Imagine you’ve just hit send on an email. You’ve crafted the perfect message to a potential client, the kind of email that would excite you if you were on the receiving end. But days pass and the silence is deafening. You start wondering if you even sent it to the right address. This scenario is too common if you’re working with a low email deliverability rate. This article will explore email outreach best practices to help you enhance your email response rates and build meaningful connections with potential clients. 

Inframail’s email infrastructure solution can help you achieve your email outreach goals. With Inframail, you’ll establish a cold email deliverability rate that ensures your future outreach emails land in the right place – your recipients’ inboxes. 

Table of Content

• What is Email Outreach?

• 23 Email Outreach Best Practices for Maximum Engagement

• How To Start Your Cold Email Outreach Campaign in 8 Steps

• Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

What is Email Outreach?

Email's popularity will outlive us all. In fact, in 2023, email accounted for 30 percent of all sales communication. 2024 will bring even more favorable stats for email as it evolves and adapts to buyer preferences. 

Cold emails have a bad reputation, but research shows that it’s mainly because some marketers don’t send them right. When done properly, email outreach can be incredibly effective. What’s more, it’ll help you stand out from the competition. 

Do Cold Emails Still Work in 2024?

Yes, they do! And buyers prefer them. Cold emails are less intrusive than cold calls. Unlike cold calls, prospects needn't respond in real-time but can do so at their convenience. Cold emails give them more time to learn about your product and weigh their options before deciding. That’s why 8 out of 10 buyers prefer to be contacted by email.

Takeaway: 

People prefer cold emails. But to succeed, give up on the spray-and-pray approach, research your prospect, and personalize your cold emails.

What Is the Average Cold Email Open Rate?

Only 23.9 percent of sales emails are opened. Prospects scan through their inboxes and only open those they think are essential. This is why sales emails only have an open rate of 23.9 percent. Their decision on whether or not to open an email depends on various factors, such as: 

• The sender’s name

• Subject lines

• Offer

• Email preview 

Takeaway: 

77 out of 100 cold emails you send never get opened. Stack the odds in your favor by: 

• Writing excellent subject lines

• Split-testing them

• Ensuring email deliverability

• Editing and testing different email previews

• Reaching multiple channels to improve visibility

What Is the Average Response Rate? 

The reply rates also fall if the number of people who open your emails drops. According to a study by Backlinko, the average cold email reply rate is just 8.5 percent. You can increase your reply rates by targeting the right prospects, personalizing emails to the prospect’s interests, and following up religiously.

Pro Tip: To gauge the success of your outreach campaign, follow the 30/30/50 rule. Aim for a 30 percent open rate, 30 percent response rate, and 50 percent conversion rate. 

The Importance of Subject Lines

Subject lines are the first thing your prospect looks into when they receive emails from an unknown sender. Thirty-three percent of recipients use subject lines as a deciding factor to weed out emails, according to a study by Super Office. So, if your subject lines look generic or spammy, they won't bother to open the email, let alone read it.

Takeaway: 

Use various subject-line techniques to make your subject lines relevant to the readers. For example: 

• You can talk about pain points

• Use humor

• Trigger FOMO

Personalization Matters 

When you use subject lines related to your prospect in one way or another, they can't help but notice it. These subject lines scream, "hey, this is for you" to your prospects. And that's why personalized subject lines have an open rate of 35.69 percent, almost double the open rates of non-personalized ones (16.67 percent).

Pro Tip: Tailor subject lines using the: 

• Prospect’s name

• Company name

• Mutual connections

• Interests

The Benefits of Cold Emailing 

Email outreach is about reaching out to people through email to turn potential leads into customers, especially in sales. It’s an essential skill to stand out from the competition. When done right, email outreach can be incredibly effective with just a solid strategy behind it.

• Great ROI: For every dollar spent, you can see an average return of $38—talk about a fantastic return on investment.

• Cost-Effective: It’s a low-cost method that helps generate quality leads without breaking the bank.

• Build Relationships: Even if you’re contacting someone you don’t know yet, there’s a strong chance you can form a meaningful connection and make a sale.

• Boost Sales: Using the right outreach strategies and tools can enhance your sales efforts and increase conversions.

• Effective Campaigns: With the best practices and email outreach software, you can run campaigns that hit the mark. 

Is Cold Emailing Illegal? 

There is a misconception that outreach emails are spam, primarily because some marketers send a high volume of generic emails without personalizing them or ensuring relevance. This often happens in email marketing outreach, focusing on quantity over quality.

