Cold Email Wizardry 101: Understanding the Reader’s Perspective

As sellers, we often get in our own way. We get so caught up in our targeting and messaging that we forget the simple truths — like how to see an email from a reader’s perspective. Though we call them buyers, their job isn’t really to buy things. They have a job to do, and their inbox is messy.

Most workers receive more than 80 emails and spend over eight hours on email every week. They’re getting more emails than ever but spending less time reading them.

The Email Triage Problem

While some work conversations have moved to messaging platforms like Slack or Teams, email is still a workhorse for corporate communications.

Your buyers are constantly inundated with emails asking them for things: to create a report, buy a new product, attend a meeting, or talk to a client. They’re flooded with so many emails that they start to think of their inbox as a to-do list.

They open their inbox and look for:

• Names they recognize
• Threads they recognize

Then…there’s a pile of everything else.

This process is email triage. Recipients quickly scan their inboxes and decide what to open, ignore, or delete.

Email triage happens fast: The average reading time for an email is nine seconds, giving just enough time to read 37.5 words. But here’s another curve ball — most emails are deleted within three seconds.

What’s going on here? More importantly, what’s the big takeaway for sellers?

No one is reading the email you wrote. At least not until they categorize it and can answer the question, “What is this? Why should I take the time to read it?”

To answer that question, people read your email through the lens of a mental spam filter. This filter is their brain’s shortcut for deciding if this is a “sales” email they should quickly dismiss or something relevant to their daily to-do list. It’s pattern recognition.

7 Things That Trigger the Mental Spam Filter

Successful sellers write emails that get past the mental spam filter. They craft messages that cut through the noise, resonate with the recipient, and demonstrate an understanding of their key pain points.

Here are seven things we know will trigger the mental spam filter:

1. A Bad Subject Line

The subject line is your first (and only) chance to captivate your recipient. If a subject line feels like it came from marketing, it’ll get a quick delete.

For example, don’t use a subject line like, “Will, struggling to improve your reply rates?” Instead, use something simple and direct, like: “Pipeline Issue.” If your recipient has a pipeline issue, the subject line will certainly catch their attention.

2. Cliches

Does your email include cliches that only sellers would use? Hopefully, you already know to avoid classics like “I hope this finds you well” and the repurposed cold call opener, “My name is Will.” But keep in mind that other phrases that are currently popular will someday become cliche as they get overused. 

Rather than leaning on tired, generic phrases, write the way you would actually talk to the recipient. Be personable and get straight to the point. Lavender email coach helps you avoid cliches by leveraging AI to score and optimize your email. You can even input bullet points and let our AI generate hyper-personalized email copy.

3. Lengthy Emails

You only have nine seconds to capture your recipient’s attention. Opening an email and seeing a lot of words can be the main reason people close or delete your message. They don’t have time for it. Even if they think they’ll come back to it later, their inbox is so overwhelming that it just doesn’t happen.

Our data shows that the optimal cold email should be between 25 to 50 words. That means you don’t have any room for fluff. You only have room to hook the recipient and establish context.

4. Buzzwords

You might think buzzwords make you sound smart. In reality, they make your emails hard to understand. Buzzwords tend to be vague or have multiple definitions. They aren’t concrete ideas.

Avoid words like these:

• Flexibility
• Visibility
• Scalable
• Strategic

Don’t try to show off or connect by using industry jargon. Instead, use words that are specific, concrete, and clear. 

5. An Informative Tone

Strike the wrong tone and you’ll trigger the mental spam filter instantaneously. Informative tones reduce reply rates by 26%. A good way to think about informative tones is to think of it as trying to "educate" or “talk at a prospect. In the seller’s mind, they’re giving the recipient important information. In the reader’s mind, they see marketing copy and tune out.

Instead, pull them into conversation. Don’t lecture them. Lavender tools give you quick tips on how to increase replies, highlighting what to work on and how to better relate to your audience.

6. Bad Formatting

I’m willing to bet your phone isn’t far away from you right now. It might even be in your hand. The same goes for your email recipients. 81% of emails are read on mobile devices. But most are written on desktop computers. 

Mobile optimization, including how you format your paragraphs, matters. Give the reader’s eye a break by using bullet points and short paragraphs of one to two sentences. Cold emails that don’t have those big paragraphs get 83% more replies.

Lavender’s Mobile Editor helps you optimize your email for mobile. This feature makes your email easier to read on a phone, increasing your chances of a reply.

7. Lack of Personalization

Your recipient should feel like your email was written exclusively for them. If not, it’s more likely to go straight to the trash. You can personalize your emails with a conversational tone. But an even more effective approach is to research your recipient using a tool like Lavender.

Lavender’s AI Sales Email Coach sits inside your inbox and offers key insights about your recipient. You can use those insights to create more personalized messaging and get more replies.

Understanding Follow-Up Emails

Follow-up emails are often misunderstood and misused. If sellers don’t get a reply to a follow-up email, they think the recipient isn’t interested. But really, they just need more context.

By context, I don’t mean giving more information about yourself. I mean reminding them why you originally reached out.

Your recipient isn’t thinking about you between emails. Their inbox is overflowing with emails from co-workers and other sellers. So you need to provide context every time you follow up. Once you’ve given that context, you can build upon the narrative.

Write Better Emails with Lavender

Many sellers struggle to see emails from a reader’s point of view. They send far more emails than they receive. It’s difficult to imagine all the ways the recipient might discount (and delete) a message before they’re done reading.

That’s why Lavender is such a valuable tool for sellers. Lavender’s Email Coach offers feedback and tips for creating emails that get past the mental spam filter and engage your reader. It’s helped thousands of sellers book more meetings, get more replies, and hit quota.

‍Install Lavender for free or schedule a team demo to see how Lavender can help you write better emails by keeping the reader’s perspective in mind.

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