A cold email is a simple email that you send to potential customers without any prior contact. The main goal is to initiate a business conversation. If B2B cold email marketing is done properly, it can be an essential tool to generate sales.
Cold emails are similar to cold calling, but these are less disturbing. Cold emails are not spam and also don’t interrupt business life much.
People usually confuse cold emails with spam emails. A significant difference between a cold and spam email is personalization and relevancy.
B2B cold email marketing is an excellent opportunity for the business. You can get in front of the ideal customers, improve the conversion rate, and generate more leads.
Why should you do B2B cold email marketing?
B2B cold email marketing is one of the best marketing strategies nowadays. If you do it right, you can get better results compared to other lead generation strategies.
One of the key benefits of cold email marketing is the absolute scale and scope with which they operate. Some of the other benefits are:
- You can target the audience based on their specifications, including age, job, income, and geographical area.
- Cold emails make the audience aware of your product and brand. Every email sent is a step forward to the conversion.
- The most attractive part of the B2B cold email marketing is the return on investment (ROI). It is way more affordable than other strategies.
- You will have more opportunities to use the right words and higher chances of getting your emails read.
Mistakes to avoid while designing your B2B cold email marketing campaign
One of the reasons that most businesses avoid cold emailing is they don’t want the recipient to confuse their emails with spam.
The only way to make your cold emails look genuine is to avoid the four common mistakes most people make in B2B cold email marketing.
1. No proper structure
Always structure your cold emails in a specific way. Introduce yourself first, then tell them how you find their business. The next step is to establish the value to show how you can help them.
The most crucial element of the B2B cold email marketing is to establish authority in your statement. Show the prospects the solution and always end your cold email with a call-to-action (CTA)
2. No super-compelling offer
The second mistake people do while writing cold emails is that they don’t have a super compelling offer. If you want the prospect to respond, offer him something that made it impossible for them to say no.
The entire point of the cold email should center around one specific offer. Make sure to hit the right audience with the right offer.
3. Relying only on one email account
Another mistake in B2B cold email marketing is relying on only one email account to send the campaigns. What people usually do is set up an email account, warm it up, and start pushing out lots of cold emails.
It is a huge mistake, even if you abide by the limit. What we suggest is to spend a little bit of extra money when you buy email addresses for cold emailing.
4. Not automating the whole thing
When you do cold emails, there are a bunch of factors that you need to take into consideration. The best way is to automate the whole thing. You can use cold email outreach software to automate email marketing campaigns, find prospects, and follow up.
Best practices for B2B cold email marketing
As a B2B sales professional, you may have already sent thousands of cold emails to generate countless meetings.
It can be very frustrating when you are sending out your first B2B cold email marketing campaign and nobody is responding. In this article, you are going to learn how to write the perfect cold email to turn total strangers into paying customers.
Here are some simple but effective tips to plan your B2B cold email marketing campaign to skyrocket your response rate.
1. Prepare your sending email address for optimal deliverability
Email deliverability refers to the likelihood that your emails will successfully reach their intended recipients’ inboxes.
Reports suggest that as many as 1 in 5 emails may not reach their intended recipients, instead being filtered into spam folders or deleted by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This can often be due to non-compliance with ISP rules or other questionable email practices.
However, there are several steps you can take to improve your email deliverability, two of the most important ones are:
A. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for deliverability
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are three key email authentication protocols that can help improve the deliverability of your emails.
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) uses DNS records to specify which server IP addresses are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) allows recipients to verify that an email was actually sent and authorized by the owner of the domain it claims to be from.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is a protocol designed to help email domain owners protect their domain from unauthorized use or “spoofing.”
B. Warm up your sending email address
Warming up your sending email address is a crucial step in improving your email deliverability.
This process involves gradually increasing the volume of emails you send in a controlled and deliberate manner, while also ensuring that your domain receives positive interactions from other real mailboxes on a daily basis.
Positive interactions, such as replies, emails being marked as important, and emails being moved from the spam folder to the primary inbox, signal to email providers that people are interested in engaging with your content.
2. Use simple language to make an impact
Keep the language very simple; avoid using heavy words. The power of your language will not impress anyone. Instead, use the power of your content and the weight of your message.
People usually make the mistake of writing really big words and using complex language. If you keep your emails to a level where a 5th grader can understand them, you are on good ground.
3. Craft an exciting subject line for B2B cold email marketing
If you want to intrigue the recipients, always create an exciting but credible subject line. Always make the subject line informative and compelling to initiate customers’ interest in the email body.
Make sure to research the prospects to personalize the subject line for them. Keep in mind subject lines are a crucial part of effective B2B cold emails.
4. Personalize the email and make it natural for the readers
Being too formal makes you sound like a salesperson. Addressing a prospect as “Dear Customer” is the biggest mistake you can ever make.
Avoid writing emails that look like sales messages. Always read your cold email before hitting the send button to make sure that it has a natural tone.
5. Backing up your claims with proof makes you less risky
One of the biggest challenges in B2B cold email marketing is to prove your credibility. Nobody wants to work with a company without prior experience.
Provide your prospect with a detailed preview of your work done for a client. It will make the reader more inclined to work with you.
6. Don’t forget to proofread your cold email
Always proofread your cold emails to avoid basic mistakes. No matter in what style and tone you are writing, it is essential to use the correct spelling, proper grammar, and good punctuation.
Writing a perfect B2B cold email can be challenging, but this guide can be helpful to take the start. By keeping things simple and helpful, you can cut through the noise.
7. Follow up
Following up is a crucial component of successful cold emailing. A well-crafted follow-up email can serve as a polite reminder to your prospect that you have an interesting message waiting for them, and can increase the likelihood of receiving a response.
As long as your emails provide value, it’s perfectly acceptable to send 2-6 follow-up emails, with each one adding additional value.
To write an effective cold email follow-up, you should use a strong subject line to grab your prospect’s attention, provide context for why you’re reaching out, clearly communicate the benefits to the prospect, and include a compelling call to action.
The timing of your follow-up will depend on your sales cycle, but most experts recommend sending your first follow-up no more than three days after your initial cold email outreach.
8. Continuously optimize your cold emailing campaigns as you go
It’s important to regularly monitor and optimize your cold emailing campaigns to achieve the best results.
By tracking key email metrics, you can gain valuable insights into the performance of your campaigns and make informed decisions to improve their effectiveness.
Some of the key metrics you should be tracking include:
- Email delivery rate
- Email deliverability rate
- Open rate
- Click-through rate
- Unique clicks and opens
- Click-to-open ratio
- Conversion rate
- Bounce rate
- Spam-related metrics such as unsubscribe rate
- Return on investment.
By closely monitoring these metrics and using the data you collect to make informed decisions, you can continuously optimize your cold emailing campaigns for better results.
This may involve making changes to your email content, targeting, delivery schedule, or other aspects of your campaign based on the insights you gather.