13 Cold Outreach Tips for 2023
Merve Geneş
Publishedat
What is Cold Outreach and Why is it Important?
Cold outreach is not a new concept, but it’s one that has been getting more and more attention over the years. Cold outreach is the act of reaching out to people who you don't know with the goal of getting them to do something for you, such as read your blog post or buy your product, or simply arranging a meeting for business deals.
Cold email campaigns are a great way to get in touch with potential leads and customers. They are a simple, yet effective way of reaching out to people who might not be aware of your company. But you need to know how to do it right. In this article, we will go over the best practices for cold outreach campaigns and how you can get the most out of your cold emails.
There are different ways to use cold outreach but the most important and the most efficient one is cold emailing.
A cold email, essentially, is the email that you send to prospects, or potential customers, without having no other contact before it. Cold emails are used to introduce yourself to your prospects, who you would like to turn into leads, and eventually, customers that buy your product or service.
Why Use Cold Emailing?
Using cold emails as your main marketing strategy is usually considered to be a good ida because when you think about it, there are tons of people that are checking their emails every day. Reaching out to these people who might actually need what you offer through a more personal (but not too intrusive like a phone call) channel is the way to go.
Because you want them to see that you are writing a specific email to a specific person. Prospects are human beings and, who wouldn't like the idea of having a personalized email with a message written only for them?
There are many reasons and benefits to using cold emails in your marketing strategy, and here are the ones that come to mind from the top of the head:
Improve networking
An excellent way to widen your networking web is to use cold emails. You can type any kind of message in your cold email, so why not use it for reaching out to people in a more business-centric way?
Simply sending cold emails to your prospect with the hopes of wanting to meet them for a specific reason, or to arrange an online meeting or a phone call is a good idea. You can put your message in a more professional but not too timid way when you're using cold emailing.
Improve brand recognition
Another point of the benefits of cold emailing is improving your brand recognition through them. Of course, you can send one cold email to one person. However, what happens if you want to reach hundreds or thousands of different types of people that you think can be the right candidate for your product or service?
Will you call them one by one? I think it would take too long to reach out to them at once. You could hire a few new people for your email campaign but then if you are a business that is starting a new, it would be expensive. Marketing is really important for any types of businesses, but why make things harder or straight up dreadful for yourself?
To make your company known, or to improve brand recognition, basically, all you have to do is to send cold emails using the right tools. Since you never want to use templates, as we will be talking about it all in this article, you want to send personalized cold emails.
Personal but not intrusive
Another amazing benefit of using cold emailing is that it can reach out to your prospects in a personal but unintrusive way, which is the exact balance you want to hang on to when it comes to cold outreach.
When you consider cold calling, it might make your prospect feel a little uneasy because they might wonder where have you got their phone number from. Phone calls are a bit too personal, and nowadays, more people are using them for rather personal reasons. And that is exactly why cold calls have a conversion rate of 2% only. On the other hand, gaving only the email address of a person is way less personal than a phone call.
If you want to keep things on a professional level, a cold email is the right way to reach out to your prospects because you won't be bothering them with a call. Using their email address to use cold outreach is also more professional as there will be a written text right there in front of them.
If you'd like more information and our comparison between a cold call and a cold email, you can check our blog post here.
Doesn't rely on 'chances'
Getting too personal is one extreme side of the spectrum. The other extreme side is basically not getting personal enough that your potential customers don't really care about your campaign because it doesn't align with them or that they think it's just some other advertisement.
Usually, advertisements on social media gives out this type of vibes to your prospects. It heavily depends on what you're offering to your prospects, but we found that with the highest rank of 1.22% engagement rates at most on specific platforms, despite the daily usage of social media by billions of people, it is simply not good enough.
Do Cold Emails Work?
On the other hand, cold emails and emailing in general have way higher stats, even though there are ways less people engaging with emails.
Around 30% of people open the emails you send them every day, and with a ROI (return on investment) of 4200%, email marketing definitely responds to the needs of your company or business, as the conversion rates reach up to 40%.
If these stats are not enough for you, you can try it by yourself, or can get help from tools. Nureply can help you with generating tons of first lines with using your lead list with a few clicks.
Many people worry that sending out this much of email can be a bit too spammy, and the whole marketing campaign can go to waste due to this problem. You need to make sure that you are following all spam laws and regulations in order to avoid getting your emails marked as spam. However, a cold email, within itself, is not spam. Read here for more information on cold emails vs spam.
But before that, you should know what makes a good cold email. Let's take a look at these tips to help you get started with cold emails.
What are the Best Practices for Cold Outreach in 2023?
Cold emails can be an effective way to reach out to potential customers and partners, but it is important to understand the risks and rewards associated with this approach. Cold emails can be a great way to introduce yourself and your products or services to people who may not otherwise be aware of them. However, there are some potential pitfalls to be aware of.
It is easy to come across as too sales-y or spammy, which can lead to your emails being ignored or deleted.
