So many men, so many minds. This law also works with outreach emails, when a wide variety of tactics is used in the pursuit of influencers’ loyalty and engagement. Naturally, they are all aimed at getting an answer, even if the audience is as cold as an iceberg in the ocean. However, the game is worth the candle, because partnership with big fish in your business sector pays dividends: brand awareness is growing, the base of both regular and new customers is enriched, sales are increasing, business is flourishing.
Try to answer yourself honestly: How many times have you sent a cold email to an influential person with an offer to cooperate and received silence in return? Perhaps, you offered your content to a well-known blog, but again there was a zero answer? Don’t worry, everyone goes through this until they get to know how to deliver effective outreach. In this guide, we will share the most effective methods that can provide feedback from people you are interested in, whoever they are: the Queen of England, the Pope, or the President of the United States.
What Is Email Outreach?
In simple terms, email outreach is the creation of communication with other people via email, where the main task is to promote certain content, get backlinks or create conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation with influencers. At the same time, it is a sheer stupidity to reach different people in the same way. In order to prevent it and not to drain the budget, optimizing content for various segments of the audience will not be enough. You will need the knowledge of the technologies that should be applied depending on the reach of the email, the characteristics of the target customer, and the outcome you want.
Why Is Email Outreach Important?
If your outreach email marketing has nothing to do with spamming, that’s half the battle already. A well-prepared email campaign is valuable and beneficial for the people you are sending it to. As a result, you get what you want. First of all, you need to do everything to make people want to receive your letters. Only in this case you will have key advantages in the form of:
- the best channel for creating and distributing the link material, because email marketing is still an ideal tool;
- strong and long-term relationships with iconic characters in your industry, which become profitable partnerships, long-awaited interviews, opportunities to participate in important events where you can promote your brand/product/service;
- the interest of the press and other informational channels in you and your product, which is likely to show itself after sending a targeted e-mail to a reputable journalist or the management of a popular TV channel.
However, before we get into the clever tricks of winning the hearts of influencers, let’s talk about the basic email outreach templates that become a real obstacle to success.
The Obstacles that may prevent you from Getting a Reply for email outreach
There are at least 4 things that cold outreach senders forget about:
- Correct goals – it is important to be clear about whose attention you are seeking and for what purpose. If your subject is irrelevant, and the likelihood that you will receive feedback is little to nothing, you should not hope for success.
- Stand out in the eyes of the assistant – remember, every influential person has a confidant, that is an assistant who takes on the function of studying incoming correspondence. Do everything to reach him. This will provide you with an admission ticket to the manager.
- Words are supported by deeds – great if you can get an interest in your letter and it has been opened for studying. Still, this will not make any sense if you cannot deliver your goods and sample products promptly, provide a visual demonstration of your ideas.
- Motivation – your ultimate mission is a reason to act and promote your brand or request; you should give this reason to your recipients in such a way that they will not only read your letter, but also take the steps that you expect from them.
Are you ready to move from reasoning to real action? Then catch the TOP 10 tips how to do outreach effectively.
Use Professional Email Address
Choosing the correct name for your email account minimizes the chances of your email ending up in spam or in an ad folder. With a professional email address, you can build a solid reputation as a competent specialist. While an established domain will increase the likelihood that your letter will be opened.
You should also remember to use the correct (better personalized) signature. The heading of the letter should include your name, company and title. The body of the email should include your phone number and website URL. This way you can be found quickly, and being acquainted with your brand or product will be accompanied by ease and accessibility. Thus, even cold outreach emails will turn into such a desired response.
Think of Appealing Subject Line
A beautiful and laconic subject line that beckons to open and read the contents of the letter is an important part of your business card. The way you present yourself will affect the future of cooperation. Use a couple of tried and true tricks, for example:
- recipient’s name – addressing by name increases the chances of the letter being opened and read by more than 20%;
- a bit of intrigue – you shouldn’t make the subject line 100% obvious, keep an enigma, the recipient will want to know what is inside, guaranteed.
