How To Personalize Sales Emails (With 17 Personalization Templates) 

This blog has been written for you. You, the one reading this right now. Brace yourself, it’s about to get personalized.

If you felt that was a scary intro, don’t worry. The jump scares are done.

The important thing is, you felt something. That’s the singular goal for every personalized email template. The receiver should feel, connect, and respond to your sales outreach – in that order.

But, before getting into the email examples, there’s one big question that needs to be answered.

Do Personalized Emails Perform Better?

Yes! 

Here’s why.

We’re well into the second decade of the 21st Century, and spray-and-pray campaigns are deader than disco.

“I hate being cold called. I hate being treated like a name on a list. Approaching potential clients with a customized script that treats them like the unique human they are – that’s how you maximize impact,” Cherilynn Castleman, Managing Partner, CGI Executive Coaching tells LinkedIn in its Global State of Sales 2022 report.

If you needed more reasons: 

1. People have grown accustomed to ignoring generic cold emails. Your emails will be marked spam.
2.  Confuse spam filters with clickbait subject lines → get emails blocked by spam → if it happens too often domain reputation suffers and your email address will get blacklisted.
3. Top sellers personalize their emails. 82% of the top-performing sellers who were surveyed by LinkedIn are researching before reaching out to a prospect. 
4. In 2023, when buyer trust is eroding, your main goal is to prove to them that you care about their success and that’s why you’re reaching out. 

But here’s a trick question: How do you personalize every email in a prospect list that has 100s or even 1000s of names? 

Here’s how Nikita Solberg, a quota-crushing SDR at Deel, decides to personalize their cold emails: 

“I’m more of a fan of personalizing later in the process—after they’ve opened a couple of emails. I like personalizing, especially for the person you’d probably be signing off on the product. So the decision makers, I think usually I go for that more personalization. I’ll probably send mails to people who aren’t decision makers, but they’re likely going to be less personalized.”

Side note: Want to know how the best-performing reps are hitting 100% quota through cold emails and cold calls? Check out Klenty’s SDR X Factor interview series, where we spoke to 8 quota-crushing SDRs like Nikita, and curated their strategies for cold emailing and cold calling.

To help you decide quickly who to personalize for during your cold email outreach, here’s a framework that we’ve put together.

Email Personalization Framework 

Different prospects bring different amounts of revenue for your business. So, why spend 10-15 minutes for all of your 500 cold prospects?

To save time and make your cold outreach infinitely more productive,select deals that are most important for the business and personalize your communication to those prospects. 

For that, we’re going to:

For that we’re going to prioritize prospects based on deal size. 

i) Prioritize prospects based on deal size.

Deal Size = Price of your plan($) x No. of Seats taken by a Prospect.

ii) Personalize for different deal sizes.

Small: Prospects with minimum deal value. You personalization should be basic like using placeholders for prospect’s name, company name and/or designation in your email templates.

Medium: Mid-sized deals. Here, you personalize using mutual connections or recent developments in their company. Spend less than 3-5 minutes.

Large: These have deals with the highest value. So, go all in and hyper-personalize these cold emails by addressing role-specific pain points. 

To give you an idea, check out the hyper-personalization method of Joel Thomas, a top-performing Enterprise SDR at Almabase, a SaaS platform for alumni relations.  Joel had a prospect in his list who was a firefighter before he joined alumni relations, which is his target persona. So, he sent his cold email with the subject line: “Firefighting during events.” In the email copy, he made it about how managing events (the prospect’s pain point) can be like putting out a fire (personal interest).

“It’s not just personalization for the sake of personalization. You’re trying to build a narrative around that particular personalization,” he explains.

How to Personalize Your Emails?

From using information on LinkedIn to checking prospect’s company websites, there’s a lot you can do to personalize your sales emails. And there are different parts of your new templates that you can personalize like the subject line, the call-to-action, the sign-off, the email body–every piece of real estate in the email is an opportunity to personalize. 

