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How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails | Startup School
24 segments available
Whether it's for sales, recruiting or making new connections, cold outreach is a necessary tool for helping build your startup. But as you probably know, most cold emails either are ignored or end up in the trash. So what can you do to make sure your emails break through the noise? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein shares expert advice on how to write cold emails that have all the right ingredients to get noticed and convert new customers. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 00:00 - Intro 01:47 - Map your funnel 07:49 - Finding emails 09:52 - How to get more responses? 22:12 - Examples 30:59 - Final thoughts
Segments Timeline
The Power of Warm Introductions
Aaron Epstein emphasizes the effectiveness of warm introductions in cold emailing. He explains how leveraging your network, including LinkedIn connections and alumni networks, can significantly increase your email response rates, making it two to three times more effective than cold outreach. This segment sets the stage for understanding the importance of personal connections in successful email outreach.
"hi I'm aarin Epstein group partner at YC and in this video I'm going to talk all about how to write cold emails that convert so first I'm going to give you the all-time best email Outreach hack you re..."
Mapping Your Conversion Funnel
In this segment, Epstein discusses the importance of mapping out your conversion funnel when writing cold emails. He outlines a step-by-step process to determine how many emails you need to send to achieve your sales goals, using a hypothetical example of a B2B software company. This methodical approach helps viewers understand the necessary volume of outreach to convert leads into customers.
"though and many times you got to go in cold so that's going to be a big focus of what we're talking about in this video whether it's for sales recruiting Partnerships or whether you're just trying to ..."
Increasing Open Rates Through Targeting
Epstein shares strategies for increasing email open rates, highlighting the significance of better targeting. He explains that sending fewer, well-targeted emails can yield higher response rates compared to mass emailing untargeted lists. This segment provides actionable insights on how to refine your outreach strategy for better engagement.
"emails manually and personalized doing it yourself not starting with automation you have to do it manually first so that you can learn and figure out what works so that you can then start to scale the..."
Finding the Right Email Addresses
This segment covers various methods for finding email addresses of potential leads. Epstein suggests leveraging personal connections, LinkedIn, and tools like Apollo.io and Hunter.io to locate the right contacts. He emphasizes the importance of personalization and building your brand as a startup to enhance your outreach efforts.
"should get better at this over time as you learn to qualify your leads better so this is an iterative process this is effectively the screen that your recipients are going to see when they're trying t..."
Crafting Effective Email Copy
Epstein introduces seven principles of effective email copywriting aimed at increasing responses. He stresses the need for a clear, specific goal in your emails and the importance of guiding the recipient towards the next step in the conversation. This segment provides foundational tips for writing compelling cold emails that drive engagement.
"scale if you do things right and so what's important to remember in the early days is that you are the brand the words that you use the way that you reach out the level of personalization and the effo..."
Seven Principles of Effective Email Copy
Epstein introduces seven principles for writing effective cold emails that drive responses. He emphasizes the importance of having a focused goal for each email, ensuring that every word contributes to that goal. This segment sets the stage for actionable strategies to improve email outreach and engagement.
"responses once people have opened your email it all comes down to what you write and what you say in that email whether they're going to respond or take the action that you want and so in order to gui..."
Be Human in Your Outreach
In this segment, Epstein discusses the importance of humanizing email communication. He advises against overly formal language and encourages a conversational tone. Personal touches, such as informal greetings and creative content, can make emails feel more genuine and engaging, increasing the likelihood of a response.
"that you have this one Focus goal and all the copy in your email should drive towards that single goal and every word counts if there's anything that doesn't move the recipient towards that goal you s..."
Personalization is Key
Aaron Epstein highlights the necessity of personalization in cold emails to avoid being perceived as spam. He explains how addressing recipients by name and referencing specific details about their work can create a stronger connection. The segment emphasizes the value of researching contacts to find uncommon commonalities that foster rapport.
"remember one time somebody sent me an email and in it they had an animated gift of them holding a little whiteboard and it said Aaron it had my name on it it said hi Aon and she's waving to me and so ..."
Keep It Short and Sweet
Epstein advises keeping cold emails concise to enhance readability and response rates. He explains that shorter emails are easier to digest, especially on mobile devices, and encourages focusing on clarity to prompt immediate replies. This principle is crucial for maintaining engagement and preventing emails from being overlooked.
"to use llms and other techniques to try to automate a lot of this but they often struggle with a lot of this personal connection here and then final trick here once you've written that personalized em..."
Establishing Credibility
In this segment, Epstein discusses how to establish credibility in cold emails. He suggests leveraging affiliations with reputable organizations, sharing notable customer names, and providing relevant industry data to build trust. This credibility can significantly enhance the chances of a positive response from potential clients.
"personalization that you're writing a lot of times I see Founders say things like hey love what you're doing at creative Market which was my startup which feels kind of generic it feels like there was..."
Focus on the Reader
Aaron Epstein emphasizes that effective email communication should center around the reader, not the sender. He advises reframing language to prioritize the recipient's needs and interests, which can lead to more engaging and persuasive outreach. This principle is essential for fostering meaningful connections with potential customers.
