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How to use Cold Emails to boost your marketing efforts? 7 tips that work!
Cold emails have been around since the advent of the Internet. Huge multi-million dollar companies owe their success to cold mailing, especially in their early stages. No matter how big or small your business is, cold mailing is a proven method of increasing leads and expanding your network. But, let’s face it: The idea of sending an unsolicited email to another business can be daunting, especially for small businesses. Do you know why? Because most marketers do it wrong and eventually end up ruining their cold email campaigns. In this post today, I will share proven tips and strategies on how to use Cold emails to boost your marketing efforts.
Basics first: What is a cold email?
For those who are new to the concept of cold emailing, let me explain it in simple words:
A cold email is a kind of unsolicited (marketing) email that is usually sent to someone with whom you do not have any direct or indirect personal contact.
For example: Suppose you just started an apparel e-commerce store. You are a new player in this field, with unestablished brand image. Now you want to attract sellers and start emailing retail heads of brands like Nike, Adidas, and Calvin Klein. They do not know about you and your business. So when you email them about your new e-commerce store and why they should consider selling on your store...that’s a cold email.
The Difference Between Cold Email and Spam
You might wonder: Aren’t these unsolicited emails an equivalent of email spam? No. A good cold email is CAN-SPAM compliant, which means it includes an opt-out method and accurate sender information. On the other hand, email
spam is often automated, generic and impersonal. It is often sent in bulk to contacts who have not been researched or qualified in advance.
Benefits of cold emailing:
There are countless reasons why cold email is important to a business. The two most important are:
7 tips to write cold emails that are actually read and favourably responded
Follow these 7 tips to write better cold emails and increase your chances of success:
1). Verify your recipient’s email address:
When you address someone in your cold email, make sure he or she is the right concerned person. This increases your chances of getting the response you want. So taking the time to find the correct email address should ideally be the first step before you even begin writing a cold email. For example: If you want to send an advertisement query to a magazine, it won’t make sense to email the editors.
The whole purpose of email validation is to make sure that a real person with a valid email address receives and interacts with the sent email. Here is how you can validate the correct email addresses:
2.) Use your own email address
The next tip for writing a good cold email is to ensure that you use your own (preferably professional) email address to outreach a potential client. Don’t email using any generic business email name like [email protected]. This spoils the whole point of establishing a personal contact. Cold emails are all about making personal connections with potential customers, and the first opportunity a salesperson has to establish that connection is the front line.
Personalizing your email message helps you instantly catch your recipient’s attention and make a great first impression. You will find many ready to use cold email templates on the internet. But you’ve to understand that you cannot use the same template over and over again to email all your prospects. By doing this, you will dissolve the thin line of distinction between cold emails and email spam. So go ahead, do some homework about your prospects and then write a truly personalized email. Here is what you should personalize in your cold email:
Sharing a point of commonality or a sincere compliment works best while personalizing your email. Points of commonality can be: You both share a
common passion or interest, you both hail from the same school, university, or even the same city!
Some people are so creative on their cold email outreach strategy that they literally do something out of this world. For example: My friend, Puneet Bhalla recently received a cold email message in the form of a truly personalized video message! Creativity has no bounds! Check out this LinkedIn feed screenshot where he shared this message:
If you decide to appreciate your prospects, please make sure that it is a sincere one!
For example: I receive many cold emails from guest writers who want to contribute on my blog. In their email pitch, most of them appreciate my blog. They say that they are a regular reader of my blog. But I don’t see even a single comment coming from these people. They are not even my email subscribers. So, isn’t that appreciation highly insincere? So what do I do then? I outrightly ignore such cold emails. Simple!
I see most of the cold email pitches hitting directly to the point, often so terribly direct that it seems as if they are literally begging for something. For example: Have a look at this email from a person who wants to write a guest article on my blog:
She is so direct in her message that she has emphasized - ‘all that she cares about is a backlink to her website’. This line spoiled the whole deal! How can I even trust her work?
Instead of this, if she had approached me by writing how she can provide value to my blog or even an offer to update an old article on the blog, it would have been readily accepted.
Another tip to write good cold emails is to be concise and brief in your message. Business prospects usually receive hundreds of emails in a day. So respect their time by keeping your message short, personalized, and brief to the point.
Finally, make sure that you use a professional email closing followed by a professional email signature to make your message bold and impactful. Adding a professional email signature will help you build trust and a personal connection with your email recipient. This tip will help you increase the chances of getting a favorable response to your cold email message.
Your thoughts?
Cold emailing can be incredibly effective and should be considered best business practice for entrepreneurs. Add it to your collection of tools, letting go of your fear of people who say no, and give yourself a chance to experience how powerful cold email can be. It might just surprise you. What are your thoughts on cold emailing? How do you use it to market your business? Looking forward to your comments!
FAQs:
1) Are cold emails illegal?
In short, No! This means that you will not be flagged as a spammer if you send your potential customers cold, CAN-SPAM compatible emails. In other words, making contact with business contacts that you have never interacted with or with whom you are not personally familiar is not illegal.
2) What is the best time to send a cold email?
It depends upon the geographical location and time zone of your email recipient. For best results, choose weekdays over weekends...And a time range from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
3) What is a good cold email open rate?
A good email hunter open rate meets the average, which is 20.94%. The results for your organization, however, will depend on the health of your list, the quality of your subject line, and the average benchmark for your industry.
Targeted cold emails result in a higher open rate than average. The average open rate for business emails sits around 14% to 23% depending on the industry, according to ConstantContact and MailChimp.