Alex Berman and Robert Indries
In order to achieve this, we need to put lead generation criteria in place. The first part of this process is to address a few points that are required in order to send effective cold emails. These are first and last name, email, website, company name, and the custom first line. Those five data points are all that you really need for each lead. All of this information can be found online, with the exception of the custom first line; you will obviously have to write that yourself! But in order to identify this information, we first need to define our target market. And there are three points that are required - we need to know a specific industry, job title and company size. (Location 1004)
To reiterate, a great cold email consists of five parts:
- Subject line
- Compliment
- Case study
- Call to action
- Email signature
Your subject line shouldn't be more than five words, and ideally two words. It needs to prick the curiosity of the recipient so that they absolutely have to click it. This is one area in which it’s fine to be clickbait! You want them to think about what it could be, but not be able to know without opening the email. (Location 1174)
But to make this as easy as possible for you, I'm going to give you our 10 top subject lines right now that have proven to be successful: ● Quick Question ● [Name], Quick Question ● Quick Question, [Company Name] ● <Relevant emoji> ● Question? ● Something for you, [Name] ● Interview Invite ● I’ve got a Story for You ● [Name] Recommended I Get in Touch ● Intro “Quick Question” is without a doubt the most effective subject line. But it’s certainly worthwhile to test some of the other examples out, as you may experience different results in your particular field. I should mention that the emoji-based example was because we were pitching to game developers - you should use something relevant to another industry. The emoji changes based on the offer and recipient, but you can play around with that and see what works for you. For example when we sold to breweries, a beer emoji worked well. (Location 1180)
An example of a custom compliment would be similar to the million dollar email script that we talked about previously: “I’ve been following Fuzz for a while, love your work. Awesome job with Rockefeller Center.” That's something very specific that shows you understand what the client has been doing. That's one example. Here are several more. ● Hey Dennis, huge fan of what you're doing at x.ai - we use it all the time internally. ● Hey Dennis, came across your thoughts on Google Duplex, it's interesting - I love your approach to company disclosure. ● Hey Dennis, been following your career since Visual Revenue, and I'm hugely impressed with what you've built at x.ai ● Hey Dennis, been following your story for a while and finally checked your LinkedIn, impressed that you have a patent. ● Hey Dennis, love that quote on your LinkedIn about Bjorn - it's amazing how you've incorporated that irreverence into your entire brand. ● Hey Marcy, greetings from a fellow UC grad! ● Hey Marcy, been following WPromote for a while now and impressed with your background.. amazing that you went from sales associate to director of marketing! ● Hey Marcy, love what you're doing at WPromote, especially the work you did with Pied Piper :-P ● Hey Marcy, huge fan of Zenni, so when I saw that you ran their campaigns I had to reach out! ● Hey Marcy, love the work you did with Weinerschnitzel. ● Hey Hayley, love everything about Golden Hippo, and am impressed with your background in IT. ● Hey Hayley, found you on LinkedIn and love what you're doing - amazing that you point out how critical listening is, I believe the same thing. ● Hey Hayley, came across Golden Hippo and love that quote from Alyssa on your website, it's impressive that you treat the QA team so well. ● Hey Hayley, saw you were hiring a business analyst, and wanted to reach out and say congrats on the growth! ● Hey Hayley, been following the Golden Hippo Instagram for a while, and love how you treat the IT team. (Location 1215)
Case Study The next part of the process is the case study. And a perfect example would be going back to the million-dollar email that we used at X27, which helped to generate $600,000 in annual recurring revenue in just 60 days and millions after that. Here is the case study included in that email: I specialize in finding new clients for web and app developers. Recently, we helped Dom & Tom - an NYC-based developer, bring on McDonald's and close an extra $1 million in six months. Here are some hypothetical examples: Recently, we helped Marvel Studios get 250,000 Twitter followers in two weeks using targeted Twitter ads. And another: Recently, we helped Palantir close $500,000 in new contracts in six months by using our brand guidelines and logo to increase their value. And yet another: Recently, we helped LinkedIn save $7 million on DevOps hires in 60 days by using our AI-powered recommendations. So we need to write something like that for your company. Here’s what to keep in mind: A case study is not just about flaunting numbers. Every word of the case study is engineered. And every word of the case study is important. It’s about demonstrating experience, instantly building authority, and curating the appropriate reaction from the recipient. (Location 1262)
Call to Action The next stepping stone in the process is the call to action. This is the easiest element because it’s pretty much the same every time. Before we go any further, remember that the goal of your cold email is to arrange a meeting. That's why every email ends with a “yes” or “no” question. “Mind if I send over a few times for a quick call?”, for example. (Location 1282)
The first example of a call to action that works is the ‘simple ask’. “Interested? Let me know and I can send over a few times to chat.” And the other we refer to as the ‘specific benefit’. This one is a little more advanced. “Can you take on more clients? Let me know. And I can send over a few times to chat.” The reason that the second one is more advanced is because of the first few words, which are customized to your exact offer, rather than copy pasting the same sentence as everyone else. (Location 1293)
Now, let's move onto scaling emails. During the first week, you should send 10 cold emails per day. You can then increase that by 10 emails every day for the first month, until you’re averaging 100 customized emails per day. All the time that you're doing this, you should be keeping track of the total number of emails that you've sent, including follow-ups. This will enable you to avoid hitting any maximum email limits imposed by Gmail or Outlook. (Location 1345)
My email for this simply says the following: Mark, Talk to you in five minutes! Here’s the link: <> Thanks, Alex (Location 1429)