Discover the best cold emailing tips in this blog!
If you think that cold contacting is an old technique that is no longer used, you are absolutely wrong! Yes, it’s an old sales technique, but cold emails are one of the purest transformations that have taken place in the market, especially in the B2B field.
In 2022, the art of cold emailing is still going strong. And with its constant transformation, it’s impossible not to achieve set goals. This is precisely what we are working on in our blog and one of our main objectives.
The B2B world and the work it requires is complicated, isn’t it? Thanks to emerging technology and digital products, these activities are becoming simpler and easier to take on, such as FindThatLead, which makes the process of evaluating, prospecting, validating and contacting all those customers faster and easier, even on autopilot! In today’s article, we’ll see the best cold emailing tips!
“You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship if you want to build a successful long-term business” – Patricia Fripp.
What is a Cold Email?
The first question to ask about cold emailing tips is to know what cold email is.
Cold Emails, also known as “cold door” are mailings that have an advertising approach, where an individual or company seeks to publicize its products and services to a person who is outside its network of contacts; in other words, the company seeks to present itself to strangers and convert leads into new customers or redirect them to its website.
And yes, this type of email can be difficult to write and create a lot of headaches for you. You don’t know who the recipient is, so it’s very complex to know the best way to approach them; we do not know what tone to use, what elements to include, etc.
Also, if the structure of the Cold Email is not appropriate, it’s likely to go straight to the junk or spam folder, where its relevance is almost null, and the likelihood that the potential customer will see this email becomes minimal. And all the work for nothing? Not by a long shot! Let us show you the best cold emailing tips!
When to apply it?
As the cold email is sent to people outside your contact list, its intention is key: to introduce yourself to strangers. There are a variety of reasons why you would need to write a cold email, whether you are looking to expand your business or get a job.
Here are a few reasons:
– To get customers or subscribers, because you’ll be building a relationship with the recipient of the emails.
– Generate traffic, as you have the opportunity to present content and redirect to your website.
– Build your network of contacts, maybe partners for your business or an employer if you are looking for a job.
Do cold emails work?
Surely you are wondering if these types of emails work, the answer is clear, yes! It’s one of the best sales processes for negotiation, also very used in marketing, recruitment, job search, and thousands of other strategies, you would be surprised!
In 2022, it’s one of the most used and most effective strategies to generate valuable leads. No, it isn’t enough to send an email to any recipient, you need a strategic base, find your right target and communicate a message correctly!
Is my cold email strategy working?
Are you generating interest in your most potential customers? This is one of the signs that you’re doing great! There are other metrics too to consider:
Open rate
Thanks to this metric you will be able to know the number of opens of your mailings. Then, you will know how good your subject line is.
This subject line has to be eye-catching, you can’t settle for just anything! So, if you have less than 50% open rate, you have to improve your Subject Line… When the rate is much lower, you will have to get down to work and analyze why.
Tip: If you personalize the subject line, such as the recipient’s name, you are sure to improve the open rate by 15%. Don’t forget creativity!
Response rate
Thanks to this, you will know how many people have responded to the email. Has your campaign been successful? With this data you will know (we are sure you will, especially if you follow our advices! 😝😝).
A cold emailing campaign usually has a 10% response rate, so if you reach 15%, you can consider yourself a crack!
In the following parts of this article we’ll explain to you the best cold emailing tips! Keep reading!
How to make Cold mailings
1- Write a relevant subject
If the subject doesn’t catch the recipient’s attention, they won’t open it. So you should think carefully about what subject you are going to put in the email.
Tip: Use the person’s name whenever possible! A study shows that personalizing the subject line of a sales email increases the chances of the recipient opening the email by 50%.
Make the subject line as specific and short as possible. If it is too long, it will most likely be discarded. Use 2 to 4 words so that the recipient of your email gets an idea of what they will get if they read the email.
2- Make an effective introduction that captures their attention
If your email starts with “Hello, my name is…”, it won’t work, don’t be boring, use creativity and grab anyone’s attention! (unless you want to end up in the waste bin)
No matter how intriguing the subject line is, the introduction should quickly capture your recipient’s interest using a few words.
3- Show that you know something about your recipient
If you send the same email to 100 people by copy-pasting the content, you will receive 0 replies. Why? Because you need to personalize the email for each person you send the email to.