Email outreach is legal and practical when done correctly, as long as you meet these essential requirements:

• Personalization and Relevance: Ensure the email is personalized and includes a suitable subject line. Tailoring your message increases its relevance and impact.

• Transparency: Include the sender’s name and complete contact details to make the email feel genuine and trustworthy.

• Value Addition: Your email should offer value to the recipient and focus on building trust rather than just pushing for a purchase

• Compliance: To maintain legitimacy, follow email outreach best practices and legal guidelines, such as GDPR and the CAN-SPAM Act. 

Choosing the Right Tools and Strategies for Targeted and Effective Email Outreach

Leveraging the best email outreach tools, software, and strategies for effective email outreach will help you craft well-targeted outreach sales emails that stand out and adhere to outreach best practices. By focusing on personalized and relevant content, you can run successful email outreach campaigns and avoid the pitfalls of cold outreach methods.

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• How to Warm Up Email Domain
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• Best Time to Send Cold Emails
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• Email Outreach Strategy

23 Email Outreach Best Practices for Maximum Engagement

While it is all too easy to turn prospects off with cold emails, they can effectively get the attention of prospective customers and clients when done right. Here, members of the Forbes Communications Council share their top do’s and don’ts regarding cold outreach via email. See their tips below to wow your prospects with a message that inspires them to open the following cold email you send.

1. Do ‘Show ’Em You Know ’Em’

Cold emails work when we don’t come across as trying to make a sale. A practical approach is to “show ’em you know ’em.” Research their website, LinkedIn page, their company’s newsAnything that can give you insights so you can connect in a meaningful, relevant way. For example, to build trust and credibility, provide value on that first contact with a research report or article. Then, build from there. - Viki Zabala, First Orion

2. Don’t Be Robotic And Sterile

Let your company identity and personality shine when you send cold outreach emails. We crave human connection, so don’t be afraid to be accurate—be you and be conversational. Another “do” is determining the recipient’s pain point. It’s best to give rather than ask them to give you something. The more value you provide, the more likely they are to connect. - Ashleigh Powers, ADM Productions, Inc.

3. Do Find An Actual Contact

In many instances, cold emailing is the name of the game when reaching out to your target audience or potential clients. The trick is to make it appear as if it is not a cold call. To impress them, my No. 1 tip would be to find an actual contact and research the person by finding out their position in the company, for example, and any prominent news about them before emailing. Wait a week before following up. - Preity Upala, The Omnia Institute

4. Don’t Be Formulaic, Grandiose, Or Hyperbolic

Cold emails drive me crazy. Formulaic ones with grandiose claims are instantly deleted and blocked. They’re just so superficially salesy. One exception? An introductory email articulating the value of a product or service without hyperbole, which I can review on my timeline. Also, “Dear [insert name here]” without tailored insights about my company is not personalization. - Michelle Stark, Red Sage Communications, Inc.

5. Do Deliver Value Slowly Over Time

It’s okay to cold email if you are slow-rolling it. Make sure your list is exactly in your scope, then push out some value, but do it slowly over time. Bring them along, and never be pushy. If you deliver value over time, they will interact when the timing is right. You have to be patient. If you blow them up, you will get in trouble pretty quickly. Don’t do that. - Stacy Gentile, Vengreso

6. Don’t Blast A Generic Message

As with most marketing channels, cold email can be highly effective. Don’t simply blast a generic message to an email list. Use the information available about each recipient to target the content to what matters to the recipient. Remember, these prospects may not know your company, so don’t assume they know more than they do. And, of course, include a call to action. - Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC

7. Do Pitch New Ideas Through Tailored Emails

Cold email outreach can yield some of the best results when pitching new ideas. A great way to do so is by sharing a tailored, direct email relevant to what you are pitching and adding value for the recipient. On the other hand, don’t send a blanket email that is not targeted or perceived as valuable to the recipient, as that will almost always be quickly deleted. - Lynn Kier, Diebold Nixdorf

8. Don’t Come In Cold With An Ask

I do not recommend cold email outreach where you “ask” for something. If you have never engaged with the individual before, I suggest reaching out with something to offer. That can be anything from a chance to join a press briefing call you think they might be interested in the opportunity to have a sit-down conversation. Don’t come in the cold with an ask; come bearing gifts. - Dallas Lawrence, Roku

9. Do Make It Incredibly Creative

Whether or not to do cold email outreach is a case-by-case decision. If outreach is cold, do make it incredibly creative. Frankly, I’m surprised that most initial cold emails make it through most companies’ spam filters. However, cold emails supported by research and personalization tend to work. But—and it’s a big but—the team has to do the work, and I’ve found that few teams do. - Mark Roberts, TPx Communications

