The #1 reason people aren’t responding to your cold emails (and how to send
emails that get replies)
If you’ve been struggling with sending emails that people respond to, what
you’re about to read in the post will be very valuable to you.
The Problem
With so many cold email templates, cheat sheets, and formulas on the web you
would think it would be easy to send a cold email and fill up your inbox with
folks who are interested in buying from you.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Templates are great but without customizing
them for your specific market you’re gonna be disappointed.
But, how do you customize a cold email that gets replies?
You may have tried to write your cold emails from scratch, researched news and
facts about a company, inserted a personalized first line, and tell them all the
features and benefits of what you have…click…send…crickets.
You know that other people are sending cold emails that work so why is this
happening?
The Cause of the Problem
The answer lies deep within human behavior and the brain. We like to think that
we humans are rational, logical thinkers and decisions.
We don’t let emotion get in the way of making smart, thoughtful decisions.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Sometimes this is the case but there
are hundreds of decisions we make every day and we don’t do a logical
cost-benefit analysis of each one.
Most of our decisions - big or small - are made unconsciously and involve
emotion. We use parts of our brain like the amygdala, the oldest part of our
brain (“Lizard Brain”), to make these emotional decisions.
The amygdala is responsible for your fight or flight response as well as fear,
pleasure, anxiety, and anger.
This part of your brain is critical for decision-making as it can trigger
responses to emotional stimuli, including monetary reward and punishment.
We make emotional, mostly unconscious decisions with parts of the brain like the
amygdala in as little as 0.1 seconds first and reason them out with logic using
parts of the brain like the Neocortex.
Think about it. No one ever bought a Ferrari because it’s a practical car. They
bought it because that brand makes them feel something.
Most people send cold emails that appeal to the exact opposite of how humans
make decisions. Most cold emails make a logical case for why the recipient
should respond to the sender.
This is a massive problem because people don’t make decisions based on logic.
People make decisions based on emotion and reason them with logic.
That’s why sales pages start with a gripping headline and opener that appeals to
your basic instincts (emotion) and ends with some sort of money back or
satisfaction guarantee (logic).
So, if we know that we need to appeal to emotion first, how do we craft our
emails to do this?
The Solution
The solution lies in using angles to speak to human desires. An angle is a lens
that you use to position what you have to offer in your marketing or sales
communication.
We need to tap into what humans are biologically programmed to need or what they
have learned to want by operating as a
member of society.
Ad agencies and big brands use angles every day in their ads to make us desire
something. Think about Apple’s TV ads and how they pull on your heartstrings.
Implementing this from scratch can difficult. Below you’ll find a proven list of
angles that you can use to get more responses immediately.
Implementing the Solution
Two of the best books on this topic are Robert Cialdini’s, “Influence: The
Psychology of Persuasion” and Drew Eric Whitman’s, “Ca$hvertising: How to Use
More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything
to Anyone.”
Using their frameworks will give you a toolbox to pull from when writing your
emails.
In every email, I write I start with an angle. Before I write one word I think
about the emotion I want someone to feel. Tapping into that will drastically
improve my chances of getting a response.
Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion:
1. Reciprocity: Give a little something to get a little something in return
2. Commitment: People want their beliefs to be consistent with their values
3. Social Proof: There’s nothing like feeling validated based on what others are
doing.
4. Authority: People tend to obey authority figures
5. Liking: The more you like someone, the more you’ll be persuaded by them
6. Scarcity: When you believe something is in short supply…You want it more!
Drew Eric Whitman’s Life-Force 8:
We human beings are biologically programmed with the following 8 desires:
1. Survival… enjoyment of life… life extension - Think of all the products in
the health market (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
2. Enjoyment of food and beverages - Pretty self-explanatory
3. Freedom from fear, pain, and danger - This is how you win an election
4. S3xual companionship - This one’s a gimme (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
5. Comfortable living conditions - This is how homes are sold
6. To be superior… winning… keeping up with the Jones’ - Ever met a “one-upper”
or have you seen someone brag on Facebook? (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
7. Care and protection of loved ones - How much thought do people put into
what’s best for their children?
8. Social approval - Everyone wants to raise their status
Drew Eric Whitman’s 9 (Learned) Secondary Wants
There are also “9 Secondary Wants” that are LEARNED, and also important to know:
1. To be informed - This is why people are glued to cable news
2. Curiosity - This one is powerful…You could write all your emails focusing on
curiosity and be in great shape
3. Cleanliness of body and surroundings - Pretty self-explanatory
4. Efficiency - People don’t want to put in a lot of hard work without results
5. Convenience - People are L-A-Z-Y haha
6. Dependability/Quality - Everybody wants the best. Why do you
think so many SEOs try to optimize for “Best X…”
7. Expression of beauty and style - Ever seen a fragrance commercial or a pair
of ripped jeans that sell for over $1,000?
8. Economy/Profit - People are greedy. Get their greed glands squirting.
9. Bargains - We all want an incredible deal. Think about Black Friday / Cyber
Monday.
Wrapping Up
Think about these angles when you write your next email. Choose one (and only
one) for each email and craft your copy around that theme. Press send and I
guarantee you will see more responses in your inbox!
