🐼 Stop repeating the mistakes
Discard that exploited template… Start afresh.
Heyaa
Have you ever paid attention to unsolicited cold emails? Yes, those “We can help you improve bla bla bla?" emails.
Do you read them? Like mindfully, word-by-word?
If you do, you'll have noticed most start with a bland, generic “I hope this email finds you well.” And you both know they say it just as a formality. All they want for you is to take their service (whether you're well or not).
But you continue reading them out of courtesy.
They write who they're, what they do, and why they're approaching you. They ramble for two thick paragraphs proving their credibility and experience.
By now, you realize you have a project deadline looming, and you don't care what the sender wants. So, you quickly skip to the next email with another cheesy subject.
You read 3-4 more such emails; on a slow day, maybe 5. Then you go back to your business... ignoring the rest. Out of the 100, you probably reply to five.
Still, when you're sending a cold email to a prospect, you wish to get replies from all. Isn’t it ironical?
So, what can you do?
Stop repeating the mistakes. Stop repeating what your prospect has seen 3647 times already.
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OK, back to my story…
What you can do is to discard that exploited email template… Start afresh.
You might think your templated message is unique, but let me break it to you: it’s not. There are billions of others using some form of a template.
You can’t do the same things and expect different results.
Yes, think about it.
Why will someone even open an email if twenty other emails have a similar subject line, pitching a service? They might read your message at random. You're hanging on to pure luck.
And in case they open your email and read it, why should they even reply if your email is no different from others? Me Me Me emails can’t win anyone a dream project.
No one cares if you have 10 years of experience in copywriting if you can’t convince even your prospect with that cold email copy. Your prospect won’t believe that you can cater to audience needs if you haven’t researched the needs of that prospect.
What you can do is craft each email to their exact needs. Draft an email that arrests their interest.
Normal template emails can’t do that. But… you can always create one that shows your personality while attending to their needs.
Here’s one that I did recently. Took me five minutes.
Subject: Hey, first-name, wanna read my 20-sec pitch for site-name blog?
Body:
Hey hi
How's site-name performing on Google? Want to improve blog ranking?
More than keywords, you need to focus on your audience's search intent. I can help.
I'm Abhijeet, a content writer/marketer. And I write relatable, conversational and user-friendly articles. Here's my portfolio: portfolio-link
By hiring me, you get a writer who:
understands principles of readability
knows content marketing and repurposing
takes care of search engine optimization
Should we discuss a possible collaboration? A one-assignment test run?
What do you say?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for reading so far.
Enjoy your day. :)
Did this email get me replies? Nopes, I didn’t use it. These were my raw thoughts. But I used parts of it for the few colds I sent. Each a different one.
“Hey ABC, want to scale XYZ’s blog?”
“Hey ABC, let's make XYZ blog a 360-deg knowledge base for PQRs”
“Hey ABC, how are things at work?”
… and so on.
While the content flow was different, I still used a variation of I'm Abhijeet, a content bla bla bla. By hiring me, you get a writer who bla bla bla. Should we discuss a possible collaboration? A one-assignment test run? And bla bla bla.
I might not get a reply with the introductory email. The goal is just to stand out. Will need to follow up a bit, 2-3 times at least, to get a foot in the door.
It’s possible that they won’t reply even after follow-ups. But at least I won’t have regrets that I didn’t try and experiment enough.
And you do not copy my template. If you want to, do it at your own risk.
What works for someone might not work for you. I even don’t reuse my templates often. I like to mix and match old ideas and create something new.
That’s all for today.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.