Cold Emailing: 4 Hacks To Warm Up Stone-Cold Leads

Do you have a list of cold leads languishing in your CRM? Dozens of potential customers simply left to gather digital dust?

Even after following all the usual tips like lightning-fast follow up, keeping it short and even ‘avoiding too many adjectives’ – you’ll always end up with a sad list of unopened emails and unanswered calls to action. The good news is these lapsed leads don’t have to stay cold forever.

Here are four little-known ways you can revive your communications, spark meaningful conversations and turn a once cold lead into a piping hot one.

Acknowledge the obstacle and give a way out

The average business user gets 97 emails per day, that’s a lot to deal with when you’re rushing to get through your work schedule.

It’s reasonable to assume a good portion of your cold leads simply didn’t have the time to get back to you or they’re simply not interested. You can prompt a response just by acknowledging this in your follow-up.

‘We spoke about setting up a quick call to discuss how [product/service] can [value proposition], but I haven’t heard back from you. I’m sure you’re balancing a dozen different things right now, so if it’s not a good time to talk or if you’re simply not interested, then I won’t bug you any further. On the other hand, if you are still willing to hop on a call, let me know what times work for you.’

It may seem counter-intuitive to even suggest a ‘way out’. But studies have shown that if you offer someone the freedom to say no, they’ll be twice as likely to say yes.

Remind them who you are

Just like with friendships and dating, if it’s been a while since you first spoke to someone, you’ll want to kick off your next conversation with a casual reminder of how you know each other.

Go through your previous interactions and start off your email with 1) How you’re connected, and 2) The last thing you spoke about. Doing this will quickly jog their memory from the first sentence so they’re inclined to read the next one.

To get your email opened in the first place, it’s worth noting that subject lines with questions in them get opened more often. Try something like, ‘Have 5 mins on Wednesday 7th?’ or ‘Still want to discuss next steps with [your product/service]?’

If you were already having a conversation with a particular lead and then the trail suddenly went cold, it’s a good idea to remind them why they initiated the conversation in the first place. For example,

‘We were talking about setting up a demo for you to see how [product] can help you understand your customer’s experiences better.’ 

It also helps to be specific with your value proposition. Make sure it’s something they actually care about and not just cheap talk like ‘increase growth’ and ‘boost revenue’. Go beyond the obvious benefit to avoid sounding salesy and generic.

End with a specific, easy-to-do CTA

As you know, the call to action (CTA) is one of the most important parts of your email. Ending your spiel with, ‘Thank you. Regards’, is never going to get you the response rate you want. Always end with a CTA, whether it’s to book a meeting, watch a demo, send you their questions, or redirect you to the right person.

To give your CTA a little extra weight, here’s an interesting tidbit for you. Turns out that people are more likely to do what you ask if you tell them exactly how to do it. That’s right, spelling out their next steps makes it seem like much less effort on their part (mostly because you saved them from mentally breaking down the task).

For example, take a look at these two closing statements:

• ‘Please let me know who is the best person to talk to about this opportunity.’
• ‘If you’re not the one I should be talking to about this, could you send me a quick reply with the name and email of the person who is?’

Even though they’re asking for the same thing, the second request seems less of a hassle. (You’ll find this tactic works in daily life too.) Essentially, the broader the ask the lazier people feel about doing it. So end your email with a straightforward, easy-to-do CTA and they’ll likely follow through.

Personalise, then hyper-personalise

If you’ve read our popular post on 6 Proven Tactics to Send Irresistible Outreach Emails, then you’ll know adding a touch of humanity and sincerity can make or break your email’s success.

It’s painfully easy to tell when an email is coming from someone who only had your name and contact information to go on. But if that’s honestly all you have, you can still catch your cold leads’ attention by using their details strategically. For example, you can inject their name into the subject line to get it noticed in their sea of unopened emails. You can then take it a step further, into what’s known as ‘hyper-personalisation’.

In this case, you can take something basic like their geographical location and tack it onto the subject line along with their name. This will look something like, ‘Hey [name], we have a special discount for entrepreneurs in Sydney. Interested?’

Even with basic information, you can still give your lead an impression of tailored content. Although, ideally, you have all the relevant information to work with. Say you’re pitching a SaaS to improve their social media marketing, wouldn’t it be useful to know which platform they’re currently using and what it’s limitations are? Simple data like this can be leveraged to let them know you understand their situation and can be of help – sparking an actual back-and-forth email conversation.

To capture useful data about your cold lead, like what technologies they use, their interests, which social networks they’re active on, and much more, sign up for a free Triggr account here or pick a date in our calendar to schedule a demo and get answers to all your questions.

You can then use Triggr along with these hacks to resurface abandoned trails and reheat stone-cold leads. Meaningful sales conversations await!