How to increase brand awareness with cold email

Cold email can increase brand awareness, but only as a side effect of outreach that is relevant to the person reading it. Each well-targeted email puts your company's name, and a useful idea, in front of a buyer who may not need you today but will remember you later. A generic, pushy email builds awareness too, of the wrong kind.

So the way to build awareness with cold email is simply to do cold email well. These are the practices that matter most.

Who should you send cold emails to?

Start with a tight list. Awareness among people who will never buy from you is worth little. Define your target market and ideal customer, then split the list into groups by role, industry, company size or trigger event, such as a new funding round or a new hire in a relevant role.

Smaller, focused segments let you write emails that feel personal, because each group shares the same problems. See market segmentation for how to build the groups.

How do you write a cold email people remember?

Personalise for real

A first name in the greeting is not personalisation. Refer to something specific: the prospect's role, a recent company announcement, a problem common in their industry. The reader should be able to tell within a sentence that the email was written for someone like them.

Lead with help, not a pitch

People ignore strangers who ask for something straight away. Open with something useful: an insight, a short benchmark you can source, a relevant guide or a quick idea for their situation. If your company publishes good content, such as articles, webinars or podcasts, link to one piece that fits. Then deliver on whatever you promise.

Avoid the hard sell

"Buy this" or "Do you have 30 minutes this week?" from a stranger rarely works. Write like a helpful peer. Mention your product only as far as it relates to the problem you raised, and make the ask small.

Write an honest, specific subject line

The subject line decides whether the email gets read, and it shapes the first impression of your brand. Keep it short and specific to the reader. Avoid clickbait and fake "Re:" or "Fwd:" prefixes. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act requires that subject lines reflect what the message is about, and misleading tricks damage trust even where they are legal.

Keep it short, with one call to action

Most people read email on the move. Aim for a few short paragraphs that make one point and end with one clear, easy call to action, such as a yes-or-no question or a link to one resource. Several asks in one email usually means none get answered.

Keep your brand consistent, but light

Cold email works best when it looks like a normal email from a person. Skip heavy templates and banners. Instead, make the brand consistent in the details:

• A real sender name, with your company name in the signature
• Your own domain, not a free email address
• A short signature with your role and a link to your site
• A tone of voice that matches your website and social profiles
• A landing page that matches the email's offer, wording and look, so the click feels like a continuation

What should you do after you send?

Reply fast

When someone replies with interest, answer quickly and personally. A slow reply wastes the attention you worked to get, and a fast, helpful one is a strong first impression of what working with you is like.

Follow up, but don't pester

Many replies come after a follow-up. Send one or two, each adding something new, such as a different angle or a relevant example. Then stop. A long chain of "just checking in" emails is how a brand becomes known as spam.

Welcome people who opt in

If a prospect asks to hear more or subscribes to your newsletter, send a welcome email that confirms what they will get and how often. From then on they are a subscriber, not a cold contact, and you can nurture them with useful content. See our lead nurturing strategy guide.

How do you protect your brand when sending cold email?

Your domain's reputation is part of your brand. If mailbox providers decide your emails are spam, even your normal emails to customers can suffer.

• Authenticate your domain. Google's sender guidelines require every sender to Gmail to set up SPF or DKIM and keep spam rates reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%, and advise aiming for under 0.1%. Senders of 5,000 or more messages a day need SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Microsoft rejects mail from high-volume senders, those sending 5,000 or more messages to its consumer email services from one domain, if SPF, DKIM and DMARC are not in place. See DMARC and DKIM.
• Send in small, steady volumes. Ramp up slowly on a new domain and avoid large bursts. Watch your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools and pause campaigns that draw complaints.
• Make opting out easy. In the US, the FTC says CAN-SPAM makes no exception for business-to-business email. You need accurate header information, an honest subject line, a valid physical postal address, a clear way to opt out and opt-outs honoured within 10 business days. Each violating email can cost up to $53,088. See CAN-SPAM.
• Check local law abroad. Rules outside the US differ by country and can be stricter, so check before you email prospects in other markets.

Read more about email deliverability.

How do you measure brand awareness from cold email?

Replies and meetings booked are the obvious numbers, but awareness shows up elsewhere too:

• Positive reply rate, not just total replies
• Website visits from targeted companies, if your analytics can identify them
• Branded search and direct traffic rising during and after campaigns
• Recognition on later calls, when prospects say they have heard of you

Don't judge cold email by open rates. Apple Mail's Protect Mail Activity setting, for example, downloads email content in the background, so senders cannot tell when a message was really opened.

For more tactics, read cold email tips that don't work and converting clients using cold email templates.