What do you believe is the most effective way to engage an audience and get them interested in your products or services?
You might think advertising, social media, and websites are the answer, but those are all forms of digital marketing.
If you’re looking for guaranteed results, you might want to try manual marketing, which is largely made up of cold calling and emailing potential customers to learn more about their needs and interests.
While digital marketing is important, it can be quite challenging to figure out what works and what doesn’t. This is why you should consider trying out manual marketing, as it’s a tried and tested way of engaging with potential customers that is filled with passion and enthusiasm, two qualities that your product or service probably doesn’t possess.
Luckily, there are many proven methods for converting sales leads into paying customers. One of the most effective ways of doing this is via cold email marketing, which you can use to reach out to potential customers and encourage them to purchase your products or services. If you can grab their attention with a clever email headline or offer, they’re much more likely to read your message and become a customer. Here are some proven methods for writing effective emails.
Personalise The Approach
One of the first rules of effective cold email marketing is to personalise the approach. When you write to somebody, you’re interacting with them as a human being and thus, they’re more likely to be receptive to your message. In contrast, when you read something off a page (like a website), you’re less likely to feel connected to the person you’re writing to.
To illustrate this, imagine you’re trying to sell cars and you’ve found a perfect prospect in Jim, who has indicated he’s interested in buying a new car. In one method, you could email Jim with a standard, stock email that could be sent to anybody:
“Hi, Jim,
”
“I saw your car was parked outside and thought I’d drop by to see if you were interested in buying a new vehicle. Do you have any particular model or brand in mind?”
Although this may sound like a perfectly reasonable question to ask anybody, assume for a moment that it’s not. In reality, if you’re using a boiler-plated email, anybody could potentially receive it. Now, instead, imagine you took the time to personalise the email:
“Hi, Jim. I’m Bob, a car dealer in the UK who heard you had a look at a specific model and decided to reach out to see if you’re interested in buying a new vehicle. Can I offer you a coffee to discuss this in more detail?”
By applying a little bit of imagination, you’re able to take a simple question about cars and turn it into something much more personal. This is exactly what you should do with your potential customers. Instead of just sending them emails that contain a few key pieces of information about your product or service, you should write an email that is specifically designed for them.
If you can, take the time to learn a little bit about your potential customers’ personal lives and hobbies. In the example above, you could ask Jim about his favourite cars and what models he looks for, and you could even offer him a bonus on the purchase if he buys a model that you particularly love. In doing this, you’re showing that you’ve taken the time to learn about Jim and that you care about what he thinks. In return, Jim is much more likely to think of you when he needs help buying a new car and is thus, more likely to become a customer. Plus, you’ve added a personal touch to the email that could make it much more likely to be read and acted upon. At the very least, it’ll give the reader a better sense of who’s writing and what they want.
Use Action Words
Another important thing about a good cold email is using action words. Simply put, action words are words that will make the reader do something. These words serve two purposes. First, they tell the reader what’s in store for them. Second, they draw more attention to the main point of the email. To demonstrate the power of action words, let’s say you’re selling cars and you’ve got an email from Bob, as above. Instead of “Jim,” the email could be about Mary, a different person:
“Hi, Mary. I’m Bob, a car dealer in the UK who heard you had a look at a specific model and wanted to see if you were interested in buying a new vehicle. Can I offer you a coffee to discuss this in more detail?”
In this case, the action words “coffee” and “more detailed” draw the reader’s attention to these points. Coffee is a commonly exchanged greeting, so it has the potential to draw a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. More detailed could be interpreted as something that is being described in more detail, which is also the point of the email. In other words, by using these words, Bob is clearly stating that he’s going to explain more about cars and how they work, as opposed to just pitching them a product.
If you can, take the time to come up with a list of at least seven or eight action words that are relevant to the product or service you’re marketing. Consider using some of the most commonly used verbs associated with buying a product or service. For example, if you’re selling clothes, you might want to use the verb ‘try on’ or ‘fit’ to draw attention to the fact that you’re showing them a style that they could potentially try on. Or, if you’re selling real estate, you could use words such as ‘view’ or ‘decide’ to draw attention to what’s in store for them once they click on the email.
Keep To The Point
A major pitfall that many people fall into is not keeping their emails short and sweet. A good rule of thumb is to keep your emails under three minutes, as most recipients will be checking their emails on a daily basis, so they don’t want to spend too much time in inboxes scrolling through endless emails.
Also, make sure that your emails are structured well and use bold and italics to draw attention to key points. Research has shown that recipients are more likely to notice and act upon these elements, so make sure you use them where necessary. For example, if you’re sending an email to introduce yourself, don’t throw in a bunch of unnecessary information about yourself, instead, keep it concise and only include vital details that they’ll need to know about you, such as your professional email address or phone number. Do the same with your subject lines as well. If you can, send an email with a call to action, like a request to schedule a time for a phone call or an invitation to visit your website. This is a great way to end an email as it gives the reader something to think about, which is much more effective than a simple ‘reply’ email.
Customise For Mobile
As smartphones grow in popularity and people rely more heavily on them for email, it’s important that your email looks good on all screen sizes. Designing an email that looks good on a 6-inch tablet is significantly different to designing an email that looks good on a 3-inch phone screen. So, it’s important to spend a little bit of time thinking about what displays best on smaller devices and how you can customise your email for the best viewing experience, regardless of the device type.
Use Short And Sender’s Name
If you’re writing to somebody that you don’t know, you usually need to add the name of the person you’re writing to at the beginning of the email. However, when you’re writing to somebody that you know, you can simply shorten the name and eliminate the “To:” prefix, which makes your email more succinct and easier to remember. For example, if you’re writing to Tim to introduce yourself, you can shorten that to “Tim” or “Tims”. Research has shown that using shortened names makes people more agreeable to receiving messages as it suggests that the sender is a familiar and/or trusted entity. So, by simply using Tim’s first name and shortening the line, “To: Tim,” you’re making it simpler for him to find your email.