What is Cold Email? A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners in 2024 

Cold emails are unsolicited email messages, which means every time you send a cold message, to the recipient, it’s an unexpected conversation.

This is where cold emails become such a big challenge. Firstly, the marketers must ensure the “unexpected” email doesn’t turn into an unwanted message. Secondly, pitching a product/service without writing a sales pitch-y email. Thirdly, finding the right person at the right time. And, the list goes on.

Keeping the common concerns of beginner outbound marketers, here’s a detailed cold email guide.  

What is Cold Email

A cold email is an email sent to a recipient with whom you had no prior contact. Cold emails are mostly sent for sales purposes, targeting potential customers. 

Cold emailing includes creating a lead list of potential customers, creating personalized email sequences, and using a cold email tool to push these emails.  

What Is The Difference Between Cold Emailing and Email Marketing?

Cold emailing vs email marketing share the commonality of using emails as a means of communication, but they differ in their approach and purpose. Here are three major differences between the two:

Cold Email Vs Email Marketing

Audience Familiarity

• Cold Emailing: This involves reaching out to individuals or businesses with whom you have had no prior contact. The recipients are not necessarily aware of your brand or have not given explicit permission to be contacted.
• Email Marketing: Targets an audience that has already shown interest in your brand or has subscribed to receive emails from you. The recipients are typically part of your existing customer base or have willingly opted in to receive communication.

Permission and Opt-in

• Cold Emailing: This often involves sending emails to a purchased or sourced list of contacts who have not specifically agreed to receive communications from your business. This method can raise issues related to spam and may lead to a lower response rate.
• Email Marketing: This relies on the concept of permission marketing, where recipients have given explicit consent to receive emails from you. This is usually achieved through opt-in processes, such as newsletter sign-ups or account registrations.

Relationship Building

• Cold Emailing: Primarily focuses on initiating contact and generating leads from individuals or businesses that may not be familiar with your products or services. The goal is often to create awareness and interest from a new audience.
• Email Marketing: Emphasizes building and nurturing relationships with existing customers or prospects who have shown an interest in your brand. The focus is on delivering relevant and valuable content to maintain engagement, encourage repeat business, and foster brand loyalty.

Goal

• Cold Emailing: Primarily aims to initiate a new relationship, generate leads, or create awareness among a target audience that may not be familiar with the sender's products/services.
• Email Marketing: Often focuses on building and nurturing existing relationships, driving customer loyalty, promoting products/services to an engaged audience, and encouraging repeat business.

In summary, while both cold emailing marketing and email marketing involve using emails for communication, the major differences lie in audience familiarity, permission and opt-in practices, and the overall approach to building relationships with recipients. 

Cold emailing is more about initiating contact with new prospects, whereas email marketing is centered around engaging with an existing audience that has willingly opted in.

Why You Should Cold Email | Cold Email Success Stories

Cold emailing offers a powerful toolbox for marketers to achieve success, especially when resources or time might be limited. Here's how it empowers your marketing efforts:

• Targeted Outreach, Maximum Impact: Reach highly relevant prospects directly, bypassing the noise of general marketing channels.
• Lead Generation Powerhouse: Convert promising contacts into qualified leads, fueling your sales pipeline.
• Introduce Your Value, Spark Interest: Present your products or services directly to those who might benefit the most.
• Build Relationships From Scratch: Nurture connections and establish brand presence with potential customers.
• Cost-Effective Marketing Champion: Get significant returns without breaking the bank compared to traditional advertising.
• Scalable for Growth: Effortlessly expand your outreach as your business grows, reaching a wider audience efficiently.
• Data-Driven Personalization: Track responses, personalize messages, and optimize your campaigns for better results.
• Time-Saving Efficiency: Tailor and automate outreach efforts to free up valuable time for other marketing activities.

Five Element, a lead gen agency, booked twenty-plus meetings within the first 900 initial emails. They are a burning example of how outreach emails can bring significant results without spending a fortune. 

