Have You Fallen for One of These Common Cold Email Myths?
Cold emails can be a very effective way to reach potential customers, but there are plenty of myths floating around out there.
Cold emails allow you to reach out to prospective customers and let them what your company has to offer them. They are generally sent to recipients who may have never heard of your brand, but who may benefit from the products or services you have to offer.
For many companies, adding cold emails to their marketing toolkit can be a very effective and successful way to land new business. But many are hesitant to adopt the cold email method in fear of the many stories they’ve heard.
That’s why in this article, we’ll take a look at five common cold email myths and tell you why they just aren’t true. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be ready to consider adding cold emails to your marketing strategy!
Here’s a quick look at the myths we’ll discuss:
- Cold emails are time-consuming and not worth your while
- What you write in the body copy of your cold emails doesn’t matter
- Adding personalization is hard and costly
- Clickbait subject lines work well
- There’s no need to follow-up on cold emails
5 Cold Email Myths Debunked
We’ve all heard the things floating around out there about cold emails, but how do you know what to believe? In this section, we’ll debunk some of the most common cold email myths and discuss how they can benefit you.
1. They are Time-Consuming and Not Worth Your While
One common myth about cold emails is that they are time-consuming and not worth your while. Now, this may be true if you’re starting from scratch for every single email, but it doesn’t have to be the case.
By utilizing tools like pre-built templates and platforms that let you easily send mass cold emails that reach a larger target audience at once, you can actually save time.
A few types of templates you can have on hand include:
- Basic outreach emails that are short, simple, and to the point
- Networking emails designed to start a conversation
- Demo emails pique the reader’s interest and offer a product demo
- Services emails to pitch yourself to a new customer
The best part is that even though it’s mass emailing, you don’t have to lose the personal touch. You can still incorporate personalization that will make your prospects feel like you’ve taken the time to get to know them and increase engagement.
2. What’s in the Body Copy Isn’t Important
This myth couldn’t be more than wrong. While it is true that the subject line is one of the most important parts of your email and can have a big impact on open rates, the content within the body of your email is what ultimately persuades a prospect to respond or delete your message.
Now, we’re not saying to neglect your subject lines, but if your end goal is to increase revenue then you’ll want to put a little more effort into the body content.
There are a number of things you can do to make the most out of the body of your cold email including:
- Adding personalization throughout the entire email
- Making the value you have to offer the recipient clear right away
- Don’t overdo it with the copy, keep your message short and to the point
- Tell the recipient who you are and let them know how you can help them
- Make it easy for recipients to follow-up or take the action you’re requesting of them
Don’t sell yourself short by putting all your effort into other areas of your cold emails when the body content is what seals the deal.
3. Personalization is Difficult and Costly
Another common myth that many people believe is that personalizing every cold email is difficult and a costly task.
But this doesn’t have to be the case! With the help of the right technology and cold email platform, adding personalization can be as simple as identifying specific attributes or grouping like customers together to quickly send a larger group relevant content.
Not sure how to personalize your cold emails? Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Segment your prospect lists to organize contacts and only send the most relevant content
- Speak directly to a pain point this customer segment may be experiencing when sending out group emails
- Use the recipient’s name in the subject line and body copy to build trust
- Connect with prospects around a common interest, colleague, or anything else that you have in common
Adding personalization to all of your cold emails doesn’t mean you have to spend weeks learning about your prospect’s wants, needs, and interests. It means using the data you currently have on prospects and identifying areas of opportunity to connect.
4. Click bait Subject Lines Work Great
Hopefully you already knew that this one is 100% a myth. Clickbait subject lines intentionally over-promise or misrepresent what lies ahead for a reader with the intention of drawing in more clicks.
Let’s get right to the point, using clickbait in your email marketing is never a good decision. While you may see some impressive open rates from emails that have click-worthy subject lines if the content inside the message doesn’t match, don’t expect to see many conversions.
Using clickbait is also a great way to lose a prospect’s trust and find your messages marked as spam.
It’s much more beneficial to spend time writing a subject line that lets the reader know exactly what they should expect when they click into your message. You’ll find that this approach will still result in good open rates, and will help you see an increase in conversations — a win, win.
You Don’t Need to Follow Up
And on to our last cold email myth: you don’t need to send a follow-up message.
Sending follow-up emails can triple your reply rate. You should never assume that your prospects have written you off after one introductory email. It’s possible that with all of the other emails flooding their inbox, they could have simply missed your message.
When you send follow-up emails, just remember to stay consistent, keep it short, and don’t get too cheesy. It can be tempting to try and craft an attention-grabbing (extra cheesy) subject line like “Hello, is anyone there?”, but it’s always best to stay pleasant and professional.
Consistency is key when it comes to selling your product or services to prospects. So don’t give up if the first email doesn’t garnerss a response and make sure to follow-up.
Improve Your Cold Emails Today
Have you fallen for one of these cold email myths? If so, you’re not alone. There are plenty of myths floating around about cold emails that discourage companies from investing in them. But the truth of the matter is they don’t have to be an added burden on your sales and marketing teams and can be a very effective way to reach new customers.
So what are you waiting for? Now’s the time to get out there and start growing your business by reaching new customers through cold emails.