In the lead generation process, cold e-mailing is one of the best-known strategies. The most significant advantage of communication via e-mail between brands and customers is the fact that this channel has already gathered 3.8 billion users. (Source: Radicati.com)

This means that you can reach… almost everyone in the world this way.

In the B2B sector, it’s even more powerful. According to HubSpot:

86% of professionals prefer to use e-mail when communicating for business purposes

Moreover, e-mail is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders (Source Wordstream).

Numbers speak for themselves. There is no doubt that you should try out cold mailing to boost your marketing. Our article will unravel the mystery of how to write a cold e-mail.

A 3-step Cold Mailing Strategy

When writing a cold e-mail, you need to focus on a few different things. The most important is the content of the message, and yes, we’ll cover it later on.

First, let’s clarify what a cold e-mail actually is.

Cold e-mail is a message sent from a brand to a potential customer who hasn’t had a prior relationship with that brand. The common practice is to send mass campaigns to contacts gathered in the CRM system (customer-relations management) or through external databases. Generating such leads can be done in multiple ways such as sign-up forms on the website or via social media.

If you’re reading this text, you probably already have an e-mail list of potential clients and you know what you want to communicate to them. Let’s get this writing started!

1. Title and the Opening Line

These are the most crucial parts of an email, with which you have to make a good first impression. Nowadays, when customers are overloaded with incoming e-mails, the key to success is an individual approach.

How to make your e-mail personalized?

• use names,

• refer to the last viewed page on your website,

• find common interests,
• in B2B mailing: refer to the company’s specifics, products.

How important is a name in an e-mail title?   Including the recipient’s name in the subject line can increase your open rate by 22.2% 35% of recipients open e-mails based on the subject line alone. A/B testing your subject line can increase open rates by 49%. Source: PropellerCRM

Just as people often judge a book by its cover, similar phenomena can happen with e-mails and their titles. Attract prospective customers’ attention, intrigue them and make clicking on the title irresistible. If you have a special offer or some other great news – don’t hesitate to stress it in the subject line!

Tip: With OutreachPlus you can use complex If/else rules for merge tags. For example, if you don’t have the name of a lead you use “Hey there” instead.

2. Highlight the Value

Your message has to be clear for the receiver in terms of purpose. You also need to introduce yourself when you send an e-mail to the so-called „cold” contacts because they don’t know you yet. Nevertheless, don’t focus on yourself and your company. The prospect should be in the spotlight. After a brief presentation, describe an issue and give the solution.

Tips:

• Don’t be pushy – try to be helpful instead;

• Focus on the benefits, not features – it’s more understandable for customers;

• Prove your effectiveness with stats or testimonials – social proof is always in demand;
• Use storytelling – tell a short story that won’t be forgotten and will show your understanding of customers’ situation and problems.

Example:   In the early 2000s, the producers of MP3 players advertised their devices by giving information about its capacity – like 3 Gigabytes. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod in 2001, he took the customer point of view and highlighted the value of the launching item: 1000 Songs in your pocket. Source: YouTube

What we can learn from this is that giving an image of capabilities that the customer benefits from while using your product is far more attractive and effective than giving technical specifics.

Most of all, remember that you want to build a relationship. Be human, make your potential customer feel special and taken care of.

3. Call to Action

Last, but not least, you need to clearly express what you want a reader to do regarding your e-mail. This action is a goal of your cold mailing.

What can you encourage them to do?

• use a trial,

• schedule a meeting or a call,

• follow social media accounts,

• buy a product on a special offer,

• read a blog post,

• watch a demo,

• check out an offer,
• download an e-book.

A call to action in your e-mail can also be a button, potentially making it harder to ignore.

CTA button tips:

Text   Use action-oriented text Make your button text large and legible Keep it short Try using the first person Create urgency

Design   Use bright colors Add white space around the button Keep it above the fold Watch your hierarchy with other links Follow a natural progression (top to bottom and left to right)

Source: CampaignMonitor

E-mail Toolbox

Creating outstanding and sufficient e-mails and sending them can be time-consuming. To increase your effectiveness try out a few solutions.

• Outreach Plus – a system for sending personalized e-mails on a large scale. It detects user behavior (e-mail open, reply, links clicked, etc.) and triggers personalized e-mails based on their actions.

• Biteable – a platform for creating animations. You can stress your offer or benefits of your product in a brief video that can be embedded in an e-mail. What’s essential is that you don’t need any designing and editing skills. Biteable’s templates and drag-and-drop builder will do all the work for you.

• Answer the Public – a website on which you can check out what people are searching for in the context of your brand, products or any other keyword. It can be a way of identifying customers’ needs.
• Grammarly – an automatic proofreader that catches misspelling and grammar mistakes. The text of your message has to be entirely correct.

A Cold Mail is Sent. What now?

One cold e-mail very often isn’t enough to get a new customer. Use OutreachPlus to send automated follow-ups in order to convince a prospect about your offer.

Follow our tips and work on your own style of mailing!