Turn Cold to Warm: Write a Cold Email That Converts

What Is Cold Emailing?

Cold emailing is a marketing strategy that has been around for decades, but continues to be an effective way for businesses to reach out to customers. The process allows you to stay in touch with leads who may be interested or just browsing your website, and it can help them remember you when they’re ready to make a purchase.

However, there are some key things that every business owner should remember when sending cold emails: They need to be personalized, concise, and relevant. Here are some tips from Spike’s email experts on how you can turn those boring blasts into conversions. 

Warm Up the Relationship.

Use a warm greeting, such as “Hello,” or “Hey,” instead of the more generic “Hi.” We also like to use nicknames—if they have one, we’ll use it. For example: “Helen! How’s it going? Still keeping busy with that new blog you’re working on?” (Note: this is assuming that you know their name.) It’s the perfect way to introduce yourself in an email.

Share an anecdote about yourself or something relevant to your business that demonstrates why you care about what they do and why you can help them in some way—the more personal, the better. Make it seem like the email was written specifically for them.

Make the Subject Line Work for you

The next thing you need to do is make sure your subject line works for you. You want it to be short and sweet, relevant to the recipient, clear and concise, as personal as possible (but not too personal), specific but general enough that anyone could find the content interesting—and above all else: unique.

The subject line, body of the email, and any attachments you include, all provide context for what you’re asking or offering in the email. Your website can also provide context if mentioned in the subject line. Example: Joe From Spikenow.com: Are you looking to streamline productivity? 

Respect the Reader’s Time

Keep your email between 50 and 125 words. You have a lot of information to get across in your cold email, so keep it short and to the point. If you get too wordy, you risk losing people’s attention before they’ve even made it through half of your email. Make your make point up front, so if they only read a few sentences, they’ll at least know why you were emailing them. Even if they aren’t interested in your product now, they might be in the future, and they’ll search for your email.

Send Your Emails at the Right Time

You want to make sure the email gets to your recipients at the right time. If you’re emailing a busy person, send it early in the morning—they are less likely to be distracted by other things and more likely to take action. If a recipient is unlikely to have time for your message (i.e., they’re swamped with a project), send it at the end of their workday when they are more likely focused on getting home or wrapping up projects.

When you write a cold email, respect the recipient’s time as much as possible. Don’t send an email on a Saturday or Sunday, don’t send an email on holiday, and don’t send an email on the weekend. If you absolutely must send it then—perhaps because you’re writing to someone in another country or in a job field that works off days—avoid sending it at 2 a.m., when most people would be sleeping or at work (unless, of course, they are freelancers).

Now, what if you want to batch up your cold emails early in the morning to deliver at just the right time? Use an email app like Spike, which includes Scheduled Send, so you can go ahead and write your perfect cold email that will convert to be delivered at a later time. It’s email automation made simple.

Personalize it Without Being Creepy

You’re writing a cold email to a stranger. They don’t know you, and they won’t recognize your name. So how do you start the conversation?

The answer is simple: personalize it immediately by addressing that person by name, then follow up with their company name and industry. Then, provide a quick intro of yourself—who are you? What do you do? What’s in it for them if they talk to you?

But wait for a second…that sounds pretty creepy, right? Not at all! If done correctly (and with some finesse), this can be one of the most effective ways to get someone’s attention and spark interest in what you have to say.

Here’s why: when people receive personalized messages from strangers who aren’t using their names or references like “Jones,” “Sanchez,” etc., but instead use specific details about their lives and interests, those emails are more likely to stand out from those sent by competitors who haven’t taken time to find out anything about them yet. It also shows that someone took care before sending something over email—and since most people don’t go through great lengths like this when reaching out via cold emailing campaigns every day (or even once), recipients will see these communications as refreshingly unique compared against other requests coming into their inboxes daily (or even hourly).

Cold e-mails That Convert use Hyper-Personalization

To create a cold email that converts, it’s essential to do as much research on your recipient as possible.

First things first: use their name! You’d be surprised how many people forget to do this. Doing this makes the recipient feel like they’re more than just another number in your database.

Use their company name too! If you can find a way to weave in what they do into your message (either by mentioning a project they recently completed), then great—do so! Most people don’t mind being asked for favors if they know that what they’re doing will help someone else succeed as well as themselves. Plus, it shows that you did some research and genuinely care about their business before reaching out.

Next up: industry & location! Do some digging here for sure—you may not have access now, but maybe one day soon will be able to contribute something valuable enough for them to remember who sent those great ideas along (and hopefully share with others).

Offer Something of Value in Exchange for Their Time

There are many ways to offer something of value in exchange for their business.

Don’t Send Images; Use Text Instead

In 2022, the best email campaigns will use text instead of images. Text is easier to read, it’s better for scanning, it’s easier to edit and share, and you can use it to personalize your content. You’ll want to assume the reader is on a mobile device, so keep it focused on just text.

Summary

As a reminder, if you want to have a cold email that converts, you’ll want to use a compelling subject line. The first thing your potential new customer sees is the subject line of your email, so make it count! Think “I’m right for you” or “You need me” — and then write something that backs up those claims (in the body of your email). You want to be relevant, personal, and helpful in this area while ensuring the tone is warm and friendly without sounding too salesy (which could get you deleted). If your email isn’t opened, there’s no point in putting much effort into the body.

Remember, your cold email is a sales tool—it’s meant to get the reader interested and prepared to meet with you. That means you need to make it stand out from other emails they receive daily. And while it might seem more daunting than writing a regular old sales letter or website copy, if you follow these steps and keep in mind the tips we gave above (like personalizing without being creepy), it’ll be easy for anyone to write a cold email that converts.