Cold email is still a viable approach for generating business. Initiating dialogue with a potential customer is much more effective than initiating a cold call. A well-written cold email is designed to generate leads, but poorly crafted ones usually have lower open rates and can even harm a company’s reputation in the eyes of the prospect. To ensure a high open and response rate from your target audience, avoid the following mistakes:
- No Recipient Name
- Omission of Grammar Check
- Overly Affectionate Tone
- No Email Signature
- Failure to Experiment
- No follow-up
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No Recipient Name
You need to know that no one will respond to cold emails that begin with the generic salutation “Hello” or “Hi”. Emails without a specific recipient’s name are not cold emails; they’re spam and you’ll be blacklisted. You may also face difficulties if a business email server labels you as spam.
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Omission of Grammar Check
A bad approach to start a relationship is by sending an email with grammatical problems. Your communication will be taken less seriously if you make spelling and grammatical mistakes. It’s not the best way to make an impression on a potential customer, is it?
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Overly Affectionate Tone
Faking friendliness in a cold email is one thing, but it almost always backfires. When you don’t know your prospects very well, asking about their health or vacation will appear disingenuous. In addition, while flattery can be helpful in cold emails, it must be handled with care. To the uninitiated, “too courteous” and excessive use of the other person’s name appear to be a bad thing.
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No Email Signature
Email signatures are, in essence, computerized business cards. It adds personality to the message. If you don’t have an email signature, your company’s credibility will suffer, and your email will come across as amateurish. You should always include your name, position at your company, and a link to your company’s website in your email signature.
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Failure to Experiment
Sending the same email to the same people over and over again isn’t going to get you any better results. Strategies, duties, and even the items or services you offer are all subject to change. You should never resend the same email; no matter how little has changed. Your open and response rates will skyrocket if you steer clear of these blunders and implement the appropriate automation solution.
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No Follow-up
Many salespeople give up after sending just one email to a potential customer. One problem isn’t enough. With a 20 percent open rate, you may expect a significant number of these people to open your email and be interested in knowing more. However, they may be preoccupied at the time and mean to respond later, but then forget about the situation. As a result, sending follow-up emails to remind recipients of your previous correspondence should be a regular practice for you.