Additionally, cold emails may not be as effective as more personal methods of communication, such as networking or referrals. If you decide to try cold emails, it is important to craft a thoughtful, personalized message and make sure you are emailing the right people. With the right approach, cold emails can be a valuable tool for building relationships and generating sales.
How can you improve your cold emails? Let's dive into the tips.
1. Decide on your why
First things first. I advise you to answer a few questions to start with
Why have you chosen cold emailing as your outreach method?
Why are you writing this email to your prospect?
What response do you expect to get? What is the aim of this whole cold email?
Before you start writing your cold email, you should have s specific purpose for the message you would like to deliver.
Are you sending sales emails in this cold email campaign? Or maybe you would like to arrange a meeting and eventually get to the B2B sales part?
Once you have decided on your reason for writing this cold email, next comes getting enough data about prospects.
2. Do your research
Before you even start writing your cold email, you need to do your research. Find out who your target audience is and what you can offer them that they need or want.
You can start gathering data about your prospects through finding their website and checking out their projects. It can be of great help for your sales pitch. The first lines of your email can be about the projects or work of your prospects, which would take their attention. Additionally, it would show your prospect that you care about them and actually are interested in their interests.
3. Edit your name
When your prospect sees a company name on the "from" part of your email, it might intimidate them a bit. It is a good idea to make things more causal by simply adding your own first name there.
You could also add your company name after your first name. For example "Merve from Nureply".
Editing your name in this way will create a lesser type of formal language in your cold email and will feel more friendly.
4. Keep it short
Your cold email should be short and to the point. Get straight to the point of what you're offering and why they might need it.
To keep it short does not mean leave things vague. Sometimes when you write a cold email and your message does not reach your prospect then it has no meaning in itself at all, and the cold email could not have reach its purpose.
Every cold email in your campaign should be to the point and short as it will effect the response rates greately.
5. Sweet and Friendly
When sending cold emails, it's important to be friendly and courteous even if you don't know the recipient. Connect to your recipient on a more friendly level as it will clear the air a bit.
One way to do this is to start by introducing yourself and explaining why you are writing. This establishes a connection and shows that you respect the prospect's time. However, we will get more specific about how to write a good first line in a cold email down below.
You should also write in a warm and friendly tone, using language that conveys your enthusiasm for the topic. For example, instead of saying "I need your help," say something like "I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this."
Being tactful is the way to go because you want to show value and then ask something in return. In order to do that you should choose your words wisely. Your message should be going through without being pushy or rude even.
Finally, make sure to always thank the recipient for their time, and offer them the chance to ask any questions they may have. By following these tips, you can make sure your cold emails are both informative and kind.
6. Use a catchy subject line
Your email subject line is what's going to make the recipient open your email, so make it count! Use something that's catchy and will grab their attention.
One way to do it is to use the prospect's name in the subject line. It can be of great use as it will be direct to them, good personalization, but also everyone likes to hear/see their name so it will definitely catch your prospects' attention.
If your subject line is too generic, it won't catch attention. If your subject line, feels too spammy or too much like an advertisement ("Sale! 10% off!") it will be deleted or worse, thrown into the spam folder.
If you are a good marketer, you would know that sending cold emails that scream at people's faces to buy a product or service is not gonna work. It will be annoying and it is definitely something you want to avoid. Being polite, starting from your subject line is an amazing way to go about it.
After all, you want to reach out to this person to make them see that this product or service you have can be useful to them, make your prospect's life easier, more productive. Basically, you want to be of value in their life before moving onto
There are many ways to write subject lines that actually work. If you'd like more examples on subject lines, you can check here. This blog post will be helpful for writing subject lines for sales emails.
7. Write a compelling first line
The first line of your cold email is the most important part of the message. It can make or break the entire email.
An opening line in an email should be concise, clear and to-the-point, yet intriguing enough to get the prospects interested in reading more.
After you have greeted your prospect with a "Hi [first name]", the next thing to do is to write the first lines. We recommend that it is no longer than a few sentences at most in an email. You don't want to write long paragraphs for your prospect to not read at all.
Remember, you want to be to the point in your cold email, you want to keep the attention of your prospect, which would then make your sales pitch successful. If you'd like to write compelling first lines in bulks you can check out our solutions and learn how to do exactly that
8. Personalize your cold email
Every single part of a cold email should perfectly use personalization. Connect to your audience through personalizing every cold email as it will increase the open rates and let you get a response.
According to the data here, personalization is a good idea to get a reply from your prospects as it has increased the open rates by 45.5%. This means that the message you were trying to convey actually reached almost half thepeople you were trying to reach.
As we have mentioned before before we started giving tips, cold emailing is a very powerful outreach method if done correctly and one of the most important components is to use email personalization in every single word if possible.
To touch a pain point of each person you reach out to is one of the ways to use further personalization in your email. Telling your recipipents that you might have a solution for the problem they are facing can be really useful for both of you. It's a win-win situation.
9. Offer something of value before you ask
Your email should offer something of value to the recipient. Whether it's a discount, a free trial, or something else, make sure you're giving them something that will make them want to continue doing business with you.
