Is Cold Outreach Still Relevant Today?

Eager for your business to take the next leap? Don't shy away from communicating with your target audience. Despite how daunting it may seem, cold emailing potential customers remains a popular method to build rapport.

Cold outreach emails, when executed tactfully, capture the recipient's attention to drive a higher response rate. In the online world where thousands of companies are vying to get noticed, an effective cold outreach campaign can help you roar over the noise.

What does cold email outreach mean in 2023?

Gone are the days when ambitious entrepreneurs would cold call target prospects to hard sell their products. Your ideal customer in 2023 is glued to their smart device, sifting through social media (even as you read this article), which is why modern cold outreach refers to sending messages through online channels.

While some businesses use traditional phone calls to make their sales pitch, it's somewhat outdated today. Needless to say, cold email outreach takes the cake!

Cold outreach in a nutshell

The crux of it revolves around building meaningful connections with new clients and adding them to the sales funnel. As befits our current digital culture, the most common types of sales outreach are cold emailing and direct messaging on social media.

Since you're here, it's obvious that you wish to seize the day by banking on high cold-calling response rates, but is that so easy? Surprisingly, the answer is yes - given, you play your cards right- and you use email instead.

The do's and don'ts of creating a robust cold email outreach campaign

A few best practices to get you on the right track - master social selling with these tried and tested cold outreach tips experts vouch for. From coming up with an enticing subject line to strengthening the email sequences of your cold calls, everything is covered.

Target the right clients

First things first, thoroughly research your potential client. This should be the first step in the overall outreach process. Remember, you shouldn't be shooting your shot at just anyone. Leading businesses today invest ample time into curating highly filtered email lists with the help of innovative tools that utilize real-time data.

If you're having trouble identifying the right person for your product or service, leverage the power of social media. For one, LinkedIn messages are an excellent free tool to find people interested in what you have to offer. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, you can use premium tools to track your ideal customer as well.

Send personalized emails

How many times have you received a boring email, only to send it to trash? If you've lost count, then you already know that impersonal emails hardly get the job done.

Despite what the name suggests, cold email outreach isn't supposed to be cold. Rather, your first contact with a prospective customer should be personal and customized according to their buyer persona, and perhaps even a little adventurous!

Right off the bat, the first message - in particular, the opening line of your cold email - should lay the groundwork for future lead conversation. In essence, effective messages address common pain points, only share relevant details, and always have a succinct CTA.

Pro tip: Warm outreach always wins! As long as recipients see some soul in the email, be it from an unknown sender, click-through rates are bound to go up.

Optimize subject lines

People sift through hundreds of emails every day, which is why they're likely to open an email with a subject line like 'something bewildering to change your life' than overused generics like 'partnership proposal'.

First impressions matter most and thoughtful cold email subject lines can help you sign rewarding sales deals.

Don't write essays

This comes as a given, yet so many high-potential businesses continue to write laborious emails that tread on.

Don't make the same mistake - keep it short and personal.

If you're selling technical products to prospective customers that require longer explanations, link to a blog post instead. This way, your primary outreach channel integrates with the company website to deliver greater value.

Don't underestimate follow-ups

Didn't get a response to your first email? Don't give up just yet!

Follow up on potential customers to show them you're committed. However, be careful about coming off as too pushy - meticulously choose what you have to say, and fill the email body with relevant content to deter high bounce rates.

Pro tip: an effective sales follow up has a CTA and is intentionally shorter than the first email.

Create an email template

Cold email campaigns might not be the toughest cookie to crack but they aren't a walk in the park either. When it comes to landing the right customer, consistency is key and this applies to the format of your cold emails too.

Instead of creating a new layout every single time, use scalable email templates filled with important company details. This allows you to customize the body and the subject line while constants like your company's contact details and email signature remain the same.

Always use a business email

Want to send your clients running for the hills? Keep using that free email account. There is nothing shadier than a business using Gmail to chase high-paying clients. So, choose a reliable business domain provider to personalize your email address and boost brand image.

Pro tip: Add your email signature at the end of every message.

Automate email marketing for cold email outreach

Who has the time to send thousands of cold emails manually? Fortunately, businesses today have a plethora of email automation tools to choose from. These are designed not only to make cold campaigns easier but also to optimise email sequences for better open rates. That said, don't just select the first email campaign software you hear about. Even the most reliable-seeming can be mere marketing gimmicks.

Top email warmup tool features to look out for

User-friendly interface

A complicated user interface does more than just overwhelm your marketing team - it plunges their productivity. You shouldn't have to spend hours clicking 'send' on cold outreach campaigns just to sell your product or service to prospective customers. A simplified interface saves time and lets your sales team to do what it's great at - improving the cold email response rate.

Split test capability

Without measuring the performance of your cold outreach email campaign, you'll always be in the dark. The art of cold calling is constantly evolving, and to keep up with what works, businesses must run A/B tests and identify which campaigns are meeting benchmarks, while also understanding the reasons behind their success.

Integrated analytics

The best email marketing tools have inbuilt analytics to help clients understand the highs and lows of important metrics. Real value is derived from key insights available in an easy-to-understand format. By utilising data-driven analytical power when evaluating sales emails, you have better chances of satisfying your cold email recipient.

Diverse mailbox network

When a large bulk of emails are sent by just one or a few email addresses, ISPs flag the sender's domain, prompting email deliverability to nosedive. Rest assured, that's the last thing you want.

Email automation tools banking on a diverse mailbox network avoid this problem by tweaking the basics. They comply with the requirements laid out by ISPs and ESPs to improve email deliverability rates and break through the toughest spam filters.

The Verdict

Cold email outreach is far from being dead - in fact, businesses just like yours are using it to improve their ranks in Google search. And one thing's for sure, your potential customer isn't going to notice your brand until YOU find them.

With the right strategies and trusted cold email outreach software, you can enjoy better responses rates and set the bar high on lead conversion. Safe to say, investing in reliable automation tools always pays off.

To ensure high deliverability for personalized emails, try Pribox - an all-inclusive email warm-up tool that makes sure you get the bang for your effort.