When you think of cold emailing, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is “unsolicited.” It’s because the people you send these emails to are those you’ve never approached.
For this reason, it’s relatively easy to consider cold emails to be a nuisance and spam. But why do marketers still want to send cold emails? Does cold emailing work?
Hang tight, as we’ll explore everything you need to know about cold emailing in this blog post and answer whether it works. Keep reading until the end as we also share tips to avoid the spam folder, boost your open rate, and get replies.
What is Cold Emailing?
Cold emailing is sending an email to a potential customer without prior contact. Thus, the word “cold” is because you have no direct relationship or connection between you and the other person.
It may also trigger thoughts about “cold phone calls” because they are much alike in concept. Cold calling is even known as the vocal equivalent of cold emailing.
However, in reality, cold email is less intrusive. This is why many businesses are leaning towards this marketing channel to obtain and nurture leads.
89% of marketers even use email as their primary channel for generating leads, some sending three to five emails weekly. [1]
Examples of cold emails are the following:
- An email to someone in the same industry as you so that you can network with them
- An email to a hiring company–one that is your area of expertise
- An email to a manager or CEO on your prospect list that you want to set up a demo or call
- An email to a potential investor to establish a business relationship
Similar to advertising, cold email marketing aims to introduce your brand or company to a target recipient (ad viewer for the advertisement) and encourage them to buy or respond. Yet, compared to advertising, cold emailing is more precisely targeted and more cost-effective.
So, Does Cold Emailing Work?
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Truth be told: Yes, it works.
However, it depends on how effectively you structure your content and campaign strategy.
For many companies, cold emailing works because it has a place in their sales process. They also find the tool effective for generating unlimited leads and scaling the business.
While every cold email you send has to compete with hundreds of emails in an average professional’s inbox, and you’re likely a stranger to that recipient, you can stand out as long as you do cold email right, strategic, professional, and smart.
7 Benefits of Cold Emailing
With a personalized approach and a thought-out strategy, here are the benefits that marketers like you can reap from cold emailing:
1. Lead generation
Cold email marketing is highly targeted; you can target individuals who have shown interest in your product or service. This allows you to reach out to potential customers and raise their awareness of your offerings.
Scoring leads also help you determine how to personalize your email. Typical metrics for scoring leads include their job role, industry, seniority, whether they’re currently using a competitor’s product or service, or whether you have had contact with them before.
2. Networking opportunities
You can also use cold email campaigns to build your network. You can establish partnerships after conferences, events, and summits. You may even gather the email addresses of businesses cooperating with what you’re interested in and contact them after the event.
3. Brand recognition
You can reach out to prospects who may still need to learn about your product, services, or brand. Even if they don’t need your product or service yet, they will do so in the future. So, conversion or not, email marketing increases brand awareness.
4. Recruiting opportunities
Cold email is an incredible platform for recruiters. They can look through profiles on LinkedIn or communicate with skilled individuals during events that may suit your company’s needs.
5. Boosting traffic
Cold emailing can increase site traffic and keeps the audience engaged with your brand. Later, you can convert site visitors into clients. The strategy is to group anonymous site visitors and put outreach efforts and content in the same area so certain people find what they want.
When executed correctly, they can leverage your cold email efforts to boost the number of site visits and bring more business.
6. Increasing sales
Cold emails are incredibly effective at increasing conversion rates for the sales team. To craft the best cold email campaign for your target audience, research their pain points and address those needs effectively and quickly while introducing the importance of your email message.
7. Lower cost
Another evident benefit of cold email marketing is it’s more affordable than other marketing channels. You also don’t have to pay high fees for exposure on a search engine, social media, television, or magazine.
Although software may be costly to automate, track, and assess cold email campaigns, the overhead spending is still smaller than other paid marketing channels.
Proofs That Cold Emailing is Effective
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Success Stories
Dhruv Ghulati of Factmata
Artificial intelligence company Factmata’s founder Dhruv Ghulati secured a $250,000 investment from American businessman Mark Cuban on his first attempt and another $250,000 nine months later.
How did he use cold email campaigns? He stated what his company does, communicated its value, and expressed his confidence in its viability. He also made a reasonable request in his personalized cold email: he didn’t ask for money but asked if he could send more information.
In his email, he even wrote, “I would love to tell you more about us if you’re interested, especially given your recent public discussions about this topic.”
Gabriel Shaoolian of Digital Silk
Another success story is from creative digital agency Digital Silk’s CEO Gabriel Shaoolian. He shared on Entrepreneur that he generated over $20 million in his new business for three years using cold email outreach.
His advice? Be specific and on point so your emails don’t look spam. Also, avoid focusing too much on how great your business is because the readers would want to know what you can do for them.
“Start by addressing why you’re contacting the business owner in the first place, and then you can explain why you think a partnership would be a good fit,” he wrote. Shaoolian added that marketers should write an engaging subject line, hit the main points, show value, and quickly wrap the email.
Ryan Robinson of Ryrob.com
Our third success story that proves cold emailing is effective is from blogger-podcaster Ryan Robinson. He used cold email, resulting in a $10,000 monthly retainer with his client.
He starts his cold email campaign by discussing the recipient, demonstrating that he’s done his research and creating a genuine connection with the reader first, then sharing his offer. He also used a casual tone in writing and opted to target clients who were the right fit for his business.
