Cold Emails: Multiple questions/asks reduce reply rates by 26% (Lavender)
Here's a simple way to increase cold email reply rates
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The cold email game right now is all about reducing friction. The more mental effort your prospect has to exert—the less likely they are to respond.
The most common cold email mistakes are:
⛔️ Too lengthy
If you keep emails around 50-75 words, you'll get an 83% boost in reply rates (Lavender).
⛔️ Not easy to skim
If you keep paragraphs to 1-2 sentences max, the email is way easier to skim. You only have ~10 seconds of your prospect's attention (Statista) once they decide to open your email.
⛔️ Multiple CTAs
If you limit to one ask, you'll get a 26% boost in reply rates (Lavender). Have a case study to share? A link to check out? Asking for a meeting? Asking for interest?
You can always send another email. Only make one of those asks per email.
⛔️ Asking open-ended questions
These are great for cold calls, but terrible for cold emails. Open-ended questions will cut your cold email reply rate in half (Gong).
Make questions easy to answer.
âś… What this looks like in action
Sales leaders—this is a great way to spot check your reps' cold emails:
- Under 75 words
- Easy to skim, short paragraphs
- ONE Call-To-Action
The problem with the email in the image is that it's asking me two questions:
1) Do I want to see a case study?
2) How do I generate new business?
Here's how they could have rewritten this email to get a response from me:
▶︎ Email #1 ◀︎
Hey Jason,
A client of mine (David, also a coach/consultant) added another $100k to his Q1 by leveraging case studies to drive more qualified inbound leads.
Mind if I send over the insights to you?
Caleb
P.S. If nothing else, you'll get a few ideas on how you could leverage your work with Rippling and Gong to get more clients
▶︎ Email #2 (bump) ◀︎
Here's the case study.
Caleb
▶︎ Email #3 (bump) ◀︎
Curious, looks like you're primarily running webinars, podcasts, and using LinkedIn to attract new customers.
It doesn't look like you feature your clients much in the content.
Would it be worth a quick chat if I showed you how to leverage your case studies to drive more qualified inbound leads?
Caleb
_____________________
Lesson here: Spread your emails out. You don't have to share everything in the first email. Keep it simple with one ask per email.
What feedback do you have for this cold email?