Are you an entrepreneur, a business freak or a passionate B2B employee? Then, I guess you are aware of the potential cold emails have to generate leads and boost sales. [Ps. If still a greenhorn, check this out 😉 ]
What you might not know, instead, is that there are many other purposes you can achieve with this type of outreach. Indeed, cold emails are a real goldmine if well-structured and effectively managed!
I kinda had an Eureka moment when I realized it – like a sudden revelation of knowledge. Do you know that feeling?
…And being so thrilled about it, I really have to show you my latest discoveries 😉
So… these are 8 alternative ways you can use cold email marketing for:
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FEEDBACK:
Cold emailing can easily help young companies validate their business idea. Moreover, it’s cheap compared to other outbound tactics and market research.
Early on, businesses can use cold emails to ask potential clients/early adopters what they think about their solution. Plus they can check if their target group and business models are the right ones for their product/service.
If you are a going-concern business, you can also use cold emailing to test the waters before launching a new product or a new feature.
This is an example of how you could approach your contacts to ask for feedback:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I came across some of your comments and posts in the group on LinkedIn devoted to time managements – they are very helpful. And since I am about to launch a time management {{PRODUCT or FEATURE}}, I wonder if I can ask your opinion on it.
Would you be free for a skype call to talk about it?
Regards,”
Several companies decided to adopt this outbound tactic to get feedback, so far. Cloud your Car is one them. Indeed, they used this email marketing strategy and they managed to get massive information about their services.
In 3 months they were able to:
- get over 200 responses from different segments with a 13% average response rate
- receive tons of feedback about problems, competition, decision makers and industry itself
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RECRUITING ATTENDEES/ SPEAKERS FOR CONFERENCES AND MEET-UPS
If you wanna organize an event and you have in mind a specific target, you can approach them with cold emails.
Try something like this:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
According to tradition, we are planning our summer summit that will be held on 15th August.
This year the main topic will be [a topic] and it would be great to have you there as one of the speakers. After all, everyone knows you are an ace when it’s about it 😉
Fancy having a skype call so that we can discuss the details?
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon!
Regards,”
…And this is exactly how Lama Media succeeded in the organization of their conference project. They targeted publicon 2015 attendees and speakers, digital agencies and start-ups in the US to organize meetings with them during their stay in the US.
The results? They got a response rate of 36,38% and 57 positive responses.
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GROW YOUR NETWORK:
Yes, you can use this email marketing tactic also to build up new relationships. And I will tell you more… if you wanna networking, cold emails are one of the dominant channels to achieve this goal.
Indeed, it’s perfect if you have to find proper contacts for different business purposes.
Also Abstraction Games took advantage of cold emailing to extend the customer network. They got 16 new qualified contacts. That’s an impressive result, considering that they operate in the videogame industry – quite of a niche segment.
This is a cold email copy that can be used for networking purposes:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I’m [name] from [name of the company]. I saw on your website that [name of the company] deals with computer programming. At our company, supporting businesses like yours is our daily bread. We help them finding clients and generating leads. Check some of our case studies here (hyperlink) and judge yourself the results 😉
Do you wanna know how to dramatically boost your sales? Let’s schedule a Skype interview and I’ll show you how our service can satisfy your needs.
Best,”
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH VPs:
This is an essential step in the life of almost every business. At some point, if you want to boost your growth, you need to find investors willing to support you. Write down a list of potential investors and approach them with cold emails. It can be a great chance of making them like you – even when you don’t have people that can refer you.
Here is an example of how you could hit the bull’s eye with a proper cold email:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I’m [name], founder of [name of the company]. We are a start-up helping B2B companies finding clients and generating leads. I noticed you have already invested in [name of the company] so I thought you might be interested in our solution as well plus your expertise and knowledge of the field could give us a tremendous additional value.
Since last year we have grown by 130% (Check our spread sheet here) and we would love to go on keeping the same pace.
