10,000 Cold Emails Later, I Finally Cracked the Code

(and You Can Too)

Author

Nick Verity
June 15, 2024

Read time: 3 minutes

Welcome To The Clever Letter!

Every Saturday, we’ll share an actionable lead generation guide that’ll help get your first (or next) 100 customers so you can take your business to the next level. This newsletter will remain Free forever. We hope you enjoy!

At Cleverly, we’ve helped 7,500+ customers book 153,000+ sales calls with cold outreach. If you are struggling to grow your business, click here to learn more about how we can help.

Sick of cold emails that ghost you faster than a bad date?

I feel your pain.

After a year of sending 100 cold emails a day…

I cracked the code on what actually gets responses (and results).

Ditch the cringey templates and spammy tactics.

I'm sharing the no-BS strategies that turned my inbox into a lead-generating machine, so you can finally stop wasting time on outreach that goes nowhere.

Ready to turn those cold leads into hot prospects?

Let's dive in.

Build relationships first, make sales later.

Stop pitching in your first email.

Instead, build relationships.

Send a quick note:

  • Sharing something helpful

  • Commenting on a recent article

  • Congratulating them on recent news

And then just ask:

  • "Is there anything specific you need help with?"

  • "Is there anything more I can do to be helpful?"

Don't follow-up with a sales pitch until at least the second email.

Then, qualify via email:

  • "Given our recent conversation, what does your timeline for this look like?"

  • "Would a call next Monday at 2 PM work?"

  • "Do you see a fit for this project in your next quarter?"

And if they say "no," that's okay:

  • "Can you recommend someone else?"

Remember that people buy from people they like and trust.

And the best way to establish that is by building relationships first.

Personalization is key to standing out.

Make them feel this in your cold emails:

"Wow, this doesn't read like a cold email."

Here's your secret weapon:

Personalization.

  1. Study their LinkedIn profile

  2. Browse their website/YouTube channel

  3. Look for personal attributes

  • Recent projects they're passionate about

  • A big software launch they did

  • Do they love dogs?

  • A recent book launch

  • Their favorite podcast

  • An obscure foreign language they studied

  1. Segment your research into groups

  2. Create an email sequence for each group

  3. Write in a conversational tone

  4. Send & track your open rates

8 out of 10 cold emails bombed because:

  • You - write to too many people

  • You - write in too corporate a tone

  • You - pitch too much too soon

Give up the boring tone. Give up the high pressure tone. Give up the "I don't care if I never hear back" tone.

Adopt the tone of a person who really enjoys connecting, who likes exchanges.

A/B testing subject lines is worth it.

Cold emails have a low response rate, but:

you can increase your odds by testing.

A/B test different subject lines:

  • Benefit driven

  • Problem-focused

  • Humorous

  • Shocking

  • Short vs. Long

  • Personalized

The results could surprise you.

Track the metrics:

  • Open rates

  • Click-through rates

  • Responses

Iterate on the subject line and try again.

Fine-tuning your cold email subject lines can drastically increase your email response rates.

And that response rate leads to more opportunities to sell, network and build relationships.

So, always be testing.

Focus on benefits, not features.

A feature is, "I have a marketing course."

A benefit is, "I'm going to double your leads."

Benefits have an emotional pull that features just don't have.

  • "Reduce your workload"

  • "Get your time and life back"

  • "More time with your family"

  • "More time to travel the world"

Benefits sell.

Features, just inform.

And before you hit send:

  • Edit and remove everything that isn't a tangible benefit

  • Eliminate filler words

  • Take extraneous words to a minimum

Start selling benefits in your cold emails.

Final thoughts

Whatever you want to do...

Remember that patience, hard work, and learning from mistakes are key to success in cold outreach.

It’s a numbers game.

Keep sending and the customers will flow.

Talk soon,

Nick

Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways we can help you:

  1. Cold Email Lead Generation - Get booked sales calls with your ideal clients on a pay-per-lead basis. You pay a fixed fee whenever you get a response from your ideal customer. Click here to learn more.

  2. LinkedIn Content Service - Want to build an audience of 10,000 engaged prospects? Get attention-grabbing LinkedIn content done-for-you that scales your personal brand and drives interested prospects to message you. Click here to learn more.

  3. LinkedIn Paid Advertising - Want to get in front of prospects you never thought possible? Our irresistible LinkedIn Ad funnels will help you grow your business rapidly. Click here to learn more.