Are you happy with your cold email game?

The Internet is full of ‘killer’ cold email tips to get more leads and close more sales. But who’s ready for some out-of-the-box thinking?

Here’s our hot take on cold emails for 2020.

#1 Stop being so fancy

We know you’ve put a lot of effort into that beautifully styled email signature. Yes, it links to all your social channels, your website, and your favorite Queen live performance. It’s gorgeous. But it’s hurting your deliverability.

Switch to plain text instead.

Make your email look effortless and it will feel effortless. A plain text cold email without any links will not only help you maneuver around spam filters, but will also improve your reply rate. And it will keep getting you into the inbox in the future.

Go take a second look at your email signature. We’ll wait.

#2 Don’t go straight for the kill

Does the final line in your cold emails look something like this?

“Are you available this Friday to jump on a quick 15-minute call to discuss?”

If so, you might want to reconsider.

We know how great you are, but it’s important to remember your prospects don’t know your winning personality and anecdotes. Not yet, anyway.

They’re busy people. And it’s hard to transfer the value of jumping on a 15-minute call with a stranger for a product you don’t know in under 200 words.

A few months ago, Predictable Revenue experimented with a much more open-ended closer. They tested a simple phrase:

“Is that something you’re interested in hearing more about?”

The Predictable Revenue team called this the ‘indirect ask’. The results?

Emails with an indirect ask saw 3x more responses than the ‘let’s jump on a call’ approach.

Not only did they get more positive replies because people felt less pressured, they also saw a big improvement in deliverability for their emails. People were less inclined to mark their emails as spam because of the less aggressive call to action.

What’s your favorite call to action in your sales email?

#3 Put extra thought into the opening line

You know that an engaging opening line to your cold emails is important (AIDA framework anyone?)

But it’s time to put some extra thought into it for 2020.

For example, preview your emails on a mobile device (chances are your prospect will receive the email on his phone).

If the preview looks something like

“My name is John and I’m the Sales Director for…”

or

“I found your profile on LinkedIn and am reaching out because...”

chances are you’re going straight to the trash folder. No one likes being sold to (even if we all like to buy).

That first line needs to capture your prospect’s attention enough to actually open the email and to keep reading.

What is the best opening line for a cold email you’ve ever seen?

A version of this article originally appeared here.