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Cold Emailing
All about Cold Emailing: Definition, Use Cases, and Writing Tips (2024)
Mihaela Cicvaric
June 11, 2023
December 19, 2023
|
7 min. read
Mihaela Cicvaric
LAST UPDATED
August 2, 2024
READING TIME
7 min.
Did you know 8 out of 10 buyers prefer to be contacted by email?
Chances are if you’re not using cold email you’re missing out on many opportunities to grow your business.
Cold emailing still raises many questions, and we’re here to answer them for you.
What is cold emailing?
A cold email is a first-time email sent to a recipient without prior contact.
In other words, your first point of contact with a lead via email.
Unlike spam, a well-crafted cold email is targeted, personalized, and intended for sales, recruiting, growth, or networking purposes. It’s a modern-day equivalent of a cold call but less intrusive.
Cold emailing, however, does not consist simply on sending out emails to every person in a list that hasn’t been segmented. Cold emails are only effective depending on their relevance.
What does this mean?
This means you’ve done your research, you understand the recipients’ needs, and you’ve tailored your message to them. Reaching your leads at the right time will ensure the success of your cold emails.
The goal of a cold email is not just to get read but to get a response as a beginning of forming a relationship. It's not about selling immediately but about initiating a conversation, building a connection, and converting your leads by providing value.
Despite many cold emailing myths, cold emailing remains a highly effective, cheap, and scalable way to increase your business's revenue.
Here's an example of a successful cold email that got over 70% conversion rate and its key elements:
Fear not, we will be going through the key elements of a cold email further along.
Cold email vs email marketing?
Cold emails and email marketing tend to be confused, as they are both mass emails sent with the intent to sell your product or service.
But they are totally different.
A cold email is sent to an individual or a small group you haven't interacted with before.
Its main goal is to initiate contact for networking, sales, growth, or recruiting.
These emails are customized to the recipient's specific interests or professional needs.
The effectiveness of a cold email is measured by its ability to engage the recipient and get a response.
Email marketing targets an existing audience - people who have chosen to receive your messages.
This method includes sending newsletters, promotional content, and general updates to a broader group.
The goal is to nurture and enhance ongoing relationships, brand commitment, and customer involvement. Therefore, it involves less personalization than a cold email.
In summary, cold emails are for starting new relationships as a part of outbound sales, while email marketing is for nurturing relationships with an already existing audience as a part of an inbound sales strategy.
Is cold emailing legal?
Yes, cold emailing is legal. However, there are certain factors that you must take into consideration in order to stay compliment with current laws (such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act)
The key to appropriate cold emailing is respecting the recipient's privacy and time. This means avoiding overly aggressive or frequent emails and ensuring your email content is relevant to the leads’ interests and needs.
It should clearly and truthfully communicate how the recipient can benefit from your offer. This isn't just about selling a product or service; it's about starting a conversation that could be mutually beneficial.
Cold email is a common and legitimate way to grow a business.
Here are the top 5 tips to stay compliant with anti-spam laws & ethical practices:
1. Include an opt-out option in your emails
You must provide a clear explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting an email from you in the future.
2. React to opt-out requests promptly
If a recipient chooses to opt-out, respect their decision immediately and remove them from your mailing list without delay.
3. Provide accurate and clear sender information
Your "From," "To," "Reply-To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the email.
4. Avoid deceptive or false information
e.g., The subject line must reflect the content of the message accurately.
5. Maintain good sending list hygiene
Regularly update your email list to remove unengaged subscribers or those who have opted out. This not only keeps your list legal but also improves email deliverability and engagement.
Non-compliance can result in fines, so it's crucial to follow these guidelines to ensure your cold emailing practices are legal!
What are the benefits of using cold emailing?
When executed correctly, cold emailing offers many advantages that help you reach you reach your business targets and boost your revenue!
