A cold email is a letter that you send to someone who does not know about you and neither expects to receive anything from you. The first and most anticipated reaction to your cold sales email would likely be to move it to the Trash box or mark it as spam. Considering this, your only chance to persuade the recipient to open your message is to grab their attention on the spot with your well-phrased, witty, and appealing subject line.
Since it only takes the person about 3 to 5 seconds to decide whether they want to read your email, you need to try hard to make your subject line outstanding. Luckily, salespeople have plenty of tricks to boost the odds of getting their cold emails opened.
We will review the key do’s and don’ts of writing gripping cold subject lines. However, if you want to dig deeper and take a more scientific approach to the problem, feel free to check out the official Reply.io website and read their article about the 4 Cold Email Subject Line Formulas That Work – https://reply.io/subject-line-formulas/.
So, to the issue of what to do and not to do when writing a cold email subject line…
DO’S:
- Keep it concise. Many people are using their mobile devices to read emails nowadays, so there is always a risk of having your subject line cut short. If that happens, the odds of your email ever getting opened are near zero.
- Personalize. Emails are a one-on-one communication channel, so make your recipient feel like you are talking to them personally rather than just reaching out to another name on the list.
- Inspire curiosity. If you know how to write a subject line that feels intriguing and suspenseful, use this skill to win over the recipient. Curiosity boosts cold email open rates like nothing else.
DON’TS:
- Do not use clickbait/false prefixes. Relying on deceit (which is what you do when you use clickbait subject lines/false prefixes) is a path to failure and professional condemnation. The spam complaint rate for such emails is sky high, and your email deliverability will suffer a long-lasting blow.
- Do not go all caps or overuse exclamation points. Doing things like that is asking to have your email flagged as spam. Emails whose subject lines have too many exclamation marks or are written in Caps Lock receive incredibly low open rates.
- Do not be too formal or too salesy. Make your subject line accessible and relatable. Avoid using jargon and stick to a more conversational vocabulary.
