Cold emails might sound, well, cold. Impersonal. Spammy.
But if you write personalized cold emails that show your personality, they’re actually a great way to connect with other bloggers, start a meaningful conversation, or get more traffic to your blog.
Why Use Cold Emails?
You’re a blogger. So why use cold emails? Isn’t that for marketers and salespeople?
Yes, people use cold emails for selling their products and services. But it can also benefit you, and for two reasons: networking and guest posting.
The blogging world is a friendly community. From what I’ve seen, two bloggers who have similar blogs will often get along very well. They’ll comment on each other’s blogs, encourage each other on their content, and share the other’s posts online.
Instead of viewing other bloggers as competitors, try to learn from them.
And the most direct way to connect is through email.
You can also use cold emails to get guest posts. Guest posting can help a whole new fanbase. Plus, it can get your name out there and even get your blog a backlink.
You might not think cold emails work, but that’s probably because you’ve seen people do it wrong. If done correctly and with personality, cold emails can be a powerful networking tool.
The Cold Email Study
When statistics support an idea, it’s difficult to ignore it. Stats can tell us what real people actually do, and that can inform our blogging decisions.
And when it comes to cold emailing, the numbers are for it.
EveryVowel’s Jon Youshaei and Contently’s Shane Snow did a cold email test to see if this method was useful.
They sent 1,000 cold emails to professionals they found online. Out of the 707 emails that arrived successfully, 45.5% of them were opened.
You might be wondering what the big deal is. Not even half?!
Let me put that number in perspective. The average open rate for mass emails is about 16-22%,according to stats from ConstantContact and MailChimp.
Snow and Youshaei’s open rate was about twice the overall average. How did they do it?
They say it was all thanks to personalization.
“Tactics for optimizing sales emails are well and good,” Snow writes. “But they’re not as important as personalized research and sender/sendee fit.”
There are plenty of things you can do to optimize your cold email. But knowing your recipient is the most important thing.
“The point is that though the common advice about the little things you can do to optimize cold email is all moot without one thing — personalization,” write Snow.
Okay, so personalization is the key to a successful email. But how do you personalize your emails?
How To Personalize Every Cold Email
Personalization clearly can work well. So let’s dive into how you can do it the right way.
Use their name
This is the most obvious way to get personal. People love when you use their name, both in-person and in writing. Using their name shows them you’re not just spamming people. You actually found them and want to hear from them.
Mention their accomplishments
To go a step further, do a bit of research on the recipient. Find something cool they’ve accomplished and mention it in the email, preferably right at the beginning. Congratulate them, say how cool you think it is, or how it probably helped people.
If you can’t find anything they’ve accomplished, thank them for something they’ve shared online. Actually check out what they shared and cite a specific thing from the content.
Introduce yourself
After you’ve given them a compliment, introduce yourself. If you’re trying to be personal, then you have to tell the person who you are, right?
Just make it short and to-the-point. For example, “I’m a blogger who writes about [TOPIC] and has [MENTION YOUR TOP ACCOMPLISHMENT].”
Tell them why you’re emailing
Now it’s time to tell them why they’re reading your email. Why are you emailing them? To start a conversation? To get a guest post? Just to connect?
Be upfront and tell them the exact reason you’re emailing them out of the blue.
Ask for a response
Regardless of your reasons, you want to connect with the recipient. You want to start a conversation, and a conversation is not one-sided. Ask them a direct question so they know how to respond.
Friendly farewell
Your sign-off and signature is a small thing, but don’t overlook it. Leave a good taste in the recipient’s mouth, like a “Thanks,” “Take care,” or “Look forward to hearing from you.” Then put just your name — no links, no social profiles, no quick sales pitch.
Keep it personal.
How To Show Your Personality In Email
Personalization is important, but so is your personality. And you should show your personality in every email. Remind the recipient that you’re a real human.
Ask them about their interests
Just like in real-life conversation, ask them about their interests as it pertains to your email. The call-to-action (your main question) in your initial email could be, “What are some good blogs for [NICHE TOPIC]?” or “What’s your blogging process?”
Sound as natural as possible
Before you send your email, read it out loud. Does it sound like something you’d say? If so, you’re accurately showing your personality.
Actually listen to them
If and when they respond, actually listen to what they’re saying. Don’t just be focused on what you want out of the interaction. Listen and try to add value.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator: The Personalization Tool
You might be wondering how to find the right people and how you can do research on them. There’s one tool that makes this super easy: LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Sales Nav is a premium account with features that help you get personal with your leads. And Advanced Search is the best tool for this.
You can use the Advanced Search to find fellow bloggers using the many different filters.
The filters you can search by include:
- Job title
- Industry
- Location
- Professional background
- How closely you’re connected on LinkedIn
- If they’ve been mentioned in the news recently
- And many other filters…
This means you can easily and quickly connect with bloggers in your industry.
After you find them, you can add them to a lead list. Within your Sales Nav account, go to Lists → Lead Lists and click the “Create Lead List” button. From there, you can use an email finder tool to get the emails you’ll need for cold outreach.
Every time you find someone on LinkedIn you want to contact, add them to your lead list. This bookmarks their profile, making it easy to keep track of who you need to cold email.
