Do you use Cold Emails to attract clients? Equivalent to Cold Calling, Cold Emailing is when you send unsolicited email to someone without prior contact. A Cold email is a very effective way to reach out to potential new clients. So effective in fact that it’s been in use since the first businesses were around. OK, maybe not cold emailing, but cold calling has been. Even before phones were invented business people would knock on strangers doors trying to sell their wares. It was their version of cold calling. It’s a practice that has worked for generations and can work for your design business as well. Sending cold emails is not the same thing as sending spam emails. A cold email is a one-to-one personalized message sent to a specific individual. Its purpose is to start a business conversation with that one person rather than to promote your services to the masses as spam emails do. Email, a force to be reckoned with. Did you know that email, in the form that we know it today has been around since the mid-70s? In terms of technology, that’s archaic. And yet, even in today’s world of social media platforms, direct messaging, video chats and the likes, email still reigns. Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform boasts over 2.2 billion users worldwide. But there are over 3.8 billion email users, that’s almost double the number of Facebook users. Over 500 million tweets are sent every day, but that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the 281 billion emails sent each day. Face it, business is built on email. If you want to get ahead in your design business, knowing how to write effective and compelling emails is something you shouldn’t ignore. Especially when sending out cold emails. If you cannot capture someone’s attention with your first email contact, what chances do you have of starting a working relationship with them? 10 tips that will help your cold emails convert. 1) Self-Awareness The problem with the written word is everybody interprets it differently. Your meaning could be misconstrued and not come across the way you intended. Think of this simple sentence “I can’t wait”. Does it mean you’re looking forward to something or does it mean time’s up and you can't wait any longer? In order for your words to come off the way you want them to, you need to be self-aware of what you are writing. Meaning you need to imagine yourself in the recipient’s shoes and try to understand how they will receive your message. Make sure what you write is straight forward and only has one meaning or interpretation. 2) Length Be efficient. The less you write, the more chances of your message being read. I’m subscribed to several email lists. I read almost every short message I receive but rarely do I read any of the ones that are several pages long. And that’s from people I’ve asked to send me stuff. Imagine how people will react to a message from a complete stranger? A 2018 study done by Hubspot said that only one in three messages longer than 2500 words receive a reply. Their study concludes that between 50 and 125 words, the length of a small paragraph is the ideal length when sending unsolicited emails. People are busy, some receive dozens if not hundreds of emails every day. Increase your chances of being read by keeping your message brief. 3) Be Clear Short messages are not good enough if the message isn’t clear. Skip the niceties and get directly to your point. Messages that come across as boasting or too academic in writing makes it difficult to understand and can hurt your odds of getting a reply. The company behind the Gmail add-on Boomerang found that emails written at a third-grade reading level are 36% more likely to receive a reply than those written at a college reading level. Don’t try to sound smarter than you normally do. Excessive formality, complex sentences and long-windedness won’t impress anyone. 4) Be specific Be very specific in why you are emailing this person and what you are expecting from them. Don’t