What is Cold Email? Find Out in 5 Easy Steps

Join over 5400 readers of the Supernova newsletter ☄️

1 click unsubscribe at any time

I bet you’re wondering… What is Cold Email? ❄️ What Cold Outreach Templates could you use for your B2b prospecting strategy? Discover all the expert tips and more, in this ultimate guide! 😎

 

What is a Cold Email Meaning?

The expression of “cold emailing” means the practice by which an email message is sent to a target professional prospect without having had any prior contact or interaction with this person and without them having requested this contact. 😬

Cold emailing poses a problem of marketing pressure and can lead to deliverability problems when it is misused. It is often encountered in the practice of growth hacking. 😎

The term cold emailing is used by analogy with that of cold calling. It should not be confused with the more qualified approach associated with a follow-up email. 📧

In a nutshell, cold emailing is when you email someone you don’t know for no apparent reason. The goal of these emails is to establish a relationship with the prospect (potential customers) and advance them down the sales funnel. 👇

Use Cold Email to Acquire Business Contacts

Consider how business connections grow in the offline world to have a better idea of what it is. Everything usually begins with a discussion… 🤗

One situation is that a salesman attends an industry conference or trade show in order to meet new clients. They hunt for opportunities to strike up a discussion throughout an event. Their goal, however, is not to sell their product or brag about their company. They aim to break the ice and begin a conversation. They want to learn more about their prospect’s company and establish a relationship with them. 🤝

The same ideas apply to outbound sales. In the internet world, a cold email is a way to initiate a discussion. It’s a message you deliver to someone who has probably never heard of your company or knows very little about it. We call them “cold” leads since this is the first time they’ve heard of you. 👂

The purpose of a cold email is to create a connection from strangers to business partners, not to convert them right away. To put it another way, to warm up those leads. Slowly yet steadily. 🐢

 

How to do Cold Email Marketing?

Your product is created for an audience that will like it. Target the most probable audience to show interest and take action in your cold email campaign. 🚀

You may also divide your target audience into multiple groups. E.g., IT firms, SaaS-based enterprises, and so on… CEO, Vice President, Board Member, Program Leader, Programmer, and more positions. 🧑‍🎓

Similarly, you may divide them by the number of team members, the size of the company, and so on. It is entirely up to you and your product how you choose to go about doing it. 👌

Teamwork Best Team Ever GIF by Jessica

 

Why is Cold Email Important?

In contrast to a cold call, emailing is a tactic that requires less time from potential customers or visitors. Furthermore, because you will be sending these cold emails to potential consumers, you may customise the email content to them, resulting in a more personal relationship. 😊

There are several reasons why cold emailing is beneficial to any company. The following are the 3 most important:

1. Networking

In today’s world, a successful salesperson understands the importance of networking. Although meeting experts face to face may not always be practical, this should not prevent you from interacting. 👍

You may use cold email to reach out to people. You may provide a brief introduction to yourself and your organization, just like you would if you were meeting in person. If the receiver appreciates your sincere attempt, they may reach out to you and assist you in expanding your network. 🔗

2. Being Able to Scale Up

Cold emails can be scaled up and down. You may send emails to numerous prospects and track their responses. You may carefully plan your future email based on the success. In a single day, a cold email outreach allows you to contact thousands of potential customers. 🎯

Althought, cold email can be frustrating at times, and in a few circumstances, this may be the case. You can address this difficulty by adopting established cold emailing best practices. And having an Opt-out/Unsubscribe option in every email is one of the best practices. This makes it simple for the receiver to unsubscribe at any moment. 💯

3. Lead Generation

Cold emailing, as the name implies, is a method of generating leads. You begin by cultivating a relationship with them and work your way up to converting them into valued clients. 🏆

The most significant benefit of cold emailing is that it is extremely targeted. That you’re just targeting those who are interested in your goods or service. You can contact potential customers and inform them about your product or service. 🧲

Other excellent practices that you should be aware of are discussed later in this article, so keep on reading! 😘

Cat Read GIF

 

What is Cold Email Campaign?

