The power of cold email shouldn’t be underestimated, even if you’re conducting the entire thing manually and sending each individual email. Introduce some dedicated cold email campaign software, and you’re going to complete outreach on turbocharge.
Cold email is one of the few sales and marketing methods that allows you to connect with individuals. You’re not shouting your message into the abyss and hoping for a response. Instead, you’re sending targeted, tailormade messages that resonate with the recipient.
In this article, we’re going to share some of the basics of cold email campaigns and how cold email campaign software can elevate your efforts to the next level. We’ll also share some of the best options on the market for you to consider.
- What automation strategies can you use to increase cold email campaign efficiency?
- What are the key features of cold email campaign software?
- Are there any best practices for cold email campaigns?
Understanding Cold Email Campaigns
Before we begin to think about software, it’s important to understand the campaigns themselves. The aim is to broaden your network by contacting and interacting with people who previously had no interaction with you before. They may not even know that you exist. Cold emailing is the modern-day equivalent of a cold call on the phone and knocking on people’s doors before that. Cold emailing, however, is far less intrusive and gets a far better response.
For many businesses, cold emailing plays a major role in their marketing and sales strategies. That’s especially the case when businesses are looking to expand their reach and venture into new markets. Cold emailing trumps other outreach methods when it comes to personalization. Individual emails can be crafted and created so that they read as if they were written for that specific recipient. Yes, you can tailor advertising to specific demographics, but not on an individual level.
These campaigns promise a lot, and the benefits are there for all to see. Cold email campaigns are incredibly cost-effective, especially compared to other advertising methods. With a modest budget, you and your team will be able to contact potential new customers in a highly targeted way. Not only can they be targeted, but every message can be tracked and added to your analytics dashboard. This means you’re able to clearly see what’s working within your campaign and what you need to address.
Using Software in Cold Email Campaigns
Many cold email campaigns find success thanks to the use of cold email campaign software. One of the key elements that makes software invaluable is the ability to automate some parts of the campaign. That might include:
- Sending emails at a particular time according to a schedule
- Creating an automated email follow-up strategy
- Sending specific email sequences based on user actions.
These tasks alone amount to someone’s full-time job if done manually. The software automates this whole process and can complete these actions thousands of times a day without breaking a sweat. Something that would take weeks of work otherwise. This makes the process incredibly straightforward and frees up your team for the strategy and more complex tasks.
Another added benefit of the software is the ability to deliver personalization at scale. Without software, you’re doomed to write every email manually. Or at least manually change names, specific hooks, and specific details about the recipient. Once you begin to send emails to hundreds or thousands of recipients, this quickly becomes unmanageable.
At that point, it’s tempting to do away with personalization altogether. That’s a fool’s fallacy. Remove personalization, and you’re removing one of the reasons why cold emailing is so effective in the first place. Instead, use software that can analyze your data and combine personalized information using merge tags.
Many of the tools also include the option to segment your audience. This means you send personalized content that is very relevant to the recipient's interests or demographic.
Finally, cold email campaign software will typically include an analytics dashboard. You can use this dashboard to study specific metrics and measure the campaign's effectiveness. This might include open rates, click-through rates, response rates, and other email marketing metrics.
Choosing the Right Cold Email Campaign Software
There are plenty of different options on the market. There are certain elements and requirements that you should assess while making your decision. Gauge what is important for you and your business, and then look out for complimentary features.
Your Specific Needs
This is a broad consideration but an important one. Before you start searching, take time to understand what it is that you specifically need the software to do. Are templates going to be important, or will you use your own writing team? Would you benefit from having personalized cold email examples to refer to? Will your campaigns be complex with multiple sequences or more streamlined? These are the types of questions that you should be asking yourself before you get into exploration.
Cost and Scalability
It shouldn’t be your defining factor, but budget is certainly an important one. When judging the cost of the software, be sure to consider the initial costs as well as the subscription and long-term costs. You might also need to factor in integration costs should your choice of software not have native integration.