Here are some easy ways to personalize your sales emails to prospects. 

Pro tip: Use these cold email templates as your base and personalize on top of it to save time. 

Personalizing Using the Prospect’s Name

“A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” says Dale Carnegie, author of the one of the most famous books in sales, How to Win Friends & Influence People.

Have you ever suddenly looked around in a crowded place, because you thought you heard someone call your name? 

Science states that when people hear their own name, it triggers a unique reaction in the brain, which leads to greater brain activation, making them more attentive to what one has to say.

Now, if you could recreate this effect for your prospect, they’ll definitely see your email in a crowded inbox. But, don’t go adding it before the start of every sentence. Use it appropriately.

Tip: Using the prospect’s name in the subject line boosts average open rates by 39%!

Additionally, you could also hyper-personalize the email according to the meaning of your prospect’s name. For example, Matthew means “Gift of God”. While this may not work at scale, Matthew is sure to open an email with the subject line “Matthew, you’re a Gift of God!” 

Template 1: Example of a Personalized Email With Just a Name

Sub:  {Prospect’s name}, your reps are out of time!

Hi {prospect’s name}

Now, I know you don’t like wasting time.

Just like many other sales organizations, your sales reps are most likely wasting at least 60 minutes every day on manual data entry.

Our product, {your company} can help your sales reps save a lot of time by automating 
data entry in your CRM.

I’m happy to schedule a quick call to explain more about it.

Tik-tok!

Personalize Around the Buyer Personas

An easy way to kick your email personalization up a notch is to address your emails based on different buyer personas.

Here’s how. 

Group your prospects with similar job profiles, company size, priorities, and pain points. Then, craft emails with personalized content that appeals to each group.

For example, all VPs of Marketing of SMB companies may have similar priorities or may be experiencing similar pain points. Crafting an email on how your product can help solve the pain point or help them achieve a specific goal will get their attention.

Nanditha Menon, BDR at G2’s APAC team, uses this strategy to personalize her emails. The personalization approach she takes depends on the point of contact she is reaching out to. “If I’m reaching out to a marketing person, I should be solving a marketing problem. If I’m reaching out to a CEO, I should be solving a larger problem, like about brand visibility,” she says.

Similarly, you can craft emails to other buyer personas and send them at scale.

Note: For this technique to work effectively, you will need to have a clear understanding of the needs/pain points of your different buyer personas. Initially, a business with just a few customers may find it difficult to get this right. Try different messages for different buyer persona and then choose the ones that are working. Flex your A/B testing muscles in the process.

Template 2: Example of a Personalized Email Based on Buyer Persona

Hi {prospect’s name},

As a {describe prospect’s experience} in the {prospect’s domain} industry, you must surely be aware of the importance of your company’s {content} performing well across all 
channels.  At {your company}, we help {size of prospect’s company} businesses improve 
engagement rates for their content.

Please find attached a recent case study on one of our customers who were looking
to solve similar problems.

Cheers!

{your sign-off}

Personalize Based on Trigger Events

Sometimes, certain events can cause disruption in the business world. These disruptions create opportunity. Events that lead to opportunity are called trigger events.

Trigger events provide sales reps with a timely opportunity to reach out to their prospects with personalized email templates specific to this situation.

Here are a few sample trigger events:

i) New Hires at the Top of the Rung

A newly appointed C-suite executive would want to prove their value. One way would be to purchase a new product. This would go a long way in establishing their authority, while shaking things up a bit.

Template 3: Example of Personalizing Around a New Hire

Sub:  {Prospect’s name}, welcome to the big leagues!

Hi {prospect’s name}, 

I’ve been following [company name] for some time and noticed that you recently joined as a [new role].

Given your experience, I’m excited to find out how you’re going to shake things up. With a renewed focus on {objective}, I think you’ll greatly benefit from our sales tool that {value 
proposition}

If this appeals to you, and you'd like to know more, click here to get onto our mailing list.

