Every once in a while, I receive an email or direct message that makes me wonder if the person had one too many before clicking the send button. The example provided for this "what not to do" lesson was sent to me by a marketing consultant that left me wondering how my spam filter did not snatch this one up.
The Subject Line
According to Hubspot, you cannot see more than 30 characters on the subject line until you click into the email. Besides the glaring typos and the awkward phrasing, this subject line hits a whopping 51 characters. Additionally, the subject line comes across as very impersonal. This particular email was left unopened in my inbox for a week before I opened it (and only because of how bad it was).
The Intro
Last I checked, my name did not end with a .com. The impersonal introduction automatically was a put off and had I been even remotely interested in their services, I no longer was at that point.
The sender barrels right into their sales pitch without even touching base on the industry I work in. Looking at it from a marketing standpoint, I wondered if they even knew anything about the cannabis industry and its marketing regulations. This was a massive red flag.
The Sales Pitch
This list the sender provides barely scrapes the surface and provides no in-depth value to the customer. Besides not providing examples of previous work, or giving examples on how they would specifically assist my brand, there are multiple typos scattered throughout.
The Closer
Without even asking what social media platforms I utilize, the sender attempts to send a plan of action. They end it with signing off as a marketing consultant and a WhatsApp Number. This was the cherry on top of a textbook bad cold email.
We can learn a lot from bad examples such as this one. Creating human connections and establishing trust goes a long way with potential clients. If you want to increase your chances of a response from a potential client, I would strongly suggest avoiding anything this particular sender wrote.