10. Don’t Be Threatening Or Ugly

I get some exciting cold emails. Some are very clever and have caught my eye, and I’ve followed up with them. The worst ones that I recommend you do not emulate—are the threatening, ugly ones that demand my time. They get an immediate delete. - Ingrid Burton, Quantcast

11. Do Identify A Strong Subject Line

Cold email outreach is a numbers game about continuously improving your perceived value. It is essential to have a personalized template, meaning that you base your email off a predetermined framework but personalize the message to show the reader that you thought about them. Identify a strong subject line, such as “Quick Question,” to gain interest, then take the A/B test and continuously measure your results. - Rob Russini, Hudson Heritage Federal Credit Union

12. Don’t Be Silly, Cute Or Fluffy

The effectiveness of cold email outreach depends entirely on what the email contains. Do not open a cold email with a short poem or joke incorporating your prospect’s name. Do not send five paragraphs of fluff and then ask for 15 minutes of their time. Craft an email that addresses your target’s business challenges, then succinctly explain how your product is uniquely positioned to help. - Merrily McGugan, LogicMonitor

13. Do Imagine You’re Being Introduced At A Party

I like to imagine I’m at a party, being introduced to the person I’m emailing. What would I say to make them feel good about me and to get their attention? Using this imaginative approach makes it easier to write authentic and personal emails. It takes more work because you must research each person you email, but it also pays off in much higher returns. - Dave Platter, Juwai IQI

14. Don’t Be Pushy Or Fail To Provide Significant Value

For a cold email, it’s important to provide significant value. This can be a complementary offer, relevant content (such as a recent study), or an offer to provide education on a new or interesting topic. Asking for 20 minutes with no differentiated offering and being pushy is not the best approach for this type of outreach. - Tom Treanor, Treasure Data

15. Do Send A Personalized Email From An Individual

Cold email can be effective as long as a few rules are followed. The communication needs to be relevant (meaning it understands a pain point and gets to the point fast), personalized, and sent by an individual—ideally, someone at a similar level. A CEO is more apt to read an email from another C-suite executive or, even better, from someone they know. - Heidi Bullock, Tealium

16. Don’t Use A ‘Canned’ Template

Do not use a “canned” email template when sending cold emails. Take the time to customize the email so that it is tailored to your audience and presents them with thoughtful insight into how you can work together. - Sherry Jhawar, Blended Strategy Group

17. Stay to the point

Nobody has an interest in reading long essays about your product or services. You must understand that you are reaching out to busy people who don’t have all day to read your email. It is vital to keep your message short and simple while being to the point. In other words, don’t beat around the bush in your emails, or they will be in the trash folder. 

Start your email with a catchy subject line, discuss the recipients’ pain points, show how your product or service can help, and clearly and concisely create a good impression about yourself.

18. Use active voice

When you draft the message, ensure that what you want to say is in an active and direct voice. It is like speaking straight to the prospect by using their name. The email should be easy to read and make you sound confident. Also, an active voice is better because the message is more concise and easy to understand. 

Example: Instead of beginning with a line like – ‘You have been contacted in connection with setting a meeting”, use the following – “I am reaching out to you for …”. You can easily see the difference in both tones.

19. Keep a tab on your email frequency

The most important thing to remember in cold email outreach is the frequency of your emails. You shouldn’t email the prospect daily or once every two days. Doing so will send your emails to the spam folder and even annoy the prospect. The thumb rule is to keep a gap of at least 2 days between emails but not exceed 7. The ideal pace would be 3-4 days between every email.

20. Add a CTA

Your email must mention a strong CTA (Call to action). While this may seem obvious, email marketers send cold emails without telling the prospect what to do next. After discussing your strengths and addressing the prospect’s pain points, you must include a strong CTA. It can be a simple reply, scheduling a call, a meeting, or a demo. You can expect the prospect to respond if you clearly mention the call to action.

21. Add a video

Leverage the immense popularity of videos in your outreach. Though there is nothing a one-on-one meeting with your prospect in person is the best, a video is a good idea, too. You can contact people from different geographical locations and time zones with videos. But does creating videos require you to have a huge budget? Not really. 

There are free tools to help you create videos without making any investments. You can develop convincing video prospecting that connects with the audience without spending money. Just keep the content good enough, and you can close more deals.

22. Mention about competition

It is one of the most advanced email outreach practices. Knowing well about your competitors can go a long way in helping you plan a better marketing strategy. It will help you understand what you need to do to stand out in the crowd. That doesn’t mean that you should show the competitor in poor light. Bashing rival companies only means you are not strong enough, and prospects are likelier to move away from you. 