Best,

{your sign-off}

ii) A Move From the Competitor

Developments in your prospect’s rival company may prompt them to equip themselves with new software to match their competitors.

Template 4: Example of Personalizing Around a Competitor’s Move

Sub:  {Prospect’s name}, time to return fire!

Hi {prospect’s name}

I’ve been keeping tabs on [competitor company name] for some time and it looks 
like they’re getting ready to disrupt the market.

Don’t worry, I come in peace from {your company}. We can help you even the playing field with our sales tool that {value proposition}.

Enough talk. How about I send you a quick demo video as proof of concept?

Locked and Loaded,

{your sign-off}

iii) New Round of Funding

A company that has secured a new round of funding would be willing to loosen their purse strings and invest in new software.

Tip: Use Owler, Google Alerts, or similar tools to get notified of any trigger events. The key to making the most impact is by getting a jump on it. Trigger events are time bound and being late means you lose out the edge. Act quickly and efficiently.

Template 5: Example of Personalizing Around New Funding

Sub:  {Prospect’s name}, funded and fired up?

Hi {prospect’s name},

Congratulations to you and [company name] on the latest round of funding. I represent
{your company}, and I’d like a chance to enter your Shark Tank to pitch {your product}.
We’re in the business of solving {objective/pain point} by {value proposition}

I would love to answer all your questions over a call. Here's a link to my calendar, where 
you can pick a time according to your convenience.     

Best,

{your sign-off}

Personalize Email With a Compliment

Everyone and their mother like receiving compliments. But why?

According to a study, have shown that receiving a compliment triggers the same reaction in our brain as receiving money. Talk about a million-dollar smile.

When your prospect reads your email showering them with praise, they immediately take a liking to you. This gets them more interested in what you have to say.

Here are a few example scenarios – 

Winning an award: If your prospect has won any recognition in their field recently, that can be used in the email

Blogs, seminars, etc.: Has your prospect published an article or given a seminar that you found to be valuable? Let them know that you enjoyed it. Nikki Ivey, Director of Sales Training at JB Sales, confirms this. “Subscribe to your buyer’s content streams and attend their events. Bringing the insight you gain into your outreach will set you apart,” she says.

A leader in their field: If your prospect is a leader in their domain, drop an email to show your respect and admiration for them.

Template 6: Example of a Personalized Email With a Compliment

Sub: {first name}, you made some good points!

Hi {Prospect’s name}, 

I recently came across your {prospect’s work} on {platform} and found your thoughts to 
be very insightful. In fact, I share similar views on that subject.

While we are on that, I just wanted to show you how {prospect’s company} can 
benefit from our software that totally takes care of your CRM needs.

If you have a few minutes, check out the success story of a business similar to yours after they used {solution}.

Have a good evening,

{your sign-off}

Personalize Around Prospects’ Interests

With social media as your oyster, go through your prospects’ posts and comments to find the leverage you can use. These could be sports, TV shows, movies, or even food choices.

Using this information as conversation starters, especially in the subject line, will establish an immediate connection with your prospect.

Metadata’s SDR Manager, Ashley Dees, says she personalizes her cold email by bringing up something that the prospect did outside of work. “Who wants to look at more stuff about work? No offense to our companies. We all love our companies and the work that we do, but make it fun. People like to have fun, make it about them,” Ashley says.

An example: She found while researching one of her prospects that they had written a short book. So, she wrote an email with the subject line, “metadata demo + {their name} // {name of their book}.” In the email, she complimented her book and asked for a meeting.

Template 7: Example of a Personalized Email Around Sports

Sub: The Lakers did it again!
Hi {prospect’s name}
I’m sure you watched last night’s match and wished you were courtside. I know, I did!
Now, I know you’ve been trying to sink hoops and {pain point} keeps blocking you. {your 
company} is the perfect assist, because we {value proposition}
I would love to show you how you can start dunking like LeBron in no time. Think of it as a pickup game!
Here is a link to my Calendly:     
KOBE!
{your sign-off}

Template 8: Example of a Personalized Email Around a TV Series

Sub: Let the Halloween Heist begin!

