Sequence template · 4 steps over 16 days

Proposing a product integration to a complementary company

For startups approaching a complementary product about an integration or joint marketing: four steps that lead with what shared customers gain.

Goal. A first call with the partnerships or product owner at a complementary company

Step 1Day 0, campaign start

Subject {{partner_product}} and {{our_product}} for {{shared_customer_type}}

Hi {{first_name|there}},

We build {{our_product}}, and a growing share of our users also run {{partner_product}}. They keep asking us for the same thing: the two tools passing data to each other without a spreadsheet in between.

I would like to propose an integration. We would build and maintain our side, list {{company}} in our catalogue, and write the guide. What we need from you is a conversation about the right person and the right API scope.

Is a twenty-minute call with whoever owns partnerships at {{company}} realistic?

Lead with the shared customer, then take on the work yourself. A partner who has to build nothing has little reason to say no.

Step 2Day 4

Subject Re: {{partner_product}} and {{our_product}} for {{shared_customer_type}}

Hi {{first_name|there}},

If a full integration is more than {{company}} wants to take on right now, there is a lighter version: a joint guide for {{shared_customer_type}} on using {{partner_product}} and {{our_product}} together, published on both sites.

It costs an afternoon each and tells us whether the demand is real before anyone writes code.

Would that be an easier first step?

A smaller ask that still moves things forward. Co-marketing is easier to approve than engineering.

Step 3Day 9

Subject Who owns partnerships at {{company}}?

Hi {{first_name|there}},

I may be writing to the wrong person, and if so I am sorry for the noise. Could you point me to whoever looks after integrations or partnerships at {{company}}?

To save them a search: we build {{our_product}}, our shared customers are {{shared_customer_type}}, and we are offering to do the engineering on our side.

A name or a forward is all I need.

Fresh subject, different ask. Many partnership emails die because they reached the wrong desk, not because the idea was bad.

Step 4Day 16

Subject Re: Who owns partnerships at {{company}}?

Hi {{first_name|there}},

I will close this here. If an integration with {{partner_product}} becomes interesting later, the offer stands: we build our side, you review, and both sets of customers get a working connection.

Thank you for reading, and good luck with the next release.

Ends the thread without pressure and restates the offer in one sentence so it is easy to find later.

Use this sequence when your customers already use another product alongside yours and you want the two connected, or when a joint piece of content would reach the same buyers from a second direction. It is written for a company that is not a competitor and has something to gain from the connection. If the gain is only yours, no sequence will fix that.

Who to put in it

Partnerships in smaller software companies are owned by whoever cares most, which is often a product manager, a head of growth or a founder. Put two people from the same company in the campaign: the most likely owner and one alternative. Because both belong to the same company, their replies and opens land on one company card, and you will see quickly which of the two is engaging. The reasoning behind treating the company as the unit is in account-based cold email.

Keep the list to companies whose product your users actually mention. A partner you cannot name a shared customer for will ask, and you will have nothing to say.

What to change before sending

shared_customer_type should be a phrase both companies would recognise, such as the kind of team or industry, not your internal segment name. Rewrite the first paragraph of step one with a real example of what the two tools would exchange. If you have an API and webhooks yourself, mention them in step one, because it tells the partner you know what an integration costs; the shape of such a setup is described in automating outbound with webhooks and the REST API.

How to read the replies and when to stop

“Send me the technical details” is an Interested reply: send a one-page description and propose a call in the same message. “We have a partner programme, apply here” is neither yes nor no; apply, and stop the sequence for that person. A referral to a colleague is the best outcome of step three: start the colleague on step one with the referrer named in the first line.

Stop after four steps. If nobody at the company answers, park it for a quarter and try again when you have a new reason, such as a customer who asked for the connection by name. The account-based outbound playbook covers how to run those repeat waves without contacting the same people too often.