Structuring sales emails for human behavior

This cold email hits all the right notes. Yes, you can steal the template, but it's the underlying psychology that will help you apply it to your prospects. ___ "Hi Lisa – Looks like your team has 12 SDRs cold emailing Benefits Directors at companies with 3,000+ employees. With ACME, your reps can see which Benefits Directors searched for ALEX-related keywords in the last 24 hours—along with their names and emails—so they can reach out while interest is high. Want me to send over a few examples?" ____ Why This Works: The Psychology Behind It 1. Personalization & Relevance – By mentioning Lisa’s SDR team and their current outreach strategy, the email signals that this isn’t a generic blast. People are more likely to engage when they feel like the message is tailored to them. 2. Curiosity & Information Gap – The line “your reps can see which Benefits Directors searched for ALEX-related keywords in the last 24 hours” creates intrigue. Lisa now wonders, “Who’s searching? How can we use this?” This open loop makes her more likely to respond. 3. Timing & Urgency – The phrase “while interest is high” suggests that taking action sooner leads to better results. It plays on loss aversion—the fear of missing out on a warm lead. 4. Low-Friction Call to Action – Instead of asking for a meeting (which requires effort), the email simply offers to send examples: “Want me to send over a few?” This feels easy to say yes to, reducing resistance. 5. Conversational Tone – The email avoids formal, sales-y language. It reads like a natural, quick note, making it feel less intrusive and more approachable.

Most people think of email marketing as copy + design = sales. But the real drivers of conversion live in psychology. Here’s how the best email designers bake human behavior into their work: 1. Cognitive Ease Our brains crave simplicity. Clean layouts reduce friction. White space makes your message breathable. Hierarchy (big headline → subhead → CTA) mirrors how we naturally scan. The easier it is to process, the more likely someone is to click. 2. Visual Anchoring The human eye follows a predictable path: Faces draw attention first. Contrasting colors highlight urgency. Buttons in warm colors (red, orange) pull more clicks than cool ones. Your design either guides attention… or lets it scatter. 3. Emotional Triggers Design isn’t just visual, it’s emotional. Urgency: countdown timers, limited stock visuals. Trust: testimonials, user-generated photos. Aspiration: lifestyle images that show “who they’ll become” by buying. People don’t buy products, they buy outcomes. 4. Consistency & Familiarity Every email should feel like your brand. Fonts, colors, and tone that repeat over time. Familiar layouts that build subconscious trust. Predictable placement of CTAs (don’t make them hunt). Familiarity reduces doubt. Doubt kills sales. 5. Micro-Decisions From subject line to signature, every detail nudges a decision: A bold button vs. a hyperlink. Centered copy vs. left-aligned. Even the spacing between elements changes how people feel. Email design isn’t decoration. It’s persuasion. If your emails aren’t converting, it’s not always your copy or your offer, it’s how psychology is (or isn’t) built into your design. Smart design turns browsers into buyers. What’s one psychological principle you’ve noticed works best in your marketing?

Most people get ghosted in the DMs. Not because prospects are rude. But because your cold message sucks. It’s: ☑︎ Too long ☑︎ Too vague ☑︎ Too self-centered But there’s a fix. DMs can work — if you treat them like a conversation, not a pitch. I teamed up with Mariyum Hafeez to break down a better way. Here's how pros structure DM strategy across the buyer journey: Stage 1 – Awareness You’re a stranger in the inbox. They’re skeptical, scanning, and busy. DMs here should spark curiosity — not sell. Use: ☑︎ “Saw your post on X – curious how you handled…” ☑︎ Genuine compliments ☑︎ Mutual connection mentions Low pressure. High relevance. Opens the door. Stage 2 – Consideration They replied. Now what? They’re curious, but cautious. This is where you add context and value. Use: ☑︎ A short, specific pain-point story ☑︎ A link to a relevant post you wrote ☑︎ Permission-based asks (“Want me to send something helpful?”) Build rapport. Show them you listen. Stage 3 – Decision They’re warmed up. You’ve earned trust. Now it’s time to invite not push. Use: ☑︎ “Would a quick 10-min chat help here?” ☑︎ Mini-audit offers ☑︎ Short voice notes (human > robot) Be clear. Be confident. Respect their time. Stage 4 – Retention They said yes. Now make it worth it. Use: ☑︎ Post-call follow-ups ☑︎ Useful content drops ☑︎ Personal check-ins Turn conversations into clients. Turn clients into fans. DMs aren’t magic. They’re a strategy. Every message should: ⚫ Sound human ⚫ Feel relevant ⚫ Build trust Follow the flow. Earn the reply. ♻️ Repost to help someone who’s tired of being ignored. Follow us Mariyum Hafeez 🤝 Imtisal Mehmood 🖤

