OVERVIEW:

This is an email I wrote and sent cold to business owners I had never spoken to before.

60.0% of the people who received this email opened it, and 27.5% clicked on the link in the email.

Click here to read my email (PDF)
 

RESULTS COMPARED TO INDUSTRY STANDARDS:

(The industry averages shown in the chart are the median of reported industry averages from Constant Contact and MailChimp, two leading email service providers.)
 

QUICK ANALYSIS:

• SUBJECT LINE & OPEN RATE. I used "Cypress Cove Nudist Resort & Spa" as the subject line because every recipient of my email was the owner of a nudist resort, has most likely heard of Cypress Cove, and would probably be curious enough to at least open the email. This turned out to be right, and 60% of recipients opened the email.
• COLD EMAILS SHOULD BE SHORT. Since I had no relationship with any of the recipients, I kept this email very short to ensure it would be read. Longer emails have a better chance of being read if you have a pre-existing relationship with the recipient, but cold emails that are long don't usually get read.
• CLICK THROUGH RATE. To get people to click a link in an email, you need to accomplish two things: (1) they have to read the email, (2) they have to want to click the link. I intentionally made this email so short that nearly everyone would read it. And I explained in the email that the link leads to a new website my company designed and developed for Cypress Cove, which is likely a competitor or colleague for most of this email's recipients. Most people's curiosity to see the new website of one of their competitors will make them want to click the link. In this case, 27.5% of people clicked.
• CAN-SPAM COMPLIANCE. The last paragraph, in small font, makes this email compliant with CAN-SPAM laws, which requires senders to notify recipients that the email is a commercial email ("an advertisement or solicitation for goods or services"), and explains exactly how recipients can unsubscribe.