Cold Email Effectiveness: Tips for Better Results

Email marketing is a supremely beneficial element of a managed service provider’s overall marketing strategy. Once you have permission to reach out to a contact via email, there are quite a few ways to use it to promote your business’ services.

One such way is through cold emails, but are they effective enough to bother with? Is there a more effective way you can send them?

The annoying answer is that it all depends.

What is a Cold Email?

In the simplest terms, a cold email is received from or sent to someone—for our purposes, a business—with whom you have not yet interacted. While CAN-SPAM does allow cold emails under very specific guidelines…

• No misleading subject lines
• Clarity and specificity in your “from” line
• Your business address is available
• There’s the option to opt out of communications easily

(NOTE: None of that is legal advice, mind you, but guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission support these statements and offer more information regarding what limits and restrictions your messages need to abide by.)

…it is still best to focus on creating a natural-sounding, personable email that presents what you have to offer in a more educational tone. That’s how you can ensure that your cold emails are as effective as possible, making them more than worthwhile to invest time in utilizing as a means of communicating with prospects and clients (along with many other potential uses).

Given this, let’s discuss a few ways to boost the effectiveness of your cold emails.

How to Write a Cold Email that Lights a Fire in the Recipient

Make It Personal

Or, in other words, do your homework. The more generic a cold email is, the less likely it is to be effective. So, take your time and research who you plan to contact. Who is it you plan to contact, specifically? Find out who would be the most promising person to reach out to and craft a message that is directed to them specifically.

This level of personalization helps communicate that you would value a relationship with the recipient, so make sure you research who you are reaching out to specifically and build some level of rapport.

Keep It Simple

When you reach out to your prospect or even one of your existing clients, don’t try to impress them with extra verbose linguistics, like I just did. Instead, introduce yourself, establish what you have to offer, and give your call to action, all with directness and clarity. Keep it direct, polite, and straightforward. If you have more to say, put it in a post-script.

Don’t Ask, Give

One of the worst things you can do in a cold email is make a request. Instead, you need to offer something valuable to your recipient. Share insights and best practices, make your messages entertaining but also professional, and be courteous and polite. Instead of asking people to share information or come to the office, offer them the opportunity to do so and make yourself as available as possible. This will help make your recipients more receptive to your messages and build crucial trust with them.

Be Ready to Follow Up

Here’s the thing… your cold email probably won’t convince your prospect to respond. That’s why it is so important to follow up with more after a few days, up to a week later, in a few additional emails. You may not get a response until a few emails, so ensure you are prepared beforehand. We recommend you have all your emails written before you send the first one.

We Can Help MSPs Make the Most of their Email Strategy

Reach out to us to learn more about our marketing services for MSPs all around the world. Give us a call at 888-546-4384.