In cold emailing, you need to do some research on the company you are targeting and even on the person you are writing to. You can use social networks, such as LinkedIn, to find out that kind of information.
Tip: One thing that will differentiate your email from the thousands that your recipient receives is to make it specific and personalized. You will capture your recipient’s attention much better if they see that you have made the effort to find information about their company or their personal achievements.
4- Be specific without using too much text
In cold emailing, it has been proven that the most effective emails are those that contain between 50 to 125 words. So you shouldn’t write a novel to your recipient, no matter how much information you want to convey.
Cold emailing tip: Above all, avoid talking too much about yourself or your company, this information hasn’t been requested by your recipient, so focus on what your recipient is interested in.
Whoever receives the message, there are three things your email should do:
– Explain clearly the purpose of your email.
– Put yourself in the shoes of the person who is going to open the mail and answer the question, “What’s in here for me?”
– Avoid using the pronouns “I”, “we”, “us” or “our” and use words like “you” or “your”.
5- Conclude by offering options
Surely it has happened to you hundreds of times, you have received an email of this type and at the end of it, a bit stunned, you have asked yourself: What is this about?
Perhaps the most difficult part of cold emailing is the conclusion. What you say here will be crucial for your recipient to understand what the next step will be: Are you offering them a discount, do you want them to visit your website, are you going to ask them to call you?
Ultimately, how you conclude your email will depend on your industry and your marketing strategy. You can try a couple of conclusions and see which one works best for you. Whatever your conclusion, make sure you make it clear to your recipient what to do and how to proceed.
6- Take care of grammar!
Although this should be a matter of course, it’s something of utmost importance that some people forget. There is nothing worse than receiving an email with spelling mistakes. Use a grammar checker, there are many that you can use!
If it’s in another language, hire a native translator or ask someone who is a native speaker of the language you are writing to proofread it for you. They will surely be able to adapt some expressions to sound better in the target language.
How to structure a cold email
So, now you’re wondering how to write a cold email that doesn’t seem desperate, superficial or pushy? Let’s go through everything you need to know, as well as what we’ve tested ourselves to run a successful cold email campaign.
Subject line
Yes, we repeat it, the subject line is the first impression your potential customer will have before opening your email, so it has to be good enough to grab their attention! Don’t put the first thing that comes to your mind, think something different and make them read it in its entirety.
Example: “Can we talk about lead generation at [company]?”
Opening line (always try to break the ice here!)
Once the email is opened, our prospect will start reading the email from top to bottom and, if they see that the topic isn’t interesting enough for them, they will immediately send our email to the bin.
For a cold email to be effective, we need to develop a good opening line that is visual and eye-catching. We usually say hello and put the recipient’s name, asking how they are doing or how they are doing on X project can be a good idea.
Then, it’s time to break the ice. put your creativity to the test again and think of something that you think will interest your prospect: Congratulate them on a recent achievement in their company, a promotion, a piece of content that has inspired you or just show your admiration, but be creative!
Example: “I’m not going to hide it, I love the way your team at [Company name] works, I think it’s amazing the progress you’re making in the [Industry] sector”.
Body of the cold email
Once we’ve got their attention, let’s deliver the real value – why have we contacted them? (remember this is the first thing you should think about this strategy!). Find the problem they might have and explain how you could solve it.
Be brief but provide value, show that you really know how to solve their problem, the better you know your target audience, the more you will convert them.
Example: “I wanted to congratulate you for the great quality of your content on @username. Findthatlead is looking to expand our content campaign and would love to work with you on a collaboration”.
Call To Action in Cold Email
The Call To Action part is always very important. In most cases, the best CTA is to have them respond to your email and be able to set up a meeting or call with them.
Try to have only one CTA per email, redirect their effort to read, understand and respond to make a single action, in most cases, that they respond to you. Try to close the conversation with a question.
Example: “Could we have a chat tomorrow at 10?”
Signature
Leave your mark, show in a signature who you are and what you do, show the forms of contact you have available and, why not? Your social networks or your blog work well. Your photo is essential, your potential clients like to see who they are talking to, a photo generates trust and trust translates into more responses.
A good signature must have:
– Photo
– Your name and what you do
– Contact
– Social media
Tip: If you want to create a signature for free and in a super-easy way, we highly recommend Signature Maker, our FTL signature creation tool.
Steps to make good cold emailing
1. You need the email of your potential customers
To do this, especially if you are a B2B company, we recommend that you make a list of companies that might be interested in what you offer, that you think are potential customers.
