Why No One’s Responding To Your Cold Emails
The following is an excerpt from The Predictable Revenue Guide To Tripling Your Sales:
Your new email mantra: “simple to understand, easy to answer”
W
e’ve seen hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of cold emails sent, from all kinds of companies, from tiny startups to $20 billion+ behemoths.
Whether you’re writing “direct” (straight to a decision maker) or “referral” email, or anything else… here’s why no one responds:
- Your Emails Are Too Long: Try ones that are 300-500 characters, or 2-4 sentences.
- Your Emails Are Confusing: Don’t list more than one or two features / offers / benefits / ways you can help. Avoid jargon – how SIMPLE can you make your language? Try for 3rd grade reading comprehension.
- Your Questions Are Hard To Answer: If they don’t know you, people aren’t going to give you much mental energy. They won’t bother answering “too open-ended” questions like “what are your key marketing challenges this year?” Why should they?The easier you make questions to answer (“How many salespeople do you have?”), the more responses you’ll get. So – when you’re getting to know someone, cold questions should be open, but not too open.
- Your Calls To Action Are Vague: ”Let me know if I can help.” (Yeesh, what does that mean?) Don’t beat around the bush. Be clear & direct about what you’re asking for. Instead of “I’d love your feedback,” ask “When’s a good day this week for a 15min call to discuss…?” And no more than one question or call to action!
- Don’t Be Afraid To Followup On Your Followups: (Thanks Jessica Huang of SAP for that phrase!) Are you telling yourself, “Oh, I already emailed them” or “I don’t want to bother them.” Don’t be afraid to send more emails – more often they will thank you for the reminder.
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I believe in only have 2 sentences max when sending an email. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
I admit to being afraid to follow up too often as I don’t want to be seen as a pest. But the reality is, low priority responses get pushed off for later even if there was interest. A reminder, or two or three isn’t a bad thing when done right.
an excellent blog ….…an excellent article
.when we are in a rush to get a valuable patron and they don’t even acknowledge us even after consecutively reaching them, at times we would give up the enthusiasm.
I’ve been doing this for roughly 6 months now and track every statistic possible for my outbound emails. The best advice I can offer is DON’T BE AFRAID TO SEND A 2nd OR 3rd EMAIL IF YOU DON’T GET A RESPONSE THE FIRST TIME. My response rate is 5% higher on the second email, compared to the first email. 8 times out of 10, they will respond with “hey sorry I didn’t get back to you the first time blah blah blah”. You have to understand the world we live in – you probably aren’t the only one emailing that prospect so just ONE email isn’t going to stand out. You must be consistent and stay relevant. With that being said, make sure you’re not a pest. 1st email should be a brief intro, 2nd should be a “hey i’m just looking to connect” email and 3rd should be, what I like to call, a “break up email”. Good luck
Or….you’ve just sent it to the wrong person. God forbid your email is david@google.com. You’re probably getting spammed by every vendor/recruiter out there. SMTP verification is not enough.
This actually happened to me.
I’ve done that a few times. It actually resulted in closing a deal 😉