Ask any cold emailing expert and they’ll tell you that in this day and age for a cold email to stand the best chance of doing its job it needs to have a certain level of personalization. An email that sounds like it is one of 1000 that is exactly the same just isn’t going to cut it.
The good news is that there are a number of tools you can use to help you successfully personalize emails and speed up the whole cold email process (you can learn more about those as a part of my lead generation course but are you really doing enough to get those emails opened and their recipients engaged in what you have to say?
The devil, they say, is in the details, so before sending your cold emails, take a closer look at those details. These are smaller, contextual subtleties that are picked up by the subconscious and make your communication look and feel more personal. This will increase readership without changing the content of the message itself.
Here’s a quick checklist that each of your emails needs to pass in order to give them the best chance of catching your prospect’s attention and getting a reply.
What Is The Tone Of Your Email?
Write in a conversational tone. Does it sound like a conversation you’d have with a friend? Pretend that’s what it is. Always use contractions unless you’re trying to emphasize a specific point. Write in the first or second person, using pronouns like “you” and “we” and “I.” Each sentence should flow right into the next. And avoid jargon at all costs.
Who Do You Sound Like?
Don’t sound like a salesperson. If it walks like a salesperson and quacks like a salesperson, then it must be a salesperson. And frankly, people love to buy but hate to be sold to. At any sign of being sold to, your prospect’s defences go up. Most people attempting B2B sales know about this principle but think for some reason it doesn’t apply to them. However, a person is still a person whether they are buying in a personal or professional setting.
Capture the attention of the potential client with your subject line and make sure the content of your email covers their pain point. This way cold outreach personalized emails will perform much better and people will see that you aren’t just sending boring cold sales emails.
Is It The Right Length?
Keep your emails concise and to the point. People are already short on time, and their inboxes are already overflowing. The last thing they want to read is another long email. How many times have you saved an email for later? Have you read it yet? Look at each sentence and each individual word and ask, “Does this add value to the email?” If not, or even if you’re not sure, delete it.
What Value Are You Offering?
Offer value at each and every follow-up touch. Is there an irresistible offer in the email, one they can’t say no to? This could be a relevant piece of news, a good blog post, a new business insight, etc. That’s how you can send 10 (or more) emails without worrying about becoming a nuisance. Offering people valuable information will see your reply rate increase and your conversion rate grow just as much!
AVOID THE SPAM FILTERS
Another thing to do with your cold emails is to avoid the spam filter! Know your target audience and you will be able to craft the best emails. But avoid clogging the prospect’s inbox with too many follow up emails as that will hurt your reputation. Effective cold emails perform best when they are natural. Their deliverability is better and a potential customer is more likely to open it if it doesn’t seem like spam.
If your cold emails do not match these standards then yes, you’ve got to go back and revise them. Yes, that’s a pain, but at least you’ll know what to do the next time around.
