Cold Sales vs Cold Email Outreach

Cold sales and cold emailing are both effective strategies for reaching potential clients. Cold sales offer a personal touch and are great for immediate interaction and feedback. It is beneficial for high-value, complex sales. It can be time-consuming, and dealing with rejection over the phone can be tough. 

On the other hand, cold emailing is a scalable and easily trackable method for outreach. While it allows you to reach a broader audience, cold emails can often be ignored or end up in spam folders. Additionally, they tend to be less personal, and responses can take longer to come in. Which is right for you? It depends on your: 

• Goals

• Resources

• Target audience

What Makes a Good Cold Email? 

First and foremost, a good cold email is thoughtful and well-researched. There’s no such thing as a good cold email to the wrong person at a company. Or to anybody at the wrong company. A good cold email reflects the fact that the salesperson has researched the prospect’s company sufficiently to grasp the general business model and has at least browsed the prospect’s LinkedIn or Twitter profile. 

The Power of Relevance: Why Personalised Emails Get Replies

Personalized content demonstrates that the salesperson is genuinely interested in helping the prospect improve their business, rather than just making a quick sale. Often, a good cold email isn’t cold at all; it’s just the first sales interaction you have with a prospect, after one or more touches from marketing. 

The best time to send cold emails is mid-morning on a weekday. Recipients are usually more settled into their workday after addressing initial tasks and emails, making them more receptive to new messages. 

How to Write a B2B Email for Effective Cold Outreach 

Still, as you might expect, writing a good cold sales email takes more than targeting the right audience. It puts you on the first step to success, sure, but you still have some work to do before you can paste your message in the email body and hit send. While there are infinite methods for finding success in cold email outreach, these basic steps will help you understand what works and how to improve your cold email campaign with every new email you send. 

1. Research Your Audience 

Knowing your audience is crucial to providing them with a relevant and engaging cold email. When you’re reaching out to someone through an email, you’re opening the door to a partnership. Before they can accept you as a partner, however, they have to see how you can benefit them. 

Consider answering these questions: 

• What do these brands stand for?

• How does your company relate to their interests?

• Where can you find common ground?

• How can you appeal to a brand’s business model?

Why Better Leads Deserve Better Emails

Using a sales prospecting tool that works with your CRM, such as ProspectorIQ, is key to streamlining your audience research. By finding qualified leads and opportunities based on industry, company size, job title, and more, you’re more likely to find prospects that identify with your message. 

Good research is only the beginning. Next, you’ll want to craft an email that accomplishes three things: 

• Your prospect opens your email 

• They read your email to the end 

• They do the desired action (click a link, send a reply, etc.)
  
  

You can achieve these objectives with the strategic optimization of crucial email elements, which we’ll cover below. 

2. Craft an Engaging Subject Line 

Your subject line is the first interaction you’ll have with your reader, and an engaging subject line can increase email open rates. Effective cold emails take full advantage of the subject line space. The two goals of your subject line are to capture the attention of your recipient and to encourage them to open the email. 

Keep these two goals in mind as you craft your subject line. 

• Your subject line should be flashy enough to draw your recipient’s attention but personable enough to relate to them and show them you care about their response. Be sure to create intrigue with an attention-grabbing statement or question. 

• Keep it concise. They should be able to see the entire subject line when they open their inbox. Use the subject line to give the reader some insight into what the email is about. 

The wrong subject line can cause your email to go directly to someone’s spam folder, so you must put some thought into it. 

Avoiding the Spam Folder: Subject Line Triggers to Watch Out For

Another thing to note about subject lines is that many email platforms like Gmail, Yahoo, and others have their own spam filters, and certain trigger words and phrases can send your email to a spam box before it even reaches the recipient. 

As you construct your perfect subject line, avoid phrases like: 

• Best 

• Click here 

• Pay 

• Make money 

3. Personalize Your Greeting 

Begin the body of your email with a personalized greeting. Addressing the recipient with their first name is essential. More generalized hellos indicate that you’re sending out a mass email, and the reader may lose interest immediately. 

Including their name demonstrates that you crafted the email specifically for them and know who you are talking to. When sending a cold email, you want to increase the chances that the recipient will read it in full as much as possible. Every little detail, including the greeting, will matter. 

4. Write a Concise Opening 

The goal of your greeting and opening line is to make a great first impression by establishing relevance and engaging your reader immediately. The introduction should establish the context of your email and set the tone for the rest of the message. Use the introduction of your email to introduce yourself and your company. Be clear about what your business does and your role within its mission. 

Include why I’m reaching out to the reader on behalf of my company. Stating the purpose early on signifies that I respect the reader’s time. By piquing their interest at the beginning, I can improve the chances that they continue reading and move one step closer to taking the desired action at the end of my email. 

5. Compliment Your Prospect 

In the following paragraph(s), offer the reader a specific compliment or observation about their company or products. Incorporating this note into your message is important because it allows you to demonstrate that you’re knowledgeable about their business and have done your research. 

Applauding their efforts is a great way to make my message more personal and establish a human connection between you and the reader. 

Strategic Compliments: Building Rapport Through Genuine Recognition

Everyone enjoys receiving recognition and praise for their hard work. Complimenting them helps you show how genuinely interested I am in their operation and why I want to be a part of it. Keep my goal for the message in mind. 

If I want to partner on a charitable effort, I can complement the philanthropic work their company has done. If I want to become their new supplier, I can commend them on their high-quality products. 