Hello, {prospect name}

Jake is coming back for the Halloween Heist, and so are we at {your company}. More than B99 coming to an end, I know you’re struggling to cope with {pain point}. We can help you claim the Amazing Rep/Genius title with {value proposition}.

Here’s a link to my Calendly:

Let’s meet in the Evidence Room and get scheming. Don’t tell Charles!

Personalizing Around Their Existing Technology

This is a tactical strategy that lets you show off your reconnaissance skills to impress your prospect. Tools like Datanyze and Builtwith help you find out which tools are being used in your prospects’ website. You can also check if the prospect is currently using any of your competitors’ products.

Armed with this information, you can add a comparison to your value proposition. Your prospect might be using the same tools as a majority of your existing customer base. Mentioning that in your mail will establish a sense of familiarity, and help them overcome any natural hesitation they might have towards any new tool.

Once your prospect sees compelling proof, they’re sure to give you their valuable time for a quick discovery call.

Template 9: Example of Personalizing Emails Around Technology

Sub: {first name}, you can do better!

Hi {prospect’s name}

I see that you are currently using { their CRM} for managing your database. A majority of 
our patrons also use the same platform. In fact, our native integration makes it super
easy for you to {your solution}, without even having to move out of your current platform.

Here is what the users of {their CRM} are saying about {your company}.

Cheers!

{your sign-off}

Improvise Your Messaging Based on Market Conditions

Market conditions can change any time and in those moments, it’s crucial that you update your value messaging to suit the needs of your audience who are currently affected by consequences of the changes in the market. 

For example, if your solution has multiple uses, now’s the time to flex them. Sell a use case that you had never focused on before. 

This could be applied anywhere, you don’t necessarily need to have an all-in-one tool. It’s all about updating your messaging to suit the current situation of the buyers. 

Template 10: Example of Personalization Based on Improvised Messaging

Sub: {first name}, it's time to close all tabs!

Hello, {prospect's name}

You must be tired of keeping track of {mention some of the tools they use} and losing
precious time in the process. What if you could simply focus on your outreach, and let 
{your company} manage the rest?

Here's how we can help: {value proposition}.

If we can have a quick chat, I could show you how simple it is to get started.

Cheers!

{your sign-off}

Personalize With Relevant Visual Representation

“Show and Tell” is the mantra for this template. Your prospects probably get hundreds of text emails on a daily basis. Using visuals in your approach helps you cut through the inbox clutter and skyrocket your response rates. Why?

Because your brain loves images more than words. It can process images 60,000 times faster than text. Words trigger images in the mind, and those images further lead to thoughts. Plus, you’re showing them that you care, that you didn’t just send them a generic email template. Moreover, including visual content such as a video of someone from your company addressing the prospect can give a sense of interaction, adding prominence to your message.

Using Images: Use product or your website landing page screenshots to highlight how your product eases their particular pain point, or showcase social proof. You could share graphs, statistics or infographics that highlight a slowing or growing trend (this could be sent when you want them to prioritize the problem you’re solving like – show them what happens to businesses if they don’t solve a particular problem.), screenshots of a dashboard within your solution highlighting the range of information that’s available to the prospect to analyze data. In short, ensure that the image you’re sending is relevant to the prospect. 

Out of the 8 quota-smashing SDRs we spoke to in the SDR X Factor series, Nanditha Menon and Aamir Sohail say they attach screenshots of their products with their cold emails. 

• To keep her emails less text-heavy, Nanditha attaches screenshots of dashboards comparing the G2 profiles of the prospect and their competitor. Apart from presenting the stats in a better manner, she highlights that this enables prospects to look from a buyer’s perspective. 
• Aamir generally attaches a screenshot of his product with his cold email, as he feels that he can convey so much about the product by showing how it looks, instead of elaborating it in words. “The right people, like the technology experts of the company or CTOs, can gauge the product by seeing the dashboard,” he says.

