Cold-Email Like a Boss
The must-read guide to cold emailing
Do you remember the excitement you felt when you received your first email? You couldn’t wait to receive your next one.
But as time has passed, have we lost our love for email?
No. We sent an average of 319 billion emails each day in 2021 and are forecast to grow to over 376 billion by year-end 2025. The number of worldwide email users will top 4.1 in 2021 and is expected to grow to over 4.5 billion by the end of 2025.
Here are some stats that show just how important it still is:
- The global e-mail marketing market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to increase to $17.9 billion by 2027. (Statista, 2021)
- More than 40% of marketers saw budget cuts to email since the pandemic. (Litmus, 2020)
- Across all industries, the average email open rate is 19.8%, the click-through rate is 11.3%, and the bounce rate is 9.4%. (Constant Contact, 2021)
- 81% of B2B marketers say their most used form of content marketing is email newsletters. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
- 99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day. Of those people, 58% of consumers check their email first thing in the morning. (OptinMonster, 2020)
The email was, is, and will continue to play a significant role in our lives.
And that’s equally true for cold emails too!
Cold Emails
Did you know that companies like Product Hunt, Timehop got started with an email? Did you know that a cold mail shaped Zomato’s destiny?
Cold emails are introductory emails that you send to someone you do not know to create a connection for business or networking opportunities, get a job/internship at your dream company, set up informational interviews, for hire, and more.
In a cold email, you should state your name, contact information, including your website or social media accounts, a particular request, individualized content for the recipient, and an ending that starts a potential conversation.
Think of a cold email as your elevator pitch. It’s your opportunity, in just a few paragraphs, to explain to someone what you do, why you do it, and how you can help them. At the end of the day, you should really believe that your service will help them and know exactly why it will.
Writing a professional email can be nerve-cracking. “What do I say?”, “What if they don’t respond?” — We’ve got you covered! 🌟
Techniques for Killer Cold Emails
1. Do your research
Find the perfect role for yourself and make a list of people or companies you want to reach out to. Companies typically list their senior-level employees on their websites and you may be able to locate their email addresses by looking up their business social media profiles. Google their name, find out what they do, read their work online, bookmark some great pieces of work, scroll through their social profiles — learn about what makes their heart tick!
Look for common connections with your target. If you have common connections on LinkedIn or shared friends on Facebook, consider asking for an introduction.
These are personal touches you can add to show that you’ve done your research and haven’t copy+pasted the same message to 20 people.
It’s called cold email for a reason, it’s your first contact with people who know little or nothing about you. Unfortunately for you, people tend to like things they’re familiar with more than they like the new and different.
2. Enhance your subject line
Keep your subject lines real and honest. After all, if the person you email never opens the message, you’ve lost the opportunity before it even presents itself.
There are several ways to make a subject line more clickable:
- Mention a shared acquaintance
- Describe how a competitor achieved something amazing
- Add recipient’s first name
- Let them know you want to connect
- Mention something personal, such as when you met the recipient at an event
Keep your subject lines short and crisp — somewhere between three and five words. A good subject line makes all the difference.
💀 Some words like FREE, GRAB, OFF are considered spammy words and are best if ignored. These words are auto-detected by the email service providers and are sent to the SPAM box directly.
💀 NEVER WRITE IN ALL CAPS and avoid exclamation points!!!!!!!
3. Personalize your message
It takes more time to personalize an email and you can’t send as many, but the response rate is significantly higher.
- Mention the person’s name
- Add something you got off one of their social media profiles
- Mention a stat you read about them
- Reference some of their notable work you admire
💀 Be original! The worst thing anyone can do is send a cold email with copied content from some place. This will get you nowhere.
4. Be concise
Don’t try to turn your email into a presentation. Avoid telling your whole life story. Remember that the person on the receiving end does not know you. Keep it short, sweet, and simple.
Try to stay to a maximum of 6 sentences. Only include the most important information. Tell them who you are, why you chose to email them, and what you want.
