In the last year, record inflation has chewed away at profit margins as customers rethink their spending. It has left businesses scrambling to find ways to improve profit margins without dramatically increasing costs.

Cold emails are cheap to send and can bring in new business. Before you start firing emails into the digital ether, though, keep reading for six cold email mistakes to avoid in 2023.

1. Poor Targeting

One of the most common mistakes that businesses make with cold email is not targeting their emails. Granted, different businesses will have different bars for targeting. A B2B software business will have a very high bar for targeting.

The B2B sales process is typically long and complex. It also means that you must target the right individual. Do your research in advance to make sure that you have the right person, the right email address, and that they still work at your target company.

2. Long Emails

Almost no one is burdened with the problem of too much time on their hands at work. Assuming you can get your target to even open your email, the last thing you want to do is write a long, complicated email. Odds are good that they’ll delete the email before they get to the important stuff.

Keep your emails brief. How brief? Aim for 100 words to 200 words. Keep in mind that your email isn’t there to sell them to you right now. It’s there to encourage prospects to investigate your product or service.

3. Subject Line Missteps

Your subject line is probably the most important element of the entire email because it largely determines whether or not someone opens the email in the first place. Far too many subject lines are vague, too long, or flat-out lies. While writing good subject lines does take practice, here are a few tips.

Shorter is better. More than half of all emails get opened on a mobile device, which means limited screen space. If you can keep the subject line under 60 characters, odds are good it won’t get truncated by a phone.

Don’t lie. Never lie. If you lie in the subject line, you’re setting yourself up for failure down the road.

Try to personalize the subject line with the recipient’s name. It’s not foolproof, but personalized subject lines generally show better open rates.

4. No Call to Action

Image Source

Far too many cold emails go out with a good subject line and effective copy in the email, but they never actually ask the recipient to do anything. People are busy. People are distracted. Curiosity alone won’t usually get them to your website or landing page. You must make the ask. Explicitly tell them what you’d like them to do, whether that’s visiting your website or trying out a demo.

5. Typos and Grammar Errors

People are more forgiving these days about the occasional typo or grammar error than they once were, but why risk it? There are still plenty of people out there in the business world who will treat a single typo as proof that you’re an amateur, incompetent, or that you don’t mind the details. With so many tools out there to help you avoid typos and grammar errors, there’s no reason not to make sure your emails go out error-free.

6. No Follow-Up

You cannot rely on a single cold email to bring in more customers. Everyone is far more inclined to say “no” than “yes.” In fact, you can expect an average of around 4 rejections or non-responses before you get to a yes. That means that your cold email campaign must include a minimum of at least five emails, although you’re safer with a few more than that. You should also vary the day and time that the emails go out to maximize the odds of catching people when they have a moment to think.

Cold Email Mistakes & You

Cold emails can bring in more business for you, but only if you avoid some of the more common mistakes. Work your subject lines until they sparkle at less than 60 characters. Target your emails to the right people. Keep the body of the email to 200 words or less. Make sure you have a call to action. Follow up. While you won’t capture everyone, even a small uptick in customers can prove a boon to your bottom line.

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

3 100 %