• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

It seems so simple. Offer value and show empathy, and your email open rates will go through the roof. 

Not so fast. On the contrary, some of the most trusted B2B email approaches can drive customers away, judging by a study from Sopro. 

Case in point: The email that starts by describing a problem—i.e., “Many sales teams struggle to maintain pipeline momentum in Q4.” (–45.7%)

Starting with a difficulty instead of potential can make readers feel defensive or disengaged. 

Then there’s the email that provides something of value before asking for a response—as in, “Here’s a short guide, no sign-up.” / “Sharing our benchmark deck.” –32.3%

The problem here is that offering free content feels transactional unless it is linked to the reader’s goal. Why reply when there are no clear next steps?

Next is the email that describes the recipient’s goals and challenges before introducing the sender or its solution---like “You’re likely focused on hitting revenue targets this quarter.” (–30.7%)This can bury the offer. Clarity about the solution is more important than courtesy.

The next on this roster is one that shows empathy—for instance, “I know it’s tough keeping the pipeline steady.” / “We understand the pressure on quarterly targets.” (–27.3%). These types of openings sound formulaic. Where’s the value? Readers like understanding, but they act on value, the study says. 

Here's another: the email that explains everything very clearly, as in, “We warm inboxes gradually, which reduces spam flags and improves deliverability.” There’s too much explaining—it slows things down. (--19.8%). 

"Some of these results might seem shocking at first, but they make sense when you think about them,” says Vic Heyward, director of marketing at Sopro,  “Social proof uses the voice of other people to build credibility. It’s not about landing in someone’s inbox as a stranger and saying, ‘Everyone loves us, trust me.’ That’s just arrogance.”

Heyward adds, “Similarly, understanding a prospect’s problems on a sales call and discussing whether your solution fits? That’s Sales 101. But leading a cold email with assumptions about their challenges and positioning yourself as the fix is presumptuous and off-putting.”

Sopro aanalyzed 650,000 unique B2B prospecting emails sent in 2025.