By Steve Garland
Our inboxes are full of emails, and most of those emails are full of crap. When prospects receive a cold email their first instinct is to either ignore it or delete it. Or flag it as spam. Getting flagged is bad. If too many prospects flag your emails as spam, at some point, email filters will start to do it for them. Your deliverability rate will suffer. No opens, no replies, no sales.
Pretty bad, huh?
Here’s the other side to this particular coin. Most sales emails are generic, poorly written, and ignored. Once you learn how to cut through the noise, you’ll instantly leave your competitors far behind. It just takes a bit of work.
1. Pay attention to prospecting
Here’s a shortcut to the spam folder: Email people who don’t know what you’re talking about.
If you need to get more customers, it’s easy to spiral into sending tons of emails to random addresses. That includes people who have left their jobs or people who don’t work in the industry you target. Don’t do that. Instead, take prospecting to heart.
Start with building your own ideal customer profile (ICP). An ICP is shorthand for a list of characteristics you want to see in your prospects. Jot down things like:
- Industry you plan to target
- Type of a company you want to convert
- Size of the targeted company
- Role of the decision maker you want to get in contact with
An ICP will help you achieve more targeted prospecting. Instead of hunting for email addresses, pursue people most likely to respond. This can be achieved with tools like Sales Navigator. Plug your ICP into its Advanced Search and Sales Navigator will generate a list of prospects. (It’s useful for B2B prospecting in a lot of other ways, too.)
2. Personalize (and research prospects before you hit send)
The thing that makes so many people so averse to cold email outreach is how generic it often is. Here’s an example of a typical email template I see in my inbox:
Hi,
I’m [name]. I’m sending you a message about this article: [article title]. Cool read! I really liked the part that said: [random quote from the article]. By the way, I recently published an article on the same topic called [title]. Maybe include a link if you’re interested?
Regards,
[name]
Do you see the problem with it? It’s such an obvious template that it’s insulting. My first impulse is to add that message to spam. I’ll never be interested in working with somebody who didn’t put time into research.
And most sales emails are even worse. Why? They don’t have a reason for getting in touch with you. It’s all generic filler: “Our product is cool, can I have a minute of your time?”
On the other hand, even something so simple as putting the prospect’s name into the subject line works. Write a cold email template with a lot of room for personalization. Here are some things you can mention in the initial email to build a better relationship with a customer:
- Name of the recipient
- A possible solution to a problem they have
- Reason why you reached out to them in particular
- Your reaction to their projects (blog posts, career changes, etc.)
Offering a solution is the most effective way to personalize your emails. It makes your message valuable in a way that cold emails rarely are. But it does take a bit of research. Look at a prospect’s social media pages or blog to see whether they’re working on something you can help with.
3. Master the cold email subject line
Sixty-nine percent of people who receive cold emails decide whether they are spam by looking at the subject line. For such a huge number, it’s baffling why sales reps often ignore this essential part of an email. Instead, they go with something random like: “Hello, [name].” Or even worse, something more formal: “Can I take a minute of your time?”
The importance of cold email subject lines comes down to information overload. People are trying to optimize their decision-making process. If you can’t capture their attention with a subject line, chances are no one is going to read your email.
If you want to build a relationship with a prospect, send them an email with a subject lines like, “Some thoughts on your [recent project]” or “Compliments on [life event].” This approach instantly conveys you put your time into research. And if you want to pitch your product in the initial email, start with something like: “Did you try using [product] for [mention a challenge your prospect has]?”
A great cold email subject line tries to inform and intrigue at the same time. Provide enough information to understand what the email is about. Then mention something surprising.
Pro tip: Reverse psychology works. If you use a subject line like, “Don’t open this cold email,” chances are your open rate will be sky-high. But you should always back it up with equally tongue-in-cheek and surprising content.
4. Take advantage of your opening line
A perfect subject line will make prospects open your emails, but it won’t make prospects read your emails—that’s the job of your opening sentence.
Too often salespeople squander it on generic introductions. Here’s the thing, though. At this point, your name and the company you work for means nothing for your prospect. You’re sending a cold email—the prospect doesn’t have any idea who you are! And mentioning your company won’t make it clearer. Besides, formal introductions often highlight that it’s a business email. For a prospect, it often means there will be an annoying request after the intro.
Instead, treat your opening sentence as if you’re Stephen King. Take advantage of the curiosity generated by your subject line. Here are better ways you can start your cold email:
- Explain why you sent the email (the reason for getting in touch)
- Demonstrate social proof (referrals, common acquaintances)
- Offer something immediately useful (a link to a relevant blog post)
- Say something nice (compliments on their projects)
Worried that your prospect won’t remember your name? Remember both your name and the company you work for is displayed in the “Sent from” field.
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5. Keep initial emails short
If there’s one absolute truth for cold emails, it’s that nobody is going to read a long message. Generally, people shy away from long emails, period. The best length to make a prospect read your message is between 70 and 120 words.
6. Drop the sales speak
Cliches are a long-running tradition of cold sales outreach. Millions of messages contain similar catchphrases. Here are some of them:
- Best in class product
- Best practices
- Improve your efficiency
- Value-oriented
- Exceeding expectations
- Next generation
- And so on and so forth
It’s easy to fall back onto these catchphrases. They sound cool and professional. But they also signal there’s nothing of substance behind the hype. People skip the sales speak as if they were skipping ads on TV.
So, drop the catchphrases. Instead, explain why your business is so special. How does your product improve efficiency? In what way is your product next generation? Be specific.
If you stuff your cold email with sales speak, it’ll be hard to read and easy to ignore. Also, it’ll attract unnecessary attention of spambots, which are trained to pay attention.
7. Never purchase email lists
If you’re thinking about purchasing an email list, stop. There are several very persuasive reasons why it’s a horrible idea. First, it’s against the law. Second, these lists often contain outdated email addresses. Third, email lists are sometimes used as spam traps—send too many emails to a spam trap email address, and you’ll destroy your online credibility.
And even if these reasons didn’t exist, there’s another one that you won’t be able to ignore: By purchasing an email list you lose an opportunity to research your prospect.
Simply put, don’t buy email lists.
Conclusions
Cold sales emails are such a vast topic that it warrants a book on the subject. Of course, we won’t do it right now—but believe us that there’s always room to make your emails even better.
With more room to grow come more opportunities to leave your competition behind. The tips in this article are all about writing more personal and helpful cold emails. Ultimately, the best strategy to never get marked as spam is to pay attention to the customer.
RELATED: 14 Overused Business Phrases We Must Retire (And Better Ways to Communicate)
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