5. Sound human
Trying to sound smart can work against you.
Write like you talk. Make it genuine and friendly.
Make an effort to avoid phrases that can kill your credibility, such as “hopefully” or “if that makes sense,” so that you establish yourself as a confident authority on the matter.
AIDA is a proven technique for cold emailing:
- A — Attraction
- I — Interest
- D- Desire
- A — Action
The idea behind AIDA is to attract the prospect, engage him, build a desire for what you are offering, and entice him to take an action. Your email should be planned on this technique.
6. Don’t give away too much information
You may be tempted to spill all the beans in the first email, but don’t. Giving away too much information about your product or service in the email will make it seem like you are just trying to get them on board. Don’t be too pushy.
Instead, give just enough information they absolutely need to take the next step, like scheduling a meeting, keeping a call, or anything else.
7. Offer Something of Value
Generosity is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. When you show someone that you’re generous, you invite that person to reciprocate.
Offer to design a poster for them for free, a quick tool that might help the recipient solve a specific problem, or a link to some insightful posts/YouTube video, based on the person’s interests.
8. Include a CTA (call-to-action)
Setting the right CTA (call-to-action) is the key to boosting your reply rates. This is the part of your cold email that persuades prospects to take action — send a reply, click the link, submit a form, etc.
Depending on the goal of your cold email, you can use similar CTAs:
- What are the next steps on your end?
- Are you still interested in {{your_offer}}?
- Will this work for you?
- Can you please put me in touch with the right person?
- Is this a priority issue you want to resolve?
- Book your slot now.
9. Ask a specific question
Adding a specific question in a cold email will encourage the reader to reply by giving them an answer.
Focus on one thing you really want right now, and express that with absolute clarity.
For example, don’t ask “Can we talk about this?” Instead say, “It’d be helpful to have a quick five-minute call. Would Monday at 2:00 or Wednesday at 10:00 work for you?”.
Make scheduling easy. Include a Calendly link.
Lesser the burden for them to take decisions. That’ll help you to get a positive response.
💀 Dont ask for too much. Start small. A quick reponse is better than a 30 min call.
10. Review Your Email Before Sending Out
Before sending out your cold email, put it away for a bit if you can. When you get back to it, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and reread your email, but this time with a fresh outlook. That will give better ideas on how to edit the mail.
Ensure that your cold email is free of errors. Proofread thoroughly and make corrections where necessary. Most times, the human brain unintentionally skips errors. This is why it might be a good idea to use spell-checkers like Grammarly and ask for help from your team, friends, or family.
12. Follow up if necessary
Your work isn’t done after you click the “send” button. Track your emails.
Even a perfectly written cold email may not be enough to hook your prospects. Sometimes they may miss your email or forget to reply to you. Or some may simply not be interested in setting up a call. Don’t worry, that’s totally normal. That is why a follow-up email is a must in a cold email strategy. Sending 2–3 is the most optimal.
An Example
Hello Prisha,
My name is Ian and I am in charge of business development relations at Flyer. We recently launched a new platform that helps companies track their SEO efforts in a way that is simple to use and easy to read. Based on the amount of competition in your industry, I know you would benefit from this platform to rank in the major search engines and increase your traffic. I would love to show you a demonstration of this in person if there is a time that works well for me to stop by your office. Would you be available this Thursday afternoon?
Thank you,
IanCredits: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/writing-a-cold-email
Conclusion
Learning how to write a cold email is a skill that will serve you well as a professional in today’s workforce. Though cold emails can be difficult to write, putting the time and effort into crafting an excellent one pays off tremendously.
Remember this: A cold email is not about closing the deal or getting the sale. It’s about connection. It’s about establishing a relationship and getting the recipient interested in finding out more
What’s your core message, and what makes you better than the “other” guys?
💡 Keep it simple. Keep it real.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting this together for you. Here are some references I used:
What about you? Have you tried cold emailing in your career? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
