Cold email template

Cold email template for bookkeepers and accountants

A first email to a small business owner that starts from what their business is going through, not from your services list.

Subject: the second café

Hi Maria, Saw you opened the second café on Mill Road: two sites usually means two tills, two sets of staff hours, and one set of books that suddenly takes twice as long. I put together a one-page checklist of what to keep separate and what to combine for a two-site café. Want me to send it? Jo

58 words. The business and the people are made up; the shape is what works.

Why this gets replies

The second café is news she announced herself, so it's true and she's proud of it.
It names a problem she's probably feeling right now, in her words (tills, staff hours), not accounting words.
No fear. "You could be fined" emails get deleted; useful ones get answered.
The checklist is useful even if she never hires Jo, which is exactly why she'll say yes to it.

Facts to open with

The first line is the whole email. Spend two minutes on their website, shop or Google listing and find one of these:

They opened a new location
They started selling online
They're hiring (a jobs page or a post)
They changed their opening hours or added a service
They moved premises

Then say what it means for their customers, not what you'd do about it.

The free offer

A one-page checklist of what to keep, and when, for a business like theirs, written for their country and their kind of business. Small, finished and useful even if they never hire you. That's what makes "yes" an easy reply.

Follow-ups

In the same thread, each one shorter than the first and adding something new. Stop the moment they reply.

About 4 days laterHi Maria, one thing from the checklist that catches most two-site owners: tips. Keep them per site from day one and payroll stays simple. Want the rest?

Two weeks later, the last oneHi Maria, I won't write again. If the books start to pile up, the checklist is yours: just reply "checklist".

Send this to 50 businesses, each with their own fact. ScoutKite finds small businesses who published their email on their own site, reads each site, and writes this kind of email from one true fact about them. You approve every one; it goes from your own inbox.

Use this template →

The rules ScoutKite will follow

"Use this template" starts a campaign with these rules and the free offer filled in. You can change any of them.

Keep it under 70 words
Open with one fact about their business that changes their bookkeeping (a new location, hiring, selling online)
No scare tactics about tax or fines
No prices
End by offering the checklist and asking if they want it

Check yours

Writing your own version? Run it through the cold email checker for spam words and length, and get follow-ups from the follow-up writer. More templates: web designers, seo consultants, photographers, social media managers.