Cold Email Best (and Worst) Practices

There are two main goals for cold emails:

1. Land in the inbox and not the spam folder

2. Actually get read by the recipient, not deleted.

This article reviews the best (and worst) practices of sending cold emails to your prospects.

Ways to Land in Spam:

• Adding links
• Adding attachments
• Adding images (PNG, JPG, GIF, etc.)
• Sending the same message over and over
• Sending more than 50 cold emails in a day
• Sending too many emails at the same time
• Getting low engagement and reply rate
• Using symbols ($, %, #, !!!, ???, etc.)
• Using words that create urgency (click here, act now, etc.)
• Using words that create false promises (no interest, this isn’t spam, free offer, etc.)

Spam words to avoid:

Here are some that people seem to forget about:

• Free
• Offer
• Best
• #1
• Save

Ways to Get Your Email Deleted:

Cold email cliches that turn people off:

• I hope this finds you well
• Quick question
• Checking in
• Circling back
• Reaching out because
• I’m sure you’re busy
• Sorry to disturb you
• I’ll keep this short
• Just following up
• Thoughts?
• Waiting on your response
• Add value
• If it’s not too much trouble
• I apologize in advance for bothering you
• Touching base
• Catching up
• Let’s find 15 minutes
• Hoping to connect

Words that weaken your message:

• Just
• Really
• Very

Buzzwords to avoid:

• Streamline
• Circle back
• Synergy

Overly formal or awkward words:

• Dear
• Mr.
• Mrs.
• Ms.

Other things to avoid:

• “RE:” in the subject line when it’s the first email in a sequence
• Shaming the prospect for not responding to previous outreach
• Lying in any way (saying you spoke last year if you didn’t, etc.)
• Not including a CTA
• Including more than one CTA
• Using all caps
• Commands (improve, etc.)
• Superlatives (better, etc.)

Things you should try in Cold Emails:

Email Body:

• Focus on the prospect’s needs vs. your product (“Any interest in contract management software?” vs. “What could you accomplish if your legal team stopped blocking your deals?”)
• Add a P.S. (just not on every email)
• Use direct language (“Are you ready to move forward with XYZ?”)
• Spintax: Mix up the language in your greeting, CTA, salutation, and opt-out to avoid sending identical messages

Subject Lines:

• Avoid punctuation
• Avoid numbers
• Avoid including their first name
• Test out 1- and 2-word subject lines
• Use title case
• Highlight the pain/problem
• Avoid verbs, commands, superlatives, and cliches
• Make it sound like an internal email
• Boring is best
• Neutral tone
• Describe what’s in the email (no clickbait)

CTAs

• Include one in every cold email
• Include *only* one CTA

CTAs to try:

• What you be open to learning more?
• Would you be against learning more?
• Could I send over some more info?
• Any of this relevant?
• Would it make more sense to talk to [colleague name]?

Personalization Tips

• Recipient’s LinkedIn (content they’ve posted, engaged with, or featured on)
• Their company’s LinkedIn (recent announcements, ads, culture)
• Their website (product releases, careers page, pricing page)
• BuiltWith or ZoomInfo (technologies they’re using)
• Crunchbase (recent news and funding announcements)
• Recent content (blogs, podcasts, webinars)
• G2 reviews
• If they’re a public company, use their investor docs (e.g., a 10-K, a document summarizing the state of the company that public companies are required to publish once a year. At first, these can be intimidating to look at. Just skimming the first few pages will give you a great idea of their motivations or challenges.) 
• Your own experiences with their product

The custom field in the Personalizer of the Chrome Extension supports many of these custom personalization points. Please see the following link for more details: Ideas for Personalization using the Custom Field