7 Cold Emailing Tips I Wish Someone Told Me When I Started Freelancing.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Freelancing is no easy task. All the work is on you and when you get started, you have to go out there and find your clients. One way I have found my clients is through cold emailing.

Cold emailing is essentially sending an email to someone you have never talked to. Like ever.

This may be a daunting task, but it is a good way to put your name out there and get clients to kick off your freelance business.

After a year of cold emailing, I have learned a thing or two that I wish someone told me when I got started.

1) Just get started.

I waited for a long time. I sat there, worried for days whether or not my emails were good enough.

Getting started is the hardest part.

Before I started sending out emails, I worried A LOT.

• About what people would say
• What people would think
• If people would even reply to me

But that doesn’t matter because if I didn’t send any emails out, I would’ve never known what they really thought.

The worst thing they can do is say no.

But the best thing that can happen? You can get another client.

Also, it gets easier with time because you’ll know exactly what to look for, target, and comment on.

If you are looking for a sign, start cold emailing today!

2) Personalize. Personalize. Personalize.

The last thing anyone wants is a generic email.

An email is a way to get into the virtual living room of someone you want to work with.

You want to respect that person’s space and make a great impression.

To do this, you have to personalize.

Generic emails don’t work anymore.

Make sure you stand out by personalizing yours.

What can you include?

👉 Their name / Brand name

👉 How you found them

👉 Specific things you noticed on their website/social media

👉 What you like

👉 What they may need help with

This information provides background and acknowledgment of someone’s business and work. Business owners appreciate it when you take the extra time to research what their business is about and give specific examples.

This alone makes your cold email stand out from a sea of other emails.

If you want an example of emails that won’t work, think of all the emails you have received and deleted right away.

3) Unsure of whether to send an email or not? DO IT ANYWAY.

I have had at least five people I have emailed thinking…

👉 They don’t need me! Their website is fantastic.

👉 She is on another level. How can I even help her?

👉 They have not been updated for years. Maybe they don’t want help.

Funny enough, these are the people that get back to me.

Some of them told me that I emailed them at the right time!

Don’t overthink it.

Just send it.

You never know if the person on the other side needs your service.

4) STREAK

So you have ALL these emails sent out, and you have been on fire cold emailing people. But you just cannot remember or keep track of who is at what stage.

Streak has been a game-changing FREE app/chrome extension for all my email needs.

With Streak, you can also schedule when your emails go out. So you can work batch your emails on the weekend and have them sent out on the weekdays.

You are probably thinking… well, Google already lets me do that.

Yes. Google allows you to schedule emails, but Streak also enables you to track them.

With Streak, I can see if my emails were opened, and when they were opened.

By using Streak, you can also…

👉 Label your emails to know what stage you are on with your potential clients ( contacted, pitched, follow up, or client).

This is my favorite feature because I don’t have to open each email to see where in the process I am at with them.

I have sent so many emails that I don’t want to waste time going back to check if I followed up with someone or not.

With Streak, I look up the category that I put them in, check the email, and follow up.

👉 Schedule AND TRACK unlimited emails to go out at a specific month, date, and time.

Before, I used a chrome extension called Boomerang, but the user interface wasn’t my favorite, and they put a limit on how many emails you can schedule out a month.

If you are curious or interested in Streak, you can check it out by clicking here.

(Heads up! The app is completely free to download and use. By using this referral link, we both can get an additional 100 boxes, and 20 mail merges for FREE.)

5) Screenshot while you scroll.

If you are on social media a lot (like me), screenshot ads or companies in your niche that come up on your feed!

At the end of the day or week, you will have a good amount of screenshots that you can refer back to. All you need to do is find their email address and shoot them a message.

By doing so, you don’t have to spend extra time searching for companies that you want to work with within your niche.

Also, most people who advertise on Instagram or Pinterest are likely to have the funds to hire a freelancer.

6) Check your spam.

This happened to me a few months ago. I send out a follow-up email to a potential client.

And she replied with something along the lines of “I SENT YOU A RESPONSE THAT I’M INTERESTED. TWICE.”

I did not see her response and I told her I was sorry and we can schedule a call.

I told my friend and he suggested looking at the spam inbox.

I did.

It was there…

Now I check it once a week.

I didn’t get that client, but if I did respond earlier, maybe I would‘ve.

Check your spam emails once in a while to make sure you aren’t missing out on potential clients.

7) How to Handle Noes (the plural of no).

No one likes getting rejected.

I think that is one reason why people don’t want to send out cold emails.

All the noes and the people who didn’t respond feel like a rejection one after the other.

I have received a variety of responses from all the cold emails I have sent. Some were very kind rejections and some weren’t. Some replies I received include:

👉 “not interested”

👉 “unsubscribe”

👉 (no response at all)

👉 I don’t like that you said XYZ.

And my favorite…

👉 “Please stop.”

How did I respond?

I respond nicely and moved on. I’d say something like, “Thank you for your time” and wish them well.

I don’t like to ignore their responses because I’m not a machine or robot sending out spam messages. Plus, I want them to know I appreciated their time to respond to me.

I have had a few times where I’ve feel attacked or angry even. But the time spent getting angry was time I could not get back.

So, I spent that time doing something productive. I did more research and continued with cold emailing others and got a few clients.

Tip: NEVER reply with a nasty email. It can come back around and hurt your business’s reputation.

The Takeaway

Cold emailing is a great way to reach out to people and offer your services. However, it may be scary at first. Having these tips in your arsenal will make that process easier. If you are worried, don’t be. You will get your responses in no time.

Here is a quick review of 7 cold email tips that I wish I knew when I started.

1. Just Get Started
2. Personalize emails
3. Send the email anyway (even if you don’t think they need you)
4. Use Streak.
5. Screenshot as you scroll
6. Check your spam
7. Brush off the noes

I hope these tips help you on your freelance journey. If you have any additional advice, tips, or questions about cold emailing, comment below.

-Stephanie