Instead, you can mention how different your product or service is from your competitors. State the unique features of my product or service without putting others down. The prospect would want to know how good your product or service is and not how useless someone else’s is. Give them a solid reason to choose you over others.

23. Leverage sales outreach tools 

Automation is the key when you speak of cold email marketing. Your job would become accessible with a sales outreach tool. You can automate initial conversations and follow-ups with prospects using this tool. 

As a salesperson, you will see a lot of spark in your working style with increased productivity. Also, the mundane nature of your job will give you a fresh lease of life with excellent results.

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How To Start Your Cold Email Outreach Campaign in 8 Steps

1. Establish Your Ideal Customer Profile

Creating a detailed description of your ideal customer—an ideal customer profile (ICP)—is critical in cold email outreach. Your ICP will inform all of your: 

• Outreach efforts

• Helping you create targeted

• Personalized campaigns that convert

To make your ICP, consider factors like: 

• Industry

• Company size

• Job roles

• Challenges

• Behaviors

Prioritize your ICPs into tiers to guide your research, and verify your ICP by checking if the contacts perform better than non-ICPs. 

2. Find Interested Leads

Now that you know your ideal buyer, it’s time to find the real deal. You target people uninterested in your product or service, resulting in low reply and conversion rates and slowing your sales process. So, you only want to target your ICP. There are two simple ways to track your potential clients: 

• Find ideal buyers on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for salespeople, giving you a large pool of potential buyers. Its advanced capabilities allow you to conduct a targeted audience search, including people based on their: 

• Job role

• Seniority

• Location

• Industry, etc. 

• Find potential buyers in leads databases. You can also use lead databases to find customers likely to buy your product/service. A sales lead database is a centralized data database about potential customers or clients. It’s based on leads’: 

• Contact details

• Industry

• Company size, etc

This helps you target people that fit your Ideal Customer Profile and boost your outreach efficiency.

3. Get Your Leads’ Verified Email Addresses

To reach your ideal buyers and showcase your value, you need their valid contact information to enrich your leads. One of the easiest ways to verify your prospects’ emails is to use email verification tools.

4. Spot the Right Time to Reach Out

Sending emails at any point may be ultimately fruitless. You want to pick your moments! Set some triggers that will help you identify when your leads experience a change or event that will make them need you at that moment. Who could say no to that? Based on the ICP you created, you can add specific criteria and get excellent results only by reaching out to people from your screen.

5. Set Up Your Sending Account to Avoid the Spam Folder

You now have your list of leads and the right moment to start sending emails. You’d think this is when you start hitting that send button. It’s not. Before you consider sending out your campaign, you must ensure your email account is set up correctly. A low email deliverability will mean your emails are landing in the spam folder, and all your hard work is completely lost.

6. Write the Perfect Cold Email

Let’s say you reach out to the right person at the right time but without the right message. Unfortunately, it’s not going to work either. You may have the best product or service in the world, but if I only talk about myself or have a sales-y approach, I’ll push my prospect away. So, I need to craft the perfect cold email.

7. Set Up a Follow-Up Schedule

If your prospects didn’t immediately answer your first cold email, that doesn’t mean they are not interested in your product or service. Maybe they’ve been busy, missed the email, or need more information before getting back to me. That’s why it’s essential to follow up, which means sending additional emails after not receiving a response to my initial cold email.

8. Monitor Your Results

Tracking your cold email metrics is essential, as it helps you see if your campaigns are successful and know what to double down to boost your results. By analyzing these results, you can refine your approach, improve engagement, and increase the chances of achieving your desired outcomes. 

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Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

At Inframail, we are revolutionizing cold email infrastructure with unlimited inboxes at a flat rate. 

We provide: 

• Microsoft-backed deliverability

• Dedicated IP addresses

• Automated technical setup 

This helps customer outreach efforts efficiently like: 

• Agencies

• Recruiters

• SDRs

The main benefits of using our service: 

• Automated SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup

• Dedicated email servers for each user

• 16-hour priority support daily

Unlike traditional providers that charge per inbox and leave you wrestling with technical configurations, Inframail streamlines the entire process. We handle the complex infrastructure setup while you focus on reaching more prospects. 

InfraMail provides the robust email infrastructure you need without the usual technical headaches and per-inbox costs, whether you're: 

• An agency looking to scale outreach

• A recruiter connecting with candidates

• An SDR driving sales

Start buying domains now and set up your email infrastructure today with our email infrastructure tool.