Once you have that list, go to FindThatLead, enter the domain of the companies you have targeted and get the emails you need!
Or if you already have some of your LinkedIn contacts in your sights, you might be interested to know that with the Scrab.in tool, you can find out their emails.
Getting the emails of potential clients is one of the most complicated steps and you have already seen that with this tool it won’t take you more than 5 minutes to get all the emails you need (unless you have a big list of companies, of course). So, then, what?
2. Think about the subject of your email (with creativity, please)
You are probably thinking “what a pain in the ass with the subject line”, we know, we feel you, that’s why we repeat it for the fourth time, use your imagination and get something good out of your head, the subject line is key!
It’s the difference between an email being opened or not, and they can even send the email to spam directly, which will damage the email account because it will cool it down.
Tip: Humans are curious beings by nature, you have surely heard it more than once, so if you make them think or get them to awaken their curiosity with a question in a natural way, without seeming like you want to sell them something, they will surely open your email.
3. Think carefully about the body of the email, don’t focus on sales!
Although cold emails have the ultimate goal of the sale, you should focus on creating long-lasting relationships at the beginning. To achieve this, the text of your email will have a huge influence as it will be the first point of contact with your prospect.
That is why you should write your sales pitch in a natural way, try not to be too intrusive and try to use copywriting techniques for cold emails, such as the AIDA method. It’s essential that you take care of the writing and make an effort to write cold emails.
That’s it, “sell without selling”.
4. Create a bond with them!
Another cold emailing tips is to create a bond with them.
What gives you more confidence than seeing the face of the person who is talking to you? Well, I can’t think of anything right now.
A robot, a spammer or a thief wouldn’t let you see their face, that’s why you have to show it. Let them get to know you, in the end, email communication is like having a face-to-face conversation.
The best way to do this is to set up a phone call or an online meeting and rely on the email signature. Choose an image and add it to your email, choose one that shows your professional side but also your personality.
Tip: Also keep in mind that it should be in line with your company’s brand image and the type of emails you are sending, whether they are more serious or more formal. Although there are some cold outreach tools that won’t allow you to add images, as soon as you can add the logo PUT IT IN, even if it’s small and simple.
This will convey confidence in your reader and bring professionalism to your signature.
5. Don’t forget the email signature
You have already seen in the previous point the importance of the email signature and it’s undoubtedly a point that will make a difference. Adding this in your emails will increase sales, improve business relationships with your potential customers and get more responses to your campaigns, so what are you waiting for?
6. Write a slogan!
Surely your company or brand will have a slogan, but the best thing to do is to use another one so that they discover your company’s slogan when they enter the website, and so they get two great phrases and impacts of your brand (your personalized slogan and your company’s slogan). A good idea, right?
Tip: In your cold email strategy you will send emails to the same sector, so write a specific slogan for that sector you are going to contact.
Final Cold emailing Tips
- Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer. Visualize yourself with the same problem and write what you would like to hear.
- Be friendly. This way, even if your services are not immediately required, you will be more easily remembered for a future opportunity.
- Don’t make your email too long and limit yourself to 150 words maximum.
- 4. Include additional elements that will catch the client’s attention: tables, graphs, lists…
- Briefly include some success stories and/or numbers that help your customer to measure the effectiveness of hiring your services or buying your product.
- Don’t just mention your products and services, also highlight your values as an individual and/or company; this way, the customer will have more elements to consider in your favor.
- Include a question that allows you to get to know the person for your next interaction!
You’ve already sent your cold email, now it’s time to follow up!
We know that keeping track of when an email has been sent to whom and how many days have passed can be really overwhelming. That’s why you should consider automating your cold email tracking using smart tools like Email Sender from FindThatLead.
While these are some of the rules we follow to get people to respond to our cold emails, there are also some things we don’t find along the way.
How can I put that follow-up on autopilot with the FTL tool? It’s as simple as setting up a drip in your campaign under “Send emails” and launching it, the tool itself will generate these emails if they haven’t responded within the specified days, that’s awesome!
You can use much of what you’ve learned here for all kinds of online cold contacts. Scrab.in is an incredibly powerful tool for cold contact and B2B lead generation via LinkedIn.
Now we’d like you to put everything you’ve learned in this guide to the test in your cold email campaign. Why not start now? Let us know what you think of our cold emailing tips!
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