Cold emailing is an effective outreach method that offers many benefits. Our 5 favourite ones are:
1. It's cost-effective
Cold emailing is a low-cost option compared to other sales channels.
It doesn't require a significant budget and can be scaled easily with automation tools, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.
2. It shortens your sales cycle
You can directly reach decision-makers or specific individuals in an organization.
This direct line of communication is often more efficient than broad advertising strategies.
3. It allows a hyper-personalized approach
Cold emails can be highly customized and personalized to address the specific needs, interests, and pain points of the recipient, increasing the likelihood of getting replies.
4. It’s easily measurable
With cold emailing, you can track key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
This data helps in refining your strategies, doubling down success, and boosting overall efficiency!
5. It can bring fast results
Sending a cold email is quick, allowing you to reach a large number of potential clients or contacts in a short amount of time.
This speed can be crucial in growing in new markets or getting ahead of competitors.
How to start your cold email campaign?
Setting up your cold email campaigns successfully takes some time.
Luckily for you, we’ve listed the 8 essential steps you need to take to make sure your campaign is flawless.
Step 1: Set up your ICP
An ideal customer profile is a detailed description of a customer who benefits most from the product or service.
ICP considers factors like industry, company size, job roles, challenges, and behaviors. It guides marketing and sales efforts, ensuring resources target the most promising prospects.
To ensure you invest your resources only into highly qualified leads, you can use lemlist's free ICP generator!
Prioritize your ICPs into tiers
Once you have completed your ideal customer profiles, order them into tiers.Structuring your ICPs into tiers helps you get your priorities straight and shows you where to spend most of your time.For example, you would want to focus more on writing the email copies for the tier 1 persona since they will bring more revenue.
Verify your ICPs
Check if your ICP was correctly done (ICPs should have better results than non-ICPs):
👉 Check out the complete guide on how to define your target audience and ensure you target prospects that bring you the most $$$Don’t forget to update your ICP as your company grows or your business and priorities evolve.
Step 2: Find interested leads
Now you know who your ideal (but imaginary) buyer is. It’s time to find the real deal.
Targeting people who are not interested in your product/service results in low reply and conversion rates and slows your sales process.
So you only want to target your ICP.
There are two simple ways to track down your potential clients.
Find ideal buyers on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for salespeople, giving you a large pool of potential buyers.
Its advanced search capabilities allow you to conduct a targeted audience search, including people based on their job role, seniority, location, industry, etc.
Pro tip: Once you've identified your ideal buyers on LinkedIn, you can collect their contacts with the lemlist Chrome extension!
The extension allows you to scrap all the leads from a LinkedIn or Sales Navigator search and send them directly to lemlist (an all-in-one sales engagement platform).
From there, you can send your new prospects multichannel automated campaigns in seconds, boosting your chances of signing deals!
Find potential buyers in leads databases
You can also use lead databases to find customers likely to buy your product/service.
A sales lead database is essentially a centralized collection of data about potential customers or clients. It’s based on leads’ contact details, industry, company size, etc.
For example, lemlist’s B2B leads database has 450M+ contacts that you can filter by targeted criteria, such as technology, company size, industry, or location.
This helps you target people that fit your Ideal Customer Profile and boost your outreach efficiency.
Step 3: Get your leads’ verified email addresses
To get in touch with your ideal buyers and showcase your value, you need to have their valid contact information, aka enrich your leads.
One of the easiest ways to verify your prospects' emails is to use email verification tools, such as lemlist's free Email Finder:
Thanks to the waterfall enrichment method, Email Finder and Verifier combines the best third-party data sources to give you 40-55% more valid emails.
This is the equivalent of asking 6 different providers for up-to-date leads’ information without navigating and subscribing to multiple apps!
For each lead, the app will:
Clean the first name and last name
Extract and save relevant available information from the lead's LinkedIn profile
Retain the best email we found from multiple providers
If available, save additional information such as phone number, civility, job title, and other relevant details
Step 4: Spot the right time to reach out
Sending emails at any point may be completely fruitless. You want to pick your moments!