Statistics
Research has shown that cold email has an average open rate of 44%, a response rate of 20% or more, and a click-through rate of 3.67%. The study is based on an analysis of 65 million emails in QuickMail alone. [2]
To increase your cold email effectiveness, you send them at the right time. Research also shows that the best time to send these emails is early in the week or the day. Ideally, it’s Tuesdays (previously Mondays and Fridays) before lunchtime. At this time, your recipients’ inboxes are not cluttered.
Still, Tuesdays’ open and click-through rates aren’t that far different from the other days. But on weekends, the metrics drop. The same study shows that sending emails still works from 5-7 pm.
Related: Best Time to Send a Cold Email
5 Reasons Why Cold Emailing May Not Work (and How to Fix Them)
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1. You talk more about yourself
One of the many reasons why you get no responses, opens, or conversions to your cold emails is that you talk more about yourself and less about the recipient.
Think of your cold email as a real-life conversation. If you begin talking on and on about yourself, the other party may find a way to excuse you and walk away. Apply that same logic to emails and allow your recipient to understand why you’re reaching out to them in the first place. Doing so is a step toward business growth.
2. You’re using canned email templates
The amount of unsolicited cold emails a person gets these days has increased in the last year. And many people know when the sender does very little research about them; it would turn out as spam to them.
In addition, using canned email templates or copy-pasting the same email to hundreds of emails is an issue and could hurt your cold emails. There’s nothing wrong with using a template, but make sure it hits the right notes.
3. Your cold emails are landing in the spam folder
Automated spam filters are getting more advanced these days, and some of your cold emails may get flagged and end up in the spam folder. In short, your intended recipient never got the chance to read them in the first place.
Write emails like a human and only include the necessary links to fix this issue.
4. Your subject line is meh
The subject line is a delicate touch point in your cold email campaign. After all, it is the first thing your intended recipients will see when they open their inboxes. They will likely open it and read its contents if it’s a strong subject line.
Meanwhile, if your subject line is weak, they may delete or move your email to spam.
Writing compelling subject lines for cold emails usually takes a little more effort. It also means you write subject lines that are clear and straightforward. Yet, at the same time, it elicits curiosity.
5. You show no credibility
In a professional setting, a company’s reputation for credibility is everything. Look at Forbes and CNBC, for instance. There’s a reason why these websites are popular – people look for credible companies and people to do business with.
Therefore, when crafting an email, ask yourself, “Why should your target recipient trust you and your company?”
Some ways to establish credibility include name-dropping your investors, mentioning your clients, or including some of your previous achievements.
Strategies for Increasing the Effectiveness of Cold Emailing
Research Targeted Contacts
Finding the right leads and information about those leads matter if you want to increase the effectiveness of your cold email strategy.
So, as much as possible, when you write your cold emails, you research the following:
- The person you’re emailing (your reader/ recipient)
- Their job position and how long they’ve been in that role
- Recent accomplishments or news about that person
- Their company name and recent news about that company, such as new projects that their company is releasing or working on
- Information about the person that’s related to your offer
Researching these things and including a compliment or flattery in your body content will help you write effective cold emails. If you could make that compliment specific, it would be even better.
Even if it’s not sincere, flattery in your cold email still works. It also creates a positive feeling in the recipient, which you can use to warm up a cold email. [6]
Remember that you’re a total stranger to the recipient. Aside from finding something related to your offer, you must build trust.
Craft Personalized Cold Emails
The most successful cold email campaign has a significant impact because of a combination of factors; personalization plays an important role. Thus, it is essential to keep your cold emails simple and personalized.
For instance, mention a recent project they worked on or published an article that impressed you. Including this personalized message shows you’ve taken the time to study their business and are genuinely interested in working with them.
Send Follow Up Messages
If you don’t get a reply to your first cold email, don’t assume that the recipient isn’t interested. There’s no need to erase them from your contact list yet. Instead, send a follow-up message.
The ideal follow-up emails to cold emails are three. Beyond that number, you’ll get diminishing returns to the effectiveness of cold emailing.
Related: Cold Email Follow-Up – How to Get Your Prospect to Respond
Why Use an Email Deliverability Tool
- Ensures a good deliverability rate
- Speeds up the process of sending cold emails
- Avoids landing your email in the spam folder
- Opportunity to use advanced email deliverability techniques, like custom domain tracking and email warmup
- Can be helpful if you’re unsure about the email marketing rules in your region
- Helps you implement proper email authentication, despite being highly technical
- Figures out how your email campaign affects your users
- Highlights your current email inbox placement
Related: Best Cold Outreach Tools on the Market for 2023
Maximize Your Cold Email Outreach Efforts Today
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Cold emailing works, and it sure is awesome. This form of marketing has existed for years and is also a testament that it is among the marketer’s leading choices.
As long as you do it right, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try it.
Now, over to you – does cold emailing work for your business? If not, why not?
Would you like to see what our ultimate email deliverability tool can do for your cold email campaign? Try it for free.
It may be the right time to take your business to the next level and double your open rates within 1-2 weeks.
References:
[1] https://www.lxahub.com/stories/email-marketing-stats-and-trends-for-2023
[2] https://quickmail.io/cold-email/statistics#cold-email-open-rate-statistics
[3] https://quickmail.io/cold-email/statistics#cold-email-open-rate-statistics
[4] https://www.getresponse.com/resources/reports/email-marketing-benchmarks#results-by-day-of-week