Sure, cold email is hard right now.
But dude, we gotta stop playing the blame game.
It's not because of poor deliverability rates. It's not because of spam filters. And it's not because people don't use email anymore.
It's because your email probably sucks. You use copy/paste templates. Sending the same emails to multiple people with different jobs.
And not personalizing.
What do you expect to happen?
Alright, rant over. Let's talk about what to do about it.
Lesson today: Make sure your emails are "mobile ready."
Lavender 💜 has some great data on cold emails:
- Prospects are 8x more likely to open emails on their phone
- Short and mobile-optimized emails see 83% more replies
- Emails under 50 words get 60% more replies than emails with 150+ words
If your emails aren’t short and mobile-optimized, you will not likely get a response.
- Word count: Keep emails under 75 words
- Mobile ready: Use short, 1-2 sentence paragraphs
The basic formula looks like this:
✅ Reason: Why you’re reaching out to the prospect
✅ Problem: Speaks to the prospect’s potential problem(s)
✅ Social proof: References relevant work with similar companies
✅ Call-To-Action (CTA): Speaks to prospect’s priorities and problems
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Example #1: A company that sells electronic document capture software to clinical operations leaders
Subject line variations:
- FAPI
- Startup timelines
- FDA approval
Hi Frank,
Reason 👉 Saw that you just got FDA approval to proceed with the Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitor (FAPI) clinical trial.
Problem 👉 As you launch this trial, we usually hear that manual paper systems and Excel databases create extra work that could delay startup dates.
Social Proof 👉 We’re helping operations leaders capture trial data more easily to shorten startup timelines to under 4 weeks.
CTA 👉 Worth a quick chat?
Jason
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Example #2: A company that sells software to help contact centers reduce incoming calls
Subject: Interconnection cost reduction
Reason 👉 Saw the announcement of the interconnection cost reduction initiative, Anne.
Problem 👉 Usually, that means there’s a focus on reducing incoming support calls and pushing customers to self-serve. Support leaders oftentimes run into challenges knowing which digital investments are actually deflecting calls.
Social Proof 👉 We helped Constellation dramatically reduce cost to serve by finding the sources of increased call volumes.
CTA 👉 Can I share those insights with you?
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You can't get away with mediocre cold emails anymore.
Tighten up your message. Optimize for mobile. And invest more time to improve your copywriting skills.