Cold emails may feel like a shot in the dark, but when they are crafted with the right cold email template they can have a huge impact.
While open rate is a good first step, the key to an effective cold email marketing campaign is conversions. Enticing subject lines are certainly important, but your CTA fuels conversions.
But what exactly should you be asking people to do?
Including the wrong call to action can leave your email newsletters feeling like a waste of time.
Let’s dive into the top call to action for cold email newsletters.
The Importance of a Cold Email CTA
Have you ever received an email and wondered what the heck the company even wants from you? That’s an example of a failed marketing campaign that lacks a clear CTA.
The CTA is a trigger for action. If you want people to do something specific, you must ask them. You want conversions, so getting them requires triggering the action you’re looking for.
The CTA gives your audience a clear picture of what you want from them. Failing to answer that question will ensure you do not get the conversions you’re looking for. To increase your conversion rates, create well-planned email newsletters with a persuasive CTA.
Types of CTAs
Asking someone to buy something from you in a cold email is nearly always a bad idea. You must consider where they are in the sales process. However, the specific CTA you use will depend on the goal of your email, your industry, and more.
Here are a few different types of cold email CTAs to consider:
Meeting Invite
This CTA is about setting up a meeting with a prospect. It’s ideal for people who are just learning about your business and your offerings. The end goal with this CTA is to get the prospect to meet to discuss their needs and for you to offer your solution.
Feedback Request
Feedback is incredibly valuable for creating the best products and services. Asking for feedback from prospects is an excellent way to demonstrate your commitment to helping them and to allow them to shape your solutions for them. With this CTA, you ask the recipient to share their feedback about your product idea or service.
Connection Request
Cold emails and messages are a very common way to grow your LinkedIn network. Adding new contacts positions them to become new customers later on. Sending an email before sending a LinkedIn connection request can prepare the prospect and increase the chances of accepting an invite.
Highest Performing CTA for Cold Emails
So, what’s the best CTA for cold emails? LinkedIn to the rescue!
LinkedIn analyzed 304,174 emails to figure out what elicited the highest conversion rate.
The three CTA variations they looked at were:
- Specific CTA: Asks for a meeting at a certain day and time.
- Open-ended CTA: Asking open-endedly for a meeting (Do you have time to meet later this week?)
- Interest CTA: Does not ask for a meeting, asks if the person is interested in learning more about something.
When the cold email template provided clear context, then the interest CTA was the best performing CTA for cold emails! With the interest CTA, you’re selling a conversation, not a sales meeting.
Asking for interest works far better than asking for time because time is limited. People are pretty stingy with their time and for good reason. When asking for time, you may trigger loss aversion, where prospects are more worried about losing time than the value they may gain with your meeting.
Interest is not perceived the same way as time. Focusing on interest pokes at someone’s curiosity rather than reminding them of their limited time.
One crucial distinction is that the interest CTA is NOT best for deals. Once your prospect enters the sales cycle, then the specific CTA is best.
Tips for Improving Your Cold Email CTAs
Here are a few tips for improving your cold email CTAs:
- Use a CTA button: Your CTA should stand out. It should draw attention and entice click-through rates. Adding a button to your CTA is a great way to make it even more clear. The button calls attention to the CTA and makes it easier for your audience to click through.
- Follow the intention of your email. What is the purpose of the cold email? Your CTA certainly depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your email. While a cold email should not be a sales email, the purpose may still vary depending on your business.
- Make a fair ask. If you are asking too much, then you can expect to get low conversion rates. Think about how much time your prospect must take to complete the task. Remove friction when possible. If you want feedback, have the CTA take them to a very easy and quick form. If you’re asking for a call, take them right to the page to schedule.
- Keep it short. Your CTA should be short and sweet. Give clear, short instructions about why and how to complete the task.
- Don’t sell. Avoid coming across as pushy or overly salesy. You should not be asking someone to buy from you with a cold email. It is too aggressive. Before getting someone to buy from you, you must be able to show them the value you offer.
- Test your CTAs. Cold email CTAs do not have to be a guessing game. Just like subject lines, they may need some testing and finetuning. While the tips we share are general guidelines, certain variations may work better or worse for your audience. Test a few different CTAs to see which performs best.
Conclusion
A cold email CTA is an often overlooked component of a marketing campaign. While the goal of your cold email is not to sell, you still want to boost the click-through rate and conversion rates of cold emails. To do this, you need a compelling CTA.
Your CTA will depend on your email’s context and purpose. Make sure the goal of your email is aligned with where the audience is in the sales process, as well as with your business goals.
For most businesses, a cold email is a platform for getting people in meetings. Interest CTAs (are you interested in learning more about X?) work the best. However, you should experiment with CTA variations to find out what works best for your business.
Let’s face it, writing CTAs and email newsletters, in general, can be a struggle. You must be concise, compelling, and relevant all at once. If you aren’t a writer, this is a big ask. With our team of professional writers, Content Cucumber is here to help. We will transform your ideas into high-converting cold emails, blog posts, web copy, and more. Don’t just take our word! Request your free sample piece today.