Using Videos: When it comes to videos, you can explain in under a minute how your product can add value to the prospects business, and what their biggest benefit in terms of business impact is. Again, here change the video content through a video editor according to the prospect you’re targeting. If you’re talking to a decision maker, talk about the bigger business impact, and if it’s someone in the lower rung of the ladder, talk about their immediate goals, and how you can help them grow in their role. 

Template 11: Example of Personalizing Emails With an Image

Sub: {first name}, Stop , look 

Hi {prospect name} - I understand that you have a lot on your plate right now, so I’ll keep 
this short. 

I help {role} like yourself by {value prop}. Don’t believe me? Here’s the dashboard of our 
customer doing {solving problem}. 

{Add a screenshot of your product in action}

Template 12: Example of Personalizing Emails With a Video

Sub: {Company name}, {pain point}
Hey {prospect name} - I know you are swamped. This should take just about 30 seconds. I’m trying to reduce the {pain point} for {their company name}.  
For context - We’ve solved that exact problem for hundreds of companies similar to {their company name}, and am confident that we do the same for you. 
Here’s how I can help you reduce {pain point} in 2 minutes. 
{attach a minute-long video explaining how your solution works, add a small intro in the
video as well} 

Cheers, 
{sign-off}

When it comes to video personalisation, you can explain how a particular feature you know that is popular among users works, a mini demo of your product, a mini explanation of introducing the product to prospects who are not aware that they need a solution.

Personalize by Highlighting a Mutual Connection

Finding a mutual connection is a sure shot way to add warmth to your cold emails.  Mentioning a mutual connection is a great way to make an instant connection and garner trust from your prospects. Name dropping also helps your prospect place you within their existing network. Just like that, you’re not a stranger anymore, psychologically speaking.

How Do You Find a Mutual Connection?

Social media. Elementary, my dear rep.  – A simple surfing of your prospect’s profiles will help you identify a mutual connection you can mention in your email.

Here’s your cheat-sheet

• You could both know the same person
• You could come from the same town or high school
• You could both be a part of the same Facebook or LinkedIn group
• You could have attended the same conference, seminar, etc.

Template 13: Example of Using a Mutual Connection To Personalize Your Email

Sub: {first name}, we’re not strangers!

Hi {prospect’s name},

This is {your name}, a close friend of {mutual connection}. In fact, we grew up together.

I am reaching out to you because {mutual connection} thinks {prospect’s company} could largely benefit from {your company}, where we ensure a hassle-free billing platform for 
your business.

Can I schedule a quick call this Tuesday to explain more about it?

P.S. Should I tell (mutual connection) you said hi?

Thanks!

{your name and sign-off}

Hyper-personalize with Highly Specific Pain Points

Disclaimer: While this specific sales email personalization template is definitely effective if you’re targeting a list of carefully selected prospects, it is not advisable at scale.

Hyper-personalizing by addressing a unique and specific pain point your prospect faces is equivalent to an elevator pitch. Without wasting any time, you must a) let your prospect know that you’ve done your research, and you know what pains them; and b) tell them exactly how you can make their lives easier. These emails require maximum research and preparation to ensure that the message is tailored precisely to make it as relevant as possible to a particular prospect.

This cannot be done at scale. It only makes sense to use this for high-value deals, which make up for the top 5% (approx.) of the total accounts. Hence, the disclaimer.

When crafting your personalized cold email, highlight exactly why you chose to reach out. and how they could benefit from partnering with your business. Throw in their company size, its goals, the role of the prospect, and recent developments in the company to prove that you’ve done the due diligence. If you can break down the pain point into a short subject line, even better!

Back up your claims with case studies, social proof, and insights. Do not talk about the features of your product. Instead, show them the benefit they will derive by using your product.

You could even take your mail to the next level by creating customized pages or video snippets, where you can present a quick demo.

