Obviously, the actual answer to your question can only be provided after looking at your actual campaigns, emails, etc.
However, as Director of Revenue for a SaaS company, I do tend to get a lot of cold emails. 99.9% of those I ignore, so I suppose I can tell you what doesn’t work based on that:
- Generic copy. This goes for emails and also LinkedIn InMail. You get a message that’s clearly been slapped together in 5 minutes, with no thought put towards who’s getting it. Nope. Lazy writing won’t cut it here.
- Self-centered. I’m totally okay with asking for a sale, but most of these emails are so inward looking it’s painful. From line one they’re talking about them, their business… Terrible. I don’t care about your business! Sorry. 🙂
- Pushy. Goes with the other two, but it deserves to be mention. Without any effort to establish a relationship, move for the sale. Again, I don’t mind being sold to, if you’re relevant and friendly. Usually, it’s neither.
Now, I do occasionally respond to emails. Here’s when:
- They did their homework. Once in a while, I get an email from someone that HAS looked my website, my LinkedIn profile and has tried to put themselves in my shoes. How do I know? They call out specific details, they mention problems I might be having and they’re courteous.
- There’s an actually relevant offer. One email I responded to was from chat service Drift, that offered to chat based on a quick analysis they did of our website. See, when someone puts in the effort, I can be nice.
You’ll notice these things are mostly copy related. I don’t have much experience with the technical side of cold emailing, but I have written tons of email copy and generally appreciate it when I’m target of a skillful email.
Take it as you will!