Set some triggers that will help you identify when your leads experience a change or event that will make them need you at that moment.
Who could say no to that?
We’ll leave you with a list of triggers that signal that your target audience might be ready for you:
A company is hiring
Targets that change roles in the company
Targets that change company
The company raised funds / went IPO
People that asked a question related to your value proposition in a community
Uses a complementary/competitor tool
Bad reviews on competitor tools/services (on sites like G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Google reviews, etc.)
Team growth
People that follow your LinkedIn page
People that follow your competitor’s LinkedIn page
People who comment under your LinkedIn posts
People who comment under your competitor’s LinkedIn posts
People who comment under a post that talks about your value proposition
People who downloaded one of your lead magnets
People who registered for your events
People who registered for competitor events
People who registered for events that talk about your value proposition
People who have the same investors
Competitors of your clients
Industry trends
Depending on the triggers you want to use, different tools already exist, so you don’t have to create your own:
→ For example, you can use the Facebook ads library to see if your targets are running ads. The fact that they run ads with weak creatives can be a great trigger.
→ Or you can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to target Heads of Sales to sell them a software solution for their Sales teams’ compensation.
Based on the ICP you created, you can add specific criteria and get really good results only by reaching out to people from your screen.
→ Or you can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to target Heads of Sales to sell them a software solution for their Sales teams’ compensation.
Based on the ICP you created, you can add specific criteria and get really good results only by reaching out to people from your screen.
Step 5: Set up your sending account to avoid the spam folder
You now have your list of leads and the right moment to start sending emails. You would think this is when you start hitting that send button.
It’s not.
Before you even think about sending out your campaign, you need to make sure that your email account is properly set up.
A low email deliverability will mean that your emails are landing in the spam folder, and all your hard work is completely lost.
That’s why it’s important to keep your email deliverability high.
Email deliverability is the ability to deliver emails right into your target's primary inbox.
Investing time into your deliverability setup means maximizing your chances of landing in your prospects’ primary inbox, closing more deals, and growing your revenue!
Here are a few settings you should configure to build a successful outreach foundation:
🔵 Do your technical setup
DKIM → guarantees that your emails are not changed after they’re sent
SPF → guarantees that your emails are sent from your domain
DMARC → helps protect your domain from attacks, phishing emails, etc.
MX record → lets email providers know what servers accept your domain’s emails
Use tools like lemwarm to check if your setup was done properly!
🔵 Warm up your sending email address
Email warm-up is a process of gradual increase in your email sending volume.
To build a good reputation, your email address needs to be warmed up. A warmed-up address is an address that has been sending and receiving messages regularly.
🔵 Verify prospects' emails before sending your campaign(s)
If you collect outdated lead information, such as unverified emails, you'll hurt your domain reputation, lowering your email deliverability.
No matter where you found the emails (bought a list, from a website, from a tool, or from LinkedIn), you can use verifying tools like lemlist’s Email Finder and Verifier to ensure your emails don't bounce and hurt your domain.
🔵 Avoid using spam words
Spam words in cold emails are words or phrases associated with unwanted emails often sent in bulk.
They don't pass the spam filter, so your emails go straight to the spam folder instead of your prospects' inboxes, where your target can't read them and reply.
lemwarm booster runs 100% on autopilot and helps you:
The key is to keep lemwarm ON before - during - and after sending campaigns, so you keep your emails out of the spam folder in the long run!
Step 6: Write the perfect cold email
Now, let’s say you reach out to the right person at the right time, but without the right message.
Unfortunately, it’s not going to work either.
You may have the best product or service in the world, but if you only talk about yourself or have a sales-y approach, you’ll push your prospect away.
So you need to craft the perfect cold email.
Before we get into the specifics, we’d like to introduce lemlist’s free cold email generator that will help you craft AI-generated emails that you just have to revise, edit, and send!
