Cold Emails Can Be an Effective Marketing Tool

Cold emails in marketing campaigns work well if executed properly. We had a not-for-profit client who recently wanted to increase website traffic and wondered if a cold email campaign could help achieve that goal. Our data clearly shows that they achieved the goal during a four-month campaign.

A fine line exists between cold emails and spam, but the difference is clear. Cold emails target a specific set of carefully-screened people, have a clear, non-deceptive subject line, do not make outlandish claims, provide information rather than heavy-handed sales tactics, display the physical address of the sender, and have an easy opt-out option. Spam targets random people, has deceptive subject lines, makes unrealistic claims, entices the reader with high-pressure and often misleading language, does not display a physical address, and does not present or adhere to an opt-out option or request.

We work with our clients to strategically create a list of people who are more likely to be interested in their cause. Strategically creating a list is very different than buying a list. Purchased lists are often out-of-date and often contain spam trap email addresses that can cause a sender’s email address to get black flagged by various hosting and providing services, resulting in a myriad of headaches.

What Comes Next?

After collecting the targeted emails, they started a multi-email campaign. The focus of the campaign was to inform and drive readers to the client’s website. Some terminology helps explain the results of the campaign. “Website Visits” mean the number of times the recipients visit the client’s website during the month. “Enhanced Activity Website Visits” mean that a visitor stayed on the website for an extended period of time or clicked on at least one additional site link beyond the original landing page.

As seen in Table 1 below, the results are staggering. For a site that averaged less that a visit per day both prior to and after the cold email marketing campaign, the traffic during the campaign grew exponentially. While the month-to-month fluctuations likely occurred due to some of the various emails within the campaign having more effectiveness, it is undeniable that the overall growth in site visitation and activity within the site was healthy.

Table 1 – Cold Email Campaign Results

The goal of the campaign was drawing awareness to the site and the cause. We achieved that goal. Going forward, the future recommendation to our client would be to enhance existing or add dynamic website content to increase the percentage of website viewers that become enhanced activity visitors and ultimately donors to the cause. Want to increase your brand awareness? Contact us at Fuel VM about starting a cold (or warm) email marketing campaign.