Planning to send "cold" emails. Any advice?

[RDesignista]

Hi everyone,

Business has been a bit slow for me last month. I blame it on my own laziness and focusing too much on my own hobby site. I also think I spent too much time on Elance.com proposing for jobs I was unlikely going to get.

I plan to send "cold" emails in a couple of days. Like "cold calls," cold emails are random emails to businesses to generate leads. I have been compiling a list of local businesses with sub-par websites and I plan to send each of them a customized email. This was actually the method I used when I started out last March. The hit rate was very low, but it did get me 2 clients (out of maybe 40 emails).

Previously in my cold emails, I mentioned that their website could use a redesign. If they had bugs or errors (there were a lot), I brought those to their attention and then mentioned I do website work for a living. This time around, I want to be more tactful and more persuasive. Please give me your input as to what you know is a proper way to send a cold email or what things I should definitely include.

Thank you.

-R

[mlseim]

Oooo ... I'm not sure about this one.

I get cold emails all the time from SEO "experts". I find it really annoying no matter how tactful they attempt to be. I think the part about "keeping it local" is the key thing to your cold emails. By only contacting local companies in your area, you'll be keeping it more personal and they know you can relate more to their business. I just don't know about the wording ... and what would be tactful.

Let's see what others here have to say.

[TheGAME1264]

I can sum up my entire advice in one word..."don't".

Like mlseim said, some of us get those emails constantly. Here's just one example from an "SEO company":

laurie johnson from ottawa, canada has made the following questions/comments/suggestions:

Hello,

We're a Canadian full-service marketing company providing small to mid-sized businesses with affordable online solutions including Website Design and Development, Graphic Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Online Marketing, Website Maintenance and Business Planning.
If you're thinking about getting a new website for your business, or simply not happy with the one you currently have, we'd like to help. Our websites are budget friendly, and Search Engine Optimized.
For more information on our services, or to request a quote for your new website, please visit us atlink removed) or you may call us directly at: (telephone removed).
Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,

Laurie Johnson
Online Marketing Representative

Imagine Sales and Marketing
(link and telephone removed)

My clients and I get hundreds of these emails and phone calls per week, and chances are if you're calling or emailing local businesses you're not going to sound any different than our friend Laurie here in their eyes. The phone calls are actually worse in some cases, because I might happen to be there in a meeting, in which case a couple of my clients will pass the phone off to me. After about 5-10 minutes of me dressing the wannabe company rep down, destroying him/her, and making him/her feel about a foot tall, the wannabe always hangs up abruptly.

The other angle you may not be considering is that what you think is "subpar" might actually be working for the client. I've seen sites that lasted 8 years with their skin and generate 6 digits' worth of revenue for their owners with very little effort, and I've seen shiny and new sites fail miserably. You don't have any real way to evaluate what is/isn't working other than your own eyes and intuition, which really won't serve you well in this case.

I get why you want to take that approach..but there just isn't a good way to do what you want to do.

[RDesignista]

I can sum up my entire advice in one word..."don't".

Like mlseim said, some of us get those emails constantly. Here's just one example from an "SEO company":

My clients and I get hundreds of these emails and phone calls per week, and chances are if you're calling or emailing local businesses you're not going to sound any different than our friend Laurie here in their eyes. The phone calls are actually worse in some cases, because I might happen to be there in a meeting, in which case a couple of my clients will pass the phone off to me. After about 5-10 minutes of me dressing the wannabe company rep down, destroying him/her, and making him/her feel about a foot tall, the wannabe always hangs up abruptly.

The other angle you may not be considering is that what you think is "subpar" might actually be working for the client. I've seen sites that lasted 8 years with their skin and generate 6 digits' worth of revenue for their owners with very little effort, and I've seen shiny and new sites fail miserably. You don't have any real way to evaluate what is/isn't working other than your own eyes and intuition, which really won't serve you well in this case.

I get why you want to take that approach..but there just isn't a good way to do what you want to do.

Game, you have a bit of transference here. I am not Laurie. I do not sell SEO stuff. I am not a wannabe expert trying to sell you with a pre-made pitch. I am not sending out mass emails (basically... SPAM).

And also, I would not call. For these cold emails, I understand that most people might have no interest in them, so calls would be invasive/annoying. Emails on the other hand, are easily ignored based on subject line, which is much more fair to the recipient.