Another lead gen agency, Wind Growth, increased a client's potential annual revenue from $800K to $4-5M in just 1.5 months.

If done right, email outreach can take a business to unimaginable heights. 

Launch An Effective Cold Email Campaign - 7 Easy Steps To Follow

Sending cold emails requires careful planning and execution to be effective and comply with relevant laws and regulations. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to send cold emails:

Step 1: Purchase a Secondary Domain to be on the safer side

When reaching out to cold prospects through email, it's crucial to have multiple domains in your email infrastructure to minimize the risk of blacklisting and ensure better deliverability. For bulk contacts, it's advisable to limit the number of emails sent per address to fewer than 50. 

To mitigate risks, it's suggested not to exceed 3 email accounts per domain, preventing potential issues if a domain is blacklisted. Therefore, purchasing multiple secondary domains before initiating cold campaigns is a must.

To determine the required number of secondary domains for a cold email campaign, divide the total number of emails (you want to send) by 50 to get the needed email accounts, and then divide the email accounts by 3 to determine the number of domains.

Consider various factors such as price, registration duration, transfer ease, expiration policies, and additional services when choosing secondary domains. Reliable domain sellers include GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Hostgator, and CrazyDomains.

For convenience, set up 301 Redirects after purchasing secondary domains. Select an Email Service Provider (ESP) to create email accounts/addresses (mailboxes) and purchase domains. Gmail and Outlook are highly recommended ESPs for cold emailing due to their better deliverability. However, it's advised to avoid using Zoho for cold email campaigns.

Step 2: Complete Your Technical Set-Up

Technical setup is crucial for successful cold email campaigns as it ensures proper email authentication, reducing the risk of emails being marked as spam. MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records enhance deliverability, while email forwarding centralizes responses. A well-configured setup enhances credibility, improves inbox placement, and helps maintain efficient communication throughout the campaign.

To set up the technical aspects for sending cold emails, first, focus on email authentication protocols:

MX (Mail Exchange) Record

MX (Mail Exchange) records specify mail servers responsible for receiving emails on behalf of a domain. They point to the mail server hostname and include a priority value, determining the order of preference if multiple mail servers are listed.

Follow the links below and follow the instructions for MX record setup. 

• Gmail MX Record Setup
• Zoho MX Record Setup
• Outlook MX Record Setup

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) Record

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records prevent email spoofing by specifying authorized mail servers for a domain. They contain a list of approved IP addresses or hostnames, helping recipients verify the legitimacy of emails sent on behalf of that domain.

Go to the links below and follow the instructions for SPF Record setup. 

• Gmail SPF Record Setup
• Zoho SPF Record Setup
• Outlook SPF Record Setup

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) Record

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records enhance email authenticity by associating a domain with an email. This involves publishing public keys in DNS, allowing recipients to verify that the email was genuinely sent by the domain owner, and ensuring message integrity and origin authentication.

Go to the links below and follow the instructions for DKIM Record setup. 

• Gmail DKIM Record Setup
• Zoho DKIM Record Setup
• Outlook DKIM Record Setup

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) Record

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) records specify how a recipient's email server should handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks. They also provide a reporting mechanism for senders to receive feedback on email authentication failures, enhancing email security and deliverability.

Go to the links below and follow the instructions for DMARC Record setup. Before you do the Gmail DMARC setup, read this. 

• Gmail DMARC Record Setup
• Zoho DMARC Record Setup
• Outlook DMARC Record Setup

Next, set up email forwarding in Gmail and Outlook to direct all the emails in one place. 

Email Forwarding 

Email forwarding is a process that redirects incoming emails from one email address to another. Cold email marketers redirect email messages from multiple accounts and forward them to specific emails automatically to designated recipients.

Email forwarding is vital for successful cold email campaigns as it centralizes responses, ensuring efficient communication. This setup prevents missed opportunities, delays, and confusion by consolidating all replies and inquiries in one place, streamlining the outreach process, and enhancing campaign effectiveness.

