Emails are still a force to be reckoned with, even with the power of social media. Coldly emailing individuals interested in your niche or small business can increase sales, sign-up rates, and website conversions. Not all cold emails are good enough to solicit a response, and it takes more than just sending one simple or long email to potential customers. Keep reading to find out how to use cold emails to your advantage.
When are Cold Emails Useful to You?
A cold email is an email meant to start a conversation. It is cold since it is usually the first point of contact with a potential customer – a recipient with little knowledge about the business, product, or service that you might be offering. So, when can cold emails be useful?
Cold emails are useful during the first few stages of running a small online business. Using cold emails can expand your potential audience as you continue to grow and expand. The goal would be to expand your reach to more customers and create higher conversion rates.
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How to Get More Responses from Cold Emails
It can be tricky to get responses from cold emails though. You likely have hundreds, if not thousands, of emails in your inbox that you signed up for but don’t read – they may even be filtered directly into your spam folder. Listed below are a few actions you can take as a powerful small online business owner to use cold emails to get responses and avoid the junk folder.
1. Write a Call to Action
1. Write a Call to ActionIt would surprise you how many people forget to write a call to action. Usually, an email begins with a greeting. You can create a template and personalize it for each email recipient by adding their names to the template space. Once a quick greeting is out of the way, write an email with a purpose – tell your reader why they should keep reading. This could be to introduce a new topic or idea or to push sales.
You should then add a call to action at the very end of your email, which should be kept short, by the way. What do you want your audience to do to fulfill the purpose? Without an explicit and clear call to action, the reader will not know your purpose. So, go ahead, tell them to visit your website and include a link. Ask them to schedule a free consultation with you – whatever action you feel will best serve your business.
2. Always Sign Off with Contact Information
How will your readers and potential customers know how to contact you without linked contact information? The whole point of cold emailing is to get a reply and an interested customer on board with your business.
To do this, don’t forget to sign off politely. Experts recommend creating a signature at the bottom of each email that is copied with each reply and cc. Add information like the link to the website, your email, phone number, office address, and any social media sites linked to your business.
3. Keep Paragraphs Short and Sweet
Our attention span is not what it used to be. With hundreds of emails pouring in daily, your email can get lost in an overflowing inbox. Since this is the case, keep your paragraphs as short and sweet as possible.
According to a study done by Fast Company, the sweet spot for writing emails is to keep them at less than 900 characters. Out of the 1,000 cold emails they sent, the company received more click-through rates and responses from shorter emails, less than 1,000 characters.Â
4. Write a Clear and Catchy Subject Line
The subject line is what your reader and the potential new customer see immediately. Write a clear and catchy subject line that is short and yet straight to the point! According to a study done by Convince and Convert, subject lines should be kept at 45 characters or shorter to receive a reaction from readers.
This study specifically found that there was an open rate of 44% when a subject line was between 3-12 characters. If you want to add a touch of personalization, like adding the email recipient’s name, this can also increase click rates!
5. Quality vs. Quantity
Although some people may think sending more quantities of cold emails is for the best, quality is what matters. Repeating the same information can lead to a decrease in interest for the company.Â
Final Thoughts
There are many factors that can increase the reliability and usefulness of cold emails. For cold email marketing, to increase click-through rates and meet your goals as a small business owner, it is good to use personalization. Another strategy to draw in customers and potential investors to your product or service is to keep the emails short and sweet. Too much information can overwhelm a reader or cause them to lose interest. Writing a catchy and eye-capturing subject line is a must for cold emails.
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