This leads us to the section where we discuss items to consider before sending an email. VESC is critical for ensuring that your cold email campaign (sequence) has a high deliverability rate, ensuring that your message reaches your recipient’s inbox rather than their spam folder. 😨

VESC – This is the abbreviation for the checklist you’ll go through before pressing the send button. It stands for: “Validate prospect list”, “Ensure clear CTA”, “Set follow-ups (steps)”, “Check your email spam score”. 🔎

Let’s take a closer look at each of these 4 points:

1. Validate the List of Prospects

Begin by validating your email address list. The people you’re emailing should be comparable in some way. As previously said, you must check that all of these prospects’ addresses are correct, by using email enrichment for example. 🤑

As a result, the first step in delivering a cold email campaign (sequence) is to authenticate those email addresses. Otherwise, you risk getting in trouble for sending the incorrect email to the wrong person and not getting effective results. 😪

2. Ensure the CTA is obvious

Here are some CTA (Call To Action) examples commonly used by mailers: 👇

  • Get the app now.
  • Call me back.
  • Join our mailing list.
  • Become a member.

When sending an email, ensure sure there is just one unambiguous call to action. You don’t want your reader to be confused by what you want them to do. 🤔

3. Set up Follow-up Steps

It’s a good idea to include a follow-up (step) in your campaign. It not only saves time, but also motivates you to work more. How? When you set an auto-follow-up (step), there are different sets of conditions. Conditions such as:

  • Not Connected — If you check this box, your email will be forwarded to everyone who doesn’t have a connection with you yet.
  • No message sent – If you enable this condition, your email will be sent even if you haven’t talked via direct message yet.

You may filter out prospects who are really interested in your product/service based on these criteria and pursue them. 😉

4. Check your Email Spam Score

There are 3 categories of quality email address where you could send cold emails from:

  • Awesome email.
  • Meh email address.
  • “Spammy” email.

Do you know which of these categories your email address belongs to? 🧐

Well, you can certainly find out thanks to a Mail-tester online. It will spam score your email on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, and suggest changes based on the results. ⚠️

Small adjustments, such as putting up a custom domain, will help you improve your score. Always check your spam score before moving further. 🙏

For more information, see how to build up an automated cold email campaign in this tutorial! 🤖

The Wave Dancing GIF

 

How To Write a Cold Sales Email?

Find out in 5 Easy Steps. Use this guide to increase your odds of creating the finest cold email ever. Let’s go! ⚡

Step 1: The Importance of Subject Lines

It is this factor that will determine whether or not the recipient will open the email. It is the receiver’s initial point of contact and should be written carefully. 👀

E.g., Which email are you more likely to open if two marketers send you a product demo request? 🤔

Marketer 1 – “Free Product Demonstration” or Marketer 2 – “John, I have a Product Demo waiting for you!”

The first appears to be a standard advertising email, whereas the second piques interest through personalization. 🤩 As a result, always include a catchy subject line. If the subject line of your email grabs your recipient’s attention, they will open it.

Advice to optimize the subject line of your emailing 👇

1- Write a short object: aim for a maximum of 50 characters to get to the point. 🎯

2- Put the most important thing at the beginning of the introduction: maximize the chances that your email will be read by adding key information first! 🥇, the amount of a promo code, an event, a deadline, etc.

3- Avoid words that are too “spammy”: these are words monitored by email providers, so be careful. Here are some examples, “promotion”, “free”, “urgent”… ❌

4- Consider using emojis: to make your teaser line more visible and attractive. 👀 Above all, they allow your subject line to stand out significantly more than the others in their inboxes.

5- Use personalization: integrate personalization tags such as your recipient’s first name {{first_name}}, to boost your opening rate. ⚡

For further information, see the article on How to Write a Killer Subject Line! 💥

 

Step 2: Adding a Personal Touch Earns You Points

It gives you a wonderful feeling when someone you haven’t seen in a long time recalls your name. Emails are subject to the same psychology. 🤓

For instance, John despises talking to people who address him as “Hey Prospect” rather than “Hey John”. So, why would you do that via email? ❌

As a result, make sure to customize your cold emails before sending them out. It’s more important than you would think. 😏

 

Step 3: The Body of the Email Should Be Short

The human attention span is dwindling at the same rate as technological advancements are altering our everyday consuming patterns. Humans, according to some studies, now have a lower attention span than goldfish. 🐠 Keep the body of your email as brief as possible.