Read How To Automatically Setup Email Forwarding in Gmail, Outlook & Namecheap for step-by-step process. 

Step 3: Connect Email Accounts to a Cold Email Tool

Once you’re done with the technical setup, connect your email accounts with the cold email tool you’ve subscribed for. 

For convenience, subscribe to a cold email software in which you can add bulk email accounts too. 

In Smartlead, you can add bulk email accounts in just a few steps. 

Read Bulk Add Email Account to get the technical steps. 

Step 4: Warm Up the Email Accounts

Warming up email accounts before sending bulk cold emails is crucial to establishing a positive sending reputation. Tools like Smartlead come with an in-built ramp-up feature that gradually increases warm-up email volume, builds trust with ISPs, mitigates the risk of being marked as spam, and improves overall deliverability for successful email campaigns.

Smartlead uses an advanced system that replicates authentic user interactions through actions like sending, opening, saving from spam, and replying. By emulating genuine user behavior, Smartlead’s warming-up feature helps you establish a positive reputation for your email account.

It’s recommended to initiate the warm-up process by sending 5 emails per day per account, gradually increasing with a ramp-up of 5 and aiming for a 30% reply rate. After two weeks, one can escalate the warm-up volume to 40 emails per day per account, targeting a higher 70% reply rate during outreach. 

The maximum recommended warm-up email volume is 50 per day, maintaining a reply rate below 60%.

Here’s a step-by-step process of warming up email accounts. I am using Smartlead to demonstrate the process. 

• Open the cold email software (here, it’s Smartlead) and go to the “Email Accounts” tab from the main menu. 

• Next, click on the email address you want to warm up.

• Once you’ve opened the email account, go to the warm-up tab.

• Now fill in the configuration details. Switch on the “email warm enabled”. 

• Fill in the “total number of warm up emails per day”. If you’re just starting, we recommend starting with 4-8 warm-up emails per day. After two weeks, you can increase the warm-up volume to 20-30 emails per day per account.

• Next, switch on the “Daily Rampup” button. It will naturally progress the number of emails you send each day. It will prevent jump-scaring the recipients' ESPs with bulk messages. 

• Next, set the “Randomise number of warm-up emails per day”. It’s the maximum number of emails that could be sent via this email account per day. Start with as small as 4-8 warm-up emails per day and increase gradually. 

• Set the reply rate for your warm up emails. Start with a target reply rate of 30%. After two weeks, you can increase the warm-up volume to 20-30 emails per day per account, with a higher target reply rate of 70% when engaging in outreach.

• Last step: set a custom warm-up identifier tag. 

****The warmup tag identifier in Smartlead.ai is a unique 2-word phrase assigned to each mailbox in your account. This identifier helps to filter out warm-up emails effectively.

• Now, enable the auto-adjust warmup/sending ratio and click on the “Save” button. This is how you can warm up an email account. If you have used the warmup service before, click the “Update” button.

Track the performance of the email warmups from the metrics dashboard to see if there are any deliverability issues. 

In Smartlead, once you click on a Mailbox from the “Email Accounts” Section, click on the Overview tab to see email warmup progress data. 

In this dashboard, you can see how many warmup emails were sent, how many landed in recipients’ inboxes, and how many warmup emails were saved from spam folders. 

For example, in the above image, you can see that  11 warmup emails were sent, out of which 9 warmup emails landed in the inbox and 2 were saved from spam.  

You can also check the Inbox vs. Spam score to understand what percentage of your emails are landing in the primary inbox.

Step 5: Create a Lead List

A lead list for a cold email campaign is a thoughtfully curated compilation of potential recipients aligned with the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This list comprises contacts targeted for cold emails. Email finding tools are commonly used by marketers to construct and refine these lead lists.

