When to go cold: Calls Vs. Email 

Cold emailing and cold calling are traditional marketing outreach methods that have been around for quite some time now. 

Let’s start with some fun facts…

The “first documented cold call was made in 1873 by John Patterson, founder of NCR corporation previously known as National Cash Register.”

Nearly 100 years later, the first email was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson sparking a new way to communicate with leads and prospects.

Technological advances, regulations, and changes in perception have caused both cold calling and cold emailing each to evolve over the years.

But both remain a viable marketing option to convert leads into customers and create sales opportunities.

Though I do like one over the other.

Cold Calling Vs. Cold Email Statistics

Knowing which method to choose can be overwhelming, but here are a few stats compliments of HubSpot2:

While making a cold call, you usually have five to 10 minutes to appeal to the prospect.

The best days to conduct cold calls are Wednesday and Thursday between 11 am and noon or during the last hour of the workday between 4 and 5 pm.

It can take up to six call attempts to convert a new customer and increasing call attempts can increase conversion by 70%.

Personalized emails sent during the late morning and late afternoon time frames have better open and click-through rates.

The typical cold email response rate is just 1%.

Only 24% of cold email pitches are opened by recipients.

So Should You Combine Cold Calls and Cold Emails?

The stats don’t necessarily paint the perfect picture for either method and breaking through the clutter has become increasingly difficult.

This is why a combined approach using both methods in tandem can yield better results. Grabbing the attention of even your best prospects takes a certain level of finesse.

Here’s what I typically recommend to our users.

While cold calling can work, it’s best to start the conversation with an outreach email or LinkedIn message.

Reason being people are much more likely to respond favorably and it takes a TON less time.

Depending on the demographics of your target audience, you can start with an email introduction with a call to action.

This helps stay top of mind and then you can transition the conversation to a scheduled meeting to interested prospects to introduce yourself in “person.”

So in reality you are doing zero cold calls. You are starting the conversation online and transitioning to the phone.

This saves a ton of time because you can automate your email outreach very easily with Connect 365 and you don’t spend hours calling people who may or may not being interested.

The Importance of Cold Email Outreach

Cold emails are typically a quick read and require less of your prospect’s time.

They also allow you to reach a large audience with personalized email campaigns.

Keeping it personal can be a challenge and you want to stay away from an insert name type of strategy.

However, the delete button, junk folders/spam, and block sender are all-powerful obstacles to overcome. Breaking through all of the clutter in today’s inboxes also presents a challenge. Competition for people’s attention is fierce.

Knowing your audience is key and certain demos respond better to email.

Thanks to smartphones and advances in technology, cold emails are also more accessible and give you access to leads 24/7. You can’t call a lead at 1am, but if they can’t sleep and check their email you may very well have their attention.

Cold emails are trackable which means you can track the times they are sent, opened, clicked through, and oftentimes forwarded to someone else.

Cold emailing allows you to spread the word to mass audiences and quickly. With the right cold email software solution, you can automate much of the process. Creating a set it and forget approach allows you to focus on other tasks while email outreach runs smoothly in the background.

Cold Email Vs. Cold Call Takeaways

Both cold email and cold calls have their advantages and disadvantages. Determining which path is right for your company may take a little trial and error. Perhaps, one will work over the other or a combined approach is exactly what you need.

Though if you don’t have a dedicated person to handle your cold calling I highly recommend starting with email outreach as the first step.

Your prospects will be more receptive

You can still build the same level of trust and relationship

You can automate pretty much the entire process (and get scripts to use) with Connect 365

And then you can transition the relationship to a phone or zoom meeting when the time is right.

If you don’t have a dedicated team devoted to testing different approaches, then we are happy to help. Helping businesses reach their best prospects is something that we take great pride in achieving. We focus on the details so you can focus on your business.

Let Connect 365 do the hard part for you. This is what we love to do! We have worked hard to perfect our system, so you don’t have to. From email automation to lead management to social media automation, our focus is to help you achieve your goals, build relationships and create lifelong customers. Request an invite and let’s connect today!

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