Cold email fatigue and buyer behavior

Long, complex emails don’t make me think you're smart. They tell me you don't understand basic buyer behavior. Your prospects aren’t reading your sales emails. They’re skimming. They’re standing in line at Starbucks, cleaning out their inbox. They’re looking for a reason to delete, not to reply. If your email doesn’t pass the 1, 10, 100 test - it’s getting ignored I teach this framework to every sales team I work with. It’s simple and it works. Here’s how to apply it: 1 = One clear call to action Do not ask for a meeting, feedback, interest, and availability in the same message. You get one ask. Make it count. 10 = The first 10 words must earn attention This is your subject line + preview text. It’s the only thing your prospect sees before deciding to open or delete. If those 10 words don’t create curiosity or show relevance, it’s over. 100 = Keep your total word count under 100 The average exec scans an email for 3–4 seconds. If they can't get context immediately, your email is an auto-delete. Make it short. Make it relevant. Make it easy to reply. The 1, 10, 100 Rule isn’t about oversimplifying your message. It’s about respecting how buyer's interact with cold email so you can deliver more value and earn more engagement. 📌 Remember RELEVANCE is essential. Don't think a well-formatted email replaces the need to say something that matters to the reader. ✨ Enjoyed this post? Make sure to hit FOLLOW for daily posts about B2B sales, leadership, entrepreneurship and mindset.

Cold email fatigue is a very real thing for buyers. To prove it, here are my sequence reply rates from 2021-2023: 2021: 25% 2022: 13% 2023: 8% Have I become significantly worse at writing emails? Probably not. Actually the reverse is likely true. But there is a clear trend happening where even great messaging is being drowned out by sheer volume. A person can only handle so many emails in their inbox before they just completely shut off. So if you are reading this and are still bulk cold emailing as your main strategy... please leave that behind in 2024. If your manager or exec team is still pushing for "more volume" in 2024, show them this. This is no longer the way. It's time to fundamentally change how we approach prospecting. Very bullish on: 1. In-person curated events 2. Building brands in public on social 3. Cold calling in addition to Email/LinkedIn 4. Leveraging data / signals to hit prospects right as they consider similar solutions What else are you all trying to break through the noise this year? #sales #outbound #prospecting

I receive over 100 sales in-mails and emails every day . I don’t respond to 99% of them. I was wondering why is this . So I opened the inmails and emails to check. Most of the emails / inmails get down to selling at the first step . They are outright salesy. Salesy cold emails often fail, with response rates as low as 1%–2%, according to HubSpot, because they focus on hard selling rather than building connections. And then I reflected on the 1% that I respond to. They are conversational. The mails that I respond to are those who are about me , those who have been following what I share on LinkedIn. They begin with “ME”. They are crisp and they build a conversation over time. They have been commenting on my content on LinkedIn and sharing their thoughts . They understand me , what I do and what are the challenges I face. A conversation is buit at multiple touch points with no rush . These are micro conversations at the level of one. There is no strong push to sell but rather the approach is to build relationship. This cannot happen at the scale of mass marketing or cut paste similar messages. In B2B marketing there are no impulse purchases , decisions take time , where you target only a few companies and you have to talk to only a few people . Conversational emails, supported by marketing’s thought leadership, can achieve response rates of 15%–20%, as per Woodpecker’s research, by being personalized, empathetic, and value-driven. Marketing establishes trust and credibility through content and thought leadership, while sales micro-personalizes communication to address specific pain points, creating a seamless bridge between brand awareness and engagement. Both are needed. LinkedIn reports that personalized InMails see a 40% higher response rate than generic messages. By aligning marketing’s broad impact with sales’ tailored approach, businesses can craft cold emails and LinkedIn InMails that foster genuine connections and drive results . To cut the long story short I have not only responded to but met those 1% and I know them. Their thinking is not salesy but genuinely partnership driven. What are your thoughts on micro conversations in the world of cold calls , cold emails and inmails where the pressure of targets is high. To check out my full video on this subject on YouTube link shared in comments. #EmailMarketing #B2Bmarketing

Buyers never say “You lost because buying from you was annoying as hell.” They politely say “budget” / “competition.” But if I had to bet $1M, I'd say at least 20% of deals are lost to reasons painfully easy to fix. Entirely within your control. Here are 10 reasons to print, nail to the wall and NEVER lose to again 👇🏽 1. Being Slow “Sorry, missed your email” or “Had a busy week” are NOT excuses your buyers accept. Nothing erases the negative signal of slow responses. You’ve lost points, and they will probably cost you the deal. Never again. 2. Playing ‘Cool’ I get it—you saw a confident AE playing ‘hard to get,’ like dating, and thought it works. It doesn’t. As a buyer, I don’t care if you’re the ‘hottest vendor.’ I care if I feel important. Drop the ego. You’re customer-facing. Act like it. 3. Questions For YOU You were taught that qualification and discovery are for YOU. Wrong. I need to quickly know if I fit, or why I should buy—just as much as you. Make it about me first, and you’ll effortlessly get yours next. 4. Follow-Ups For YOU 90% of follow-ups should directly advance the buyer’s current ‘job-to-be-done’. Identifying problems? Send a concise pain summary. Building consensus? Multithread to ensure no stakeholder is overlooked. That’s follow-up 101. 5. Being Tiring “I work here, you don’t.” As a buyer, I simply don’t have time for endless syncs, emails, or an ebook. I have a job—it’s not buying your stuff. Sell accordingly. 6. Email Hell I get 100s of emails. Every. Single. Day. PLEASE don’t bury me with endless threads, call summaries, 24 files, and 6 links. I won’t read it. Definitely won’t share it. Organize the chaos, or lose to someone who does. 7. Putting Barriers “Before pricing, let’s hop on another call.” STOP creating unnecessary barriers. Your job is to speed up decisions—not stall them. Don’t frustrate buyers who already know what they want. Make it EASY to say yes. 8. Being Unprepared Demos aren’t improv. “Let me log in real quick” or “What’s your team size again?” screams “I’m winging it.” Buyers think: Sloppy rep = Sloppy vendor. Show respect for their time. Prep until it’s flawless. Show up to impress. 9. Templated Execution If your demo to my CFO is the same as to my VP, you’re forcing the mental load on them. Buyers shouldn’t translate your message. You should. Align clearly to each stakeholder’s role, pain, and language—or don’t bother showing up. 10. Being Forgettable Buyers remember feelings, never features. Bland, forgettable demos silently kill deals. Sell with passion, insight, and energy, or vanish into the sea of noise. Be memorable every single time—or don’t sell at all. —— Buying experience isn’t optional. It’s how you win, or why you lose. Make buying effortless, or competitors will. Your selling IS your product. P.S. Want to truly win buyers over? Stop the email hell. Send them a Deal Room. You won’t believe the feedback you’ll get. Aligned's free https://lnkd.in/dZij9p32