Problem and outcome framing gives a cold email a reason to exist. Start with the recipient's current situation, show the business effect they may recognize, and connect it to an outcome your offer can help produce. Show the recipient's world without your solution before presenting it. That order helps the offer make sense because the recipient can see what it changes.1 Describe the problem as a gap, and use the outcome as the reason to keep the conversation moving.
Start with the current state
Start with a situation the recipient could recognize from their own work. Give the problem section a clear place in the email so the reader knows why the offer belongs in the message.
A problem section should describe the recipient's current state and a problem they might be experiencing.2 Describe the specific situation, what is forcing action now, and the outcome the customer expects. Generic business problems can apply to anyone, so they give the reader little to recognize.3
Put the problem in paragraph two.4 Use that paragraph to describe the situation before explaining how your offer helps. If the reader cannot see their own circumstances in the problem, the outcome will feel detached from the email.
Define the gap
A recognizable situation becomes useful when you show the difference between what should happen and what is happening. Keep this part factual so the recipient has something concrete to confirm or correct.
A useful problem statement describes the gap between expected and actual performance and gives the team a shared starting point without assuming a cause, assigning blame, or prescribing a solution.5 Work through these prompts:
- Ask, "What standard, target or requirement should have been met?".6
- Ask, "What was observed or measured?".7
- Ask, "How large or frequent was the difference?".8
- Ask, "Where and when did the problem occur?".9
In the email, turn those answers into a short description instead of listing them as questions. Define the gap before you explain why it exists.
Connect the problem to the business
A process issue earns attention when the reader can see what it affects outside the process itself. Move from the observed situation to the larger objective the recipient is trying to reach.
A useful hypothesis connects a specific problem to a larger business objective.10 Write the connection in plain language: "You're dealing with X, which is causing Y, right?"11 This gives the recipient a simple way to confirm the situation or correct it.
Use the recipient's business problem as the destination of the paragraph. Sellers need to identify the business problems the prospect may be trying to solve and connect their services to those problems.12 Ask what the process issue makes harder, slower, riskier, or more expensive, then tie the answer to the objective already implied by the situation.
Keep the problem specific enough for the recipient to judge. A vague statement about efficiency gives them nothing to verify. A recognizable situation and its business effect give them a place to respond.
Connect the offer to the outcome
- Describe the situation
- State the business effect
- Name the outcome
- Explain the part
Once the recipient can recognize the problem and its effect, introduce the offer as a way to address that situation. Keep the offer sentence downstream from the problem so the reader can judge its relevance.
The problem and the outcome the prospect needs to drive should determine the entry point for the offer.13 Map the problem before writing the pitch so you can explain how the product can help more specifically.14 A pitch built around the problem shows the problem and then how the product solves it.15
A workable email sequence is:
- Describe the situation the recipient may be facing.
- State the business effect that follows from it.
- Name the outcome the recipient needs to drive.
- Explain the part of your offer that addresses that problem.
Use that sequence as a writing structure, not a script to copy word for word. Keep the language close to the recipient's situation and remove offer detail that does not explain the connection.
After finding the prospect's problems, pains, and impacts, connect them back to your product.16 Frame the problem around what you can solve and use that frame to reach agreement on the situation.17 Check whether the recipient can see why this offer belongs beside this problem and this outcome.
If the recipient does not think the solution will solve the problem better, do not move to next steps.18 Use the reply to test the frame before asking for a meeting or another commitment.
What not to do
These mistakes make the reader do the framing work for you. Remove them before you send the email.