The body of a cold email is divided into three sections:

  1. Make sure you identify yourself honestly in your introduction.
  2. Show your purpose quickly – Get right to the point.
  3. Thank them for their time and provide a greeting with one point of contact in the salutation.

The lenght of the email should be short, consisting of no more than 2-5 sentences totaling no more than 200 words. According to research, the ideal amount of words is between 50 and 125. 😜

Even though few individuals would read a long email from a stranger, many people still send lengthy pitches outlining their company, product, or service. That is not the path to take. Respect the time of your prospects. Keep it brief. 🍃

 

Step 4: Take Care of Your Cold Email Signature

Last but not least, the signature, which is frequently and largely disregarded. We can’t ignore the signature because it’s a full-fledged element of our communication. It should notify our recipients who we are and where they can learn more about us and/or our organization. 🤩

A well-crafted signature can assist us in condensing the email body and making it more digestible and addressee-focused. 💗

You can make a signature like this for free with our cold email automation tool, Waalaxy! 👽 All of the templates are deliverability-friendly, which means they don’t contain any messy HTML that might cause your emails to be marked as spam.

Fan Signing GIF by TRT

 

How to Write Your Prospecting Email Signature?

Make sure it makes you appear trustworthy – too little information and no suggestions as to where you can be found will almost certainly reduce your chances of receiving a response. 😥

  • Just include the information that is required. 🤷‍♀️

Remove material that only takes up space but provides no benefit. Your phone number is important at times, but it is also utterly unneeded at others. Consider the utility of each piece of information in the signature. In your email campaign, delete the one that isn’t useful.

  • If you do decide to use HTML, make sure it’s as clean as possible. 💧

A cluttered HTML signature might potentially create delivery problems. This is due to the fact that your message is brief. The text-to-HTML ratio can be messed up if the signature contains a lot of HTML. 😣 It’s better to use a basic text signature if you don’t have somebody who can examine and clean up your signature HTML. You can also use our signature generator, which has been thoroughly tested.

If you want more tips to create the best signature, then follow this article on How to Personalize Your Professional Mailbox! 💣

 

Step 5: Follow-ups are Necessary

At least 5 follow-ups (sequence steps) are required for 80% of sales following the meeting. 👀

Nowadays, closing a business requires more than one email and this is unavoidable. Prospects absorb so much stuff that they have a limited memory span for anything they view on the internet. Emails are no different. That is why we require follow-ups (steps)! 📞

With today’s cold emailing tools like Waalaxy, you may add follow-ups (steps) with criteria and track your progress. 🏃

Follow up Cold Email Example:

Here we have 2 follow-up email examples, that you can copy-paste and are ready to use: 👇

  • Template 1: Address “The Elephant in The Room”.

Hello {{First_Name}},

It’s me, once more. This is just a follow-up email to remind you that the deal we discussed is still available. Want to discuss further?

Talk soon!
{{Email_Signature}}.

  • Template 2: “Re-connecting” over a quick email.

Hi again {{First_Name}},

You mentioned that you wanted to contact me around November the last time we spoke. Given that we are approaching the end of October, this is a timely reminder.

If you still want to get in touch, you can book a call on my calendar.

I’ll be glad to hear back from you!

{{Email_Signature}}.

After following these 5 steps, I’m sure you’ll be ready to launch your first cold emailing campaign successfully! 🚀

 

What is the Best Cold Email Software?