Remember to hit prospect's pain point. What is a problem that they would like to solve? What is your solution to their problem? What are the benefits of them using your product? Any testimonials?
Do not forget that you want to keep that cold email short and to the point so only include relevant points. Your sales pitch is going to be prospect's solution to the relevant problem they have so make sure that your create it accordingly.
10. Don't sound like an email template or use one
Ditch the templates altogether. It's okay to check an example to get ideas but never copy paste a template and actually send it out to your customer.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that make your prospects delete the cold email immediately. It effects personalization in the worst way possible and reduces the chances of getting a reply. You always want to personalize your emails and show that you have geniune interest in your recipients through relevant data you have about them.
When you use email templates, how can you even personalize it? Can you even show interest in someone if you are using the same phrases over and over again for each person you talk to? Can you hit pain points directly? Do you think that you turn your prospect into a lead and then a customer if you send everyone the same messages?
Cold email templates will limit you. They will sound too generic and leave your prospects with no value wahtsoever to look for in an email. If you want to get a reply from your prospect it is a good idea to put your heart and mind into it and write one yourself.
The other, easier way to do it is to use AI tools that can do the work for you. Find advanced AI tools that can help you with personalization of a cold email.
11. Call to action (CTA)
This is the part that you will be asking for a request from your prospect. A call to action (CTA) can be as easy as "Let me know what you think" but let's give more details on it.
Depending on the aim the cold email, accordingly with your sales strategy and what you want to include in your pitch, you can lead the conversation into making a soft demand from your prospect.
Your CTA should call them to do something for you. If you let them choose their own wahy of responding then it would be more convenient to you. You can go from sending an email into calling them if they find that way more comfortable and that you feel your connection to your potential customer to be growing.
12. Let your prospect respond in their own way
Create a space for them to find their own way of respondig to your messages. If you have given them a solution, say that you are looking forward to hearing from them and if they'd like your help you'd be happy to.
If they want to, they can use calling rather than emailing. You can lead them to a sign up page of your company or business.
It all comes down to making things more convenient for them because in one way or another you want them to reach out to you and your messages.
13. Consider Follow ups
Cold emails are an important part of any successful sales process and used as the most common cold outreach method, but often times they go unanswered. That’s why it’s essential to follow up to make sure that your message reached its purpose.
If your initial cold email was unread and you wanted to make sure that it is read it is okay to create a follow up email. Personally, I think this is the biggest difference in cold emailing as it lets you have other several chances. To learn more about how to send follow up cold emails, check our blog!
This is a way to keep the conversation going, even though technically it is not a real conversation untik you get a response. You can briefly mention that you have mentioned the benefits of your product, your service, your tool. Mention that you you have made these points and that you would like to find a solution, basically anthing you find related to the inital cold email. Don't get too repetitive but let them know that you have geniune interest in the prospect or prospect's work.
Not only does it show that you’re persistent and invested in the conversation, but it can also help you get the response you’re looking for. When following up, it’s important to be respectful and polite. You don’t want to seem pushy or aggressive, but rather friendly and inquisitive.
A follow up email should also have a clear purpose and be personalized to the recipients. If the first email was about a specific product or service, make sure the follow up email is just as focused. Be sure to include a call to action, as that will increase the chances of getting a response.
Finally, be mindful of timing when sending follow up emails. If you send too soon, you may seem desperate; if you wait too long, the recipients may have already moved on. With the right approach, following up on cold emails can be a great way to get the conversation going and potentially close a sale.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Cold Email Campaigns?
Email campaigns can be an effective tool, but only if they are done right. To get the most out of your email campaigns, there are a few key things to keep in mind. First, make sure you're targeting the right audience with your message.
It's important to understand who your ideal customer is, and tailor your message accordingly. Second, make sure you're sending the right type of content. Think of your emails as an extension of your brand and make sure they reflect the same tone and style.
Third, use automation to streamline the process. Automation can help you send the right emails to the right people at the right time, without having to manually track each person.
Finally, measure your results so you can adjust your strategy accordingly. By keeping these tips in mind, you can ensure your email campaigns are getting the most out of every message sent.
The Future of Cold Outreach and Cold Emails in 2023
How has cold emailing changed?
Cold outreach is a marketing technique that has been around for a while now. It is used to increase the number of leads and conversion rates by reaching out to potential prospects who are not aware of your product or service. This technique has been used in the past, but with the introduction of AI, cold outreach will be more effective than ever before.
Cold Email AI
In the future, cold outreach will be more personalized and targeted with AI. As a result, it will have better success rates and conversions for marketers as well as other stakeholders involved in this process, and through this process it will be of help for increasing the sales in a more scalable way.
If you'd like more information on how AI and cold emailing works together to increase saeles and conversion rates, you can check out our blog post on Cold Email AI.
We also use an advaced AI to write first lines in bulks! You can sign up today to learn more about the process and how you benefit from using AI in your marketing journey for your company.