Scalability is linked to budget. As you begin to use higher tiers of the software, look for associated costs. Almost all SaaS products operate in a way where you get better value for money at higher tiers. Budget aside, you should investigate the scalability of the software from a logistical point of view. Will the software accommodate your growing email list? Can you send at higher limits? As your business evolves and grows, so should your choice of software.
User Experience and Ease of Use
Not all software is easy to use. Remember that this is meant to make your job more efficient and effective, not become a bothersome chore. Selecting software that is intuitive and simple will make your and your team’s life far easier.
Support and Community
There’ll come a time when you need support. Something won’t seem to work, or you’ll get stuck with a particular feature. Ask yourself what level of support you’re expecting. Do you need someone available through chat or on the phone 24/7, or will email support do? Could you get by with just a knowledge base and a community forum? The community around the software can bring huge benefits. They can offer guidance, support, and even help troubleshoot.
Key Features of Effective Cold Email Campaign Software
Instantly
Instantly is a complete cold email campaign software option. It’s a tool that looks after your email campaigns from the very start before you even start sending. It begins with the AI-powered account warmup. With this feature, your account will be ready to start sending cold email campaigns at scale in a matter of days. This alone will save you hundreds of hours in manual account warmup.
The easy-to-use dashboard shows detailed campaign statistics, including all the usual metrics. These metrics are applied to any number of email accounts that you’d like to add to your subscription. There’s no additional cost for adding further accounts, and there’s no limit on how many you can add. Pair that with the ability to A/B test your campaigns, and you’ll find success quickly.
The number of integrations that Instantly offers is growing all the time. The majority of businesses will find an integration with their chosen CRM.
Those looking to scale their business can graduate from tier to tier. Each tier increases the amount of emails that you can send and the number of contacts you can upload. This scales up to the Light Speed package, which allows you to send 500,000 emails a month.
Instantly's pricing starts at $37 per month, with the most popular Hypergrowth package costing $97 per month. The Light Speed package costs $358 a month and offers an enterprise-level solution.
Lemlist
Lemlist is another popular piece of cold email campaign software that offers an enticing free trial for 14 days. This solution has everything you need: a lead database, an email finder and verifier, and an AI-powered campaign generator.
You can use the generator to create personalized multichannel campaigns with Lemlist’s knowledge. Much like a ChatGPT interface, you simply need to tell Lemlist what you’re looking to do, and it will create the content and campaign for you. That includes integrations with LinkedIn for incredibly high-level personalization.
Lemlist starts at $59 a month. That includes unlimited email sending, access to their 450 million lead databases, and a host of integrations. If you’d like to access the multichannel outreach and custom workflows, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro package at $99 a month.
Woodpecker
Woodpecker offers three custom products. The first allows you to conduct cold email campaigns. The second is more sales-focused, allowing you to source prospects using automation and testing. The Agency option rolls the two into one product. It allows you to store prospects and send cold email campaigns in one.
Woodpecker's cold email product provides an easy onboarding process and many integrations. Features such as the built-in deliverability monitor and bounce shield ensure that your email accounts are kept in the best condition.
The cold email package from Woodpecker starts at $29 a month. This allows you to contact 500 prospects and store 2000. At this and every tier, you’ll be able to use inbox rotation, unlimited email accounts with account warm-up, and get your email list verified. Pricing tiers increased based on use. The more contacts you want to reach out to on a monthly basis, the more you’ll have to pay each month.
Key Takeaways
Cold email campaign software is an incredible tool when placed in the right hands. By automating simple tasks, your email outreach becomes efficient and organized. Plus, you have the added benefit of winning back valuable time for your team. It’s not just you and your business that benefit. Your prospects do too. Rather than receiving another irrelevant email, they receive one that’s tailored and personalized to them. They get to receive value in their inbox rather than trash.
- Use the data and analytics provided by these tools to improve and adapt your future campaigns.
- One of the best ways to use email campaign software is to segment your audience so that the content you’re delivering is as relevant as possible.
- Consider your current tech stack when looking at options. Simple integration should be valued.
If you’re looking for a tool that covers everything you need to launch a cold email campaign, then look no further than Instantly. From account warm-up to automated email sequencing Instantly has it all. The best part? You can get started with it for free today.