6. Present a Compelling Value Proposition 

Once I’ve established my connection to the reader’s business, I need to present a case for why and how my company can benefit their operation. Including a value proposition is essential because I’m not asking them for a favor, per se. Instead, I am connecting with the reader because I have something to offer them that will enhance their company. 

Briefly describe my product or services and directly relate them to the reader’s business. The key is to demonstrate how my business can address a specific need or pain point for their company. I can tell them how I can be of value to them, whether I offer quick turnaround times or excellent value for the price of my goods. 

7. Strengthen Your Case with Social Proof 

In the value proposition, I’m telling the email recipient how I can help them. In the next section, I show them the social proof. I provide evidence of how my services have been beneficial in assisting other companies within a similar niche or industry. 

Providing social proof helps me to establish credibility and demonstrate my business’s successful track record. 

Show, Don’t Tell: Embedding Proof into Your Outreach

Without incorporating social proof into my cold email, I am essentially telling the reader that working with my business could potentially benefit them. I want to demonstrate to them how confident I am in my ability to help. 

Offering evidence of my past accomplishments is always a good idea, as it helps eliminate some of their doubts. I could share a testimonial or reference some statistics my sales team has gathered. 

8. Include a Call to Action 

Make sure your audience understands what I’m asking of them. Before ending my email, it’s essential to include a clear call to action. 

No matter what action I want my recipient to take, I keep two things in mind: 

Avoid Decision Paralysis: Simplify Your Call to Action

The action should be singular. When my reader has too many choices to make at the end of my email, they won’t make any. I can send them a calendar link to schedule a meeting, send them a link to a landing page, or ask them to reply to my email. Whatever I want them to do, I focus on ONE THING only. 

Crafting Clear, Low-Commitment CTAs to Boost Cold Email Responses

Make my CTA a no-brainer. I make it as easy as possible for my prospect to agree to the action I want them to take. Asking them to schedule a 30-minute meeting might be too overwhelming, but asking them to check out a 5-minute presentation I’ve made for them? Much easier, with less commitment on their part. 

Another critical aspect of an effective cold email is to include a clear call-to-action (CTA) from the outset. If I forego a call to action, my email will be too open-ended, and the reader will likely feel less driven to take the next steps. 

Why the CTA Belongs at the End: Building Context Before the Ask

Incorporating this directive at the end of my message is a must. I avoid starting the email by asking for a call before the recipient understands my point of view and purpose for reaching out, though. The best examples of B2B cold emails entice the reader first and ask them to take action at the very end. 

9. Utilize Effective Closing Techniques 

Once I’ve written the body of my email and covered all the key points, it’s time to seal the deal. This is my final opportunity to persuade my audience to take action, whether that’s working with me or making a purchase. When learning how to write a B2B email that drives results, I consider these effective closing techniques:

Here are some techniques to consider as part of my closing techniques: 

• Use a CTA to guide my recipient toward the next step (as discussed above). 

• Create urgency by mentioning time-sensitive offers or exclusive deals, prompting my audience to act quickly. 

• Spark curiosity by teasing a benefit or solution that encourages the recipient to engage further to satisfy their curiosity. 

• Summarize key takeaways from the email, especially for longer or content-heavy messages. This helps reinforce the main points and ensures my audience understands the key message. 

By applying these closing strategies, I enhance my chances of encouraging a positive response. 

10. Craft a Professional Email Signature 

Your email signature is more than just contact information; it’s a digital business card that reinforces your brand and provides recipients with easy ways to connect. A well-designed signature can significantly enhance the credibility and professionalism of your cold email. 

Here’s what to include: 

• Full name: Use your full name to create a personal connection. 

• Job title: Clearly state my role within the company. 

• Company name: Reinforce my brand identity. 

• Contact information: Include my phone number and email address. 

• Website link: Provide a direct link to my company’s website. 

• Social media links: Add links to my LinkedIn, Twitter, or other relevant social media profiles. 

• Professional headshot (optional): A headshot can add a personal touch and make my signature more memorable.
  
  

Keep my signature concise and visually appealing. I avoid using excessive colors or graphics that can distract from my message. A professional email signature demonstrates attention to detail and reinforces my credibility, making recipients more likely to engage with my cold email. 

11. Leverage Sales Automation Tools for Cold Email Success 

In today’s fast-paced business environment, sales automation tools are essential for maximizing the effectiveness of cold email campaigns. These tools streamline the process, allowing you to personalize outreach at scale and track results with ease. 

Here’s how I can leverage email automation to improve my cold email strategy: 

• Personalization at scale: B2B sales automation platforms allow me to personalize emails with dynamic fields, automatically inserting recipient names, company details, and other relevant information. This creates a more engaging and personalized experience for each prospect. 

• Targeted segmentation: Segment my audience based on industry, company size, job title, and other criteria to ensure that my emails are highly relevant to each recipient. Sales automation tools make it easy to create and manage these segments. 

• Automated follow-up sequences: Create automated follow-up sequences to remind prospects of my offer gently. These sequences can be triggered based on specific actions, such as opening an email or clicking a link. 

• A/B testing: Test different subject lines, email content, and calls to action to optimize my campaigns for maximum performance. Email automation platforms provide built-in A/B testing capabilities. 

• Performance tracking and analytics: Track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and response rates to measure the success of my campaigns. Use these insights to refine my strategy and improve my results. 

By incorporating sales automation tools into my cold email strategy, I can significantly improve my: 

• Efficiency

• Personalization

• Overall effectiveness

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