm could possibly be an excellent match so that you can pitch on freelance work—that’s an excellent alternative to chase down.
Choose up the telephone to catch up, seize espresso and ask in the event that they’d be keen to introduce you to the fitting particular person inside their group for chatting about serving to out on a contract foundation.
On the very least, stroll away from these conversations with the title for who try to be reaching out to—then you’ll be able to work your chilly e mail magic.
Proceed updating the standing of your outreach efforts utilizing both a spreadsheet or an easy-to-use CRM like Shut that offers useful reminders and reporting, so that you’re in a position to see how nicely your chilly outreach performs over time.
2. Discover Your Ideally suited Level of Contact
Once I’m attempting to land a brand new consumer, I don’t need to spend time convincing a gatekeeper on the corporate’s HR or recruiting crew that I’d be the most effective for the job—I’m going straight to the one who’s going to be answerable for the hiring resolution.
Certain, the HR gatekeepers in all probability have standards they know to search for, however that leaves an excessive amount of as much as probability.
I need to chilly e mail pitch somebody who speaks my language.
As a content material marketer (or freelance author), my perfect level of contact at a possible consumer firm often has one among these job titles:
- Director of Content material Marketing
- Content material Marketing Lead
- Senior Content material Marketing Supervisor
- Director of Marketing
- Weblog Supervisor/Editor
- VP of Content material Marketing
You need to go for a manager-level level of contact. The kind of one that may have a say in hiring contractors on your self-discipline.
Should you’re a contract designer, you’ll in all probability be trying to join with a inventive director.
Should you’re a contract developer, your perfect level of contact will possible be a director of engineering.
Typically, when you can’t discover a supervisor level of contact, making an preliminary (real) reference to somebody who’s a workers author—or designer, engineer—can result in an introduction up the chain to their supervisor when you’re in a position to present a big quantity of value in your chilly e mail outreach.
What’s necessary is that you simply skip the appliance, and go for connecting straight with actual individuals.
Use LinkedIn to search out your perfect level of contact.
- Open up a brand new tab and head over to LinkedIn.
- In the principle search bar, kind within the title of the place you need to join with—select to show outcomes for individuals with that job title or ability.
- Filter these outcomes by individuals solely with that job or ability on the firm you’re focusing on, by typing in that firm’s title inside the present firm discipline. Now, your outcomes shall be hyper-specific.
If I need to land Trello as a content material advertising and marketing consumer, my search would seem like this:
Naturally, this works greatest for corporations inside a sure measurement vary.
In the event that they’re on the smaller facet, you may not instantly discover a very clear level of contact. Identical goes for enterprise-size corporations which have dozens of potential factors of contact.
Make your greatest guess and maintain transferring fairly than getting hung up or spending greater than 5 minutes at this stage.
3. Get Their E mail Handle
Discovering a prospect’s e mail tackle has by no means been simpler.
At this time, you’ll be able to head over to any variety of free e mail sourcing instruments like Hunter or Voila Norbert, enter their names, add the related website their e mail tackle ought to be situated at, and nearly instantly get their e mail addresses.
Right here’s a screenshot of how simple it’s to find an e mail tackle utilizing Hunter:
Begin by typing within the URL for the corporate your prospect works at.
Sticking with my Trello instance from earlier, if I needed to get in contact with Leah on their advertising and marketing crew to inquire about doing a content material advertising and marketing undertaking with them, I’d enter trello.com into the Hunter search bar.
That’d give me a outcomes web page the place I can additional filter my outcomes by including Leah’s title to slender down the checklist:
That’s it!
Even when the e-mail finder you’re utilizing doesn’t have your prospect’s tackle verified, it’ll nearly all the time provide you with a suggestion for what their e mail tackle possible is, based mostly on the most typical sample the corporate makes use of.
Alright, now that we’re on the identical web page, right here’s a recap on the place that you must be earlier than you even get began on writing the precise chilly e mail:
- I’m assured the corporate I’m reaching out to may use my freelance providers (and it seems to be like they might want them now).
- I’ve tracked down the one who seems to be to be the fitting level of contact, a decision-maker on hiring freelancers in my division.
- I’ve their e mail tackle.
However earlier than you exit and begin chilly emailing, that you must set gross sales targets for what precisely you hope to realize together with your chilly outreach. Will you cease when you’ve landed your first consumer? The second? Fifth? Tenth?
Know the way a lot work you’ll be able to tackle earlier than overloading your self.
Now we are able to discuss what goes into the right chilly e mail for touchdown a contract consumer, beginning with an instance.
4. Select Your Template & Outreach Method
As a freelancer, that you must use the instruments you’ve received—and never make excuses for why you’ll be able to’t land a selected consumer. Should you go above and past to wow a consumer you’ve actually been eager to work with, you can also make it occur. It’s in your energy.