Even a well-crafted cold email may not be enough to pique your prospects’ interest. They may overlook your email or neglect to respond to you at times. Alternatively, they may not be interested enough to schedule a call with you. 😭 But don’t panic; this is a perfectly regular occurrence. That is why, if you do not receive a response, you should constantly follow up. 🤲

In your cold email plan, one follow-up email is required, but two or three follow-up emails are optional. Follow-ups should not be treated as reminders that you’re waiting for a response from a prospect. Include a link to an interesting case study or an invitation to a scheduled webinar to add some more value. 💎

However, sending one tailored cold email to 50 prospects every day, much alone following up and responding, sounds like a lot of effort. 🥵

Handling all of it on a large scale manually is a nightmare (been there, done that). You may, however, automate this procedure to make your life simpler. 😃

Learn How to Automate a Follow-up email in this article! 👈

 

The Best Cold Email Templates

There are 4 Types of Cold Emails you can send, depending on your target and the approach you want to have with them. Either building partnerships or going straight for the sale, I have you covered with these templates. 🥰

1. Introduction Cold Email Template

Subject line: Looking for experts in the tech field for app launch!

Hi there, {{First_Name}},

I see that you currently work at {{Company_Name}}. I’m contacting you to tell you about a new app that we’ve developed. I believe you would enjoy it, since you are interested in technology and automation. We call it Waalaxy, and it’s truly out of this world!

If you’d like to test it and give me your feedback, I would love to hear from your expert advice.

Thanks,
{{Email_Signature}}.

👉 Use this personalized template in order to present your product softly by asking for their opinion, while strocking their ego! You will kill 2 birds with 1 stone, because they will test your product and stablish a connection with you.

 

2. Free-Content Email Template

Subject line: Curated content just for you!

Hello {{First_Name}},

If you’re looking for the best marketing strategies that are proved to work and the best lead generation tools, then this free PDF guideline is precisely what you need!

When you sign up to our newsletter, you’ll receive the guideline with 50 expert tips directly to your email.

Note that this offer is only valid for a short period of time. So, what do you have to lose?

Follow this link to sign up now.

{{Email_Signature}}.

👉 Use this template if you know your prospect has already downloaded your tool, and you want to keep them interested by given them free advice on their multi-channel strategy, for example. It’s a win-win situation!

 

3. VIP-Content Cold Mailing Template

Subject line: Here’s some special content just for you!

Hi there, {{First_Name}},

I have prepared a really special VIP Guide, which I hope you will like. After replying to this email, you will receive a 30% discount code that you can use for every plan of our new Waalaxy app!

You can test the platform for 7 days, making use of all of the newly added features and sharing any suggestions or flaws with our chat support team. We’d be delighted to hear what you think.

Your time is running out. Take action right away! To gain access, simply reply to this email with “I am interested.”

Have a nice day!
{{Email_Signature}}.

👉 Use this template to mantain the relationship with your subscribers, so thay can know what are the benefits of being part of your community! They will feel appreciated, specially if the offer is addressed personally to them.

 

4. Hard Pitch Mail Template

Subject line: This is the best automation tool for you!

Hello {{First_Name}},

Because I know you’re probably busy, I’ll make this quick.

I have a simple inquiry for you: How much time do you spend prospecting?

What if I told you that with Waalaxy, we can help you reach 10x more prospects in just 10 mins a day by using our automation tool!

Do you think this is something you’d be interested in? It is completely free!

If you’re ready to give it a try, I’ll arrange up a customized demo call for you. So let me know.

Have great day!
{{Email_Signature}}.

👉 Use this template as an “Elevator Pitch”, in order to quickly present your product and the advantages of using it! Go straight to the point and try to be as brief as possible, nobody wants to spend time reading a big speech for nothing.

 

What is the Best Call To Actions in Cold Email?

Cbs Love GIF by LoveIslandUSA

 

Add a Call-to-action at the end of your cold emails

Before you finish writing your emails, all you have to do, is craft a call to action (CTA) that will persuade your prospects to take the action you want them to take in response to your cold email. 🔥 It may be organizing a demo call, providing comments, or responding to you, for example. Anything you’re willing to handle. Any action you want them to do in the end. Maintain a plain and uncomplicated approach. 😄

  • Your CTA should include these ideas:
  1. Express the goal of your email in a single sentence – the CTA should state the goal of your email in a single sentence. To put it another way, it should make it obvious to the recipient what you want them to do.
  2. Keep it brief and sweet — the CTA should be no more than one sentence long. You should be as brief as possible. It also shouldn’t be hazy.
  3. Ask your prospect anything they can do right now.

