What is a Warm Email?

A warm email is an email that is strategically written and personalized for one specific recipient. It’s an important tool to use in any regular sales cadence and is typically used alongside other forms of outreach.

A sales rep may have already reached out to a sales prospect before sending a warm email (in the form of a cold call, for example). Research should have already been conducted to identify the sales prospect, determine they are likely to convert, and most importantly, glean information to write a personalized warm email for them.

Cold Email vs. Warm Email

What’s the difference between a cold email and a warm email? A cold email is sent to a sales prospect you’ve never connected with before, whereas a warm email is sent in a more strategic, targeted manner.

Cold emails aren’t as specific, but they are still important for a sales team to use. Successful cold emails can lead to warm emails further down the sales funnel, so it’s important to utilize both.

Are Warm Emails Effective?

Yes, sending warm emails is an effective way to start building a relationship with a sales prospect. If this method didn’t work, sales reps wouldn’t send them.

While warm emails have been used by sales teams for years, it’s important to ensure they follow industry trends so you can stay ahead of your competition and grab your prospect’s attention. One of the best ways to do this is by including videos in your warm emails.

A recent case study conducted by Vidyard showed that one of their clients, Jostle, has seen increased engagement from prospects who receive warm emails containing personalized video: roughly 30% of prospects who opened their emails watched the videos.

How to Send a Warm Email

Understand Your Prospect

To send an effective warm email, you need to know exactly who you’re writing to. Make sure you research your prospect, know who they are and what they do, and have a good understanding of their business needs and how you can help.

Make sure to outline how your product will help bolster their business so they know you’re serious and have the potential to make a positive impact.

Keep Things Simple

You don’t need to write them a multi-page document outlining your product in detail. All you need are a few paragraphs explaining who you are, what your product is at a high-level, examples of links to resources showing its impact on related businesses, and how you can help them achieve similar success.

There are templates for warm emails online you can use as a baseline, but make sure to edit them for your specific needs.

Include a Video

As mentioned above, personalizing warm emails increases open rates as well as overall engagement. Incorporating video prospecting into your warm emails will help personalize them, make them stand out from competitors, and in turn help boost sales.

You can also use videos in warm emails as a way to include sales demo videos so your sales prospect can see exactly what your product is and how it works. This will allow them to get familiar with the details ahead of time, and come prepared to follow up conversations with questions. Hook them with the fun details first, and then reel them in to close the deal.

End With a Call to Action

Every warm email should end with a call to action. It doesn’t have to be anything overly creative, so don’t stress too much about it. Simply asking when they can touch base to discuss next steps will work, but make sure you follow up (especially if they don’t).