But remember: Relevance reigns supreme, no matter how hyper the personalization is. Alastair Chamberlin, SDR Manager at Zinc, says even when he comes across an interesting detail of a prospect, such as their favorite sport, he’d tie it to the product to keep it relevant. 

An example he gives for this is how he personalized an email to a C-suite executive, who was into rugby as evident from his LinkedIn posts. “I wrote an analogy about how converting a trial and a game of rugby is like the difference between winning or losing, and the same applies to their inbound leads,” he notes.

Template 14: Example of a Hyper-personalized Email

Sub: Still struggling with (pain point)?

Hi {prospect’s name} - I have been keeping track of {prospect’s company} for a while and 
recently noticed that you are looking to bring in an executive to head your Sales division 
in the South Bay area. With a new face leading the team and 20 new Account Executives 
set to join as well, I am sure it should be an exciting phase for {prospect’s company}.

I think you should easily beat your company goals for this quarter that {company head} 
addressed in the Techcrunch conference this May.

With the team itching to get started, a perfect complement for them would be 
{your company}’s CRM software that saves up to 60 minutes every day by 
eliminating manual entry, helping your team focus on other priorities.

Do you think we can schedule a meeting at 3:00 pm this Thursday to discuss 
how {prospect’s company} can benefit from our software?

Best,

{your sign-off}

Personalization Based on Geography/Weather

Talking about the weather is usually limited to small talk. But, what if you could leverage that? Group your prospects according to location/geography, and set a reminder on your weather app. Some parts of the world don’t experience multiple seasons all year long. If it’s always sunny in Philadelphia, it’s always raining in the Amazon forests. Write up some subject lines and do some A/B testing. It’s always good to save up for a rainy day!

Template 15: Example of Personalization Based on Geography/Weather

Sub: Flooding predicted in your inbox!

Hi, {prospect's name} - The weather can be unpredictable, not your outreach. 
{your company} can help you book more meetings and achieve greater open rates. Here's how we do it: {value proposition}.

I'd love to take you through a demo to help you get started. Is this Thursday a bad time?

PS. I'll keep an extra umbrella for you!

Chief Weatherman

{your name and sign-off}

Personalization Based on G2 Reviews

This is an off-shoot of personalization using compliments. Except this time, it’s about singing praises about the prospect’s company. Get on G2 and look up their reviews. Find out what users love about their services, and use that to your advantage.

Template 16: Example of Personalization Based on Good Reviews

Sub: "Love your customer support"

Hi, {prospect's name}

Your customers love you! We'd be happy to give them more reasons to stay in love with 
you. {your company name} can take you to the next level by {value proposition} 
and totally eliminating {pain point}. We save you time, while you earn more 
glowing reviews!

If we can have a quick chat, I could show you how simple it is to get started.

Cheers!

{your sign-off}

If this isn’t an option, you can flip this to offer a helping hand to your prospect. Oftentimes, the Discussions section in G2 reviews can tell you exactly what users are missing. If your product is the perfect solution to bridge the gap, your prospect isn’t going to think twice about it. After all, nobody likes to leave questions unanswered, especially not on G2.

Template 17: Example of Personalization Based on G2 Discussion Query

Sub: {first name}, are you missing something?

Hi, {prospect's name}

I noticed someone had asked {query from G2}, and you hadn't responded yet. 
Do you have it? If not, I think {your company} can help!

We can solve this by {value proposition}, and make sure your users don't have to look for alternatives.

Is Wednesday a busy day for you?

Here's a link to my Calendly:

Cheers,

{your name and sign-off}

Conclusion

In a vast ocean of emails, a personalized email is like a hand-written message in a glass bottle.

The moment your prospect sees that your cold email has been specifically addressed to them, they’re more likely to reply. it has been specifically addressed to them.

As a parting gift, here are 5 data-backed tips we found from studying over 200,000 sales emails on writing cold email subject lines: 

1. Include numbers in the subject lines 
2. Have currency values in subject lines
3. Have a question mark 
4. Use emojis
5. Personalize subject lines using prospect’s name