However, don’t ask for too much — a request for a basic action or a brief answer is likely to be more effective than a 30-minute phone conversation. Begin small. 🌱 Even if you finally invite your prospects to a meeting, the initial email they receive from you may not be the best place to start.

In addition, here’s an article on the Basics of cold emailing, so you know where to start! 🚩

 

How to Get Cold Emails Responses?

A cold email must be brief yet forceful and fascinating in order to get responses. As a result, each component of this brief message must be meaningful and perform an important communication function. 🗣️

We’ve seen what influences whether a message will have a high response rate numerous times at Waalaxy. Check if you’re familiar with these crucial procedures for writing a successful cold email for sales. 💰

To begin, consider what a cold email is nowadays, as well as how the technique to creating cold emails has evolved over time. ⌛ Therefore, here are the main differences between Cold Email and Spam:

Cold Email Conversion Metrics

Performance increases in environments where it is monitored. 📈You may readily find areas where you can improve, by tracking the conversion metrics of your cold emails. Let’s find out more by analyzing the rates below! 🥸

Along with tracking, it’s critical to understand what the data are telling you, so you can respond correctly. For example, if your open rate is poor, what can you do about it? 🤷‍♀️

Continue reading to find out the answers. 👇

Magnify Tv Land GIF by #Impastor

 

What is a Good Cold Email Open Rate?

  • A good open rate for any cold email outreach campaign is 25% or above, and if you get over 37%, you may consider your campaign a success. 💫

Based on your specific industry average figures, your email open rates might help you establish more precise and reasonable targets for your future cold email outreach operations. However, because email open rates can be deceiving, it’s best to focus on true performance measures like your cold email response rate.

  • However, adding the recipient’s name to the subject line can boost open rates by 22.2%! 🛩️

Adding the recipient’s name to an email subject line requires little work, but the effects may be quite remarkable. Even if you don’t have an original, creative subject line concept, you can still pique your leads’ interest by personalizing the subject line for each recipient.

  • Average email open rates range from 15.22% to 28.46%, depending on your sector. 💼

What is the typical open rate for your industry? According to MailChimp, typical open rates for email campaigns range from 15.22% to 28.46%. While emails from hobby-related firms receive the most opens, daily bargains and e-coupons have the lowest open rate of any industry.

Why is it necessary for you to be aware of these metrics? 🤨 Because in this way, you can set reasonable targets for your next email campaign and utilize the industry average as a guide!

 

What is a Good Reply Rate for Cold Email?

Given that the average response rate for cold emails is about 1%, strong cold email response rates can range from around 5% for certain sales emails to 20% or even more than 40% for others. Of course, the higher the better! 🥳

For example, if your response rate is roughly half of your open rate, you’re doing well. 🎉

In fact, there is no real answer to the question of what constitutes a good response rate for cold emails. It mostly relies on the objectives of your cold email outreach, as well as your audience, industry, and talents and expertise. 🏹

However, here’s some good news: you can Discover In This Article How to Increase Your Acceptance Rate to 51% and your Response Rate to 14.5%! 💥

 

How to Send a Cold Email? What is the Best Time To Do It?

When it comes to selecting when to send an email that will gather you a good response rate, there are 2 factors to consider. 👇

  • The time of day:

According to the findings of a study including billions of email addresses, the ideal time to send your emails is around 10 a.m. Because that’s when the majority of emails are opened, your chances of getting read increase considerably. ⌚ If you don’t have a compelling cause, don’t send your email before this time. Never send emails around 3 or 4 a.m., since they will appear strange in the inbox of the recipient.

Jimmy Fallon What GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

  • The day of the week:

If you’re attempting to reach out to corporate leaders, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are generally the greatest days of the week for getting a response. These are the best days for B2B emailing, according to marketers. 😋

 

Conclusion: What Does Cold Email Mean?

Omar Sharif Vintage GIF by FilmStruck

 

How Does Cold Emailing Work?