"here to help with personalization is you want to try to find the uncommon commonalities with the people that you're reaching out to now uncommon commonalities are things that you have uniquely in comm..."
Research and Personalization
Aaron Epstein emphasizes the importance of researching the company and the right contact before sending a cold email. He suggests using LinkedIn to find contacts and understanding the product deeply to build genuine connections. This foundational step is crucial for increasing response rates.
"the right contact look them up on LinkedIn use their product so you understand at a deep level how it works and then reach out to the person and that's how you're going to be able to build the deepest..."
Keep It Short and Simple
In this segment, Epstein discusses the necessity of brevity in cold emails. He explains that long emails are often ignored, and highlights the importance of making emails easy to read and respond to, especially since many recipients check emails on their phones.
"there in the moment if it's something that has more cognitive overhead longer to read then it means that people are going to put it on archive maybe flag it to try to resp respond later or else just d..."
Establishing Credibility
Epstein outlines how to establish credibility in cold emails. He suggests leveraging affiliations with reputable organizations, sharing well-known customer names, and providing relevant data to enhance trust and interest from potential clients.
"relevant you can publish that too to help establish your yourself as an expert in the space and if you have any shared connections people that you know in Comm and that sort of thing it can be great t..."
Focus on the Reader
This segment focuses on the principle that cold emails should center around the reader, not the sender. Epstein advises reframing the narrative to address the recipient's problems and using language that resonates with them, enhancing connection and engagement.
"they know that you understand their problem too and they're going to want to share everything with you so that you can hopefully fix it for them it's also important that you use the language that your..."
Clear Call to Action
Epstein stresses the importance of including a clear call to action in cold emails. He explains how a well-defined next step can significantly increase the likelihood of a response, and emphasizes formatting it as a standalone sentence for clarity.
"principle number seven here is to have a clear call to action you want to end with a concrete Next Step reply to let me know click here to get started Can You intro me to Aaron Or whoever you're tryin..."
Persistence Without Annoyance
In this segment, Epstein discusses the need for persistence in follow-ups while avoiding annoyance. He shares strategies for effective follow-ups and the importance of creativity in re-engaging potential clients without coming off as pushy.
"these things the good news is you'll be the top 5% of all emails that are sent and it's going to be hard for your recipients to ignore them but one email is often not enough people are busy they're ou..."
Learning from Ineffective Emails
Epstein critiques several ineffective cold emails, highlighting common mistakes such as lack of personalization, poor targeting, and failure to focus on the recipient's needs. These examples serve as lessons for crafting better outreach strategies.
"the future all right so let's see some examples so first we're going to take a look at a couple emails that are not effective and need some work and we'll critique those and then we're going to take a..."
Analyzing Successful Outreach
This segment showcases effective cold emails that successfully converted leads. Epstein breaks down the elements that made these emails work, such as personalization, shared experiences, and clear communication, providing insights for better email strategies.
"all right so the first one says hi Aaron hope all is well wanted to follow up because I noticed your order processing time could be faster our company plugs into your e-commerce platform to pull order..."
The Spam Trap
Aaron Epstein critiques a poorly crafted cold email that lacks personalization and clarity. He highlights how the sender's focus on themselves rather than the recipient's needs makes the email feel spammy. This segment emphasizes the importance of addressing the recipient's problems and interests to avoid being categorized as spam.
"I don't even know what they're specifically asking for here and then finally nobody actually signed their name to this email and the PS says if you don't want to hear from me anymore just let me know ..."
Crafting a Personal Touch
In this segment, Aaron shares an effective cold email example that successfully engaged him. The email's personal touch, shared background, and clear call to action demonstrate how to create a connection with the recipient. He emphasizes the importance of context and credibility in cold outreach.
"the recipient make sure it's all focused on how you can help their problems that's all they care about all right now let's take a look at some good ones that actually worked well on me and converted f..."
The Power of Exclusivity
Aaron discusses a cold email he wrote while launching Creative Market, showcasing how to make a templated email feel personal and exclusive. He explains the use of informal language, special links, and a sense of urgency to engage recipients effectively. This segment highlights strategies for making cold emails feel special.
"to this person um when that's something that I very rarely do okay now this next example is one that I actually wrote myself uh back when we were launching creative Market Marketplace for graphic desi..."
Transforming Cold Outreach
Aaron analyzes a before-and-after example of a cold email from a startup selling smoothie machines. He illustrates how changing the focus from the company's goals to offering a free smoothie party for the recipient's team significantly improved engagement. This segment underscores the importance of highlighting benefits for the recipient.
"what's interesting about this email is this is entirely a templated email except for the person's first name and the special URL that they need to come and sign up early but I use use a lot of tricks ..."
Final Tips for Cold Email Success
In the concluding segment, Aaron shares essential advice for crafting effective cold emails. He stresses the importance of personalizing outreach, dedicating time to the process, and measuring conversion rates. This segment serves as a call to action for founders to engage personally with potential customers to achieve better results.
"those um as long term deals all right so I'm going to leave you with some final advice here the first you should be doing this manually to learn and focus on scaling later if you're trying to automate..."