Cold emails are the first impression you will make on your prospects. You need to make it last, not be your last. A lot goes into crafting the perfect old email, and it’ll probably take a few tries before you get it right. And then there’s the matter of doing it right at scale. 

Replicating your successes and best practices across all your lists and prospects. And make sure that your meetings keep flowing in. It isn’t easy by any means. And there’s no quick fix to writing the perfect cold email. 

BUT..here are 10 cold email tips you can (and should) do with Outplay to write cold emails that convert. 

What is cold emailing?

Cold emailing is a marketing and outreach strategy where individuals or businesses send unsolicited emails to people they have had no prior contact with, hoping to initiate a conversation, build a relationship, or promote their products or services. 

Cold emails are typically used for lead generation, sales prospecting, networking, and introducing new products or services. However, they can be challenging because recipients may perceive them as intrusive or spammy. To increase the effectiveness of cold emailing, it's essential to personalize the emails, target the right audience, and provide value to the recipient.

Is cold emailing illegal?

Cold emailing is not inherently illegal, but whether it is legal or not depends on various factors, including the laws and regulations of the country you are operating in and how you conduct your cold email campaigns. Here are some key considerations:

  • CAN-SPAM Act (United States): In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act sets rules for commercial email messages. Cold emails require accurate header information, a clear and conspicuous way for recipients to opt out of receiving future emails, and a legitimate physical address. Additionally, the subject line and content of the email must not be deceptive.
     
  • GDPR (European Union): In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to processing personal data, including email addresses. Suppose you are sending cold emails to individuals within the EU. In that case, you must have a legal basis for processing their data, and you may need to obtain explicit consent before sending marketing emails.
     
  • Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): Canada has its anti-spam legislation requiring recipients' consent before sending commercial electronic messages, including cold emails.
     
  • Other jurisdictions: Many countries also have commercial electronic communications laws and regulations. Researching and understanding the rules in the countries where your recipients are located is essential.
     
  • Opt-Out mechanisms: Regardless of the specific laws, most regulations require that cold emails provide recipients with a clear and easy way to opt out of receiving further emails. Honoring opt-out requests promptly is crucial to staying compliant.
     
  • Deceptive practices: Sending deceptive or misleading cold emails, using false information, or engaging in spamming practices can lead to legal issues and damage your reputation.

Adopting effective strategies for cold emailing is advisable to ensure that your cold email campaigns adhere to legal guidelines and maintain compliance. In the next section, we'll delve into specific cold email tips that will help you stay within the bounds of the law and enhance the overall effectiveness of your outreach efforts.

10 cold email tips for a higher conversion rate

1. Add meaningful personalization

Did you know cold emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% greater chance of being opened? And over 50% of email receivers won’t do business with companies that don’t personalize their emails. So you know how much is at stake. 

So, how exactly can you infuse your emails with those personal touches? 

With Personalization by Outplay, of course. This incredible feature lets you do a bunch of things. Once you’ve selected your prospect and added your subject line, you can leverage Outplay’s Personalize Panel to get all you need to make your email more relevant and compelling. 

If the prospect is already in your system, you’ll get context about their designation and business. If not, you can also explore your LinkedIn prospects to understand their interests better. 

Once you have your attributes set, you can leverage Outplay’s AI to generate relevant, personalized text for your mail. Or you can do it yourself. It just got much easier to write cold emails that get read - and acted on.

Personalize

2. Make your emails more engaging with videos

Sometimes, a video might do a better job of communicating with your prospects than a vanilla email. Inserting a robust, relevant, and engaging video into your cold email might be what clinches the deal. 

Data from Vidyard shows that 76% of sales reps saw better open rates when they included videos in their cold emails. With Outplay’s bidirectional Vidyard integration, you can seamlessly embed videos from your library or record a new one - in just a click or two and watch your performance metrics shoot up. 

Outplay-Vidyard integration

3. Make data-backed decisions by tracking performance metrics

Speaking of performance metrics, tracking the performance of your cold emails is essential to see what works and do more of that. Outplay makes it easy to track if your email was opened and if your CTAs or links included in the email were opened. 

Click and open metrics are available by default for every mail you send in Outplay. With this data, you’ll know which of your cold emails are finding their mark and which need to be scrapped and reworked.