Now, these are all of the factors that you need to take into account when writing your cold emails ⬇️
Write a subject line that gets your email opened
The subject line is the first thing your prospects will see when they get your email. Based on it, they will decide whether to open your email or not.
So, how to stand out with your subject line?
→ Keep it personalized
Grab the attention with familiar names and prove that the email is written specifically for them.
→ Trigger curiosity
Mention their desired outcome to tease them about the value you might provide.
→ Make the value obvious
Let them know what’s in it for them, as it gives them a reason to check out the rest of your email.
P.S. Keep your subject lines as short as possible, as many users often read their emails on their phones.
Choose an appropriate email greeting
Starting your cold emails with a specific greeting will set the tone for the rest of your message.
That’s why you should pick the appropriate one, as you don’t want to sound too official or informal when reaching out to your prospects.
→ Informal greetings
“Hi” is always a safe option as it’s friendly, but not too casual, whereas “Hey” is much more informal.
→ Formal greetings
You can use "Hello" instead of "Hi" to make your email greeting more formal, but not as serious as "Dear".
Always use a customized tag such as {{firstName}} or {{companyName}} to make the email relevant to them. But avoid using only the tag without a greeting, as you d
on’t want to sound commanding.
Continue with an introduction or an icebreaker
The intro line or the icebreaker is the first 2-3 sentences that should catch your prospect’s attention and make them read the rest of your email.
→ Make it about themThis shows you did your research, and you’re not using a generic template only to sell.
→ Mention a common ground
Finding something you have in common is an easy way to build trust and relevancy from the start.
→ Understand leads’ goals
Showing that you know and understand their goals and struggles makes your solution seem more relevant.
Write a pitch that converts
Your pitch is the part of your email where you can explain the value you can provide for your prospects to solve their pain points and struggles.
Here’s what makes a good pitch:
→ Show you understand their specific pain point
Adding an example will make you stand out from “fake” personalization emails and show your expertise on the subject.
→ Build a relationship instead of trying to sell
Once you make them feel like you're there to help, they will feel more comfortable booking a meeting.
The closing line tells your prospects what's the next step to get the value you’re talking about in the pitch.
So, how to write a convertible closing line?
→ Have a clear ask
Your closing line should be specific, clear, and straightforward.
→ Aim for the reply first
Instead of asking a vague question or being pushy with booking a meeting, start a conversation.
→ Use only one CTA
If you use more than one CTA, you might get your prospects confused and not take any action at all.
Find out what closing lines get the most replies in our Closing lines tips guide and apply the tips to your emails.
Sign off your cold email in a friendly way
Your sign-off is the last thing your prospect will remember after reading your cold email. It’s important as it ends your message right before the prospects decide to take action from your CTA.
So, how to sign off your cold email?
→ Avoid assumptive closes
They mean you’re expecting certain actions from them, which leads to psychological rebellion and not wanting to do “what you’re telling me to do”.
→ Stand out from the crowd
Even though “Best”, and “Cheers“ are good, they might be a bit overused.
Not sure which sign-off to use? Get 25+ best email sign-offs that get replies in this article.
Make your signature stand out
Email signatures with a lot of links and graphics can easily distract the prospect from the message.
Use this cold email signature generator and include it in all of your emails.
Step 7: Set up a follow-up schedule
If your prospects didn’t immediately answer your first cold email, that doesn’t mean they are not interested in your product or service. Maybe they’ve been busy, missed the email, or need more information before getting back to you.
That’s why it’s important to follow up, which means sending additional emails after not receiving a response to your initial cold email.
While traditional salespeople rely on sending one cold email, the most successful ones use a multi-channel approach - following up on multiple channels such as email, LinkedIn, phone calls, etc.
Because you’re connecting on the channels your leads prefer and based on their availability, going multi-channel increases the chances of them engaging with you!