I still remember the day I almost gave up on cold emailing. I had spent hours crafting a pitch for a major advertiser- and sent it off with high hopes. When crickets answered, my first reaction was frustration: “What did I do wrong?” After a little self-reflection, the answer hit me: my email sounded like a robot. It was all bullet points and jargon with zero heart. So I went back to the drawing board and rewrote my pitch with one goal in mind: make it feel human. Here’s what changed: 1.    Empathy First:- Instead of opening with “Our platform delivers 3–5M USD monthly,” I started with, “I know your team must juggle dozens of offers and budgets, especially during peak season.” It showed I understood their world before jumping into numbers. 2.    Story Over Specs:- I replaced a laundry list of features with a mini-case study: “When we partnered with XYZ last quarter, they saw a 40% lift in performance simply by adding two transparency checkpoints in our reporting.” Real results, real people. 3.    A Genuine Question:- Rather than a hard “Can we jump on a call this week?”, I asked, “What’s been your biggest challenge with affiliate partnerships lately?” That opened a dialogue instead of a dead-end. 4.    A Dash of Personality:- I signed off with something memorable: “P.S. If you ever need a caffeine-fuelled brainstorming partner, I am just  a call away.” The outcome? The advertiser not only replied, they asked for a kick-off meeting and less than a week we had got the CPA campaign on a decent payout. Cold emails don’t have to feel cold. When you lead with empathy, tell a story, and invite real conversation, you’ll stand out in an inbox full of “blasts.” Give it a try—put the “human” back in your outreach, and you might be surprised by how warm your results become. What did you changed in your email to get the response from client? Share your story.. #humantouch #Coldemails #affiliatemarketing #performancemarketing

You know how most cold emails feel....off? I think there's ONE big cause behind this. Companies fall in love with a value proposition - it's great when the founder uses it to describe their company to friends, investors, media, etc... ...so they hand it off to a rep. "Go write a cold email!" The problem is that a value prop is a (very) high-level summary of what the company does. A sales conversation needs to be the opposite. ❌ high-level ✅ super specific ❌ about the company ✅ about the customer So while value props are great for internal direction and quick intros with strangers, they're not good for connecting with prospects. This sets the sales rep up for failure. Of course the email sounds general, impersonal, vague, etc. Instead, try using the job story framework. It comes from the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) methodology, and it looks like this: When [SITUATION]... I want to [MOTIVATION]... So that [DESIRED OUTCOME]. Unlike most value props, a job story is written from the perspective of the customer. I've been a JTBD practitioner for about 7 years (thanks Val Geisler for setting me on that path). It's a game changer for customer research and copywriting. I use job stories these days when training sales reps to write more human, more natural, and ultimately more effective emails. A good job story can totally transform the direction of your emails....and you can create many, many different stories. Here's the prompt (btw it does something secret that I didn't mention in the carousel below....but I'll talk about it tomorrow and show you how to isolate the BEST job stories): ------------------------- ------------------------- "Imagine a B2B SaaS company [Company Name] with the following value proposition and target audience: Value Proposition: [Describe the key service or product offering and its primary benefits.] Target Audience: [Define the specific group of businesses or professionals the company aims to serve.] Based on this, create five job stories for the company, focusing on how its product or service addresses specific scenarios and needs of the target audience. Each job story should follow this format: 'When [specific situation or challenge faced by the target audience], I want to [what they want to achieve or the action they want to take], so that I can [desired outcome or benefit].' After creating the job stories, evaluate and rank them based on their impact and relevance to the target audience. Explain your reasoning for the ranking, focusing on factors such as the universality of the need, potential impact on the customer's business, and the emotional resonance of the story. End your response by summarizing how these job stories collectively showcase the value of [Company Name] to its target audience." ------------------------- ------------------------- Special shoutout to Katelyn Bourgoin and Neal O'Grady 🍉 for bringing up job stories in the last Un-Ignorable cohort. If you use this, let me know!