Track click and opens

4. A/B test all elements of your email

Another data backed to improve the success rate of your cold emails is A/B testing. With Outplay, you can segment your list into two A/B test different variants of your cold email copy. 

Once you have a winning - i.e., the one with better clicks and opens - you can get rid of your ‘loser’ variant to maximize your success. You can test everything from your subject line, the length of your copy, and the actual content. Remember to test one variable at a time to pinpoint the exact element that works.

A/B test email

 5. Leverage proven templates

Once you’ve pinned down the cold emails that work for you, templatize them. And make them accessible to the rest of your team to use as a base or a guide. Successful templates are hard to come by. So when you’ve got them, use them. 

Outplay lets you do just that - templatize your best-performing emails to amplify your conversion rates. And that’s not all. Outplay even has a template library with proven templates thousands of salespeople use. So your team can experience similar success.

Outplay cold email templates

6. Be on point with timing and scheduling

It isn’t just content that makes a cold email work. Like most things in life, timing is everything. Getting the timing right on your cold email impacts the chances it’ll get read, especially when inboxes are crowded. 

Outplay helps you nail your scheduling..and automate it! With Outplay, you can schedule your sequences for specific weekdays (studies recommend Thursday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in that order) and time frames. 

By scheduling sequences, you can ensure that your sequence emails reach prospects when they are available for business. In fact, with Outplay, you can set sequences to detect prospect time zones, if available, and send emails accordingly.

Auto schedule with Outplay

7. Leverage AI to create your first draft

This is almost a bonus—a magical AI-powered bonus from Outplay. You must craft a gazillion cold emails daily, which can be time-consuming. Outplay has a fix for that. 

Outplay’s AI email writer uses your prompts about the prospect and intent to generate a whole email draft for you. There’s no replacement for the experience of a sales rep. But there is assistance. With AI, you can generate a solid draft in mere seconds. And with your magic and extra flourishes, you’ll have a winning cold email faster than ever. 

Outplay AI email writer

8. Score and improve your email copy

There’s always room for improvement. As we said before, you have to try and test so many templates before you figure out what works. But Outplay has a more precise way to improve your cold emails and get them to convert. 

Outplay's Email Assistant is a powerful tool that analyzes your email language and provides recommendations for improvement. The Email Assistant scores your email out of 100 based on over 20 factors like email length, subject length, word count, reading time, and readability. 

It even evaluates the tone of your email and provides suggestions to make your sentences more compelling and persuasive. 

Outplay email assistant

9. Preview your emails before you send them

To create the perfect email, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your ICP. Understand their challenges and speak to their specific needs. You know that, and you’re researching before creating your draft. But remember to take this to the last mile. Before you send out your email, preview it to see exactly what your prospect will get. 

With Outplay, you can do just that. You can see your email in all its glory, with images and attachments and whatnot - exactly how your prospect will see it when (and if) they open it. With this preview, you can sort out any formatting issues, revisit the length, or be inspired to create a level-up version.

Outplay email preview

10. Make scheduling seamless and hassle-free 

Speaking of last, one way to up those conversion rates is by making it super-easy for high-intent prospects to reach or book a meeting with you. 

If your email targets prospects likely to book a meeting or a demo, it’s the most important email you’ll send. So you need to ensure it’s completely seamless for them to book a meeting right then and there. With no back and forths (you are NOT risking them changing their minds).

With Outplay, you can embed your calendars right inside your email. This will show your prospects all available time slots and let them book a meeting per their preference. That’s one step closer to a closed deal right there.

Outplay meeting scheduler

Elevate your cold email success with Outplay

And there you have it – a comprehensive list of ten cold email tips that teams globally leverage Outplay for, enhancing the efficacy of their cold emails, securing more deals, and amplifying sales. 

If you aspire to join this exclusive league and explore the potential of Outplay, we're excited to offer you a tailor-made demonstration. Witness firsthand how our platform can revolutionize your outreach efforts, streamline your processes, and deliver remarkable results. 

Take advantage of the opportunity to experience the impact of Outplay's capabilities in boosting your conversion rates and driving business growth. Connect with us today for an insightful and personalized demo session that could be your first step toward cold email success.