How many emails do you get each day?
If you’re “average,” the number is probably somewhere between 100 and 120 – and that doesn’t include spam, which makes up about 85% of the many, many billion emails that are sent each and every day around the world.
Here’s another question: How many emails do you open each day? We’re guessing that number falls significantly south of the 100-to-120 mark we described above.
Email marketing offers the best return on investment (ROI), with each dollar you spend netting you $36 in return. So if you’re ever in a situation where you have to choose one marketing strategy and one marketing strategy only, this is the one to pick.
It’s easy when you have an audience full of people who have signed on to receive your missives. If they’ve opted into your email list, provided their details in exchange for some gated content, or entered it at checkout so they can receive shipping updates, they’re signaling that they have some level of interest in hearing from you.
But what if you don’t have an email list, or want to expand the one you do have?
That’s where cold email marketing comes in.
A cold email is unsolicited. It’s your first point of contact with a potential customer, not unlike direct mail or cold calls. And while cold email sometimes gets a bad rap (also not unlike direct mail or cold calls), some companies have found it incredibly effective.
Pros & Cons of Cold Email Marketing
Like any other marketing strategy, there are some pros and cons to cold email marketing.
Pro: Cold emails are cost-effective. They’re literally free to send. And once you’ve created a good template that allows for a high level of personalization, you can reuse them over and over again, which frees up time you would otherwise be spending trying to lure customers in by phone or schlepping back and forth between the post office and the printer.
Con: Cold emails don’t have the same “must act now” urgency that a phone call does. When there’s someone on the other end of the line waiting for a response, your target feels socially obligated to provide that response. An email can easily be ignored or deleted without any response at all.
Pro: Cold emails don’t disappear unless someone makes them disappear. They’ll wait patiently in the inbox until the recipient takes some form of action. This means they’re going to be seen, one way or another, unlike a social media post or paid ad that can be easily missed.
Con: People are inundated with email every day. It’s very easy for your carefully crafted message to get lost between spammy ads for male enhancement products and cheap car insurance quotes.
Pro: Eighty percent of people prefer email to sales calls. They don’t want their day interrupted by a phone call from a representative; they want to peruse their inbox on their time.
Con: Not all businesses are suited to capitalize on cold emails. It works best for business-to-business (B2B) companies and those in more professional industries, such as finance or technology.
Tips for Effective Cold Emails
Want to make sure your cold emails receive a warm reception? Keep these tips in mind.
- The headline is the most important part. Your headline will make or break you. If it isn’t click-worthy, you’ve already lost the game.
- Get to the point. You have mere seconds to hook your target. Long, detailed emails aren’t going to cut it at this step. Those can come later, after the dialogue has been established.
- Be personal. If you’re going to start your email with “To whom it may concern” or “Dear customer,” you might as well not start it at all. Know who you’re emailing and why. Sure, you’re almost certainly using a database and an automated template to add their names, but it still looks better than addressing your customers generally.
- Be persistent. The mantra for cold emailing may as well be “try, try and try again.” If you don’t hear back from a target, follow up! You don’t know whether your email was overlooked, accidentally deleted, or never arrived in the first place.
Ready to Give it a Go?
For some businesses, cold email is a fantastic marketing strategy. Others might not have a ton of success. But given the ROI and the fact that it costs you nothing, it’s worth a shot!
At Mischa Communications, we believe every business has a story. Let us help you tell yours. Here’s how to get in touch.