Why Cold Email Deserves a Spot in Your Lead Generation Strategy
Cold email can get a bad reputation and honestly, I can see why.
We’ve all had inboxes full of generic, badly written messages from people we’ve never heard of, and after a while, it leaves a sour taste in our mouths. Cold email marketing has become one of those tactics that feels spammy, even though it doesn’t have to be.
What if I told you that cold email doesn’t need to be any of those things? In fact, it can be one of the most genuine, personal, and low-pressure ways to start a conversation with someone who could really benefit from what you do.
How Cold Email Can Get You More Leads
The biggest difference between a good cold email and a bad one? Relevance.
If you’re reaching out to someone who could genuinely benefit from what you offer and you do it in a respectful, human way, it doesn’t feel cold at all. It feels helpful.
Imagine having a genuine struggle and then someone contacts you with the exact solution. You wouldn’t believe your luck.
This is how cold email is meant to be!
The 3 steps below will guide you on the most important factors that you should consider when executing a cold email campaign as part of your lead generation strategy.
Step 1 - Start with a Targeted List
A good campaign starts with the right people. That means identifying your ideal clients based on role, industry, company size, or location. Don’t waste your time emailing people who were never a fit in the first place.
This data can be sourced via LinkedIn, Google or through advanced lead generation databases that give us access to a whole variety of public information.
Do your research or speak to your cold email marketing expert. Your prospect list must be relevant!
Step 2 - Personalise Your Cold Email Marketing Copy
Not just “Hi {{FirstName}}”.
Mention their business or reference something recent they’ve worked on. Show that you’ve done your research.
That’s the difference between feeling like someone has genuinely reached out to you versus you being another number in a cold email sequence.
You might be thinking, “I don’t have time to research every prospect before I cold email them”, well, I’ve got good news for you, AI can now make this process easier than ever. Using high quality data, you can use AI to personalise cold emails tailored to your target audience. This means that the more data you have, the smarter your cold email will be.
You can even A/B test various approaches. This way you can measure the results and improve the performance of your campaign over time by making small incremental changes that make all the difference.
Instantly AI and QuickMail are a couple of the leading cold email marketing outreach platforms in this area.
Focus on Email Deliverability
If your emails are going to spam, you may as well not be doing it at all. Warming your domains, using clean data, and avoiding trigger words all help you land in the inbox instead of the junk folder.
Some great tools for verifying your email lists include Bouncer Email Verification, Sparkle IO and Reoon. On the other hand, you can always find yourself a cold email marketing expert to do this for you.
Cold Email Marketing = Virtual Networking
Here’s how I see it, cold email is just networking online.
It can be used as your way of reaching out, saying hello, and introducing yourself without needing to attend five different breakfast meetings.
You’re not selling on the spot; you’re opening the door for a conversation. If it’s a fit, great. If not, no pressure.
Even if someone doesn’t need your service now, you’re on their radar. And they might come back later or pass your name along to someone who does need you.
Using cold email as an opportunity to introduce yourself to new people and set up meetings with them can help you grow your business significantly as you create new business opportunities.
Final Thoughts
Cold email might get a bad name, but it’s not the tactic that’s broken, it’s the way some people have been using (and abusing) it.
With the right audience, message, and mindset, cold email can become one of the most valuable, consistent and scalable ways to generate leads, build relationships, and grow your business online.
The main challenges that come with cold email is establishing trust with the person you’re reaching out to. This is why personalisation in cold email is crucial. It’s also why cold email marketing is even more effective when accompanied by a strong social media presence and if you’ve got case studies and testimonials on your website that show you’re a well-trusted and reliable business.
If you’re looking to grow your network online and establish new, meaningful, professional relationships, then you should absolutely give cold email marketing a shot!
About the Author – Eddy Kelly
Eddy is a Chartered Marketing expert and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. After graduating in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Marketing Management, Eddy has supported hundreds of Business Owners with their marketing and lead generation strategies both online and on-site.
Founder of We Do The Marketing, a collective of Marketing Freelancers, Eddy is known for his creative and personal approaches to developing engaging marketing campaigns. You can connect with Eddy on LinkedIn here.
