Everything You Need To Know About Cold Emails

Let’s get straight to the point: cold emails work. If you disagree, there’s a strong chance you’re doing it wrong – and that’s okay! Effective cold email marketing isn’t easy. But with the right advice and guidance, it can be…  

Here, we outline three general rules of thumb to bear in mind when writing and sending cold emails. 

1. Nail your copy 

The most important (and obvious) piece of advice we can give you is to nail your copy – especially the subject line. Around 64% of people open emails because of this tiny bit of text alone. Put simply, if you have a poor subject line, it doesn’t matter how strong your body copy is. You won’t receive the open rates you’re hoping for. 

Of course, once they’ve clicked on your email, you can still fall at the final hurdle. So, how do you go about writing something that resonates? Allow us to explain… 

Be personable and conversational 

Even if your email is going out to 100 people, write it as if you’re speaking to one. You can do this by using their name in both the subject line and the body copy. It’s also important to be conversational – no one wants to hear marketing buzzwords. To ensure your cold email doesn’t sound robotic, leave it for a day and read it with fresh eyes or send a test email to a colleague. Does it sound human? Or does it sound like R2-D2 sent it? 

Show what’s in it for them 

We’ve all been there – opened an email that isn’t of any use to us, and felt genuinely annoyed at the waste of our time. Your audience is the same. So, avoid rambling on about the features of your products or services. Be benefit-driven. Focus on the problems you can solve and the outcomes that the reader can look forward to. Keep it short though – ideally you want to focus on one or two goals or frustrations that you’ve identified when building your user personas. 

Keep things short and sweet 

The average attention span is decreasing. Now at 8.25 seconds (yep – less than a goldfish), you don’t have time to waste. Opt for bullet points, an infographic, maybe even a video, rather than a 1,000-word essay about your company. List the key benefits, pique their interest, and you might encourage a response. It’s at this point that you can then go into more detail about your offering. 

Include a CTA 

As we’ve already established, humans are pretty useless. If you want to receive a response, you’ll need to tell the recipient exactly what you want them to do. Want them to reply to your email? Let them know! Want them to click on a link? Include it in your message! Tell them to do something after they’ve read your email to take the conversation further. 

2. Don’t rely on one email 

If you don’t receive a response after sending out one email, don’t be disheartened. Follow-ups usually receive the most responses. That’s right, your job isn’t finished when you hit the send button. 

Give your audience time to digest and respond to what you’ve sent, even if it takes a few days, and then send them a second email. If they didn’t open your first, you could send the same one again but test out a different subject line. Or, if they opened it but didn’t take any action, try a different tactic – maybe include a link to a case study or whitepaper. 

3. Send plain text emails 

Using images in emails can help solicit higher response rates. Sadly, they can also reduce them. Depending on the email client your recipients are using, they may not be able to view the images you’ve included. That’s because some email clients block images by default (we’re looking at you, Outlook!). 

Send yourself a test email, and if the images won’t load, stick to plain text. Comfortable getting a little more technical? Marketing software like Mailchimp allows you to segment your audience by email client.

Warm up your cold email list with MYC’s content services

Writing, editing, testing and sending emails can be a time-consuming affair. But it doesn’t have to be. 

Our team of content experts can take the responsibility of creating and distributing emails off your hands so that you can focus on what you do best. Interested? Start the conversation today.