Cold email reply rates suck...and I'm an email lead gen business.

[Jimbo123]

Hi,

So Im a freelance appointment setter that uses cold email for B2B saas companies to get demos for them.
Just started up. I charge 20 bucks per appt cus I have no case studies, these guys ARE my testimonials.

The campaigns went live on Monday and Ive only sent 60 emails cus its early in the campaign to avoid spam.
I have a 50-60% open rate which is very good compared to benchmarks. Issue is I have zero responses of any kind.

Was wondering if you sales gurus could cast an eye over the copy, which is where Im missing something. I follow the 3 Cs according to Alex Berman, a cold email king. Compliment, case study, call to action (a soft call to action). This is targeting decision makers in the cosmetics niche

The copy is:

"Hi {{FIRST_NAME}}

(Compliment, e.g. love your work with xyz business to smash their web traffic by 35%, congrats on the promotion by the way)

Reaching out because I have an idea that I can explain in 10 minutes that can get {{COMPANY}} its next 100 best customers. It helped cosmetics brands like (relevant competitor company) improve their web traffic by 35% using digital agents and gaming features, wanted to know if {{COMPANY}} is interested in similar results to compete with the cosmetics industry

Sound interesting?

p.s if you reply to this email, we can send you a nifty tool (on the house) that shows how much potential revenue you could make."

end. I send follow ups in the sequence 3, 6 and 12 days after respectively. zero response.
Cold calling these folks tomorrow. wish me luck. im gonna get that 20 bob per appointment.

 

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[KiwiEC]

Hi,

From my experience as a sales, cold mailing is an interesting but difficult tool to use.

Go straight to the point. Your first sentence is the one who will make the prospect decide if he keeps reading or if he clicks on the Trash icon.

Getting a compliment from a stranger is not what I would use here. People don't care if you, a stranger, liked or not their work.

Follow the simple path of "Who + For Who + Value". All of this in one sentence.

I am a freelance partner of [Name of the SaaS] who specialized in [Domain/Job of your prospect] to bring people [Main benefit from the product].

Then you can develop in a few sentences, keep it short, about how you can help. Be concrete and affirmative ("I have an idea" is not a good start, people will think they are facing someone who does not have an existing added value, and they have no time for this).

I would recommend to read one book about copywriting when you have time. It is always useful to understand how the game works.

Later on, you can use ChatGPT to get DRAFTS. It is just about getting some inspiration.

Keep in mind cold mailing will always be a low conversion strategy.

 

[wyattnorton]

I get most of my leads from follow-up emails.

Sent every 2 days. Use Streak.

Follow-up is usually:

"Are you against us adding 5-10 new clients each month?"

Keep second follow-up short.

Also give them an opportunity to opt out.

Reply no if you're not interested

 

[TCMorgan]

Hi,

So Im a freelance appointment setter that uses cold email for B2B saas companies to get demos for them.
Just started up. I charge 20 bucks per appt cus I have no case studies, these guys ARE my testimonials.

The campaigns went live on Monday and Ive only sent 60 emails cus its early in the campaign to avoid spam.
I have a 50-60% open rate which is very good compared to benchmarks. Issue is I have zero responses of any kind.

Was wondering if you sales gurus could cast an eye over the copy, which is where Im missing something. I follow the 3 Cs according to Alex Berman, a cold email king. Compliment, case study, call to action (a soft call to action). This is targeting decision makers in the cosmetics niche

The copy is:

"Hi {{FIRST_NAME}}

(Compliment, e.g. love your work with xyz business to smash their web traffic by 35%, congrats on the promotion by the way)

Reaching out because I have an idea that I can explain in 10 minutes that can get {{COMPANY}} its next 100 best customers. It helped cosmetics brands like (relevant competitor company) improve their web traffic by 35% using digital agents and gaming features, wanted to know if {{COMPANY}} is interested in similar results to compete with the cosmetics industry

Sound interesting?

p.s if you reply to this email, we can send you a nifty tool (on the house) that shows how much potential revenue you could make."

end. I send follow ups in the sequence 3, 6 and 12 days after respectively. zero response.
Cold calling these folks tomorrow. wish me luck. im gonna get that 20 bob per appointment.

First and foremost - great work taking action and sending emails. Too many people don't even get that far. I've sent thousands upon thousands of cold emails, and while I won't claim to be a guru or "cold email king," I'm confident in saying I have a good sense of what works.

The reason you're struggling to get replies is that in 2023, everyone and their mother use the 3 C's method. The second your prospect opens that email, they know it's a sales email. And not just any sales email, a low-effort, dime-a-dozen sales email. I'm not saying you're not putting in effort, but rather it's perceived as low effort. And that will be an instant turn-off for your prospect.

When you're crafting a cold outreach campaign, you should consider that there is a busy human being behind that email address and decision-maker title. How would a human being see what you're writing? What could you say that would make this email the best use of their time? Something I've developed over the years is called the PEACE Framework. It's a cold outreach start-to-finish framework that stands for Permission, Explanation, Appointment, Connection, Endgame. Your first touch should ask for Permission to take an action. To share an insight or a piece of content. You want the very first ask you make of your prospect to be as low-impact for them as possible, so they can get into your email, say yes, and get out.

In the context of your outreach process, this might look like:

"Mr. Prospect,

If you would benefit from knowing exactly where your next 100 customers would come from, the same way (competitor company) found theirs, can I send over a quick 45 second video explaining where we'd find them?

Thanks,
Tate"

Framing the exact same context (the competitor and the result), but asking for permission to provide more information. You just need them to say YES.

The second letter in the PEACE framework stands for Explanation. When your prospect says YES, you're sending over the video, as promised, and asking to set an appointment to dive deeper and see if the product would be a good fit.

A, C, and E happen at the same time. During your Appointment, make a Connection, and reach your Endgame. Get them on an intro call, connect with them and prove how your product provides a solution to a problem they have specifically, and either close the deal or move them to the next stage in the buying cycle (whatever your endgame is, here).

And of course, as others have mentioned, the money is made in the followup. But it's a lot easier to follow up on "can I send you this quick video," than it is to follow up on "sound interesting?" The former provides a framework for the interaction. I say yes. You send video. The latter is open ended. I say "Yes, sounds interesting." then what... you pitch me, we waste time with more emails, we jump on a pushy cold call, what happens? If your prospect doesn't know exactly what will happen after responding to your email, they won't respond.

Wrote a bit of a novel here ha. Hope this helps!

 

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