Where’s the line between a highly-relevant and compelling sales Email and a creepy invasion of privacy? Email marketing and B2B sales teams today are all too familiar with that particular catch-22. You have access to a wealth of data to inform email campaigns—but privacy concerns and varying consumer comfort levels with data collection can complicate things. That’s a consideration that’s missing from most of the B2B email templates you’ll find online. They either: Ignore the impact of data and hawk super generic emails, or Go all in on personalization, ignoring how it may read to prospects Neither of those approaches does justice to today’s B2B companies or consumers. And if email is a big part of your sales process or marketing strategy, you need a better way to let data inform those efforts. The email examples and templates we share below are designed to help salespeople strike the right balance—so you can sell more without creeping people out. We have templates for: Cold email template Follow-up email template Stale lead email template Before we get to those, we discuss some of the best practices around using data in your sales outreach, so you’ll be better equipped to adapt our templates or build your own. Note: Is your sales outreach driven by buying signals and intent data? Try Leadfeeder free for 14 days to see which companies have visited your website, plus the pages they looked at and how long they spent there. How to Appropriately Use Data in Your Sales Outreach Emails Striking a balance between relevant and creepy really comes down to just three things: Understanding your customers and prospects How you use the data you have How you talk about the data you use Every use of data needs to start with solid insight into how your buyers are likely to react to it. Since access to and availability of data has grown so quickly, prospects have varying levels of comfort with personalization and data collection. When you understand that, you can take the right steps to mitigate the creepy factor for your customers. The key, then, is to use the data you have for a reason—don’t fall into the trap of over-personalizing an email just because you can. Any and all data you use to inform sales outreach needs to either inform your message or reduce friction for the prospect. For example: If you have technographic data showing a prospect uses your competitor’s product and pricing intelligence showing that competitor has raised their prices, sending an email offering to set up a call makes sense. Once you know your email is relevant, it’s important to frame personalization as a benefit—not an invasion. Steve Bryerton, VP of Sales for Mailshake, put it this way: “The Scoop, or inside piece of information, helps provide timing and context to a message, but it should not be THE message.” That means avoiding phrases like: “I know you’re working on” “I hear you have a new project” “I see you’re looking into” In our example above, the email shouldn’t say “I know you use Competitor A’s product…” If you’re sending outreach emails based on Leadfeeder data, don’t start with “I see you viewed our pricing page,” or “I know you’re interested in Feature X…” Instead, position yourself and your company as the expert. You know prospects are looking for your solution because you solve similar problems for similar companies day in and day out. Frame your inside knowledge more like this: “I work with dozens of [industry] companies that are seeing [problem]” “We’ve noticed companies like yours struggle with [pain point]—is that something you’ve seen?” Cold Email Template After you’ve seen in Leadfeeder that a target company visited your website—say, they spent several minutes on your features page and visited your pricing page—you know they likely experience pains that your product can solve. You also know, based on company data within Leadfeeder, that they fit your target account profile. Here’s a sample first email template that puts all of that data to work, without the creepy: Subject line: Better leads? Hey [Name], I work with dozens of [industry] companies that struggle to generate enough targeted leads for their sales teams. Do you ever have that problem at [Company Name]? Our product is designed to [present your specific value proposition], enabling companies to: [Value 1] [Value 2] [Value 3] If that’s something you’re interested in, let’s set up a demo. Follow-Up Email Template If you send an initial sales email that gets opened, and Leadfeeder data shows that prospect went on to visit your website and share it with their coworkers, you know something resonated. Note: Want to know how many people from a target account have visited your website? Try Leadfeeder free for 14 days to see companies that have visited your website, plus the pages they looked at and how long they spent there. When it’s time to follow up, here’s a sample email template that leverages that data without sounding like Big Brother: Subject line: Do you want more info? Hi [Name], I trust that you’ve had an opportunity to read me previous email and look at our website, so I figured it’d be worth checking in with you again. Have you given any additional thought to using [Product] to find better leads? I’d be happy to run you through a demo of how it works and answer any and all questions you may have. When would suit you for a quick video chat? Stale Lead Email Template Let’s say you reached out to a prospect who scheduled a demo. Their feedback was great and everything seemed to be moving toward a close when they just… disappeared. If it’s been a few weeks or months and someone from the company visits your website, it might be a good time to re-engage. Subject line: Is it time for better leads? Hi [Name], Are you still struggling with [pain point]? Based on your feedback during our demo, it sounds like [Product] can help [Company Name] with: [Value 1] and [Value 2] I’d be happy to pick up where we left off and answer any remaining questions you may have. Personalized Sales Outreach Without the Creepy All the data available today has the potential to open tons of doors for B2B salespeople and marketers—the key is approaching prospects in such a way that you don’t get that door slammed in your face. Get to know your prospects, be transparent, and use data to make their lives easier—not just yours.