Do not make excuses for why you’ll be able to’t land a selected consumer. Should you go above and past to wow a consumer you’ve got actually been eager to work with, you can also make it occur. It is in your energy. @theryanrobinson Click on To Tweet
For me, lengthy earlier than I ever turned a contributor on websites like Forbes, Entrepreneur and Business Insider which have since helped me increase my visibility, I used to be utilizing my weblog as my strongest asset for leveraging freelance gigs.
Chilly E mail Template #1: “Your Characteristic on My Weblog”
This primary chilly e mail template—particularly crafted for influencers and founders—is constructed round utilizing my weblog as a solution to present value earlier than I ask for something in return.
Right here’s how the method works:
- Ask for a quote to incorporate in an upcoming article they’d need to weigh in on.
- Publish my weblog submit with their quote, put it up for sale closely and drive them site visitors.
- Attain again out to replace and thank them for contributing to the submit.
- Spotlight early success in that e mail (# social shares, site visitors, any options on publications)
At this level, some will outright ask me if I may help them create content material like this for his or her blogs. Others I’ll have to then pitch on my content material advertising and marketing providers (like placing collectively a content material advertising and marketing technique and executing on it) in the event that they don’t carry it up themselves.
It’s not all the time an excellent match for everybody I ask, however as a result of I’ve already supplied value AND basically given them a real-time demo of what my service is thru the submit they’re included in, my conversion price to paid consumer relationship with this methodology is extraordinarily high.
This e mail accommodates no promotional hyperlinks. No service pitches. No asking in the event that they’re hiring.
That you must be affected person at this stage. Your purpose is to offer value and present your price.
By doing that first, as an alternative of simply making guarantees of the value you may ship sooner or later, you’re going to win their belief and catch their consideration in a a lot completely different means than 99% of different freelancers chilly emailing and pitching them to be employed.
Appears easy, however nearly no person has the persistence to execute this type of in-depth gross sales technique. And due to that, so many freelancers waste a whole lot of time writing chilly emails that get no response, largely as a result of they’re being too brief sighted.
Certain it could possibly take weeks to show right into a paid gig—and typically it by no means will—however the freelancers who take my course on studying tips on how to pitch successfully expertise massively constructive outcomes from following this technique.
That is the chilly e mail that netted me a $50,000+ deal:
After getting the quote from this startup founder and together with him in my submit, he was pumped in regards to the hundreds of shares the submit had obtained within the first few weeks of going stay (I spent $100 boosting the submit on Fb, Twitter, Pinterest & Quuu Promote to get an preliminary share spike).
This founder needed these sorts of outcomes for his startup’s weblog too.
He truly beat me to the pitch—and emailed asking if I’d be up for working with him:
After a fast chat on the telephone laying out my workflow and getting clear on his targets, we locked in a technique for publishing 2 posts every month—we’ve been working collectively ever since.
Chilly E mail Template #2: The “Referral” Heat Up
What’s higher than sending a chilly e mail? Sending a heat one.
In comparison with the primary chilly e mail template we talked about, this heat introduction technique sometimes converts a lot faster. It’s straight to the purpose and doesn’t depend on needing to first get a quote, publish a weblog submit, or in any other case.
I take advantage of it after I’m approaching an organization that’s a bit bigger and doesn’t have a transparent figurehead that’d be cheap for me to have the ability to join with individually by taking pictures her/him an e mail.
This method goes to administrators and managers—not founders.
However first, it requires making a connection to a different freelancer, contractor or worker on the firm—which is why this course of is especially nice for freelance writers when the corporate clearly has many contributors that write for them on a contract-basis.
Right here’s how the method works:
- Establish a present freelancer/contractor for the corporate & share a current piece of their work.
- E mail complementing their work & letting them know in regards to the social share.
- Ask for the fitting particular person to succeed in out to about performing some work there your self.
- Chilly Heat e mail the decision-maker referencing your referral from the present freelancer.
After you’ve gotten your referral connection lined up, the template (to the purpose of contact at your goal firm) goes like this…
Lower than an hour after sending that e mail to the freelance author, I heard again!
We do spend many of the day sitting at pc…
Will it all the time be this simple? No means.
However as a result of I went out of my solution to (1) genuinely praise her work and (2) share it with my viewers on Twitter, she was keen to reciprocate that value by giving me the contact data for the decision-maker on the firm.
Plus, getting her to my Twitter feed to take a look at her point out gave her the chance to see a few of my work and really feel assured that I wouldn’t make her look unhealthy—as a result of I used to be certainly an excellent match for working with this firm.
I additionally made it lots simpler for her to say sure by not asking for a direct introduction (takes extra time) and for simply contact data.