Creating a successful lead list for cold email campaigns requires careful planning and the utilization of various tools and strategies. You can streamline this process by using Smartlead, as it comes with native integrations with a popular email scrapper like Clay. In Addition, Smartlead offers integration with another popular SaaS platform, ListKit, which offers verified B2B lead lists. Finding a tool in which you can both create lead lists and send cold email campaigns will save you time and money. Check out Smartlead to try to build lead lists using the Clay integration and send cold email campaigns. 

Alternatively, databases such as Apollo.io serve as extensive repositories of customer information, including industry details, contact information, company size, locations, and performance metrics. Filtering and searching through databases help identify potential customers aligning with the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Step 6: Craft Email Sequence

Email sequences are like nurture campaigns, sending targeted messages over time. Here's how to build them effectively:

• Set SMART Goals: Identify what you want recipients to do (e.g., generate leads, promote a launch).
• Know Your Audience: Segment your list and personalize messages for better engagement.
• Structure Your Sequence: Plan a logical flow with an intro, valuable content, and a clear call to action (CTA). Space emails out strategically.

While crafting email sequences, prioritize these best practices: personalize with merge tags, offer value (inform & answer questions), write compelling subject lines, ensure mobile-friendliness, and include clear CTAs. Finally, track and analyze for continuous improvement.

Follow-Ups

Although study shows 80% of sales take place between the 5th and 12th follow-up emails, I recommend limiting to sending only 3 to 4 emails.

Keep a healthy interval between each follow-up email. Refrain from sending too many follow-up emails. At Smartlead, we follow the below routine. 

• First follow-up - 2 days after sending the cold email
• Second follow-up - 4 days after sending the cold email
• Third follow-up - 5 days after sending the cold email
• Fourth follow-up - 7 days after sending the cold email

Things to keep in mind when crafting a cold email

Short, Plain Text Emails Only: 

Craft concise, plain-text emails under 150 words If you have similar leads, you can even create a template or use an AI email writer to automate a lot of these repetitive emails. For initial outreach. Steer clear of images to prevent spam triggers. In follow-ups, consider adding images once the inbox is accustomed to your email address, keeping paragraphs brief for readability.

No Links: Avoid including links in cold emails, as prospects often view them as suspicious. Refrain from adding any URLs to enhance trust and encourage engagement without triggering spam filters.

Add Unsubscription Text, Not Link: Include unsubscription text at the bottom, such as "Please respond with 'not interested' if this isn't for you." While GDPR compliance may require an unsubscribe link, encouraging leads to reply directly can boost response rates and improve deliverability without relying on a link.

Avoid Spam Trigger Keywords: Steer clear of spam trigger keywords and all caps in both the subject line and email body. Opt for a conversational tone to align with Natural Language Processing algorithms. Use Smartlead's "spam checker" to identify potential issues and refine the email copy accordingly.

Step 7: Launch the Cold Email Campaign

A cold email campaign typically consists of a targeted list of prospects and an email sequence. It also includes personalized content, segmentation based on recipient characteristics, and analytics for tracking performance and optimizing outreach efforts.

Tips for Launching a Successful Campaign

• Limit sending to 36-50 messages daily per email address. 
• Establish only three mailboxes per domain and maintain 5 to 10 domains per workspace/tenant. Monthly mailbox rotation is essential; for instance, use domains A, B, C one month and D, E, F the next. 
• Move unsubscribed leads to a global DNC to halt future messages. 
• Ensure a bounce rate below 3%. 
• Track only 1/10th of sent emails, and include the unsubscribe link in header tags, even if present in the email body. 
• Avoid sending cold emails to personal Gmail accounts.

How to Launch a Cold Campaign Using Smartlead

To launch a campaign, it’s a must to use cold email software. Here’s a step-by-step process to do it. I am using Smartlead to show this process:

• Upload the Lead List in CSV Format: Log in to the cold email tool you’re using, and click on “Email Campaign” from the main menu. Next, go to the “Add Campaign” option. 

• Upload the lead list directly in CSV format or import it from the CRM if you’re using any. 

• Write the Email Sequence: In this step, you write the email body and subject line, and set the follow-ups for your cold email campaign. 

