Cold sales email are a good way to spark up a conversation and catch a potential customer or even simply spread awareness about your product or services.
However, as beneficial as they can be, cold sales emails can be a death trap for your business. In one hand, you could be generating a decent amount of leads from this marketing strategy but you could also be digging your own grave with all the wrong moves and mistakes you’re making.
Many marketers are not aware of the common cold sales email mistakes that don’t only result in a negative outcome but also harm the reputation of your business. The most common cold sales email mistakes include using Google templates, starting subject lines with biased questions, using weak and cheesy words and automating the email itself. If you happen to be doing any of these above mentioned mistakes, read on to find out why they could be killing your business!
#1 Bad subject lines
It is widely known that the success of an email marketing campaign depends how often your emails are opened. If your emails don’t get opened by the majority of your mailing list, you’re doing something wrong and that something is usually the subject line. As the subject line is the first thing the recipient sees when receiving your email, it is a crucial part of your overall campaign. The most common mistake made with subject lines is using questions such as “Hey did you know?” or “What do you think?”
Potential buyers almost always delete or completely ignore emails that start with these type of questions because they are boring and common. You need to be more original and unique with your subject line in order to cause curiosity. Negative or biased questions are even worse, as they are a desperate attempt for an answer. Therefore, avoid using these and instead take some time to come up with a provocative subject line of two to three words max. If you’re going to use questions further in the email, make sure those questions serve the purpose to awake a relevant thought, rather than just show your will to make a sale. The question as well as the whole content of the email needs to be valuable to the reader.
#2 Google Templates
Using Google templates is just about the worst thing you can do when sending cold sales emails. To begin with, these templates are plain and not creative at all. For better results you need to take time to create original content rather than using templates. Using these will make you seem lazy and unwilling to do research and create content that won’t look like spam.
Besides, readers and potential buyers have probably seen hundreds of similar or even identical templates and they can easily recognize them. Therefore, not only that this strategy won’t bring you any good results but it can even damage your company’s reputation. Instead of settling for plain Google templates, be creative and create something that will make you stand out among other senders.
#3 Using cheesy words
You have probably received a large number of cold sales emails throughout your life and if you opened half of them you would find that they all have something in common. Those are the weak words and phrases such as “reaching out”, “following up” or “checking in”. Most of cold sales emails start the same using one of these phrases, which certainly kills originality and creativity, as well as the reader’s will to carry on with reading the content.
Words such as “love”, “hope” or “looking forward to” are also examples of what not to use in your cold sales emails, as this makes your email sound cheesy and unoriginal. Using the phrase “looking forward to” can even make you sound desperate so make sure to avoid that one as well. Instead of settling for these lame and overused words, try to come up with original content, something the recipients haven’t seen before!
#4 Using automation
Let’s be honest, automated emails are not fooling anyone. Even a child can nowadays recognize an automated email message, let alone a potential buyer. These types of robotic messages give off the idea that you haven’t even put in effort to create and send the message yourself. Instead you’re using artificial intelligence to pull names from the web and send automated messages all day.
This worn out marketing trick just doesn’t work anymore. People are more likely to connect to your brand or company if they get that personal, human vibe when being contacted. Therefore, avoid using artificial intelligence and automating your messages, as they don’t bring very positive results. Just like using Google templates, this cold sales email mistake can hurt your company’s reputation.
#5 Don’t insist on attachments
Last but not least, many people include PDF attachments in their cold sales emails, which is quite a big mistake for two different reasons. Firstly, pushing onto readers to check out your PDF or any type of attachment won’t make them want to do so. In fact, it will only drag them away from your content. Therefore, instead of insisting on them opening the PDF because of whatever value they can receive from it, make them want the PDF by presenting its benefits and later asking them to respond if they wish to see it.
This way they will be more likely to develop interest in your content and respond to your email. Besides, most email servers find attachment from unknown sources to be a risk so those emails are often redirected to spam or not delivered at all. For those reasons you should avoid attaching the PDF but rather ask the recipient if they want to receive it.
All together, cold sales emails can help you reach out to a wider audience and generate more leads but it can also be quite dangerous. As long as you avoid the above mentioned mistakes and focus on creating original and valuable content, this email strategy won’t harm your business. For more information about email marketing or help regarding this topic reach out to us at www.bethesda-list.com