As soon as I received the e-mail tackle for the Director of Content material Marketing at this firm, right here’s the chilly e mail I despatched:
After sending that chilly e mail to the Director of Content material Marketing, she received again to me the identical day expressing curiosity and wanting to listen to extra—together with particular pitch matters I had in thoughts.
I despatched a pair matters over and defined my “hands-on” content material promotion course of, strolling by every little thing I do to distribute my posts after they go stay, which is the place my actual value is added.
A number of days go by and she or he will get again to me with a thumbs up 👍
Right here’s that e mail…
We spoke on the telephone the following week and locked within the recreation plan for kicking off my work.
Thus far this yr, that’s changed into a median of 1 article per 30 days at $2,500/submit.
Chilly E mail Template #3: The Direct Method
The third and last template we’re breaking down on this submit (that has helped me land many distant jobs as a freelancer) is rather more direct than the earlier two.
Due to it’s directness, it’s in my expertise a bit of extra prone to get turned down or go unanswered if there’s not a right away want (or curiosity) internally on the firm. Nonetheless, this nonetheless offers actual upfront value—our recurring theme with efficient chilly outreach.
It nonetheless requires doing all your homework to ensure you’re reaching out to the fitting firm, figuring out your decision-maker level of contact and monitoring down their e mail tackle earlier than you even get began on the precise chilly e mail.
Right here’s how the method works:
- Establish your goal contact and get their e mail tackle.
- Discover one thing related of theirs to share on social (bonus: additionally point out them in your weblog or Medium).
- Chilly e mail referencing your share & point out.
- Embrace a comfortable pitch on your providers and ask in the event that they’re up for chatting extra.
Of all of the chilly emails, this one is heaviest on self-promotion—within the context of constructing your authority with this potential consumer.
It additionally straight pitches them on working collectively in your first e mail.
Once more, the purpose is to get in entrance of the fitting decision-maker and get a telephone name scheduled as a way to actually pitch them in your providers extra successfully.
That is the chilly e mail that landed me a $10,000/mo retainer contract for 4 weblog posts per 30 days:
I despatched this e mail fairly early within the morning.
By the afternoon, I’d already heard again.
Right here’s that e mail I received from the particular person I reached out to, with a colleague of his cc’d…
We arrange a time to speak on the telephone, study extra about their targets, stroll by my course of and the remaining is historical past.
I’ll be the primary to inform you although, this isn’t the everyday response to a chilly e mail pitch for freelance work.
And I positively had no expectation that it’d be a $10,000/mo deal till after we had a discovery name and I used to be in a position to really feel out their price range and pricing expectations. They talked about that they’d tried working with advertising and marketing and PR businesses up to now, however didn’t see sufficient outcomes—that (coupled with the scale of the corporate) instantly instructed me they’re accustomed to paying premium retainers for contract assist.
All in all, out of the ~100 of some of these chilly emails I despatched final yr, someplace within the neighborhood of 10-15 have materialized into offers inside a month of preliminary contact. These chilly emails require extra hands-on observe up too.
5. Comply with Up (Intelligently) on Your Chilly E mail
Right here’s one other laborious reality about freelancing: You must battle to get seen.
That’s as a result of everybody you’re pitching is busy.
If I by no means adopted up on my chilly emails (particularly within the early days of freelancing), I wouldn’t keep busy. However there’s a effective line between being that annoying one that sends check-in emails each different day and permitting your self to justify not following up merely since you haven’t heard again but.
You must strike a steadiness and supply value together with your observe ups, don’t simply ping your prospects with the identical query each time you observe up.
Steli Efti, founding father of Shut (probably the greatest CRMs for freelancers) is a grasp at following up and is aware of the significance of by no means letting a lead slip away.
He shares, “I’ve a easy philosophy. I observe up as many instances as obligatory till I get a response. I don’t care what the response is so long as I get one. If somebody tells me they want one other 14 days to get again to me, I’ll put that in my calendar and ping them once more in 14 days.”
What about while you ship your chilly e mail and don’t hear again for a couple of days?
Comply with up each 3-4 enterprise days.
When the e-mail is actually 100% chilly and you don’t have any connection in anyway to your prospect, restrict your observe ups to round 4-5 outreach makes an attempt. Any greater than that, you’ll run the danger of significantly annoying somebody and completely burning the bridge.
Should you’ve tried making contact over e mail at completely different instances of the day, on a number of completely different days of the week for a couple of weeks, then give it one final shot by choosing up the telephone and calling to see if there’s any probability of salvaging the dialog.
After that, it’s time to maneuver on and maintain pitching new potential purchasers.
And that ought to be thrilling, as a result of as they are saying, there are all the time extra fish within the sea.