Most people think their launch starts when they send the first sales email. But launches don’t start with promotion. They start long before that. Because before someone buys, three things need to happen: → They need to trust you and see you as an authority. → They need to recognise that they have a problem that needs solving. → They need to believe that your offer is the right solution for them. This doesn’t happen in a single email or even a sales sequence. It happens over time as your audience moves through the buyer’s journey: from awareness to consideration to decision. ➡️ Awareness: They realise they have a problem. Your content helps them see why it matters and shifts their perspective on what’s possible. ➡️ Consideration: They start looking for solutions. Your content builds trust, positions you as the expert, and helps them see why your approach is the right fit. ➡️ Decision: They’re ready to take action, but they might still have doubts. Your content needs to address hesitations, answer unspoken questions, and make the next step feel simple and obvious. If your launch emails aren’t converting, it’s because your audience isn’t ready yet. Here’s how we change that: 1️⃣ Priming Content → Before you even mention your offer, your emails should be shifting perspectives, addressing objections, and helping your audience see the deeper problem your offer solves. If they don’t see the need, they won’t see the value. 2️⃣ Connection Content → People don’t just buy based on logic, they buy based on connection. Story-driven emails help your audience see themselves in the transformation you provide, making your offer feel like the natural next step. 3️⃣ Pre-Sell Content → By the time you open the doors, your audience should already be considering buying. Emails that highlight demand, urgency, and value before the pitch mean they’re not just interested, they’re waiting for the opportunity to say yes. When you approach your emails like this, selling doesn’t feel pushy. It feels like the natural next step. By the time you send that first sales email, your audience already knows why your offer matters. They trust you. They see the value. And they’re ready to make a decision. So if you’ve been launching through emails and not getting traction, step back. Your audience might not need more emails. They might just need the right ones before the launch even starts.

I'm amazed at how few sales teams have a structured framework for outbound prospecting. Most reps are just spraying and praying, wondering why their response rates are dropping... 👇 Here's the W.A.R.M framework that helped us hit 144% of pipeline goals last month. ——— 1️⃣ Well-Defined TAM (The Foundation) Before you send a single message, you need to know exactly who you're targeting. Start by building your TAM using tools like Keyplay. Focus on firmographics, tech stack, and GTM team size. But here's the key - don't just build a massive list. Segment it into tiers based on fit. The tighter your TAM, the higher your conversion rates will be. 2️⃣ Authority (Your Secret Weapon) If your outbound is falling flat, you might have an authority problem. You need to be seen as a trusted voice in your space. Don't have thought leaders at your company? No problem. Curate and share valuable insights from industry experts with your prospects. Show them you understand their world before asking for their time. 3️⃣ Relevance (The Game Changer) This is where most teams go wrong. They focus on personalization before relevance. You need to layer three types of signals: - External signals (job posts, news, earnings calls) - Engagement signals (website visits, content downloads) - Product signals (usage spikes, feature adoption) The more signals that align, the higher your chances of success. 4️⃣ Make it Personal (But Be Smart) Stop doing the "signal dump" - you know, the "congrats on your funding round" messages that go nowhere. Instead, connect signals to value props. Ask yourself: "Does this signal relate to the pain point I solve?" If not, use it for prioritization, not personalization. And use AI tools to cut research time - you shouldn't spend hours crafting five emails. The magic happens when you bring all these pieces together. We use this framework to run both strategic and scaled plays. But remember: focus on relevance first, and the meetings will follow. We’ve got a whole blog on the WARM framework you can check out here (or if you subscribe to my newsletter you got an updated version of this): https://lnkd.in/ejAnRnHv What did I miss? Anything critical you include in your outbound framework?

Last quarter I received a perfect cold email. It followed the same simple prospecting framework I teach. Here's a line-by-line breakdown of why it works so well: SUBJECT LINE: Make it all about them and reference your research Why it works: Shows that it's not spam or automated, and creates curiosity to open the e-mail and here what they have to say PARAGRAPH #1: Warm, personal, with a sincere compliment Why it works: Shows the prospect you took the time to learn about them, and humanizes you. PARAGRAPH #2: Share relevant observations based on research and a potential problem which their research uncovered Why it works: Shows that you are reaching out to identify a potential way to help them which they may not be thinking about PARAGRAPH #3: Shares specific, clear value proposition which includes the problem you solve and the outcomes you deliver Why it works: people need to clearly understand what you do so they can decide for themselves if it makes sense to meet with you. Sharing generic outcomes without being direct or specific confuses and annoys prospects because they still don't know what you do after reading the e-mail. PARAGRAPH #4: Soft Call to Interest (CTI): Ask if they have ever given thought to what you wrote, and if they're open to discussing further. Why it works: Never assume that a prospect needs what you are selling. Instead, confirm whether they've thought about the problem you solve and are open to discussing further. A call to interest (CTI) is much softer than a call to action (CTA), such as asking them to meet before you've confirmed they even have a need or interest. Don't assume anything, just ask and validate first. Kudos to the seller for sending a well-written, thoughtful e-mail.