Lastly, yes, subpar is a relative term. However, when a website has a graphic on the bottom stating "This website is best viewed in Internet Explorer 800x600", then I just take a little liberty and assume that it's been awhile since they had their site designed and they may have been thinking about putting aside some money in the company budget for a makeover. Again, if they're happy with it, of course they can ignore me. If they have been thinking about updating the website but haven't taken the initiative yet, talks can ensue.

-R

[RDesignista]

Oooo ... I'm not sure about this one.

I get cold emails all the time from SEO "experts". I find it really annoying no matter how tactful they attempt to be. I think the part about "keeping it local" is the key thing to your cold emails. By only contacting local companies in your area, you'll be keeping it more personal and they know you can relate more to their business. I just don't know about the wording ... and what would be tactful.

Let's see what others here have to say.

Lol. Believe it or not, SEO companies have gotten around to emailing me on several occasions as well. A little annoying because I know they obviously don't know me or my site and are just spamming the people on the list they acquired somehow. And that's why I am catering each one to the prospective company. I've got mostly local clients, I'm locally-raised, and I'm emailing local companies. I am def. trying make it a more personal solicitation.

-R

[TheGAME1264]

Game, you have a bit of transference here. I am not Laurie. I do not sell SEO stuff. I am not a wannabe expert trying to sell you with a pre-made pitch. I am not sending out mass emails (basically... SPAM).

Doesn't matter...if you come to me or any of my clients with even a customized pitch, you're not going to sound any different than Laurie and you're not going to be perceived as being different. The only way in which you will sound different is if you get lucky and people haven't gone before you, which is pretty unlikely. I just picked the most recent example of someone in the web industry that's solicited one of my clients (about an hour after you made your post.)

You can have your take on it, and that's fine, but what you need to understand is that the only take that matters is that of the person you're approaching, and in all likelihood they're going to see it the way I just demonstrated. That by itself could explain why your success rate is as low as it is.

And also, I would not call. For these cold emails, I understand that most people might have no interest in them, so calls would be invasive/annoying. Emails on the other hand, are easily ignored based on subject line, which is much more fair to the recipient.

This also doesn't matter. A cold call vs. an email is still a cold solicitation. The only difference between a call and an email is that an email can be flagged as spam and deleted fairly easily, whereas a call takes a bit more work to block.

You're making a mistake that a lot of people make...you're only looking at your situation from your own side of things, and you're trying to rationalize it based on your own benefits. I've seen your stuff and you're too talented to lower yourself to that kind of trash thinking. Don't ruin your rep with low-grade marketing efforts.

[Webzarus]

So basically you're sending an email that says:

Dear potential customer... Your web site sucks... Let me help you make it suck less.

There are actually discussions on this forum for this topic, and wether its cold calling on the phone, email, or face to face.... It's not a good idea.

1. How do you know the email wi end up in the hands of the decision maker ? And not the employee that is getting minimum wage and doing their website on the side for extra money ( I've actually seen that more times than I care to talk about ).

2. No matter how you twist it, sugar coat it, put lipstick on it... You are in a sense telling them their site sucks ... May have been the business owners daughter that set up the site ( again, I've run into this way too many times too ).

3. How do you know your email will even make it through spam filters or junk mail filters, you won't.

Cold emailing is probably the least effective , least personal way of marketing your business

Most of my clients forward me all their offers, mainly as a joke, partly because once I get to know them, I tell them I collect these offers and eventually will publish a blog with them all as examples of the things you don't do to promote your business.

[mlseim]

Have you thought about writing something up on paper w/ business card and actually visiting the businesses? Maybe in person you could ask a manager or receptionist to pass the information to someone that might be interested. It would be more personal doing it that way. Getting referrals by "word of mouth" is still going to be the best method ... I guess you need to make some more local connections to get your name out there.

[Webzarus]

I get all my clients by word of mouth referrals from current and past clients.

I know several that find a business site that they think could so a lot better, and they visit the business to do business with them... Restaurant, to eat a meal, hotel, spend the night ... Etc... Once you establish a business connection with them, its much easier to approach and or ask to speak to someone that can make a decision or at least put you in touch with the correct person, once you approach them as a customer and potential visitor than as someone that just wants to do their web site.

Seems like it works for them, at least it has for one guy, he does about 30 hotel web sites in the local area ( mom & pop hotels ) in the tourist area we live in... He also has several restaurant web sites...

Each approach is different... Has to be...

[RDesignista]

Okay, okay. Fair enough. Those are very convincing arguments against what I'm wanting to do.I'll consider them carefully. Thank you.

-R