If you want cold emails to transform into leads, you’ll need to take a few actions. 🦾 Some of them include the following principles:

  • Authenticity. You don’t want to sound like everyone else. Because this is your initial contact with a potential customer, you must grab their attention and get them to open your email.
  • Sales takes a back seat. Imagine a salesperson knocking on your door and attempting to sell you a product right now. You should not bother users with your emails; instead, you should establish a relationship.
  • Personalize. Because you’re working with a small group of individuals, you can quickly personalize your emails to the people you’re communicating with.
  • Acquire trust. Given that you are essentially a stranger, you should highlight specific facts in order to acquire the trust of your potential consumers.
  • Keep it brief and simple. Don’t add to the confusion. You don’t want to sound like Shakespeare with this greeting message.
  • Demonstrate the worth of your service/product. This is a straightforward idea. Your product is worthwhile. People must comprehend the worth of your product in order to understand why they must obtain it.

There are a few methods for completing these steps. You may alter the “from” and “subject” lines, for example. 👌 Starting your email with the name of the person you’re sending it to is a wonderful approach to make it more personable. To identify the best emailing style, you must keep track of your results.

 

Launch your first cold email campaign

To sum up, short, highly targeted cold emails, addressed to a specific audience are an excellent approach to establish new business relationships and generate more hot leads for your organization. 🤒 When you combine that with a series of automatic follow-ups, you’ve got yourself a very potent lead creation engine.

I hope these suggestions help you create cold emails that are bright and effective. Best of luck! 🍀

 

FAQ: What is Cold Email Outreach?

Freezing Sesame Street GIF by Willem Dafriend

 

What Are Cold Email Messages?

A cold email is an unsolicited email sent as part of an email marketing campaign to introduce your brand to someone who has never heard of you or your organization before. 👋

This does not imply that it is spamming – although it is extremely easy to seem like spam mail, so be careful to follow the steps above. In order to avoid this mishap, we have prepared a guide with the most common mistakes! 😓

 

What is Cold Email Writing?

In order to write the best cold emails for your online prospection, you need to follow the 5 steps that we have detailed earlier in this article. 🪜

Cold Email Do’s and Dont’s:

  • Don’t neglect the subject line, this step might seem useless but actually it’s the very first impression that your prospect will get from you. 👎
  • Don’t forget to personalize each one of your messages, if you forget to mention your prospect’s name from the first email, then all following communications are over! 👎
  • Do keep it short! I cannot stress this step enough, you need to make sure that your message is clear and straightforward. Your potential customers need to know quickly if you have a solution to their problems or not. 👍
  • Do keep it clean! Make sure you have a nice email signature, this step might seem superficial but actually this could be one of the reason why you could land into someone’s junk mail. 👍
  • Do keep the conversation going! Make sure to follow-up with your potential customers, do not leave them hanging. So make sure to book that demo call or send them a reminder email so you do not miss any business opportunities. 👍

Lets Go Reaction GIF by BET

 

Is Cold Emailing Illegal?

Technically no, if you use only professional email addresses… 😮 For example, in the French context, the practice of cold email is exclusively a B2B practice which can be done on a professional email address since in this case, the law does not impose an opt-in as it does for personal addresses. However, sending cold emails to personal addresses is indeed, 🤐 illegal!

Cold emailing practices are most often done on rented, purchased or “scraped” addresses for which the method of the collection is very variable. They can also be made from addresses collected by email enrichment and/or ✍️ qualified manually.

GIF by Rosanna Pansino

I hope this article has given you a better understanding of What is Cold Email and its components. ❄️ In order to send an effective cold email, be sure to follow the tips and templates provided in this article. See ya soon, big baboon! 🐒

 

Camila

Want to go further?

Networking is essential to progress in your professional life. So, how to introduce yourself in an email? 🤔 A good

22/03/2024

Looking for THE BEST sales discovery questions? 😲 Don’t panic! In this article, you’ll find 30 examples that will help

15/03/2024

Wondering how to sponsor a post on Instagram to boost your brand’s visibility? 🚀 You’ve come to the right place!

15/03/2024

Get the ultimate e-book for multi-channel prospecting 📨

7 examples of successful prospecting messages to boost the response rates of your prospecting campaigns.

Ebook-7-messages-US-mockup

7 examples of successful LinkedIn prospecting messages

Masterclasses

Dans la piscine

Sucess story