Most cold email sequences get 1% to 3%reply rates. Mine get 10% (Here's the difference) 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀: - Time-based follow-ups - Same message for everyone - "Just checking in" emails - 3+ hours to build 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀: - Behavior-based paths - Different messages for different engagement - Triggered by actions, not days - Built in 15 minutes with AI 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: - Stop following YOUR calendar. - Start following THEIR behavior. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻: - "Opened 5+ times? → Send: 'Seems like good timing to chat?'" High intent path. - "Clicked pricing link? → Send case study + booking link immediately" They're ready. Strike now. - "Replied 'not interested'? → Move to 90-day nurture sequence" Long game. Stay top of mind. - "Zero opens? → Try completely different value prop" Your angle isn't landing. Switch it. - "Opened 2-3 times, no clicks? → Send: 'Noticed you checked this out - questions?'" Soft nudge. They're curious. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: Building these manually takes 3+ hours per sequence. Most teams don't have that time. So they use generic templates and get generic results. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: I started using AI to map the logic. (Specifically: Saleshandy's AI Copilot) Drop in website → Answer 3 questions → Get full behavior-based sequence. 3 hours → 10 minutes. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: The framework comes first. AI just speeds up execution. Time-based sequences = treating everyone the same. Behavior-based sequences = treating everyone right. As long as you match message to behavior... Hard not to see reply rates double. Which approach are you using? #SalesStrategy #ColdEmail #B2BSales #EmailMarketing #Outbound

Stop Sending Cold Emails That Get Ignored! Want to boost your cold email response rates and book more meetings? Here’s a cheat sheet loaded with actionable tips to turn your emails into lead-generating assets. 1️⃣Crafting the Perfect Cold Email: → A clear structure can transform your email game: ✅Subject Line: Create curiosity. Examples: "{{FirstName}} x {{SenderName}}" "{{FirstName}}, thoughts?" "Worth a chat?" ✅Opening Line: Personalize to show you’ve done research. Example: "Since [specific detail about company or role], I’m curious to know how..." ✅Body: Address a pain point, offer a solution, and guide them to act. ✅Call to Action (CTA): Encourage small steps, not big commitments. Examples: "Could this be useful to you?" "Can I share a 2-minute video on how it works?" 2️⃣Writing Frameworks That Work: → Structure your emails to drive responses: AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action): Example: "Hi {{FirstName}}, have you considered how [pain point] impacts [goal]? Here’s how we can help…" PAS (Problem, Agitation, Solution): Example: "Many companies struggle with [problem]. Without a fix, it leads to [agitation]. Here’s our solution…" ✅SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff): Example: "With [situation] affecting [aspect], addressing [problem] could lead to [outcome]." ✅Before-After-Bridge: Example: "Currently, you’re [current state]. Imagine achieving [desired state]. Here’s how we bridge the gap…" 3️⃣Boosting Open & Response Rates: → Make your email stand out: Use high-converting subject lines. Personalize your email based on recent funding, leadership changes, or shared connections. ✅Use simple CTAs like: "Worth a chat?" "Can I share how this works?" 4️⃣Follow-Up Sequence: Don’t stop at one email! ✅1st Follow-Up: Send 2 days later. Focus on value addition. ✅2nd Follow-Up: Send 3 days later. Restate the value and ask if it’s relevant. ✅Final Follow-Up: Add urgency or curiosity. Example: "Last attempt to connect, happy to follow up if now’s not the right time." 5️⃣Deliverability Essentials Ensure your emails reach the inbox: Warm up your domain for at least 2 weeks. Validate email addresses before sending. Avoid spam triggers like "free" or "urgent." 6️⃣Key Metrics to Track: ✅Know what’s working: ✅Response Rate & Positive Response Rate: Focus on how many turn into calls. ✅Conversion Rate: Measure how replies turn into actual meetings. If response rates are below 1%, reassess your deliverability. 7️⃣Quick Tips for Success ✅Personalization Triggers: Mention recent funding or relevant details. ✅A/B Testing: Test subject lines and CTAs to see what performs better. ✅Weekly Checklist: Proofread, verify contacts, and review previous results. If you’re tired of sending emails that don’t get replies, it’s time to upgrade your strategy. PS: ✉️ DM me now, and I’ll help you craft cold emails that convert into meetings!