Everyone in marketing always wants to know the secret to writing the perfect cold email. The email that stands out among the onslaught of emails your customers receive daily and hardly even bat an eye toward. However, some do get opened, and you want the secret to know how to be the lucky winner.
In reality, there is no one secret to writing good cold emails. In fact, there’s two.
Writing an effective cold email is about balancing two core parts of your email: length and messaging.
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, as almost every marketing ploy is always trying to get quicker to the point to make up for people’s lack of attention span. They’ll write emails as short as 20 words just to make this point.
This logic isn’t totally off base, as emails with a higher reply rate tend to skew toward shorter word counts. However, this is only half of the equation.
While many email writers focus on trimming down the word count, their core messaging starts to suffer. People may have short attention spans, but they have even less patience with copy that doesn’t grab their attention.
When you’re writing your email, what counts is that your message actually connects with your audience. If your messaging is compelling but requires more explanation, don’t sweat it. What ultimately matters is that your message is interesting and makes the reader want to read more.
However, just because your message is interesting doesn’t mean you can forget the importance of length. It doesn't matter how good your messaging is if it’s not concise and easy to understand. If your reader has to put in a sincere effort to get your point, they won’t give you the time.
So, what’s the secret of writing cold emails? Balance.
Finding your balance between the optimal email length and concise messaging is the key to writing an effective cold email. While there is no perfect formula, keeping this balance in mind will greatly improve your reply rate.