Would you be available for a Skype call to talk more about our solution and development plan?
Best regards,”
RECRUITMENT:
Cold emailing can be also really effective for finding new employees (especially, when it comes to IT specialists). Stalk potential candidates using Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or every other online platform which can help you find relevant contacts. Then, approach them with a personalized cold email to make a good impression. Remember: you will be able to grab potential employees’ attention only if you can offer something really valuable to them.
Check out this example:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I saw what you wrote on Quora about [topic] and I found your answer brilliant! You were able to tackle the topic in such an inspiring way!
I am the marketing team leader at [name of the company] and I think you would be the right person to give a breath of fresh air in our company.
Would you be free next week to learn more about what [name of the company] does and which benefits you can get if you decide to join our team?
Cheers,”
STARTING/ GROWING AN ONLINE COMMUNITY:
Indeed, when you aim at this goal, cold emailing can be a very powerful tool.
If you wanna launch a new community you can use cold emails to introduce yourself, to tell your contacts what you are doing and to talk about the benefits they can get from it.
“Hey, {{FIRST_NAME}}
I am [name]and I have recently set up an online forum focused on PC programming.
My shame! I stalked you on Linkedin and I found out you are a real computer geek. This is why I thought our [name of the forum] could be fun for you as well.
What about checking it out (hyperlink) and see if you like it?
Cheers,”
If you want to expand your actual network you can use cold emails in two ways:
- to approach potential users
- to ask current adopters if they can pass the word around for you and share your community with their friends. Give them a good reason to do so – try to be personal and involving – and you will immediately have the potential for exponential growth.
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
It’s time to grow at [name of the community] and we need support to achieve our goal.
We want to be the first [type of community] in Europe.You are one of the most loyal customers at [name of the company] and if we reach the next level, you will get huge benefits out of it.
Click here (hyperlink) to learn about the new features we are planning to design for [name of the community]. Sounds good, right? 😉
So why don’t you help us boosting our growth? Just invite some of your friends to join our community. This is all we need and all we ask for.
Cheers,”
CONTENT SPREADING:
B2B world is also about solidarity and cooperation. If you want to boost your content distribution, you can actually get help from your business peers. Use cold emails to get in touch with them and find touch-points to convince them to spread your articles/blog posts/knowledge on their websites. If it works, this cooperation can give you, at the same time, more visibility and it can help you establish a network fellow companies.
For this kind of purpose, the template should be something like the following email:
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I came across a great article on your website titled [title]. It was really inspiring to read as it’s tackling the topic from a completely different perspective!
Since you often write about [topic], I thought I’d reach out and share a [topic of the article] article that I think will interest you.
Check it out (hyperlink) and tell me if you think it will be a good fit for your blog.
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Best,”
FINDING PARTNERS:
If you wanna be more competitive on the market, you might decide to start a partnership with other companies. In this case, you can approach them using email marketing. Remember, to be honest and to show the potential partners the benefits they can get from a joint action.
“Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},
I am [name] founder of [name of the company]. We are a B2B startup helping companies finding customers and generating leads and we want to dramatically boost our growth by adding some amazing features to our service. Check out our performances here. (hyperlink)
When I saw what your company offers I thought “Bingo!” this is exactly what we need to provide an even better service.
I think this partnership could be a winning choice. So.. Can we schedule a Skype interview to clarify ideas and talk about more details?
Best,”
What’s next?
Now that you know all the potential lying behind cold email marketing, don’t you feel like giving it try?
- If your answer is NO:
Well, mate, you don’t know what you are missing!
Hopefully, reading more about the advantages of using email marketing will help you change your mind.
- If your answer is YES:
Yeah! That’s great news!
Just one hack before you start:
If you want to be successful, make sure you know how to write follow up cold emails and how to properly organize your email marketing campaign.
Indeed, cold emails can be a really powerful tool only if skillfully managed.
Ps. For more cold email templates check out this article. 🙂
