7 tips for writing cold emails

These simple 7 principles will add 20% to your reply rate:

1. Stop selling in your first email

This is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they get into cold outreach. First, we invest hours into research and crafting messages. Second, we receive way fewer replies than expected. Third, we get mad at time wasted and start sending out links to everyone who might buy. This leads to a burnout, loss of motivation and sometimes to killing our project.

Quick fix?

Stop expecting to close prospects in 1 message. People won’t buy unless you made them feel understood. And they never felt understood since you’ve never talked to them. And this leads to the next principle -

2. Aim for a reply, not for closing

The goal of the cold email is to get their response. Funnily, even the harsh one counts as it starts the discussion. Do you know when people respond? Correct, when somebody asks them a question.

Ask them about things which:

• affect their business
• have a high chance of them to reply “yes”
• position you as their potential lead (!)

Discovering the last one was a game changer for me. Selling to Amazon agencies? Ask: “Do you do Amazon listings?” Selling to SEO copywriters? Ask: “How many SEO articles can you handle each month?” And later it will turn out you own the tool that lets them save time and write more.

3. Show you’re from the same tribe

No matter how short you want your cold email to be, showing you’ve got something in common always works. A simple “Saw we’re both in Marketing Gods group on LinkedIn” adds 10% to your reply rate.

Step away from broad ones like the same university or the same employer with 100K employees. Better pick what they’re enthusiastic about.

4. Know your audience

Every gang has their own slang. Selling to people in your field is your competitive advantage. I’m now helping a Statistics professor sell SaaS to other professors. Reply rate is over 70%. If I were selling the same product, my results would be far lower.

What are the special terms they use? What are things they care about? What are their pains?

Address these. Show you’re not a stranger. And surely not a salesman.

5. Balance personalization

Not all the leads are equal. Depending on the deal size, some need 5 seconds of research, others need 5 days. Invest time accordingly.

Start with more personalized emails and decrease personalization as your brand grows.

6. Validate before you automate

People rush to throw hundreds of dollars into automation tools. But before you open your wallet, start with a sample of 50 emails. At this size you’ll know the quality of your contacts, won’t face deliverability issues, and don’t put the domain at risk (unless you send them all in 1 go).

If you’re in high ticket B2C or mid-market B2B, you should close at least 1/50 with a personalized email. I see many founders give up before they hit a minimum sample size. Don’t quit too early. But most importantly:

7. Test everything

There is no same scenario in cold email game. What should you do about it? Try all options. Test personalization level, message length, call to action, question, and social proof.

Learn for the first 2000 contacts, then double down on what works best.

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If you meet somebody who’s got an ultimate cold email - run. It’s all case specific. Fortunately for you, I’ll be happy to give you a hand with this and upgrade your existing sales funnel for $100. Simply reply to this email and we’ll catch up for a consultation. There I’ll help you craft sequences for YOUR startup so you can land more sales.