Step 1: Edit the “from” line
It may come to you as a surprise that editing the “from” line is featured as a separate step here. We usually set it up for a new email address, and after this, we don’t pay much attention to it.
Still, the “from” line is as much a part of a cold email as the body, and that’s because it plays an important role. It shows the message recipients exactly who sent the email. It’s a part that forms their first impression. What follows is that they decide whether to open the message and read it or put it in the trash and forget it.
Remember that your recipients don’t know you yet
Since we are strangers to them, they may, and probably will, be slightly suspicious of our email. One of the first things they notice when they look at our email is the “from” line. We may either earn their trust, or we may scare them off with the “from” line. They may even delete our email without opening it first if the first impression is not right.
For that reason, it’s a good idea to review what’s in your ”from” line before sending a new cold email campaign.
The “from” line can take many forms. We can edit it anytime we want. We can mix and match the form of our “from” line every time we send a new campaign, choosing different possible forms.
What are some possible forms of your “from” line?
There are at least 5 possible forms of from line.
A. First name (Cathy)
B. First name + Last name (Cathy Patalas)
C. First name + Last name, Title (Cathy Patalas, Head of Marketing)
D. First name + Company name (Cathy at Woodpecker.co)
E. First name + Last name + Company name (Cathy Patalas at Woodpecker.co)
Rules to follow while editing a “from” line:
- be consistent – don’t let it diverge in tone and style from the rest of your email. If you use an informal tone throughout your email, maybe you can include the first name + company name, and you’ll be all set.
- consider your prospect‘s perspective – what would you expect to see in your inbox if you were one of your prospects? What’s their average style of communication? Try to mimic it when writing your “from” line.
- find your own line that fits your prospect‘s expectations – don’t just blindly follow some advice you found on the web. Think for yourself. You’re the one who knows your prospects best and knows what they expect to see.
- think who your prospects would be the keenest on talking to – be specific about that. Use that info to edit your “from” line.
Step 2: Write an intriguing subject line
A cold email subject line could be seen as the key that unlocks the door to our message. Our prospects form their first impression of us while reading the subject line. That’s why we need to make it a good one.
A poorly written subject line may make the addressee biased against us and our email. They might decide not to open the email, or worse, manually mark it as SPAM which may cause problems with email deliverability.
We can avoid such situations so long as we stick to these rules:
- consider your prospect‘s point of view – think what kind of benefit your subject line promises to the prospect. What’s in it for them after opening your email? Does it answer their needs or appeals to their curiosity? Make it about them, not about you.
- personalize it – again, the subject line isn’t a place for self-promotion. Quite the opposite, it’s a place where you should prove to the addressee that you carefully planned to contact them. You should assure them you’re not a spammer who sends tons of identical emails to people and waits to see what sticks.
- intrigue them – don’t spill the beans just yet. Pique their interest. Engage their attention by making them reflect on a problem they may have. Or try using a little bit of flattery to catch their attention.
- sound human – you’re writing to a living and breathing human being, and thus, you shouldn’t turn into a bot. Avoid sounding ‘salesy’ or too formal. Your subject line should have a casual, friendly and natural flair to it. Unless you know how to achieve this, try imagining you’re addressing a specific person you know, for example, your colleague.
- tie it to the rest of the email – this ties back to all the previous points. Whatever you put in your subject line, you should connect it with the rest of your message. By all means, don’t fall for a clickbait strategy in your subject line. You’ll only get on your prospects‘ nerves.
Step 3: Come up with a clever cold email introduction
Right after you persuade your addressee with the ‘from’ and subject lines to actually open your message, you’re halfway through. Now you’ve got 3 seconds to hold their attention and make them read further than the first two lines. And that’s why you need an intriguing introduction.
It’s difficult to start a cold email. What we tend to do is talk about ourselves and the company we work for. It may either be because we don’t know how to start or we desperately want to close the sale with our first email. But we’re here to tell you that this is definitely not a winning strategy.
Then how should a cold email introduction?
A cold email introduction shouldn’t be longer than 2-3 sentences. It’s not supposed to introduce you or your company to the prospect. Instead, it refers to the message receiver, their expertise, achievements, work, and their company. That’s how we catch their attention.
