Cold 📩 email

This is Inbox Hacking, a Free Newsletter for email marketers. Email marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. If someone forwarded you our Newsletter, please sign up for your Free subscription. Today we look at cold email studies, stats, & how to utilize it effectively.

Question Inbox Hackers— is there a place for cold email in your organization?

Yep. It’s a simple approach to outreach. Send email, then wait for a response. Looks like basic math compared to the trigonometry of online ads, social algorithms, and baffling funnels.

So let’s take a look at more reasons to use cold email and how to do it effectively.

Proof in the Pudding of Cold Email

Anecdotal: I dabble in cold email. And get responses without much effort or big numbers of sends (naps and kayaks keep me tied up😉).

Wider proof: A recent MailCon webinar showcased findings for over 10,000,000 cold emails.

Stats: The big 3 for me?

🕒Monday* was the worst day for cold outreach (opens & responses)

⚾Pitches to non-profits had the highest open & response rates

📧7% was the average response rate

*I don’t normally trust ‘best time to email’ but this stat is for a specific type of message to a particular audience – a cold one.

**Cold emails must comply with anti-spam laws, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the USA (Active Campaign)

11 Uses of Cold Email Most Marketers Miss

Find investors (not suckers in case SBF is reading this)
Book guests for content creation
Brand awareness – don’t have to pitch anything (also works in reverse, reply to cold emails)
Request reviews
Ask for feedback
Give a gift
Develop partnerships
Test offers
Customer interviews (they type a reply to questions, set up audio call, etc.)
Ask for an expert’s advice (bonus: it endears them to you)
Link building

*BTW, 89% of marketers use email as their primary channel for generating leads (Snov 2023)

The 6 Best Tips on Planet 🌎for Cold Email Success

Email Expert John Gardner at Inbox Mailers dropped these golden nuggets for cold emailing.

Take every step imaginable to keep spam complaints low
A highly reputable shared IP pool helps deliverability
Make opting out easier than clicking the spam button
Scrub your cold list (with more than one scrubbing tool)
Pre-qualify leads (ex. if you have website activity data on coldish leads)
Shape your cold campaigns to fit certain demographics known to respond to cold email

I’d add:

#1 Don’t annoy people. Hard not to offend folks these days so if you’re trying to be witty, focus on not getting inbox-canceled.

But remember, most people who don’t have time for your cold email will just ignore it. Why? It takes effort to open, then click the spam complaint button.

#2 If the email is all about your business’ greatness, start over. Focus on the recipient and their pain points. Their horrific, misery-inducing pain points 😉.

#3 Just assume the first 5 subject lines you write are… ~~not good~~ garbage of the lowest order. Let’s write 15 and perhaps one will be spectacular, ok?

#4 Don’t bother with cold email if you can’t commit to following up. Automation is your ally.

#5 Read all the cold emails and LinkedIn requests you get and never write anything like the ones that make you roll your eyes… or throw up.

Cold Email Closeout (more impressive stats)

That MailCon Webinar had this data on cold email from a giant study:

“ROI improvement” in pitches hurts response rate
“Hello” is better than “Hi”
Waiting 3 days between follow-ups boosted reply rates by 31%
Just one follow-up message spiked reply rate by nearly 50%

That’s it. Cold email can be a powerful part of your email strategy. Spam should not be – just to be clear.

Lastly, if a company or solo business operator doesn’t have a cold pitch that’s really valuable, then they should not use cold emails… until they develop such a pitch.

Best CTA in my Inbox (+why they work)

You can access this rare, eye-opening interview here (text link – tease of mystery man who hasn’t lost $ on a trade this year)
View Check (button – transactional email that nudges me to log in to budgeting service)
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if more people read fact-focused, unbiased news? [Share via Email button] (I don’t care about utopia 😅but do need fast facts)

Below→ marketing advice to avoid, social marketing location tips, & Today’s Hack to get more email responses.

Email Marketers Have Had It

Problems everywhere they turn.

Spam filters smiting their emails.

Inboxes flooded by new mailers daily.

Subscribers becoming unengaged after 2 weeks.

Oh, and Apple jacking up open-rate metrics!

…Relax for a second and consider an innovative way to overcome those struggles.

Inbox Mailers triggers your email to arrive the moment your subscriber is opening other emails. Shifting odds in your favor of much higher open rates (users are seeing 50% – 70% open rates). Higher click volume to boot.

Stop the struggle and schedule a free Inbox Mailers demo.

Knowledge Base

🏋️‍♀️Knowledge is power but first, send me something motivating to you this time

How to close out a cold email? (w/ examples)

🚫Terrible marketing advice and even worse advice via podcast series

Giddy about Threads? Allow me… list of failed social media ventures

📌Brand can’t get traction on social? Lean into location

Self Help

Practice is the ONLY way to level up…

but even those that accept this feel there should be a goal line. A stopping point.

That’s false. Practice does make perfect.

But stop practicing and results falter fast.

Perpetual practice makes perfect.

*Shout-out to Inbox Hackers:

📢Debbie at Travel Safe Insurance

📢Parsley at Sunburst Soaps

Facts and Stats

Cold email produces 10 to 1 ROI for Belkins brand

About 62% of e-commerce shoppers say no free shipping option stops them from buying (Shippo)

41% of merchants say rising shipping costs was the biggest challenge for their business in 2022 (WSJ)

Bonus: What percentage of salespeople rated cold email as “good to excellent”? 72% Belkins

Struggleville

🤕Can I get a witness! if email deliverability gives you migraines…

or causes panic attacks and night sweats!

I feel ya.

Little missteps and uncontrollable factors hurt your deliverability and derail your emails into spam land.

Enough.

There’s a simple email deliverability solution that won’t hurt your head or eat up all your free time…

The solution? Triggered emails powered by a giant network of mailers.

The best part? Inbox Mailers has the network and does the heavy lifting for you. White glove set-up with your current ESP. Learn more with a free one-on-one demo.

Get Hacking

Today’s hack— write not one, but three cold emails with a specific goal in mind. Why three?

An examination of over 10 million emails showed that 3 cold emails had the highest reply rate… 9.2% (Michael Maxinoff).

One initial email and two follow-ups. Let me know your results 60 days from now, use a calendar or something 😎.

*Know other gladiator-like email marketers? Please forward Inbox Hacking to them.

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📝Please take survey below. Contains no peanuts.