Understanding Cold Email Marketing

Does the phrase “cold email” make you flinch? Does it make you think of junk mail or spam? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Cold emailing gets a bad rap that causes a lot of business owners and marketers to avoid it completely.

But in reality, a cold email is not the same thing as spam (at least it shouldn't be) and is not, by nature, intrusive.

Alas, despite the validity of this marketing technique, some people still consider it a no-no. There are a couple of reasons behind this: For one thing, most people don’t quite understand how to do cold emailing the right way and unfortunately, some people purposely do it the wrong way, essentially abusing it.

Ultimately, the negative connotations associated with cold email marketing are unfair and many of the assumptions are untrue.

Before we answer this question, let’s talk about what cold email marketing isn’t. It’s not spamming people. It’s not filling up unsuspecting victims’ inboxes with useless emails. A cold email—when done correctly—is not spam.

By definition, a cold email is an unsolicited email message sent to a receiver with whom you’ve had no prior contact. Okay, admittedly, the definition makes it seem a little spammy. But understand that cold email campaigns should be highly targeted, aimed at leads who have shown interest in your type of service or done business with a company akin to yours.

The unfavorable alternative to a highly targeted campaign is the “spray and pray” method . This is when you send as many emails as you can, to whatever email addresses you can get your hands on, in the hopes of getting some sort of response. This method IS spam. Spray and pray emails (or any other type of spray and pray marketing) is not only shady business, it's a really efficient way to damage your company’s reputation.

Target only those who will benefit from your services

Cold email marketing only works when the recipients can benefit from the information you’re providing in your message. Every single email address on your target list should have a reason for being there.

For example: Your kitchen and bath remodeling company has decided to do a cold email campaign. You'll select your target audience by identifying people who might actually need kitchen and bath remodeling services. These could be new homeowners, people who have remodeled other areas of their homes recently, people who have commented on your social media feeds, or people who have received similar services from others in your industry.

You wouldn’t contact college kids or people who rent apartments, because they definitely don’t need kitchen and bath remodeling and won’t find any value in your emails.

Don’t waste time or risk damaging your reputation by contacting people who don’t need your services.

The more people you contact, the greater chance you’ll get a response, right? Seems logical. But in reality, that’s not actually the case. If you had two cold email lists to choose from—one contains 100 addresses of people who have previously shown interest in the product or service you’re providing and the other contains 1,000 random addresses, which do you think will be more successful? The list of 100, of course, because it‘s actually targeted to people who have already shown some sort of interest.

The focus of a cold email campaign should be the responses you receive, not on the people who didn’t respond. Build your email list with this in mind and choose contacts who are most likely to interact with you.

When done properly, cold emailing is most definitely an effective marketing tool.

In fact, 60% of consumers say they've made a purchase because of a marketing email they received. 60%, that's a big number!

And remember, cold email marketing is not a technique that's reserved for big name companies with gigantic mailing lists and expensive targeting applications. Cold emailing is actually quite affordable and is very scalable, making it an excellent option for local businesses. With a relatively low time and money investment, you can produce big results.

Don’t be discouraged by marketers who complain about low email open rates or no interaction from cold email campaigns. Choose your target audience wisely and you’ll reap the rewards.