Knowledge Base

What is Cold Email?

Cold email is reaching out to potential customers who haven't heard of your business before. Unlike warm emails (to existing contacts), cold emails introduce your product or service to new prospects.

Key difference: Cold emails are unsolicited but relevant, while spam is unsolicited and irrelevant. The goal is to start a conversation, not just sell.

What is Deliverability?

Email deliverability measures how many of your emails actually reach the recipient's inbox (not spam folder). A 95% deliverability rate means 95 out of 100 emails land in inboxes.

Why it matters: Even the best email won't work if it goes to spam. High deliverability is crucial for campaign success.

What are Open Rates?

Open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened your email. Industry average is 20-30% for cold emails. Higher rates usually mean better subject lines or targeting.

Important note: Open rates aren't 100% accurate because some email clients block tracking pixels.

What is a Reply Rate?

Reply rate shows how many people responded to your email. Good cold email campaigns get 5-15% reply rates. Quality of replies matters more than quantity.

Success indicator: High reply rates usually mean your message resonates with the right audience.

What is a Sequence?

Email sequence is a series of follow-up emails sent automatically if someone doesn't reply. Usually 3-5 emails spaced 2-4 days apart.

Why sequences work: Most people need multiple touchpoints before responding. Each follow-up tries a different angle or approach.

What is Personalization?

Personalization means customizing emails for each recipient. Beyond just using their name, it includes mentioning their company, role, recent news, or specific challenges.

Scale vs. Personalization: The goal is to personalize at scale - make each email feel custom while sending to many people.

What is a Value Proposition?

Value proposition explains what benefit you provide and why someone should care. Instead of "We're the best," say "We help companies reduce costs by 30%."

Key elements: Clear benefit, specific outcome, and why you're different from alternatives.

What is a Call-to-Action (CTA)?

Call-to-action is what you want the recipient to do next. "Schedule a call," "Reply with questions," or "Check out our case study."

Best practices: Make it specific, easy to do, and relevant to their needs. Don't ask for too much too soon.

What is an ICP?

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) describes your perfect customer. Includes company size, industry, role, challenges, and buying power.

Why it matters: Clear ICP helps you target the right people and write relevant messages. Better targeting = higher response rates.

What is Lead Qualification?

Lead qualification determines if a prospect is likely to become a customer. Good leads have budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT).

Qualification process: Ask questions to understand if they're a good fit before investing time in sales conversations.

What is a Prospect List?

Prospect list is your target audience - people you want to reach. Quality matters more than quantity. Better to have 100 qualified prospects than 10,000 random contacts.

List building: Research companies, find decision-makers, and verify contact information before adding to your list.

What is Segmentation?

Segmentation divides your audience into smaller groups based on characteristics like industry, role, or company size. Different segments get different messages.

Benefits: More relevant messaging, higher engagement, and better results than sending the same email to everyone.

What is Domain Warming?

Domain warming is gradually building trust with email providers by sending small volumes and increasing over time. Like building a reputation - start small, grow slowly.

Why it's needed: New domains are treated suspiciously. Warming helps prove you're a legitimate sender.

What is Sender Reputation?

Sender reputation is your "score" with email providers. High reputation means emails reach inboxes. Low reputation means emails go to spam.

What affects it: Bounce rates, spam complaints, engagement rates, and sending patterns.

What is a Bounce?

Bounce means an email couldn't be delivered. Hard bounces (invalid email) should be removed immediately. Soft bounces (temporary issues) can be retried.

Bounce rate: Percentage of emails that bounce. Keep it under 2% for good deliverability.

What is Spam Filtering?

Spam filters automatically detect and block unwanted emails. They look at content, sending patterns, and sender reputation to decide if an email is spam.

How to avoid: Send relevant content, maintain good reputation, and follow email best practices.

What is CAN-SPAM?

CAN-SPAM is a US law regulating commercial email. Requires accurate sender info, clear subject lines, and working unsubscribe links.

Key requirements: Include your physical address, honor unsubscribe requests within 10 days, and don't use misleading headers.

What is GDPR?

GDPR is a European privacy law that protects personal data. Applies when emailing EU residents, even if your company is outside Europe.

Main requirements: Have legal basis for processing data, honor data subject rights, and maintain records of data processing.

What is Consent?

Consent means someone explicitly agreed to receive your emails. Under GDPR, consent must be freely given, specific, and unambiguous.

Consent vs. Legitimate Interest: You can email people either with their consent or if you have legitimate interest (like B2B outreach).

What is an Unsubscribe?

Unsubscribe is when someone opts out of your emails. You must honor these requests immediately and never email them again.

Best practice: Make unsubscribing easy with one-click options. It's better to lose one subscriber than damage your reputation.

What is ROI?

ROI (Return on Investment) measures how much money you make compared to how much you spend. For email campaigns, calculate revenue from new customers minus campaign costs.

Good ROI: Most successful cold email campaigns have 300-500% ROI or higher.

What is Conversion Rate?

Conversion rate shows what percentage of people took your desired action. For cold email, this might be replies, meetings booked, or sales closed.

Typical rates: 1-3% of cold email recipients typically convert to customers, depending on your offer and targeting.

What is A/B Testing?

A/B testing compares two versions of something (like subject lines) to see which performs better. Send version A to half your list, version B to the other half.

What to test: Subject lines, email content, send times, and call-to-actions. Test one thing at a time for clear results.

What is Click Rate?

Click rate measures how many people clicked links in your email. Important for emails with calls-to-action that lead to websites or landing pages.

Benchmarks: 2-5% is typical for cold emails. Higher rates usually mean more compelling content or better targeting.

What is B2B vs B2C?

B2B (Business-to-Business) means selling to other companies. B2C (Business-to-Consumer) means selling to individual customers.

Cold email differences: B2B emails focus on business benefits, longer sales cycles, and multiple decision-makers. B2C is more direct and emotional.

What is SaaS?

SaaS (Software as a Service) is software you use online instead of installing. Examples: Gmail, Slack, Salesforce. SaaS companies often use cold email to reach potential customers.

SaaS email focus: Emphasize efficiency, cost savings, and solving specific business problems.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is finding and attracting potential customers. Cold email is one method of lead generation, along with content marketing, advertising, and referrals.

Lead gen process: Identify prospects, reach out, qualify them, and convert them to customers.

What is Sales Pipeline?

Sales pipeline is the process prospects go through from first contact to becoming customers. Stages include: awareness, interest, consideration, and decision.

Cold email role: Cold emails typically move prospects from awareness to interest, starting the sales process.

Detailed Guides

Explore our comprehensive guides for deeper insights:

• Copywriting Guide — Structure, tone, and examples for better emails
• Deliverability Guide — How we stay out of spam and protect reputation
• Job Outreach Guide — Specialized strategies for recruitment

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