• On Smartlead, there’s a “spam checker” that displays the words or terms that are likely to alert spam filters.

• Do A/B Testing: A/B testing allows you to test different subject lines, different email copy, different opening lines, or calls to action analytically to see which combination of the subject line + body + offer gives you the best positive reply rate. To A/B test in Smartlead, one can click on the “add variant”.

• Set Follow-Ups: Even though you’re sending bulk messages, it’s important to follow up to get the best results. On Smartlead, click on the “Add step” option as shown below to set follow-up emails. 

• Choose Sender Accounts & Set Campaign Settings: Once done creating the email sequence, choose the email accounts you want to send from and set the campaign settings. Divide the total number of emails by 50 to get the approximate number of email accounts you need. 

• Track the Metric: After launching the campaign, track the metrics. 

Here are a few metrics that you must track in a cold email outreach campaign:

• Open Rates: You can monitor the percentage of recipients who open your cold emails. A high open rate indicates effective subject lines and initial engagement with your content. 
• Click-Through Rates (CTR): Track the percentage of recipients who click on links within your emails. CTR reflects the level of interest and engagement with your call-to-action or linked content.
• Reply Rates: Measure the percentage of recipients who respond to your cold emails. A higher reply rate indicates successful communication and interest in further interaction.
• Bounce Rates: Monitor the percentage of emails that were not successfully delivered to recipients. A low bounce rate is essential for maintaining the sender reputation and ensuring emails reach the intended audience.
• Spam Rates: Keep an eye on the percentage of emails marked as spam by recipients. A low spam rate is crucial for maintaining a positive sender reputation and avoiding deliverability issues.

It’s recommended to not track or rely on track on open rates outreach emails. 

Conclusion

Cold emailing is the quickest channel to generate new leads, close deals, and 5x your ROI. All you need to do is have a clear idea of your buyer personas, cold email infrastructure, and strong outreach software.

Try buying a software like Smartlead that lets you send 10000 emails at once or more without affecting deliverability. 

FAQs

1.  Is cold emailing still effective?

Absolutely! Cold emailing remains a powerful tool for marketers and businesses to reach new audiences, generate leads, and build relationships. While some inboxes might be crowded, targeted cold email sequences with valuable content and clear calls to action can still cut through the noise and achieve impressive results.

2.  How often should I send emails in a cold email sequence?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but generally, a sequence shouldn't exceed 5-7 emails spread out over a few weeks. Sending too many emails too frequently can come across as spammy. Here's a good rule of thumb:

Initial Email: Introduce yourself and your value proposition.

Follow-up 1 (2-3 days later): Briefly re-engage and offer additional value.

Follow-up 2 (5-7 days later): Address a potential pain point or offer a helpful resource.

Optional: Follow-up 3 (1-2 weeks later): Express appreciation for their time and offer a final chance to connect.

3.  What should I do if someone unsubscribes from my sequence?

Respect their decision and remove them from your list. However, you can consider sending a separate "unsubscribe confirmation" email thanking them for their time and offering an option to stay connected through a lower-frequency newsletter.

4.  Is it okay to buy email lists for cold emailing?

Definitely not! Purchased email lists often contain inaccurate or irrelevant contacts, leading to low engagement and potential spam complaints. It's crucial to build your email list organically through website opt-ins, lead magnets, and other permission-based methods.

5.  I'm worried about cold emailing coming across as spammy. How can I avoid that?

Here are some key practices to avoid spam filters and maintain a professional image:

• Personalize your emails: Use merge tags and tailor content to specific needs.
• Offer genuine value: Focus on providing helpful information or solving problems.
• Maintain a clean email list: Ensure recipients opted-in to receive your emails.
• Comply with anti-spam laws: Include an unsubscribe option in every email.
• Avoid spam trigger words: Steer clear of excessive exclamation points, all caps, or misleading subject lines.

By following these best practices, you can create effective cold email sequences that generate leads, build relationships, and achieve your marketing goals.