Posted by Morgan Williams on Facebook
link: facebook.com/groups/231736180643534/user/1230720037/
emails that get replies)
If you’ve been struggling with sending emails that people respond to, what
you’re about to read in the post will be very valuable to you.
The Problem
With so many cold email templates, cheat sheets, and formulas on the web you
would think it would be easy to send a cold email and fill up your inbox with
folks who are interested in buying from you.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Templates are great but without customizing
them for your specific market you’re gonna be disappointed.
But, how do you customize a cold email that gets replies?
You may have tried to write your cold emails from scratch, researched news and
facts about a company, inserted a personalized first line, and tell them all the
features and benefits of what you have…click…send…crickets.
You know that other people are sending cold emails that work so why is this
happening?
The Cause of the Problem
The answer lies deep within human behavior and the brain. We like to think that
we humans are rational, logical thinkers and decisions.
We don’t let emotion get in the way of making smart, thoughtful decisions.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Sometimes this is the case but there
are hundreds of decisions we make every day and we don’t do a logical
cost-benefit analysis of each one.
Most of our decisions - big or small - are made unconsciously and involve
emotion. We use parts of our brain like the amygdala, the oldest part of our
brain (“Lizard Brain”), to make these emotional decisions.
The amygdala is responsible for your fight or flight response as well as fear,
pleasure, anxiety, and anger.
This part of your brain is critical for decision-making as it can trigger
responses to emotional stimuli, including monetary reward and punishment.
We make emotional, mostly unconscious decisions with parts of the brain like the
amygdala in as little as 0.1 seconds first and reason them out with logic using
parts of the brain like the Neocortex.
Think about it. No one ever bought a Ferrari because it’s a practical car. They
bought it because that brand makes them feel something.
Most people send cold emails that appeal to the exact opposite of how humans
make decisions. Most cold emails make a logical case for why the recipient
should respond to the sender.
This is a massive problem because people don’t make decisions based on logic.
People make decisions based on emotion and reason them with logic.
That’s why sales pages start with a gripping headline and opener that appeals to
your basic instincts (emotion) and ends with some sort of money back or
satisfaction guarantee (logic).
So, if we know that we need to appeal to emotion first, how do we craft our
emails to do this?
The Solution
The solution lies in using angles to speak to human desires. An angle is a lens
that you use to position what you have to offer in your marketing or sales
communication.
We need to tap into what humans are biologically programmed to need or what they
have learned to want by operating as a
member of society.
Ad agencies and big brands use angles every day in their ads to make us desire
something. Think about Apple’s TV ads and how they pull on your heartstrings.
Implementing this from scratch can difficult. Below you’ll find a proven list of
angles that you can use to get more responses immediately.
Implementing the Solution
Two of the best books on this topic are Robert Cialdini’s, “Influence: The
Psychology of Persuasion” and Drew Eric Whitman’s, “Ca$hvertising: How to Use
More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything
to Anyone.”
Using their frameworks will give you a toolbox to pull from when writing your
emails.
In every email, I write I start with an angle. Before I write one word I think
about the emotion I want someone to feel. Tapping into that will drastically
improve my chances of getting a response.
Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion:
1. Reciprocity: Give a little something to get a little something in return
2. Commitment: People want their beliefs to be consistent with their values
3. Social Proof: There’s nothing like feeling validated based on what others are
doing.
4. Authority: People tend to obey authority figures
5. Liking: The more you like someone, the more you’ll be persuaded by them
6. Scarcity: When you believe something is in short supply…You want it more!
Drew Eric Whitman’s Life-Force 8:
We human beings are biologically programmed with the following 8 desires:
1. Survival… enjoyment of life… life extension - Think of all the products in
the health market (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
2. Enjoyment of food and beverages - Pretty self-explanatory
3. Freedom from fear, pain, and danger - This is how you win an election
4. S3xual companionship - This one’s a gimme (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
5. Comfortable living conditions - This is how homes are sold
6. To be superior… winning… keeping up with the Jones’ - Ever met a “one-upper”
or have you seen someone brag on Facebook? (Health, Wealth, and Relationships)
7. Care and protection of loved ones - How much thought do people put into
what’s best for their children?
8. Social approval - Everyone wants to raise their status
Drew Eric Whitman’s 9 (Learned) Secondary Wants
There are also “9 Secondary Wants” that are LEARNED, and also important to know:
1. To be informed - This is why people are glued to cable news
2. Curiosity - This one is powerful…You could write all your emails focusing on
curiosity and be in great shape
3. Cleanliness of body and surroundings - Pretty self-explanatory
4. Efficiency - People don’t want to put in a lot of hard work without results
5. Convenience - People are L-A-Z-Y haha
6. Dependability/Quality - Everybody wants the best. Why do you
think so many SEOs try to optimize for “Best X…”
7. Expression of beauty and style - Ever seen a fragrance commercial or a pair
of ripped jeans that sell for over $1,000?
8. Economy/Profit - People are greedy. Get their greed glands squirting.
9. Bargains - We all want an incredible deal. Think about Black Friday / Cyber
Monday.
Wrapping Up
Think about these angles when you write your next email. Choose one (and only
one) for each email and craft your copy around that theme. Press send and I
guarantee you will see more responses in your inbox!
Posted by Morgan Williams on Facebook
link: facebook.com/groups/231736180643534/user/1230720037/