10 Cold E-mailing Tips for Any Industry

Writing a cold e-mail is difficult, even scary if you’re not one to reach out unannounced. The worst part is, you might put a lot of time and effort into an email and find that nobody reads it. 

What do you do? 

If things aren’t going well in the cold e-mailing department, you have to take a new approach to the process. We’re going to run through some ideas on how to cold contact via e-mail, giving you a few insights into ways that you might change things up. 

Hopefully, the ideas below provide some inspiration and improve your conversion rates. Let’s get started. 

1. Shake the Standard Tone

Most of us start writing mass e-mails with the same general tone in mind. You know the one. 

It reads like a combination of a high school term paper and an awkward door-to-door salesman on a script. There’s something totally off about reading those kinds of e-mails, but the tone shines through in a lot of the cold e-mails and web copy that we see every day. 

Wash your brain clean of those high school papers and start writing words to be read by real people without rubrics. All of the formalities and rules that you have in mind don’t really matter. Try to write in a way that reflects your personality. 

The best way to do that is to write how you feel, then go back and read through it. If it doesn’t feel genuine or compelling, then write it again. 

2. Personalize Each Email

Engagement rates are a lot higher when e-mails are directed at individual people. When they’re directed at a group of people, you’re not going to see the same kind of results. 

However you need to personalize the email, just make sure that it’s clear right off of the bat. Ensure that either the title, tag line, or first few sentences include some reference to the recipient. The best way to do that is to use their names somewhere in those lines. 

That doesn’t mean that you have to write an individual e-mail for each person, just make sure that you personalize some aspect of the copy on each e-email. 

3. Keep Things Concise

It’s hard to choose the best length for cold sales e-mail copy. Depending on your company and its niche, the text might need to be long to appeal to the user. 

That said, any cold-sales e-mail should be absent of fluff. Don’t drag on the e-mail in a way that could deter people. Get to the point, display the offer that you’re making, and make it really easy for the recipient to follow up. 

The format of the e-mail shouldn’t deviate too far from that. Make it simple and clear. If you have real value to offer people, make it known right away so there’s no time to get scared away. 

4. Be Aware of Recipient Aversion

Nobody likes getting cold calls or e-mails. This is a fact, and it’s hard to stand out from the crowd when you’re the one sending those e-mails and calls. 

Just because you’re in that sales category, though, doesn’t mean that you can’t have some self-awareness. Think of things from the recipient’s perspective and try to work in things that might draw your attention. 

In a lot of cases, the first thing that makes or breaks a deal is the title of the e-mail. If you can distinguish that title from a standard “cold-email” title, you’re miles ahead of the competition. 

5. Find a Catchy Title

The e-mail title is a tricky thing to master. 

The trick is landing somewhere between the tone of a friend and the tone of a business advertisement. Naturally, you are a business advertising to a potential customer, but you can’t be that straightforward about it in your e-mail. 

You could try being direct and listing the promotion in the title. For example, “we’ve got 50 percent off on all items.” You could also probe the recipient and intrigue them to learn more. 

Another example is, “We know you skip ads, but this is a pretty good deal..”

It’s tough to come up with compelling web copy. You know your niche and you know your customers, though, so the main thing is to appeal to them and avoid standard marketing tropes. 

6. Offer Something Right Away

People feel as though they need to repay gifts given to them, no matter how small. This is a general rule that psychologists call the “web of indebtedness.” 

Consider using this trick in your cold e-mails. Offer something for free on the front end, and save your “ask” for the end. Someone who gets a free coupon might be more inclined to sign up for your newsletter, for example. 

7. Use E-mails for Brand Awareness

It’s tough to sell an actual product via e-mail. Most people won’t buy those products, especially when they’re from cold e-mails. 

Instead, use the cold e-mail to spread brand awareness and make some connections with customers. Let them know you’re there and tell them what you have to offer. 

8. Explore Pre-Made Pitches

Sometimes, you have to work with the things that have come before you. Try exploring some pitch ideas online. 

For example, the ideas from Justreachout.io are exceptional. Do some A/B testing with different pitches and zone in on an approach that works. 

9. Prove Your Statements

Whenever you can offer data on a claim, you should do so. In fact, you should try to include only claims that are backed up by data. 

It’s a lot easier to get engagements when people don’t think you’re making things up. Marketing copy is easy to spot, and data can help bolster credibility. 

10. Use Genuine Social Proof

Social proof is the idea that people are more trusting of things that other people endorse. It works, and it’s a tactic that’s abused by a lot of companies. 

You’ll often see companies use social proof that is clearly fabricated. They choose a stock photo and a cheesy quote and slap it on their website. Do your best to find real customers to vouch for your business, and include those claims in your email. 

Need More Help With Cold E-mailing? 

The art of cold e-mailing is a difficult one to master. You’ll get the hang of it after a few tries, though. There’s a lot more to learn about the cold call e-mail, and we’re here to help you through it. 

Explore our site for more ideas on cold calls, e-mail marketing, digital advertising, and much more.