Cold emailing vs cold calling? What is the difference between that? Is cold calling better than cold email? Or is cold email better than cold calling?
With the list of contact details of your potential customers at your hand you are thinking whether to call them or email them.
This is not your dilemma only, almost 85% of sales reps think the same. While cold email gives you a lot of opportunity to convince your target audience, cold calls allow you to get immediate response and you can shape your tone and conversation as per the situation.
Cold calls and cold emails both are effective if you use them at the right time.
If you want to know when you should do cold calls and when you should do cold email, then this blog is for you.
Let’s get started with some comparison.
Cold Emailing vs Cold Calling
Though there is no comparison between cold calls vs cold emails, still we will discuss some bright and dark sides of cold calls vs cold emails.
Cold calls are more personal
If you want to hear a straight “No” then cold call is for you. 😀 Jokes apart, people prefer cold calls when they want an immediate response.
In cold call the chances of rejection are higher so as the chances of convincing them too. You can adjust your tone and strategy as your conversation with them progresses.
In a cold call you can smell what is there in your prospect’s mind. You can ask more questions to know about their needs and pains.
It’s basically 1-1 conversation and nothing can bit the magic of 1-1 conversation.
Cold calls are invasive
Talking to some complete stranger is so uncomfortable for you as well as for your prospects too. In cold calls the chances of rejections is very high. Cold calls are more expensive and less efficient than cold emailing.
Constant rejection also leads you to demotivation.
Emails get ignored easily
Your prospects must be receiving hundreds of emails daily. Among these large numbers of emails, it’s easy for them to ignore your email very easily.
Emails are easier to scale
Emails are the most preferred way of communication among professionals. You have enough time to think and curate your pitch. You can add visually appealing graphics in your email to grab attention. You can write compelling subject lines to make your prospects open your emails.
You can send so many emails at a time. It’s cost effective and more scalable. You can check the performance of your emails through various performance matrix, that help you to improve your campaign as well as know whether your audience is interested in your product or not.
Cold email is the best way of building the trust with your audience
Your cold leads turn into warm leads and ultimately into hot leads when they trust you. To make them trust you, you need to provide them with a constant value in terms of educating content, entertaining content, and so on.
Emails serve this purpose. Sending info entertaining emails, promotional emails, case study emails you build trust with your audience and convert them into your customer gradually.
Factors to consider while choosing cold calling Vs cold emailing
The Ask
One of the most important factors to consider is what outcome do you expect from your call or email. Do you want to set up a meeting? Or want some information? Or do you want to ask for a referral?
You have to figure out your ask and should be categorized as strong or weak, if your ask requires immediate response then it’s a strong ask or else it’s a weak ask.
For only strong asks only you should do a cold call. If your ask doesn’t require immediate response then go with cold email.
With this approach there would be less rejection and more success with the cold call.
The level of your prospects
You need to check the level of your prospects too before deciding whether to call or email. If you are out reaching to C-level executives it’s better to call. These people are easier to get on the call, as they will be at their desk.
But when it comes to reach out to managerial level people, email is best. Because these people aren’t always on their desks. So it’s better to reach out to them via email.
When you cold call these people, either your call might not answered or they often don’t feel comfortable to talk to unknown people in terms of professional communications
Time
Time plays a major role in deciding whether to call or email. Cold calls are answered best in late hours of the day and in mid weeks. The best suitable time to cold call is after lunch hours, i.e. after 2-3 pm, and best days to cold calls are Wednesday and Thursdays.
Even if your prospects don’t receive the calls, you can leave voicemails. Even voice messages have a greater rate of success in mid weeks and in late hours.
When it comes to sending cold emails, you can send emails around lunch time and also in the late evening. The best part of cold emailing is that you can check the open time of your previous sent email and send the follow up email at that time.
Now let’s see when you should use cold calls and when you should use cold email.
As discussed above both cold calls and cold emails are effective when used in the right situation and with the right strategy.
Let’s in what cases you should opt for cold call and cold email.
When should you use cold email?
When you want to measure and improve your sales outreach performance
Cold email is the best option for cold out reach when you want to measure and improve your outreach campaign
Cold email lets you measure its
- Deliverability
- Open rate
- Click through rate
- subscribe/unsubscribe rate
This helps you to improve your email campaign accordingly and drive more conversions.
When you want to get more ROI of cold outreach
With every $10 spent you can receive $40 of profit in email marketing. That’s how it is cost effective and profitable. In cold emailing all you need to do is segment your audience well and hone your message accordingly. Rest will be taken care of.
When you want to generate sales opportunities at scale
With cold emails seamless communication with your leads is easy with automated workflow and email templates. This helps you to generate sales opportunities at scale. So it’s the best approach when you want to scale your out reaching princess.
When should you prefer cold calls?
When you want to build Armstrong’s report from the starting itself
Though there are higher chances of failure and rejection in the cold call, on the flip side, you have greater chances of building rapport from the first pitch itself. This helps you build trust and long lasting relationships with your prospects.
Once your prospect trusts you, the conversion rate increases.
When you want to continuously iterate and and improve your pitch
In the cold calling approach you need to call 10s of prospects daily. This feels quite autonomous, but consistent practice of talking to strangers will help you to iterate and improve better.
When you want to qualify your leads quickly
In cold emails, you need to wait for a long time to know whether the prospect is interested in your prospect or not. But in cold calls you can know this quickly.
If the prospect is showing interest in your brand and engaging well, it’s a sign that they are warm leads, but if their response is vague then they can understand that they are no more interested.
Conclusion
Thus, as discussed, both Cold calls, and cold emails are effective in their own way. And you can leverage this effectiveness if you approach them at the right time.
FAQs: Cold Emailing vs Cold Calling
Is cold calling better than cold emailing?
Whether cold calling is better or cold emailing, the answer to this question depends upon your goal and the situation.
If you want to have an immediate response from your prospect like setting up a meeting, asking for a referral, then cold calling is better than cold email.
But if you don’t need immediate response, and have multiple opportunities to let your prospect know about you and your service, then cold email is the best.
Should you cold call or cold email first
Ideally you should do cold email first. If your prospect is showing some interest in your brand by opening your mails, clicking on the CTA, then you should go for cold calls.
Because this increases your chances of success in cold call, as you may sound familiar to your prospect.
