Before we go in depth with the formulas, please remember that cold emails are not emails sent to people who have never interacted with you and did not give you their email addresses. Buying email lists does not qualify as cold emailing – it is simply spam and it will get your business penalised in the long run.
Cold emails are your first sales approaches to people who are receiving your newsletters and reading your blog, but have not shown any inclination to make a purchase so far. Or, maybe, you have obtained their email addresses during a public event and they accepted communications from your business.
At any rate, these people are at the point of not being familiar with your products and ready to make a purchase. But this situation will change if you use the right approach in your cold emails. Today we will share with you the top five formulas which work extremely well in terms of generating qualified leads for your business.
- The “I Value Your Time” Formula
This approach shows respect for your recipient’s time and will earn you goodwill from the start. Knowing that you are aware how busy they are, people will actually make a little time to read what you have to say.
The contents of this email should be concise and point out to a key benefit of your products which solves a common problem among your prospects. Include a link where the prospect can:
- Learn more
- Subscribe for a trial version
- Request a demo
At this point, your purpose is to make your prospects familiar with your product. This short formula is ideal to plant the seed in the prospects’ minds that there is a solution to their problems.
- The “No Strings Attached” Formula
When people are under no obligation to do something in return for receiving something, they are more than willing to reciprocate. With this formula, you offer useful advice in the form of an ebook or an online tutorial, or any other type of freebie you consider adequate.
At the end of the email you ask them to do something in return – subscribe for more product news, leave a rating for your business, share the email with their friends, etc., adding very clearly that this is not a condition for receiving the freebie. They can take action or not, that does not impact the availability of the freebie.
- The “Before after Bridge” Formula
This formula is very popular in sales newsletters, and it works for cold emails as well. You are practically starting by telling people what problems they have. After this paragraph, you will continue with a scenario in which they are problem free.
The bridge is the solution you can provide through your products and services. For maximum effect, keep this formula concise – one short paragraph for each of the three elements, plus the CTA at the end.
- The “Free Help” Formula
Instead of a freebie, this email formula will offer your prospect the chance to obtain a free answer for one of their problems. By offering to share a little of your expertise for free, you are hitting two points at the same time: you encourage the prospect to reciprocate and you establish your position as an expert and win their trust.
- The “Star, Story, Solution” Formula
Everyone loves stories, especially those with a happy ending. This formula uses this precise approach: it tells the story of a character (it can be yourself) who was facing a problem similar to your prospect’s problem. In the end, it all worked out just fine thanks to the solution you are ready to offer them.
Avoid being overly dramatic in the story part, but try to agitate your prospects’ feelings and make them identify with the star and their worries. This will make the solution stand out more obviously as the way out for their own problems.