How to do cold emails right ✅

Plus: Why effective decisions are so important...

Author

Nikita Verma
April 30, 2024

This week’s Tech Creator is back to shake off your Monday blues!

Let’s take a look at cold emails and indecisiveness, shall we? 

GROWTH

The art of cold emails for any startup

Let’s be real— whether you’re a startup or a known brand, growth is a sweet, sweet thing. But for a startup, growth is essential for long-term success. 

There are many ways to improve and promote growth, with cold emails being one of the top ways. 

Wait … but doesn’t it have a bad rep? No, not if cold emails are done right. 

Outreach

When you email someone you don’t know for partnership, opportunities, investments and more, that is called sending a ‘cold email’. 

While many regard cold emails as ‘spam’ mails, they are actually very effective when it comes to outreach. 

Cold emails, when done right, can help your startup: 

  • Build connections

  • Create awareness

  • Promote your product/service

  • Grow your team

  • Find & secure new investors

  • Increase leads

  • Eventually convert leads into customers

Do Cold Emails Right

Cold emails are both simple and tricky, which is why you’ve got to know the art to do it right. 

First, know who you are emailing to. And no, we don’t just mean knowing their name, and if their email address is correct, you’ve got to know if your product or service will be the right fit for them. 

Now that you know who your email is going to, it’s time to make sure you write your email right so that it doesn’t get flagged as spam. 

Here’s 6  things to cross off your checklist: 

✅ Research the spam regulations of the country of your prospect, and be sure that the contents of your email meets the guidelines. 

✅ Give your email a clear and catchy subject— make your prospect want to open your mail. 

✅ Pick the right tone and keep it consistent: are you going to use a less formal tone, or is it going to be strictly professional? 

✅ Don’t bore them with lengthy introductions, keep it light and engaging. 

✅ Focus more on the benefits of your startup and keep the features for later. Personalise your content to the person you’re pitching to. 

✅ Always end your cold email with a CTA: the key to this is to keep it simple, yet tell them exactly what you want them to do. 

Some people view cold emails as a risk, but like all risks, when it is done right, can reap you a lot of benefits. 

Don’t be disheartened if you’re met with silence, after all, sometimes all it takes is one ‘yes’.

Let’s go write some kickass emails! 

PEOPLE

Employing AI for HR administration? 

AI in this, AI in that … and AI for Open Enrollment? 

The scoop

Let’s skip the boring part: “the rise of AI, bla bla”, and get right to it. Some companies are now using AI to help them with open enrollment. 

What is open enrollment? 

Open enrollment is an employee’s dream, but a HR’s nightmare. 

It is a period of time, often offered annually where employees are allowed to make changes to their benefits matrix/structure.

When HR faces endless questions and is swamped with changes, AI can swoop in, like a hero, to help. 

How exactly?

Many new AI tools help with a variety of things. Alight, a human capital technology firm and Nayya, an employee benefits decision support platform have both recently introduced tools to help with open enrollment. 

🟡 Alight

Large companies have been working with Alight to improve their benefits administration. Alight has recently started testing generative AI to help with this. 

For example, they introduced “simplified enrollment” powered by their own generative AI technology through an interactive virtual assistant inspired by ChatGPT.

This AI tool helps employers see if an employee is on the right benefit plan and predict if they will make any changes to their benefits based on user data. The employee will then be given the “simplified enrollment” option that will eventually lead them to Alight’s virtual assistant. 

The assistant will then help the employee go through any benefit plan changes, and recommend different benefits that are relevant and available to each employee, or retain current ones. 

To simplify, Alight’s AI tool helps lower the average time spent on open enrollment and helps to effectively offer the right benefits plan for each employee. 

🔵 Nayya

Nayya is another platform that helps employees decide on the right benefits plan. Their tool provides guidance and decision support during open enrollment. 

Nayya, like Alight, also uses data to help suggest the most effective benefit path/plan to an employee and aims to primarily simplify the selection process. It also helps to remind employees about their benefits and guides them on how to use said benefits. 

It all sounds good, but …

There are always two sides to a coin. AI can be incredibly helpful when it comes to open enrollment, but it comes with some risks. 

  • Not all employers will be open to using AI for open enrollment right away

  • Since these tools use data, employees may be concerned about privacy

So, it’s always important to research which tool fits the best for your company and employees!

SALES

The importance of effective decision-making

When you’re in sales, you’re going to be making a lot of decisions. Whether you like it or not, a time will come when you’re forced to choose between two scenarios that may feel impossible to navigate around. 

For example, you have two important client meetings. They are both only available on the same day, same time. One client can bring you a big but one-time sale, while the other could convert into a stable, permanent client. 

It feels like whichever you choose, you’re going to lose. 

But it’s all about perspective. 

How to not choose the other?

This is where effective decision-making comes in, and while it may seem simple, it can actually be tough. 

But we’ve got your back. 

Here are 3 steps you can take to make sure you’re making the right call:

👉 Prioritise: What is most important to your company and team? Using the example above, think about what you desperately need. A large sale, or a more stable one? 

👉 Pivot and lan: You’ve looked at the pros and cons, and you sort of know which option you’re going for, but you’re still indecisive. Consider this: can someone else on your team handle the other? If they can, what can you do to help them prepare for the meeting? What resources can you give?

👉 Seek advice: Ask your teammates on what they think. Sometimes, a different perspective is all you need.

Sales is all about making the right decision to ensure growth and success. Be sure to make the most effective decision. 

Remember to not rush things, or be emotional. Always take the time to analyse, evaluate, and think.

Latest tech news

Tech Throwback: April 29, 1826

A lot of famous weddings happened on April 29 … including Adolf Hitler’s. But that’s not why we’re revisiting this date. 

On April 29, 1826, astronaut James Dunlop discovered Centaurus A (NGC 5128 or Caldwell 77), a galaxy in the constellation Centaurus.

He discovered it during a survey at the Parramatta Observatory, New South Wales, Australia.

Centaurus A is 13 million light-years away from Earth and is made up of two galaxies that are merging. 

Pretty cool, huh?

And that’s a wrap. We’ll see you in May, folks 👋🏽