How To Use Cold Emails To Generate New Leads

What is a Cold Email? 

You’re probably familiar with cold calls: a salesperson spontaneously reaches out to you without any prior interaction. We’ve all experienced those at least once, and a cold email is basically identical, but through email. There are a number of reasons why people send cold emails, namely for lead generation, sales, inviting someone to podcasts or webinars, market research and/or hiring. 

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The reason why you’d send a cold email is easily identifiable based on your desired result, but the problem arises when we explore the ins and outs of how to do it. Many cold emails end up being labeled as spam, so it is important to learn how to send cold emails the right way in order to generate new leads.

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How To Craft The Perfect Cold Email 

There is no perfect formula for writing a cold email, but there are some factors you can incorporate in the writing of cold emails that can result in better lead generation. Understanding what drives success, what frustrates prospects and what guarantees that your cold email will go straight to the bin without being read can help you tailor your cold emails accordingly. 

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• Choose Prospects Carefully 

Many marketers or salespeople are easily tempted to fall into the spray-and-pray approach, which involves sending out as many emails as possible with the hope that a few prospects will respond. Avoid engaging in this strategy. For your cold emails to be effective, take the time to build a relevant list. With each prospect you add to your list, have a reason why they would benefit from the content in your cold email.   

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• Have an Intriguing Subject Line

A prospect’s probability of opening your cold email relies heavily on how engaging your subject line is. Your subject line should focus on adding value to your prospect; avoid making it look like a blatant sales pitch. 

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• Personalize your Cold Email 

Make the cold email feel like it is tailored for your prospect. You can achieve this by adding their name or company name. Make sure that the content within your cold email targets your prospect’s problem while also showing how they could benefit from your offer. 

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• Make a Proper Introduction 

Cold emailing, by definition, means the prospect does not know who you are; there is no prior communication between you and them before the cold email is sent. This puts a significant amount of pressure on properly introducing yourself to your prospect. Use this as an opportunity to break the ice and build trust. The best way to build trust would be social proof. This involves name-dropping big clients you have worked with that your prospect might recognize, or clients you’ve worked with that have a commonality with the prospect. 

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• Identify the Pain Point

In order to keep the prospect interested in reading the rest of your cold email, identify and demonstrate a pain point (a persistent problem that inconveniences customers/prospects.) Once you identify the pain point, it will be easier to show them how you can provide a solution to their problem. 

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• Focus Prospect’s Benefits  

Avoid making the main focus of the email about how good you or your services are. The right approach would be to focus on the benefits they can receive from your product or services.

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• Keep your Cold Email Short and Sweet 

Your prospects are probably too busy to read a whole essay. Keep your cold email short and to the point. You want to get your value across while you still have their attention. 

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• Making Use of Cold Email Templates 

Now that you know what to do and what to avoid when constructing your email, we can go a step further by looking at the actual email itself. Here are a few cold email templates that you can use to help boost your conversion.

Sending cold emails can help you expand your customer base if done correctly. By incorporating factors like writing the best cold email subject line or making use of cold email templates, you can increase your open rates and generate more leads.