Cold emailing has been around virtually as long as the internet itself. Ever since the ability to send someone else a message from the comfort of your own computer came about, there’s been a person out there trying to capitalize on it.
That said, there seems to be a great divide between sales teams that utilize this method and those that do not. Some have seen great success, while others feel it is simply a waste of time. Keep reading as we break down the benefits and pitfalls of using cold email as a prospect generation tool.
The Benefits of Cold Emailing as a Sales Tool
Many sales teams in a wide variety of industries will tell you that cold emailing is a very effective sales tool. Why? Well, it is usually pretty easy to find business emails for potential contacts and send them a message. Plus, unless you purchase a list or use a mass sending tool, it is often free.
Cold emailing can also be a great way to carefully warm up a lead to try to get to another form of communication, such as an in-person meeting or telephone call. It is also ideal for reaching a very specific audience in a short period of time and mostly the process takes nothing more than a few hours a week to complete. This is why many B2B companies integrate it somewhat into their selling strategies.
Why Cold Email Isn’t Ideal for All Sales Teams
However, there are some industries where cold emailing isn’t as effective or is far too time-consuming to be worthwhile. For example, extremely niche enterprises or those that are oversaturated might not see as many benefits from this type of sales contact.
Cold emailing is also a numbers game, meaning the more people you attempt to contact the greater your chance at success. A lot of managers and even sales reps don’t really want to deal with the hassle of sending emails, tracking them, and following up four or five times to see a benefit.
Creating a Cold Email Strategy
The first place you need to start when determining whether or not to use cold emailing is your strategy. It definitely depends on your individual niche, so you’ll want to try to drill that down to as specific of a list as possible. You can even create sub-niches with more details, such as location or business size, to refine the list of potential cold email leads even further.
Keep compliance in mind as you plan outreach, because rules vary by country and affect email. Under U.S. CAN-SPAM, use accurate headers, honest subject lines, a visible opt-out, and a valid physical address.
In the EU and UK, GDPR requires a lawful basis, and ePrivacy rules expect easy opt-outs.
Next, decide where you’re going to get your leads. Are you going to spend time looking each one up on your potential customer’s website or will you purchase a pre-made list from a vendor? Both are very viable options.
Protect deliverability before you hit send by authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Verify addresses to reduce hard bounces, avoid attachments, and send from a consistent domain and identity.
Mailbox providers flag high-complaint senders, so watch bounce and spam rates and keep messages relevant.
From there, you want to decide your initial message and how often you want to try to follow up. Remember to try to add personalized details to your message to make it seem less like a form letter, and keep sending messages every few days until you either get a no or a total no response.
Treat open rate trends with care, since Apple Mail Privacy Protection auto-loads images and can inflate opens. Judge success with reply rate, positive-response rate, bounce rate, and link click-through, not opens alone.
Run A/B tests with one change at a time, like the subject line or call to action.
Wrap Up: Why Cold Emailing is So Effective
The reason why cold emailing is so effective really comes down to the ease of which you can connect with a potential lead without ever having to leave your office. If you keep the above tips in mind, there’s a good chance you’ll form a strategy that helps you bring in more customers more efficiently.
