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April 16, 2018 - 11:02 AM Etta - ettasebastian@web.de Here_s one of the most common questions I get from students: _How is cold email different from spam?_ Cold email and spam are polar opposites. Here_s why_ Spam: _ Uses a fake name _ Doesn_t include contact information _ Isn_t personalized (the same email is sent to several people) _ Isn_t meant to start a conversation; rather, it_s usually targeting a direct purchase. _ Has a commercial motive. Spam is an example of a one-to-many email. Can you see the difference? This cold email does three things: _ It addresses the recipient directly. _ It has a highly specific and relevant request. _ And it mentions a common contact. I_m not trying to push a product, or get anyone on the phone for a long conversation. The real world equivalent of this email would be like saying, _Hi,_ to a friend of a friend you bumped into at a conference. It_s not pushy. It_s not annoying. And it_s perfectly reasonable, as long as your call to action isn_t overly aggressive. For example: _Buy my product!_ Sounds pushy, right? But if you say: _Let_s get coffee sometime!_ That sounds a lot better. Want a _sniff test_ for spam vs. cold email? Before you send out a cold email, ask yourself: Would I be comfortable saying this to someone I met at a conference for the first time? If the answer is no, then it_s likely spam. If the answer is yes, then it_s a cold email. Keep in mind that spam is illegal. Send too much spam and you will run afoul of CAN SPAM laws. Are you clear about whether an email falls under the CAN SPAM laws? It can be tricky. So let me break it down: As per FTC, all emails can contain three types of information: _ Commercial content, such as selling a product, promoting a sale, etc. _ Relationship or transactional content, such as a bank sending its customer a bank statement, an e-commerce store sharing transaction details, or a blogger sending a message to his list of subscribers. _ Other content, which can range from personal content to mixed (relationship + commer... IP : 107.172.198.123 |