Write a B2B cold email with Lavender: under 100 words

A first email to a B2B prospect gets a reply when the recipient can tell in the first line that it was written to them. Lavender helps with the form: it scores length, readability, tone and personalization, and suggests how to make the email shorter and more personal. The substance comes from you: a reason to write to this particular company, and a result you have delivered for someone like them. Writing one good email takes about 15 minutes.

A reason to write to this company

Find one specific reason: a news item, a job posting, an expansion into a new market, a new executive. "I saw you are hiring three accountants for the new entity" opens differently from "I help companies like yours". An email anyone could have received gets ignored, and no score fixes that.

Problem and one result

State the problem you solve for companies like this, and one example result with another client. The result should have a number if you have one, taken from a real case you could talk about on a call. Invented or inflated results come back to haunt you in the first meeting.

The prompt

Role: you are an experienced B2B sales manager. Context: our product: {{product}}. Recipient: {{position}} at {{industry and company size}}. Reason to write: {{news or event}}. Example result with another client: {{result with a number}}. Task: write a first email of up to 100 words: open with the reason, name the problem, give the example result and end with one simple question. No flattery of the company and no meeting request. Format: three subject line options and the email text, in {{language}}. No long dashes.

The ban on meeting requests is deliberate. Asking for thirty minutes from a stranger is a big ask; a simple question such as "is this on your list for this quarter?" is easy to answer, and a reply starts a conversation.

Score and tighten in Lavender

Paste the draft into your email client with Lavender on. Look at the score and the suggestions: it usually flags long sentences, a slow opening and phrases that sound like marketing. Remove generic phrases and flattery ("I have been following your impressive growth"). Check that the reason is in the first line and the question is the last.

Keep in mind where the score is reliable. It is tuned to English-language emails for the US market and is unreliable for other languages. And a high score does not guarantee a reply; your reply rate over a sequence is the real measure.

Send and follow up

Send the email and set a reminder for a follow-up in four days. The follow-up should add something: a short example, a relevant article, a different angle on the same problem. "Just bumping this" adds nothing.

Protect your domain

Bulk email from your main domain can land in spam, and then your emails to customers land there too. Send prospecting emails from a separate domain, and keep volumes modest while you test.

What to do

1. Find one reason to write to this company: news, a vacancy, an expansion, a new executive.
2. State the problem you solve for companies like this, with one example result.
3. Run the prompt with the reason, problem and result.
4. Check the draft in Lavender and remove generic phrases and flattery.
5. End with one simple question, with no meeting request.
6. Send and set a follow-up reminder for four days later.

Signs it works

The email is under 100 words with a specific reason, a result and one question, and the reply rate for the sequence beats the previous one.

Pricing and privacy

Lavender has a free tier with a limited number of email scores a month; paid pricing is to be confirmed on the vendor's site. The extension reads the mailbox it runs in, so turn it off in a mailbox with confidential correspondence. See Lavender pricing, Lavender alternatives and Lavender vs Claude.