👉 If you’re unsure how to break the ice, check out these free messaging tips in LinkedIn Prospecting to boost your reply rates
We recommend you follow up with 5 - 12 steps that add value to your prospects following these 5 rules:
Don't spam: Sending 4-8 follow-up emails can increase your reply rates without being spammy, helping you connect with busy prospects who might have missed your initial message.
Test different follow-up strategies: Try reminder follow-ups to stay on prospects’ minds, or value-based follow-ups to gradually share information with each new email.
Time delays matter: Schedule follow-ups strategically with a 2-day to 4-day gap between emails to avoid overwhelming prospects while staying on their minds.
Write high-conversion subject lines: Maintain a concise subject line consistent with the initial email for follow-ups within the same sequence. For new subject lines, keep it to 1-8 words, personalize them, make them urgent, and A/B test for maximum impact.
Build relationships: To make personal connections with prospects, reference past interactions, use personalized content like images or videos, and write messages that actually sound like a human.
P.S. Thanks to lemlist’s automation, you can run all these multi-channel steps 100% on autopilot!
Step 8: Monitor your results
Tracking your cold email metrics is important, as it helps you see if your campaigns are successful and know what to double down to boost your results.
By analyzing these results, you can refine your approach, improve engagement, and increase the chances of achieving your desired outcomes.
Here are the most important metrics you want to aim for:
Open rates → > 50%+ (less than 50% means there’s a high chance that you have deliverability issues)
Reply rates → 5% to 15% (top performers reach between 15 to 30%, or even more)
Bounce rate → <5%
Unsubscribe rate → <5%
But how should you address negative metrics?
If your cold email campaigns aren’t performing as they should, try A/B testing to find the perfect combinations.
A/B testing in cold outreach involves sending two variants of an email to see which performs better. Each variant has a different element, like subject lines or content.
If you want your A/B test to be relevant, you should:
Test it on at least 100 leads, so 50 leads for each approach
Ensure to reach out to the same type of targets at the same time of the year, day, and hour, and with the same sample size
Test 1 element at a time to know exactly which made your approach successful
Use cases of cold emailing
Cold emails can help you start a conversation with anyone and establish new relationships to grow your business.
Therefore, it's not limited to salespeople, as it can be helpful for anyone looking to network, collaborate, hire, or open new business opportunities.
Here's how different departments and industries can benefit from sending cold emails:
Sales use cases
[ ] Identify highly-qualified leads
e.g., use cold emailing to identify individuals or businesses that fit your ideal customer profile and confirm their interest
[ ] Schedule sales meetings or demos
e.g., propose a one-on-one meeting to showcase how your product or service can benefit the potential client
[ ] [ ] Grow a company’s revenue
e.g., open new business opportunities, exceed sales quotas and bring new revenue streams to help the company’s growth
Marketing use cases
[ ] Announce a product launch
e.g., highlight the benefits and offer an exclusive discount or early access to create a sense of urgency and generate interest
[ ] Promote an event
e.g., give information about the event and highlight the key benefits that will encourage people to register and attend
[ ] Ask for customer feedback
e.g., offer an incentive, such as a discount on a future purchase, to encourage valuable insights that can help improve your offering
Growth use cases
[ ] Generate leads
e.g., send a relevant message that targets prospects' pain points and offers value to capture their interest and start a conversation
[ ] Build partnerships
e.g., identify complementary businesses or influencers in your industry and reach out to them to propose a partnership or collaboration
[ ] Cross-sell & upsell
e.g., analyze prospects' purchase history and promote complementary or upgraded products to increase their lifetime value
Recruiting & HR use cases
[ ] Build a talent pipeline
e.g., you can save time and money on recruiting in the long run, as you'll already build a relationship with highly qualified potential candidates
[ ] Network with industry professionals
e.g., reach out to people who work for companies you admire, attend industry events, or gain expertise in a particular area that could be valuable to your organization
[ ] Promote your employer's brand
e.g., reach out to potential candidates and highlight your organization's culture, mission, and values to build a positive reputation and attract top talent
What about cold email software?
