Email outreach is easily one of the most effective tools BD representatives have in their tool belt. With the constant noise and influx of messages in a prospect’s inbox, how can you stand out?

What is the trick to making a cold email outreach campaign successful?

What makes a cold email stand out from the other hundred emails prospects receive in their inbox?

According to The Radicati Group’s Email Statistic report, it’s normal for professionals to receive up to 126 cold emails every day! That’s beyond overwhelming. Working in BD, it’s your job to rise above the clutter to get your dream prospect’s attention. Follow these steps to increase your open and engagement rates.

Tip #1 - Your “From Name” is the most important

Located to the left of the subject line in the inbox, the “from name” is typically what the recipient looks at first to see who is emailing them, and can be a determining factor in whether the email is opened. According to Campaign Monitor, studies show that the “from name” is the most important factor of an email due to trust. Here are some “from name” tips that you should follow in order to stand out:

• Choose a name that is recognizable to your audience

• Don’t use a “no reply” address

• Use an email address registered at your organization's own domain i.e alexis@setup.us not alexis@gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc

Tip #2 - Get creative with your Subject Line

According to Woodpecker, subject lines heavily impact the open rate of your email, so it’s imperative that you choose a subject line that is engaging, yet honest. Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing a subject line:

• Don’t create a false sense of urgency: Outbound emailing is designed to build relationships and start conversations. It’s difficult to set that precedent when your email subject line is scaring your prospects into something. For example, a bad subject line would be, “Our meeting scheduled for xyz…” when you don’t have a meeting scheduled. Sure, that will cause a prospect to open the email out of stress or panic, but they’ll realize quickly that it’s a lie and likely have a negative reaction to you. It is best practice to be honest.

• A/B test your subject lines: If you want to have an idea of which subject lines are performing better, perform an A/B test. You do this by creating two groups of prospects, then send each group the same email with a different subject line to test which group has the higher open rate. Marketing automation tools like Salesloft or Hubspot offer A/B testing with comprehensive analytics to analyze your results and make changes.

• Be creative: Brainstorm some ideas beforehand, and think about what style would resonate well with your audience. You can have fun with this by adding emojis to your subject lines to make them stand out in a message. Just make sure to be conservative with their use because too many emojis can impact the deliverability of your emails. Adding emojis are also a great opportunity to try an A/B test to see whether they’re effective or not.

Tip #3 - Prioritize the content

After you’ve caught the recipient’s eye with the subject line, you want to be sure you are offering value with the content of your message. Since you’re reaching out to people who don’t know who you are, you should open the message up with a warm greeting. “Good morning [first name],” or “Good afternoon [first name],” are great ways to start a message. The colloquial term, “Hi [first name]” is also acceptable, but try to keep it from being too casual like using “Hey [first name]”. A tone that is seen as dismissive or too casual may be off-putting to the recipient.

For the content of the actual email, grab the recipient’s attention early. Avoid talking too much about yourself and, instead, showcase you understand your audience by acknowledging their pain points. Come up with messaging around their problem and how your product or service could be the solution. Structuring your email with an intention around the audience with the right personalization, value proposition, and call to action (CTA) is crucial to keeping your recipients interested.

• Personalization is key

When writing a cold email, it’s important to make the recipient feel like you are only talking to them. A good use of personalization is including their company name, resources that are helpful to the industry or role they’re in, and commonalities between the two of you (like you’re both alumni at the same school, both worked for the same company at one point, etc.). This will take a little bit of research on your end, but the added energy to acknowledge them as a person makes a difference.

• Value proposition

The value proposition answers the question, “Why?”. Why are you sending this person an email and how will it help them with their challenges? You want to focus on the challenges that they’re facing and how you can fix it. Focus on how you can provide the best solution for them.

• Call to action (CTA)

The CTA is the next step the recipient needs to take after reading the email, and is a great way to close out the message. Lead them to a page where they can schedule a call to chat or a link that takes them to a landing page with relevant information. For example, Setup aims to help connect brands and marketing agencies, so we sometimes end our cold email outreach with the following CTA: ”If you are interested in chatting about how we help brands like [Company Name] find qualified marketing agencies, please pick a convenient time for a 15-minute video call.” This CTA helps lead your recipient to take the next step.

Adding all these components to your cold email outreach will elevate your efforts to the next level. By centering the conversation around the recipient and solutions that benefit them, you are sure to see a spike in conversations.