Do You Make These Mistakes in Your Cold Email? Lessons from "The Cold Email Manifesto"

Standing out online is getting harder. Running ads is expensive, and with social media, you are tied to a platform. 

Email can still be powerful if used properly. It is cheap, and everyone uses it. You go straight to their inbox.

You don’t need permission from any social media app.

Alex Berman’s book, The Cold Email Manifesto, explains how to do it right. The big lesson? Cold emails aren’t about blasting strangers. They’re about starting real conversations.

What is cold emailing?

Cold emailing is simple. You reach out to someone you’ve never spoken to before. You didn’t have any prior contact. You send a direct message to their inbox.

The key is tone. A good cold email should not feel like spam. It has to feel like a genuine, relevant note from one human to another. It cannot be pushy or salesy.

One survey found that you can get 42 dollars for every dollar spent on cold email.

With such a massive ROI opportunity, why don’t businesses get that kind of return?

Mistake 1: No Specific Offer

Your offer must be very specific and attractive to a specific market. It can be a product or service. But it must be a compelling proposition. 

“We do web design” is useless! You need something that solves a problem for a specific group of people. 

If you have the offer honed to your email recipient’s relevant niche, you can write basically anything in your cold email and still get responses. 

Instead of offering app development, say you specialise in building connectivity apps for small and medium businesses. That’s how specific you want to get.

Mistake 2: No Solid Case Study

How do you create an offer that stands out from the masses? It comes down to the case study. This is the hardest aspect of cold email, as it conveys exactly what you do. 

The case study will sell your offer to the client. This case study will be the second line of your cold email template, with a custom compliment as your first line. The compliment is a simple way to break the ice. You’re demonstrating that you know something about the client that you’re targeting. 

The overall structure of a cold email will go something like this:

Hey Sam, 

I heard about you while looking up marketing directors for pharmaceuticals, and I love your backstory—it's incredible that you work as a volunteer for seniors. 

I specialise in iOS development for the healthcare industry. Recently, we built an app for a small biotech that increased its client satisfaction rating by 29% through an automated dashboard. 

Interested in improving your client happiness at Smithson? 

Let me know, and I’ll send over some times to chat. 

Thanks, 

Adam

Mistake 3: Poor Subject Line

How do you get potential customers to open the email? You need a good subject line. Luckily, this is the easy part. 

Alex Berman has a complete list of subject lines proven to perform in his book. But his most recommended subject line is 'Quick Question'. This subject line has consistently outperformed other subjects in their testing. 

Test Quick Question in your campaigns, and you’ll be sure to get a high number of opens!

Mistake 4: Poor CTA

The final part of the puzzle is the call to action. This is the least personalised and customised part of the email. In fact, it can just be copied and pasted. 

But it needs to be asked in a specific form to prompt a “yes” or “no” answer. This is much easier to answer than an open-ended question like, “What is your biggest problem right now?” You have to keep things as simple as possible and make things easy for these CEOs and CTOs. 

They’re extremely busy people, with thousands of things going on. Here are two ways to end your cold emails:

The basics: Interested? Let me know, and I can send over a few times to chat. 

And the advanced: Are you interested in for ? Let me know, and I can send over a few times to chat.

Example: Can you take on more clients at Buzz? Let me know, and I can send over a few times to chat.

Wrapping it up

Your potential clients are very busy people. They don’t want to research customer app development companies for weeks. They don’t want to run a tender and have many vendors pitch. They want the right solution to arrive at them, as if by accident! 

And this is what you achieve by using this cold email strategy. You’re presenting your clients with a solution on a silver platter. Now they can look good to their bosses and make it seem like they are the proactive ones! It’s a win-win situation!

One thoughtful email can open doors you never expected. I’ve seen it happen in my own work. And the beauty is you can start today, with nothing more than a blank inbox and a clear message.