Here's the truth about cold emails: In a world where your prospects are drowning in hundreds of messages daily, you have just seconds to make an impression before they hit delete. If your email doesn't immediately command attention, create intrigue, inspire action, and drive conversion—it's game over.
So, how do you craft cold emails that stop prospects in their tracks and compel them to respond?
Enter the SLAP framework—Stop, Look, Act, Purchase. Developed by Glen Livingston, this powerful approach transforms ordinary outreach into attention-commanding messages that guide prospects through a natural decision-making journey.
But here's the reality: Creating emails that successfully execute all four elements of SLAP is challenging for most sales teams.
Even skilled sales professionals struggle to consistently craft messages that instantly grab attention, maintain interest, clearly present solutions, and drive conversions—especially when juggling dozens of prospects daily.
This is where AI becomes invaluable.
Tools like ChatGPT can help sales teams implement the SLAP framework at scale, ensuring every cold email creates the impact you need without consuming precious selling time.
In this blog, we'll dissect the SLAP framework, provide a ready-to-use ChatGPT prompt for creating these high-impact cold emails, and demonstrate the framework with a real-world example.
What Makes SLAP Work?
The SLAP framework is uniquely suited for outreach in cold emails because it focuses on a quick, almost instinctual flow—perfect for recipients with limited time or attention. Instead of hoping prospects will wade through your entire message, SLAP creates a psychological journey that mirrors how people naturally make decisions.
1. Stop: Interrupt the Pattern
The first component focuses on pattern interruption—making your prospect pause their inbox scanning. This isn't about gimmicks or clickbait—it's about presenting a statement so relevant to their current situation that they can't help but take notice. The key is demonstrating immediate understanding of their world in a way that demands attention.
2. Look: Create Curiosity
The look element builds on that initial attention by highlighting why the identified issue deserves immediate consideration. Here, you help prospects understand the true cost of inaction or the magnitude of the opportunity they're missing. The goal is transforming initial interest into genuine curiosity about the solution.
3. Act: Present the Path Forward
Having captured attention and created urgency, you now present your solution with crystal clarity. This section focuses on showing exactly how your offering addresses the specific challenge you've highlighted. The key is making the connection between their problem and your solution undeniable.
4. Purchase: Drive Conversion
The final element guides the prospect toward immediate action. Rather than vague suggestions, you provide a specific, low-friction next step that feels like a natural continuation of the conversation. By making this step clear and compelling, you transform interest into tangible engagement.
đź’ˇ ChatGPT Prompt: SLAP FRAMEWORK
Write a SLAP (Stop-Look-Act-Purchase) style cold email to {{Fullname}} from {{Company}}.These are inputs about my company which I'm trying to sell:
Ideal Customer: {ICP}
What does my product do? {Description}
The value we provide for the user: {Value Proposition}
What pain points do we solve? {Painpoints}
Competitor Advantage: {Competitor Advantage}
How we have helped people: {Case Study}
This is the input about the prospect: {Prospect_Research}Write the subject in the following format: Keep it simple, stating the main topic of the email. Avoid being overly creative or fancy. Limit it to 3-4 words max.Write the email in the following format: Stop: Grab attention with a compelling statement based on {Prospect_Research}. For example, "Most {ICPs} struggle with {pain point}..."Look: Emphasize the urgency of addressing this issue, showing how it could hurt the business if left unresolved.Act: Present our solution, highlighting how it directly addresses the problem. Add {Case Study} if needed.Purchase: Finish with a direct call to action. Either - "Worth a chat?" or "Worth exploring?"Guidelines:
- Keep the email under 80 words.
- Use a friendly, direct tone.
- Make sure to bring forth all the mentioned elements of formatting.
- Avoid vague terms like "streamline," "optimize," "maximize," etc.
- Be as specific as possible without making assumptions about the prospect.
Sample Output:
Conclusion
The SLAP framework and prompt provided give you powerful tools for creating cold emails that immediately capture attention and drive meaningful action.
But the challenge remains: implementing this approach consistently across hundreds of prospects requires significant time and resources. Even with AI assistance, managing this process at scale can be overwhelming.
That's why we built SDRx—an AI outbound agent that handles everything from in-depth prospect research to perfectly timed follow-ups, creating qualified pipeline without the manual grind.
By analyzing prospect behavior and leveraging 25 copywriting frameworks, SDRx generates highly personalized emails at scale, ensuring every outreach is relevant and impactful.
Want to use AI to create attention-commanding, conversion-focused emails for every prospect?
Book a demo of SDRx today.
