Increase Your Cold Email Marketing Deliverability,
Open Rates & Conversion
What Is a Cold Email?
Cold email, similar to cold calling, is an email sent to a “cold” lead. It is usually the first touch point in a marketing campaign. Anytime you email someone you don’t know for a particular reason, it is considered cold emailing.
Why Are Cold Email Campaigns Effective?
Cold Email campaigns are effective if done correctly. This is where experience and proper campaign setup come into play. A marketing campaign is only as good as its message, coupled with how many people that campaign are able to reach with that message(This assumes that the target marketing list demographic is correct to begin with) If you setup your campaign improperly, or your message comes across “spammy” or “fake” or “sales-pitchy” you likely won’t get great results. An effective Cold Email campaign will be personalized, and will be short, sweet and to the point in order to generate interest and response. The opposite can be seaid about an ineffective cold email campaign.
Why Are Cold Email Campaigns Effective?
As mentioned above, an effective Cold Email campaign will be personalized, and will be short, sweet and to the point in order to generate interest and response and consists of multiple touch points. Each email in a campaign will have a specific intent and a campaign is usually made up the those types of emails:
Unlike traditional Email Campaigns that you may be familiar with sending, through ESP(Email Service Providers) like Constant Contact, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, MailerLite and many others, a cold email campaign is usually spread out over a period of time. Whereas, traditional ESP’s send your messages in Bulk(this actually lowers deliverability and open rates). A good Cold Email campaign will generate a lot more responses than you are used to with traditional email marketing campaigns, so you want them to be spread out to give you time to develop rapport, and convert the lead to a sale.
Initial Cold Email
This is your initial outreach email and should be a short, personalized email that garners interest and response.
Reminder Email
This email is automatically sent a certain number of days after the initial email to those who have not taken action
Conversational Emails
These are the rapport building emails between you and your lead.
Service Offering
This is where you provide your value to your lead. This can be a product or service
Follow Up Emails
These are auto emails setup to go out after your campaign is complete to those who took an action.
Emails based on Actions
If a lead takes an action (or doesn’t) an email is sent based on that action or inaction. Example: A lead clicks a specific link in your email, a few days later you can send a specific email regarding that action. Alternatively, if a lead does not click a link, you can send an email that could remind them to check out the link, and so on.
Campaign Results That Matter
Can I just Use My Current Email Service Provider?
Maybe, but you shouldn’t and here’s why: Traditional ESP’s(Email Service Providers) send your emails in bulk, using shared IP addresses(some allow you to purchase dedicated IP addresses). By sending in bulk, and using shared IP addresses, the chances of your email hitting the inbox are significantly lower. Even with a dedicated IP address, you need to go through the lengthy process of warming up that IP address so it develops a good sending reputation. When you are using an ESP with shared IP your deliverability relies on the reputation of their IP’s that are shared with hundreds, thousands, or even 10’s of thousands of other users, which means if they send messages that are marked as spam, it affects you as well. This is why Cold Email campaigns are best sent from your actual email using a 3rd party application that acts similar on the front end to a traditional ESP, but actually sends emails from your own account, using your good sending reputation. Large email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc., need to ensure high delivery rates to their users and are constantly making sure their sending IP’s have good reputations. This is one of the keys to Cold Email Marketing Campaigns
Other Factors To Consider:
- Most ESP’s don’t allow for Cold Marketing. In fact, they may ban you for sending cold emails. If you upload a list to them, they may require verification before letting you send. If they don’t and you send cold emails and get low open rates, their system will flag you and require further verification or you’ll simply be banned.
- Plain Text Emails vs Image Heavy Templates: Plain text emails without photos, and minimal links have better delivery rates to inbox vs landing in promotional tab or spam folder. Additionally, a cold email should be a personal email, and shouldn’t contain a bunch of images and links to begin with.
- Tracking Links: In order to track if a recipient opened a link you sent them, a special code or link is embedded into the url automatically. Your email deliverability will actually be better, the less tracking links you use because services like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc recognize that mostly marketing emails use tracking links and their filters take this into consideration when determining how to treat your email.
- Email Verification: Make sure the emails you are sending to are recently verified to avoid too many bounced emails. This is important in keeping a good sending reputation and there are many online tools out there that will verify a large list of emails and make sure they are valid (up to 99% accuracy). It is recommended to verify all your email lists before sending an initial campaign, as well as from time to time to ensure good list health.
- Domain Authentication: To ensure highest delivery rates, there are DNS settings that can be made to your domain that help authenticate your email with the receiving email provider. These are simple, yet very important and can be the difference between many of your emails landing in the inbox, or spam folder. Examples of these settings are SPF, DKIM, DMarc Policy. WIth these in place, the receiving email service knows your email is authentic (meaning it was sent by you and isn’t being spoofed in order to send phishing attacks etc) Whether you are using email marketing to send Cold Emails or not, this is one of the simplest ways to increase your overall email delivery and open rates.
What to Expect
Here is what you can expect from a good Cold Email Campaign:
Increased Email Deliverability
Increased Open Rates
Increased Click Through Rates
Increased Response Rates
Increased Conversion Rates
How Much Does It Cost?
We charge a flat monthly rate of $99 which includes access to the marketing application itself, as well as a small cost per email sent for setting up and managing your campaign. Below you will find a spreadsheet outlining our pricing structure based on emails sent per month:
EMAIL MARKETING COST
| Emails Sent | Monthly Fee | Cost Per Email |
|---|---|---|
| < 5000 | $99.00 | $0.025 |
| 5001-10000 | $99.00 | $0.020 |
| 10000-1500 | $99.00 | $0.015 |
| 15000-20000 | $99.00 | $0.0125 |
| 20001+ | $99.00 | $0.01 |
Still Have Questions?
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