This article has been made for beginners getting into sending personalized outreaches. We all know how powerful cold emails are if done right so in this article, I have broken down the 6 essential parts to design the perfect cold email for your campaigns.
6 Steps to designing the perfect personalized cold email for your business or brand
1) The Envelope
Simply picture an envelope, what does it contain? How is it structured on the outside?
(i) Always use your full name
(ii) Send from your email address and preferably a business address. For example:
a) name@biz.com (Good)
b) name007@freemaildomain.com (Please Don’t) The former (a) is always a good option and is more professional.
(iii) Personalize the subject line & first line to get the prospect’s attention.
Tip: Do not over-use your research as you might creep out your potential lead.
2) The Greeting
Make sure you get their first name right and greet them before diving straight into your pitch. I don’t think I need to elaborate further on this one.
Tip: Check out their social media to see if they go by a nickname (Example Ben for Benjamin). This will get you a higher open rate and it comes out as if you know this person to the prospect.
3) Content
Remember your goal with the cold email is to learn if the prospect is a good fit for you, not to simple close the deal. Your goal should always be to take your prospect from one stage to another, not close the deal with a single email.
(i) Speak to the prospect candidly, authoritatively as a peer.
(ii) Avoid jargon-speak and unnecessary business communication patterns and try to make it relevant and interesting because remember that your prospect is getting blasted with tons of emails per day so you need to stand out.
(iii) Try to be funny and show your personality depending on the context of the email.
I personally tend to avoid images and video and I would suggest in most cases you should go for only text, as sometimes images come out as sketchy and only text emails are proven to raise less red flags with SPAM algorithms.
Tip: Always remember to not be let down if you are ignored by your prospect or given a negative reply. It just shows that they are not the right fit for you. Move on : )
4) The Call To Action
Always remember to end will a call to action. Ask for a short odd-minute call at a specific time. Why odd numbers? Well if you are a content writer this should not be something new. The logic behind choosing an odd number simply is that this stands out also giving the reader a little less to think about.
The CTA (call to action) is also an easy way to know if the recipient is interested.
How? Simply add a link to schedule time on your calendar using tools like Calendly.
Tip: Ask if what you are offering sounds interesting to them, this is a more open-ended question that has a little less pressure than asking for a specific meeting date.
5) Email signature
Email signature provides validity and proof that you are a real person, always make sure you have your full name and the position at the company you are sending from along with a URL of your website. Someone of us also tend to add a company logo or picture which is completely fine too but I personally love to use the format as shown in the following sequence below:
[Full Name]
[Role at company]
[Company] / [COMPANY URL]
[Contact Number]
6) The Final one: The PS at the end of an email.
Always include a PS that gives them an out. You are probably wondering why a PS? Well if you are sending personalized emails and not email blasts where there is an unsubscribe link, you should always include this for legal reasons.
Tip: This will also reduce the chances of someone clicking mark as spam as they now have an option to opt out from further follow ups.