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2x Your Cold Email Open Rates with 8 Step Deliverability Checklist
Published about 1 year ago • 3 min read
SDR Hire Insights
SDR Hire Insights is a weekly newsletter that serves SDRs and those striving to become ones with actionable tips and top notch content.
tl;dr:
8 point checklist to 2x your cold email open rate
Best 5 LI posts to crush it as an SDR
Why the Permission Based Opener (cold calls) doesn't work, with Justin Michael (SDR Hire Podcast)
Read time: 2 minutes and 58 seconds
You've been told a lie
I keep seeing SDRs and Sales leaders celebrate 30-40% open rates.
And it makes me very sad and frustrated.
Because the benchmark people use for open rates is: email marketing open rates.
I think we can all agree that spammy newsletters from retailers who blackmailed you into leaving your email address for a 25% discount, aren't a good benchmark for anything. Those emails get a 15-30% open rate at best.
With a few tweaks, you could be getting at least double that.
I get 60% to 80% open rates on a regular basis.
Here's an 8 point check list of everything I do to get those numbers
Create separate domains + inboxes for outreach. Keeps my primary domain away from potential spam. Keeps my regular correspondence safe - emailing clients, employees, etc. Full guide in the document below.
Perform a proper technical setup: DKIM, DMARC, SPF, Custom tracking domain Fancy words for boring tech stuff. This is a few technical steps everyone should be able to do. Guide included at the end of the list.
Check my email and domain health. Am I blacklisted? How's my email health (Mail tester)
Avoid spam words Especially in subject lines. I avoid capital letters and words like discount, free, offer, promotion, bonus, offer, 100%. Full list at the end.
I use warm up tools Warm up tools send dummy cold emails between users in a huge network. Those emails get replies on autopilot and automatically move emails from spam if they land there. Tool suggestions in the guide at the end.
Subject lines I keep them short - 2 to 4 words. No word capitalization - it looks like a promotion. Needs to convey the message from the email - no lies. Examples attached in the guide at the end.
Preview lines Execs don't open emails. They perform triage: notification > look at subject line > expand the preview > open the email > skim through > read again > respond. Visual and explanation included in the guide at the end.
My ICP If after everything my emails are still getting bad open rates, I consider the following: Is my ICP actually using emails? Is my ICP being restricted from using emails. A small business owner might not be using their email very much. A bank executive might have a very high level of security on their email. This is where multichannel comes into play.
Belal Batrawy shared what’s the worst sales advice people give and offered an alternative to what elite sellers do (hint: they’re not trying to be helpful)
Reply back with a good LI post if you have one so we can share it here!
Permission Based Opener (cold calls) is ruining your status
This week on the SDR Hire Podcast, Srba did an awesome job interviewing Justin Michael.
If the name doesn't ring a bell - he's become the best selling author on Amazon with his 2 new books and his prospecting method called the Justin Michael Method (JMM).
In the episode he explains the psychology of cold outreach, how our prospect's brains react and gives an example of how to deliver a cold call with his method.
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