Small win: Got my first outbound reply after 37 cold emails

Last month I was just shooting emails into the void, no strategy at all. Then I read a post about personalizing the first line to something they actually wrote on LinkedIn. Tried it on Monday for 5 leads and one replied within 3 hours. Has anyone else seen a big jump from just tweaking the opener?

2 comments

2 Comments

lopez.brooke15d ago

Did you keep the same subject line from your first batch or change that too? I found that when I tweaked the opener but left the subject line generic, my reply rate barely moved. It took me changing both before I saw any real difference.

janac5915d ago

Oh man, I actually see it totally different! I tested this pretty heavily and my subject line barely moved the needle no matter what I did. I got way better results from rewriting the first sentence to be super specific to the person, like mentioning a recent project or something they posted about. The subject line just gets them to open it but the opener is what gets them to actually reply. Maybe it depends on your industry or who you're targeting but I'd say focus your energy on that first line instead.