Have you experienced the frustration that comes with writing cold emails that never get responses? Maybe you even did everything you know to do but haven’t seen any improvement. It’s time to learn how to write stellar, cold emails and get responses all the time.
What is a Cold Email?
It’s an email message sent to someone who most likely knows little about you or your company. A cold email is an initial form of contact sent to someone for a particular purpose. The goal isn’t to go into a sales pitch or try to sell something right away. The purpose to start and build a business relationship.
The aim is to break the ice. Learn more about your prospect’s business and build rapport.
How To Ensure Your Cold Emails Avoid Spam Filters
If you write great, personalized content, your messages won’t get blocked by spam filters … right?
Maybe. Today’s spam filters are sophisticated, but they’re not intelligent. A spam filter doesn’t understand what your emails say or what they’re trying to convey. Rather, filters use a series of signals to determine how likely your message is to be spam.
Here are a few signals that may impact on spam filter algorithms:
- Open rates:If many people open your emails, it signals that your messages are not spam.
- Replies:People don’t generally respond to spam, so replies to your messages are a good signal.
- Junk folders:If people move your messages to the junk folder, it’s bad news. However, if people move your emails out of the junk folder to the inbox, they’ll be less likely to be labeled spam in the future.
- Deletions:If your messages get deleted without getting opened first, it signals they aren’t worth reading.
- Address books:When people add your business email to their address book, it’s a clear signal they want to see your messages.
Many of these signals are out of your hands. Here are few important elements you can control:
- Segment your email list.Sending out one email to thousands of recipients isn’t just bad marketing, it could get your messages flagged as spam. Instead, segment your list by customer type, interests or some other criteria to lower the number of people who receive each unique email.
- Use an active reply-to address. Many businesses make the mistake of sending messages from an email address like “noreply@example.com.” All that does is tell the recipient that your communication is one-way only and you’re not interested in hearing from them. Make sure that someone is actively checking the account for replies.
- Send emails from a business domain. You should never send mass emails from a personal email account. Set up your emails to come from your business domain. For example, “info@soarwebmarket.com.”
Finally, one of the best ways to avoid spam filters – and legal trouble – is to only send marketing messages to people who have agreed to receive them. The CAN-SPAM Act is a law requiring marketers to:
- Accurately identify the person or business who initiated the message.
- Use subject lines that reflect the content of the message.
- Disclose messages as advertising.
- Give recipients a clear and conspicuous explanation of how to opt out of future emails.
Complying with these regulations is a must for all email marketers.
7 Tips to get your Cold Email Read
To help you create cold emails that will break the ice (pun unintended) between you and your prospects, we have laid down some constructive tips for you.
If you have a formula that already works for you, that’s fine. But it doesn’t hurt to add the tips shared here.
1. Eye-catching Subject Line
Make sure your email subject line is short but intriguing. It’s better not to pitch your product in the subject line. Ask questions, offer something, present a personal discount, or make a promise. Keep it:
- short
- personal
- friendly and
- relevant to the content of the email
For examples of 20 Catchy, Cold email subject lines, click here..
2. Pain Point
Why should the recipient care about your email? Why should this busy person take time to respond to it? What’s in it for them?
Be helpful to your prospect. Make them feel as if you truly care about their success. Do your homework to understand your prospects needs, circumstances, industry, etc. Probe to see what their pain points are. Put yourself in their shoes. Find out what is their challenge. Show them the benefits of working with you or buying your product and how it can solve that problem. Don’t get too technical. Focus more on the benefits over features.
Draw similarities between them and other customers/clients you had.
3. Personalize
Personalization is one of the best ways to increase your open rate. Using the recipient’s name in the subject is a good way to capture his or her attention. If you don’t know everyone’s name, then you should at least ensure the appeal is relevant to their needs or interests. No two cold emails should ever be exactly the same.
Let this prospect know you took the time to understand their business.
4. Be Human
Avoid using jargon. Talk to them like you would talk to a friend or coworker.
5. Keep it Short and Actionable
Short emails are more likely to be read over long emails. Make your ask Easy and Actionable like scheduling a call.
Here is an example of a don’t and do CTA (Call to Action)
Don’t:
“Let me know if you want to meet up” is terrible. This puts the pressure on them to sort out the details. It’s short, but not easy or actionable.
Do instead:
“I can meet on Monday or Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Bigbee Coffee on Trolley Rd. If that doesn’t work, tell me what does, and I’ll make it happen.”
See the difference. That gives them a clear, easy action to take, with clear-cut choices.
6. Check Grammar
Apart from ensuring that you are sending your cold emails to the right people, you must review them thoroughly. A misspelled word, for example, won’t look good to your prospect.
Proofread thoroughly and make corrections where necessary. Ensure that your email introduces you, what you do and how you can help your prospect.
Most times, the human brain unintentionally skips errors. This is why it might be a good idea to use spell-checkers like Grammarly and ask for help from your team, friends, or family.
7. Follow up
Sometimes, even after trying all these suggestions above, you still get no response. Follow up with another email. Follow up emails can increase your reply rate by 22%. So many emailers stop at the first attempt. Don’t give up!
Read how to write a Follow up email.
Try these 7 tips to get your cold email read and enjoy higher open and response rates on your emails.
Other Email Marketing Articles
“How to Write a Follow up Email”
“20 Catching Email Subject Lines”
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