Mistakes in cold email strategy can be several. It can be an improper ICP, excessive follow-ups, grammatical errors, high bounce rates, vague subject lines, unidentifiable CTA’s, or even overly aggressive intent at times.
Reaching out to a mass target audience is harder. You craft a killer CTA, word a super-personalized copy, or set a niche target audience for your cold email campaign. But even a tiny blunder in between these may foil all your expectations.
We’ll discuss some of the most common email marketing mistakes that are widely made. In addition, we’ll suggest some of the better approaches to avoid these mistakes and implement better strategies.
What Are The Impacts Of Cold Email Mistakes?
As cold email campaigns let you start a conversation with your consumer, small mistakes hamper initiating that conversation. In such situations, getting optimal results from cold email campaigns is far-fetched.
There are specific outcomes as a result of such mistakes. Let us explore some of these outcomes for your better understanding:
Reduced Deliverability
When there are existing red flags in your cold email strategy or even the cold email itself, deliverability drops. If there are glaring mistakes in the email itself, chances are high that it will end up in the spam folder. In such scenarios, you’ll find it difficult to send emails to people who are even on your list.
Lower Open Rates
Even if you land in the recipients’ inboxes, you aren’t successful until the email is opened. There is a lot to do to make people open your cold emails, which involves a holistic strategy.
Across all industries, the global average is 36%, the last data as of 2024. But that’s not the same for specific types of businesses. If most of your emails aren’t opened, it will hamper engagement and affect the sales funnel in general.
Hampers Brand Image
Once your cold emails start landing continuously in the spam box, it gives a negative notion of your brand and the business. It suggests your domain is already on the spam blacklist. Moreover, it’s a massive drawback for any cold email campaign to succeed.
Compliance Issues
Certain mistakes make it harder to overcome, and not complying with proper cold email guidelines is one of them. If your cold email campaigns don’t comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, it will have severe impacts and may even result in penalties.
Further Reading- Effective Strategies to Send Bulk Cold Emails Without Getting Blacklisted in 2024
Top 7 Cold Email Mistakes That Are Often Made
Cold emails are more than just mere sales emails. It allows you to build a long-lasting relationship with prospects who have already been a part of your sales funnel.
However, Common mistakes in the cold email strategy and the email itself jeopardize your goal. We’ll discuss some of the most common cold email mistakes you should avoid further. Therefore, wasting no time, let us begin:
1. Wordy Subject Lines
Subject lines are the deal breakers for cold email campaigns. It decides whether the recipient would take a moment from their life and open the mail to go through it.
Now, if you use elements like “ Monthly Newsletter,” “Weekly Sales,” or even “Daily Offers” in your cold email subject line, it is likely to get ignored. An average user has heaps of such emails in their inbox and spam.
For an audience, whether they will open the email by reading the subject line is a matter of a split second. It should include three elements – self, emotional, and relational interest from the part of the audience. Unless you have these three elements in the line you are crafting, anyone will unlikely notice them.
Things to implement:
- Make the lines precise and short
- Include personalization
- Use power words to grab attention
- Avoid anything vague
2. Setting Wrong ICP
The cold email campaign will be pointless if you haven’t set your Ideal Customer Profile right. You should first understand the individuals you will target who align well with your product.
However, anything that is otherwise would result in lower engagement rates. If the targeting parameters under your campaign are unspecified or vague, it will give you zero to meager ROI.
The worst-case scenario is your cold email landing in the inbox of someone who doesn’t have any interest in your product or services. All your targeting efforts would be meaningless, and there are also chances of guideline violations that may result in penalties.
Things to implement:
- Review the profiles of existing customers
- Analyze what your competition is doing
- Focus on industry trends
- Align services with customer needs
3. Lengthy Email Body
Anything very lengthy is detrimental to the attention in the digital space. It goes the same in your messaging tactic when you sometimes use too many words or bring up irrelevant topics.
On average, you have less than 10 seconds to grab the attention after opening the mail. That means there is significantly less scope for you to be very wordy or explain many things. If you breach this 10-second threshold, the audience will unlikely be interested in reading what’s in the body.
Things to implement:
- Go for short and precise messaging
- Summarize the main message within 1-2 sentences
4. Not Including CTA
You have done everything right with your cold email. An engaging subject line to entice the audience to open the mail, a very personalized body, and target the proper parameters for the audience. However, in between these, you forgot to add CTA.
CTA’s are the element that prompts your readers to take the next step. Not including it makes it difficult or sometimes impossible for the cold email to meet its objective.
Things to implement:
- Before sending bulk cold emails, recheck the template to see whether it includes a CTA.
- Don’t overuse CTA’s; a single precise one is enough.
5. Using The Same Email Template
There are specific templates for different types of cold email campaigns. The templates vary depending on the objectives and goals of the campaigns. It is alright if you use them in your campaign.
However, if you copy something generic that has been overly used online, it will backfire. Such templates have a tone that is less humane and more AI-generated. By reading those, any reader will feel alienated.
Things to implement:
- Customize the template and add more personalization
- Read it aloud yourself and figure out whether it sounds human
6. Grammatical Errors
Poor grammar while crafting messages on your part can be a noticeable thing to the reader. It’s not an issue often, but you never know what type of reader you are tailoring your cold email.
More or less, sloppy use of punctuation and poor grammar give the vibe of unprofessionalism on the reader’s end. There are even chances such emails end up in the spam.
Things to implement:
- Try out online grammar checkers like Grammarly
- Read it at least three times before sending
Further Reading- Top cold email marketing software
7. Sending No Follow-Ups
Sending no follow-ups is the worst email marketing mistakes. Cold email campaigns must have a proper follow-up strategy. Only 2% of overall sales emails across industries end up in conversion after the first cold email. That is the reason there needs to be continued conversation.
If there are no follow-ups on your strategy, forget your sales; readers won’t remember your offerings even after reading.
Things to implement:
- There should be at least 3 follow-ups as a part of your sales email
- In each follow-up, provide new information about your offerings
Final Thoughts
We have covered plenty of issues up there, though there are many other aspects. These are the 7 most common mistakes often made while crafting and executing cold email campaigns. You should consider yourself a client and determine whether any of those issues exist in your cold emailing strategy.
Lastly, getting all these 7 elements above right ensures you are on the right track to send your message to the client. We hope that rests our case. If you have any confusion, do let us know.