By now, you should have realized that cold emailing is definitely the way to go.
And yes, investing in cold email software is the smartest way to go here.
It will help you automate all of your outreach, and will make keeping track of everything that much simpler.
So whether you are an SDR, growth marketer, recruiter, or founder - having cold email software is crucial to growing your business with cold outreach.
This word count got the highest average booking rates of millions of campaigns, at around 50%.
But you can go a little over or a little under: the sweet spot is 75-125 words. Based on our analysis, this range gets 5-15% higher reply rates than longer or shorter emails.
How long should the cold email subject be?
We analyzed the subject lines from millions of cold outreach campaigns to find out that an email subject line should be between 1 and 8 words.
And yes, even 1-word subject lines are successful, as long as they grab attention and communicate value!
How long should my email opening line be?
According to our 2023 analysis of millions of cold outreach campaigns, the best way to start an email is with a 4-12 word opening line that gives value to the prospect.
That means: start your emails with a concise opener that focuses on the person you’re emailing (not on you!).
Here’s the full breakdown:
Should I use images in cold email?
Yes, you should be using images in your cold emails. It’s a great way to stand out, add a personalized touch, and increase conversions.
In fact, we found out that campaigns with images can have as much as a 42% higher click-through rate than those without them.
Do images in cold emails reduce email deliverability?
According to our analysis of millions of cold emails sent over a period of one month: no, there is no significant difference in deliverability between emails with and without images.
Keep in mind that this data reflects the day that the emails were sent, not the day that prospects replied. In some cases, prospects replied within hours, and in other cases it might have taken them a couple of days.
In either case, more leads replied to the emails sent on Mondays.
What is the best time of the day to send cold emails?
This means that your message is the first that your prospects see when they log in, and it’s less likely to get lost in the inbox.
How many cold emails to send per day?
Your daily email sending limit depends on your service provider, but the recommended number to avoid spam is 200 per sender per day. Here you can check the sending limits for each provider!
Keep in mind that crossing the limit can get you blocked or flagged as spam which means you can't reach your leads. To get around it, you can use an outreach automation tool that sends same campaign from multiple senders via Inbox rotation.
How many times should you follow up on a cold email?
In cold sales outreach, you should be sending something between 4-9 follow-up emails.
According to our analysis of how many follow-ups to send in a day, overall reply rates increase with every follow-up. But after 9 or more follow-ups, the benefits are negligible, and you could be marked as spam.
What is a good cold email open rate?
Open rate is calculated by dividing the number of emails opened by the total number of emails sent, as a percentage. For instance, if you send out 200 emails and 100 recipients open them, your open rate would be 50%.
An open rate of over 50% has been recommended as anything lower signals you have a problem with email deliverability.
Even when high, open rates for cold email tracking are not as reliable as they used to be. Instead, it's becoming increasingly important to focus on metrics such as reply rate and interested rate. These KPIs provide a more accurate reflection of lead engagement over time.
What is a good reply rate for cold emailing?
The average response rate for cold emails in 2023 was between 5-8%.
Everything above, closer to 10-15%, is considered a good reply rate, while the ones from 15-30% are considered excellent!
What are the most common cold email mistakes to avoid?
With the right cold email approach, you can easily get in touch with your prospects, book more meetings, and sign more deals.
But the problem is that many salespeople still use the same self-centered and sales-y outreach methods that make prospects run.
Here are the most common outreach mistakes
Self-centered pitch
Long paragraphs
Selling from the start
Not focusing on a specific pain point
Wrong email design
Using industry jargon
Not A/B testing
Having multiple CTAs
Not proofreading
No personalization
In this article, get a full breakdown of cold email mistakes with examples and solutions to each!
Mihaela Cicvaric
Content Marketing Manager @ lempire | Sharing everything you need to get replies to your cold emails
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