The first phrase of your cold email may make or break the entire connection.

If you spend hours tweaking your subject line for opens, you should spend twice as much time composing your opening statement. It’s your first chance to connect with your prospect, and it sets the tone for the remainder of your email. If you begin with a generic, scripted line, a busy decision-maker will not read the rest of your email and will not want to connect with you later.

But don’t be worried.

In this article, we will explain to you how to write cold email opening lines that will instantly help you develop a connection with your prospects, showing that you care about the engagement, and driving them to read the remainder of your email.

What Exactly Are Email Opening Lines?

Simply put, the first sentence in your email’s body is your opening line. It can either be just the first sentence, or the first few short sentences. It introduces your email’s subject while simultaneously setting the tone. A strong opening will capture your reader’s curiosity and convince them to read the rest of your email. The majority of opening lines are simple, establishing the topic as fast as possible.

Why Are Opening Lines So Important? 

If your opening line fails to capture your audience’s interest, they’ll question if it is even worth reading the rest of the email. Even if your subject line is perfect, if your opening line takes away from that initial impression, your campaign may fail.

How Long Should Your Opening Be?

Good cold emails are often brief. They get to the point and explain why you’re reaching out. 

A good rule of thumb is to keep it between 10-30 percent of the entire email length. Your first sentence might be a quick introduction. Or a question that your prospect would be interested in. However, you must ensure that you begin brief, straightforward, and catchy.

How Formal Should Your Opening Be?

If you’re new to cold email, it’s tempting to make your introductory line formal and systematic. There is still an expectation of formality in some more conventional businesses; however, we would advise not falling too far into the trap of formality.

The individuals you’re emailing are regular people, just like you. They’ll read your message if you have an engaging product/service that can help them to solve the difficulties they’re having.

Here Are Some Ideas For Email Opening lines:

Adding a Touch Of Personalization:

People want to be treated as individuals, thus personalization is critical in marketing. But when you’re reaching out to hundreds of people, how can you achieve that?

Personalized emails stand out as highly relevant, custom-made content in the inbox. They increase the likelihood of an email being opened and clicked on. By sending the correct material to the right people at the right time, personalized emails improve customer experiences.

Here are a few pointers on how to make your email opening lines more personal:

1. The Instant Compliment

A sincere remark is a great way to begin a cold email.

For this, you’ll need to carry out research on the individual you’re emailing and discover something unique about them or their organization.

Even if your prospect or their organization does not have a large public presence, there is always something you can find to bring up.

You may, for example, refer to a testimonial or case study on their website, something they published on LinkedIn , or a local news piece about their organization.

Find a fresh perspective and add a touch of personality. That should be enough to make your message stand out.

Here’s an example of an instant compliment that could be used as an email opening line:

I read about  [Company Name]’s recent Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results. Congratulations to you and your colleagues for achieving great results in the midst of a challenging supply chain environment!

2. Always Keep Your Ideal Customer in Mind: 

Prospects deserve individualized emails. One thing all cold email success stories have in common is that they are extremely tailored and precisely targeted.

Always keep in mind who your product/service is intended for and what they are interested in.

Be authentic – each cold email/mass email should feel like it’s personally relevant to the addressee. If it’s too general, it won’t function and will only waste your time.

Below is an example of how you can use an opening line while keeping your ideal customer in mind:

Having interacted with many [Industry] leaders, I’m aware that [Pain Point] is a major challenge for organizations like [Company Name].

3. Go the Extra Mile for Responses:

Cold email works best when treated as a one-on-one engagement. Taking the effort to employ a personalized approach with customized opening lines can help improve your email deliverability. ESPs will notice that you are not sending identical emails, making you less likely to be tagged as spam, and your unique opening lines will result in more favorable responses, which is another good indicator.

You are nearly certain to obtain greater results with tailored emails than if you sent more emails without any customization.

Put yourself in the position of the receiver and make sure that every email you send is one that you would be pleased to receive.

Here is the opening line of a follow-up email that shows a consistent effort to engage:

Since I last reached out, I’ve taken another look at [Company]’s website and I’m even more convinced that we can add value to your team.

4. Stimulate a Pain Point:

PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solve) is a frequently used copywriting structure. This works in emails just as it does on landing pages. Use this in your cold email templates, particularly in your introductory lines, to demonstrate that you actually understand the issues your consumer is facing.

Opening lines that focus on a related pain problem (content promotion, cold emailing, advertising, etc.) are effective methods to demonstrate that you’ve investigated their present activities and position you well to introduce your service.

Don’t attempt to focus on strategies like clickbait — if a prospect responds and you can’t keep your promises, they won’t do business with you.

Below is an opening line that emphasizes the target audience’s pain point:

What could [Company Name] do if your staff didn’t have to spend so much with routine processes?

5. AIDA

The AIDA approach (attention-interest-desire-action) works beautifully in capturing your audience’s attention, piquing their interest, making them want what you’ve discussed, and eventually motivating them to act.

Your opening lines should get this process started by grabbing their attention and arousing their interest. Begin by describing a specific pain issue that affects your prospects or something that may dramatically enhance their lives.

This strategy will definitely spark their interest, causing them to engage with your cold email.

Common Mistakes To Avoid:

Let’s try to figure out why so many cold emails go unanswered. To achieve that, let’s consider the following cold email opening lines. The majority of them resemble the following:

They begin with a normal greeting such as hi or hello. Following that comes a monotonous sender introduction – my name is this, and I work at a firm. Then they proceed to boast about their firm in superlatives, which has got little to do with them.

The first and most obvious error in cold emails is that the majority of salespeople make it about themselves and the organization for which they work. They don’t attempt to explain why they’re sending the email or how they can benefit the person or business they’re trying to contact. To avoid making this error, begin with a more customized approach, spending time getting to know your prospects and their needs. Discover a link between you and them, as well as a new technique to explain how all parties involved can profit from this possible partnership.

Final Takeaway:

Naturally, not every email subject line is appropriate for every communication. It’s critical to examine who the recipient is, their relationship to you, and what is and isn’t acceptable.

Email prospecting may appear to be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be the start of wonderful things for you and your prospects if done correctly. It will be much easier to form a genuine relationship if you follow the above guidelines.