Here are the seven deadly sins of Cold Emailing; the most frequent errors when you send cold emails for prospecting.
1. Using the wrong tools
As we saw in a previous article, it is essential to use the right tools for sending your prospecting emails.
Here are some of the essential characteristics your cold emailing software should possess:
- Sending mass emails
- Customizing emails with merge tags (first name, company, …)
- Bounce tolerance
- Automatic reminders
The last point is important, because if you want to send regular prospecting emails, with reminders, it is very difficult and time-consuming to know which prospects must be reminded, and with which message.
Some others features that may be useful:
- Response detection, so you don’t remind those who have answered
- Click tracking / scoring
- Automatic reminders
2. Using the wrong email subject lines
Nothing is worse than sending an email that makes it to the inbox but is not read because you chose the wrong subject line.
If your open rate is lower than 20%, your email subject lines are probably wrong! To know your open rate, it is important to use the right tools (cf. previous point).
Generally speaking, you should use short and personalized subject lines.
3. The content of your emails is impersonal
You must use personalized fields in your emails, like the prospect’s first name and company name.
But that is not enough, and the email content must also be personalized, by addressing the prospect’s specific problems, with reference to similar companies or competitors, common acquaintances, etc…
4. The content of your emails is too long
It is prohibitive: if your emails are more than three sentences long, they will not be read.
Limit yourself to three sentences at most, for example:
- Intro
- What you want / what you can bring to the table
- Your request (a question)
5. You are trying too hard to sell
The goal of your first prospecting email is not to be a hard-sell.
Above all, its goal is to obtain a first contact and response.
Look at the first email sent by the Predictable Revenue team, for example: it only contains one question.
6. No clear call to action
In cold emailing, all of your emails must end by a clear call to action, or your prospect will not have a clear idea of what you expect from him, and there is nothing worse than a prospecting email someone does not know what do to with other than to not answer it.
This call to action is generally a question: it is always better to say, “Would you be available for a quick phone call at 3 p.m.?” rather than, “I would like to get your feedback.”
In the first case, the prospect knows the action you expect from him, and this action is very simple: answer “yes” or “no.”
7. Not sending reminder emails
If you think sending one prospecting email is enough… you have got it all wrong. Send reminder emails until you get a response: you will stand out from 90% of sales representatives.
You will always have one or two prospects who will not appreciate your insistence, but the vast majority will admire your tenacity.
And to send systematic reminders to your prospects, there is nothing better than automation! (cf. point 1 about using the right tools).