As for the second trick, we recommend finding a middle ground between formal and informal presentation style, between brevity and vague, between emotionality and cold-bloodedness. Stick to a specific length for the subject line: 50 to 60 characters.
Make it personal
When creating cold outreach email, make your email personalized. As practice shows, such correspondence receives 30% more responses than usual. Address by name, apply the facts from the website of the person whom your message is addressed to. You can even compliment if appropriate. Additionally, use social networks or blogs of the respondent, where you can leave comments or ask questions.
Be substantial when writing
The main rule that you must follow unquestioningly is balance. You need to state your request, and you do not need to be stubborn and arrogant. Express your appreciation. Please note, one letter – one thought, one wish.
Use Appropriate language
When it comes to how to send a cold email, words play a crucial role. Use the full power of your vocabulary. At the same time, the email has to convey a deep informational message, it must be of value to the one who reads it. Sometimes visualization helps a lot in this matter. In cases, when words are not appropriate, use images, infographics.
Make it short
Brevity is the soul of wit. This rule works here as well, because a busy person hardly has a lot of time to read a huge petition. The fewer words you use, the higher the conversion is. Rely on effective 3-5-7 copywriting technology for your email, which means you have 3 seconds to attract attention, 5 seconds to captivate your reader, and 7 seconds to motivate him to do something. Here’s an outreach email example compiled by the Omni Papers that is capable of getting a response 75% of the time:
Send in Right Time
Marketing campaigns have maximum impact if they are run at a specific time. As numerous studies show, the best days to send email are:
- Tuesday;
- Wednesday;
- Thursday.
Optimal time: 6.00 a.m., 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.
However, there are many disagreements regarding that. A / B testing will help you find the perfect day and good time for sending an email.
Find Their Email Addresses by email finder
Sometimes it happens that finding the email address of the right person is very difficult. We recommend doing a little investigation. Typically, companies use the same algorithm for generating corporate email. Knowing the name and surname of your recipient, you can find several optimal options. A special Proofy online verifier will help to check their validity. The software has a user-friendly interface and high accuracy rates. All you need is to register and start using it. Moreover, the cloud platform provides 100 free credits to carry out checks.
Verify cold outreach emails by email verifier
Before starting cold outreach emails, we recommend using Proofy verification service. It does not matter if there is one mailing address, several or a huge number – it is always important to check their validity. By using the arsenal of verification options at the online platform, you will get the perfect list of valid email addresses, avoid hard bounces and ensure your emails get the best possible deliverability. In addition, the software operates online, so account verification is taking place at the moment. This way you get extremely up-to-date information about your contact base. To crown it all, the main advantage of Proofy is that your reputation as a sender is always in good hands.
Use (Your Own) email outreach templates
Cold outreach email templates prepared beforehand, come in handy, especially when you need to act quickly. Using these simple rules, prepare a few emails in store:
- all attention to the recipient;
- letter – short and sweet;
- you write relevantly and to the point;
- the main thing is to stimulate to action;
- you persuade, but do not demand;
- the letter has nothing to do with SEO and link building.
If you don’t have your own sample outreach email yet, you can take note of a couple of those that we recommend:
Or another option:
If you don’t get the answer right away, don’t panic. Wait a week or two, then write another letter like this:
“Hello, I sent a request for cooperation on 07/18/2020. Be so kind as to let me know when you can reach me!”
This approach works great. The main things are brevity and a thought line strictly to the point. You can also attach a copy of the first email to the second one so that the reader can immediately get up to speed and not waste time looking for your initial correspondence.
Outreach emails: final thoughts
When it comes to outreach emails, it is important to be yourself, and, at the same time, it is necessary to describe your issue concisely and make it sound “tasty”. Finally, we would like to advise you to use the “inverted pyramid” principle. This means that the key points of the message need to be placed in the header of the email, and then we write shorter and shorter.
You can also add links to your profile and page with the brand from popular social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Good luck!