A hint of flattery may be the way to go. But don’t overdo it. Listing all of their recent activity is a step too far.
Stay in the professional field and keep everything focused on the business reasons for your interest in reaching out to them.
You may also use those few sentences of cold email introduction to make it a part where you ask about their problems. Or better, you can talk about the ones you’ve noticed they have that you can take care of.
Above all else, treat the introduction as an opportunity to show your prospects that they received the message because you chose to contact them specifically. You’ve done your homework. You didn’t decide to reach out to them on a whim. You were deliberate about it.
Step 4: Include some value in your pitch
Here comes the part where you tell the message recipient what you want from them your pitch.
So how do you write a good cold email pitch?
We know we should have a ready-made formula at hand to use whenever we talk about the product/service we offer. It should be spiced up with the benefits so that a potential buyer has a clear idea of what it is that we sell. However, that’s not the best approach when we write a cold email.
Avoid salesy pitches
Our sales message has to be subtly worded in a B2B sales email. It's not something we write to make one more sale. We write it to establish a special working relationship with a prospective customer. And that need a customized strategy.
The focal point of your pitch should always be your prospects. As much value as you can give them Find out what issues they could have that you can solve. Tell them a narrative to demonstrate how you can solve their difficulties. Show them that you are here to learn and to assist.
Prioritize advantages above features
Do not depend just on a product's feature list. Stop writing about the value you provide in terms of money. Instead, solely emphasize the advantages of your
Step 5: End your cold email with a call-to-action
You’re almost done. You just need to write a call to action (CTA) that will persuade your prospects to do what you ultimately want them to do with your cold email. It may be scheduling a Skype conversation, giving you feedback, replying to you, etc. Anything you’re ready to take care of. Any action you ultimately want them to perform. Keep it simple and straightforward.
To make sure your recipients will take action, your CTA should:
- Express the purpose of your email – the CTA should clarify the aim of your email in a single sentence. To put it differently, it should show clearly to the addressee what you want them to do.
- Be short and to the point – the CTA shouldn’t take more than a single sentence. You should be a succinct as you can. It shouldn’t be blurry either.
Ask for something your prospect can do now
Don’t ask for too much – a request for a simple action or a quick response may probably work better than an invitation for a 30-minute call. Start small. Even if eventually you will invite your prospects for a meeting, perhaps the first email they will ever get from you is not the place to do that.
Step 6: Perfect your cold email signature
Not to mention the signature, which is frequently disregarded. You must consider the signature to be an integral element of your communication. It should introduce you to the reader and provide information on how they may learn more about you or your business.
You may condense the email content and make it more readable and recipient-focused by using a well-written signature.
With our free email signature generator, you may make one like this. Since none of the templates contain messy HTML that may cause your emails to land up in spam bins, they are all deliverability-friendly.
A few tips to keep in mind when creating your email signature:
- You want it to make you look trustworthy – too little information and no hints on where to find you will definitely lower your chances for a response.
- Include only necessary information: cut out information that just takes space, but doesn’t bring much value. Sometimes your phone number may be crucial, but other times it’s completely unnecessary. Think about the usefulness of each piece of info in the signature. Delete the one that’s useless in your email campaign.
- If you decide to use HTML, make sure it’s clean – a messy HTML signature may actually cause some deliverability issues. That’s because your message is short. If the signature includes a lot of HTML, you can disrupt the text-to-HTML ratio. If you don’t have anyone who can check your signature HTML and clean it up, it’s safer to go for a simple text signature. Or you can use our signature generator – we made sure the code is clean.
How long should a cold email be?
It should only contain 2 to 5 phrases, totaling no more than 200 words. According to data, 50–125 words is the ideal range.
You only need to say that to pique someone's curiosity and initiate conversation.
Many people still write lengthy pitches explaining their business and product or service, even though almost anyone would read one from a stranger.
Be considerate of the time of your prospects. Keep it brief.
Ready to start?
Short, highly targeted cold emails addressed to a particular audience are a terrific approach to forge new business connections and gather more fresh, qualified leads for your organization. You can also create a rather potent lead creation tool by adding a series of automatic follow-ups.
I wish you luck in using my advice to produce effective cold emails. Lucky you!
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