Cold calling or cold emailing? The epic battle wages on between these lead gen titans. Both tactics can be effective, yet everyone has an opinion on which rules supreme.
In this definitive guide, we’ll break down the real differences between cold calls vs emails. You’ll learn situations where each excels, ways to optimize both approaches, and strategies to combine them for sales success.
Let the cold call versus cold email showdown begin!
Key Differences Between Cold Email and Cold Call
When it comes to lead generation, cold outreach is a necessary evil. Connecting with prospects who’ve never heard of you requires interrupting their day. The question is, how do you break through the noise while keeping the disruption to a minimum?
The two most common tactics are cold email and cold calling. They can both be effective, but have some fundamental differences:
Reach and Scalability
One of the biggest differentiators is scale. With email marketing automation tools, a small team can initiate conversations with thousands of prospects per month.
Cold calling is far more resource intensive. Let’s break down the numbers:
- The average sales call lasts 5-10 minutes.
- Experienced sales reps average about 60-100 calls per day.
- So in one hour, a rep can cold call roughly 6-10 prospects.
For a team of 10 sales reps working 8 hour days, that’s 480-800 cold calls per day maximum.
With cold email, that same 10 person team could potentially reach thousands of prospects in a day. Tools like Mailshake allow you to automate emails and scale outreach infinitely.
The Winner: Cold Email
Cold email simply has greater reach potential with smaller teams. Cold calling capacity is limited by manpower.
Level of Personalization
Personalizing messages helps boost response rates by making prospects feel valued, not just like a name on a list.
Let’s explore personalization capabilities for both approaches:
Cold Calling Personalization
With its real-time nature, cold calling allows reps to tailor messages in the moment based on intel gleaned from prospect reactions. Skilled callers can steer the conversation based on verbal cues.
But customizing each call at scale is challenging. It’s tough to thoroughly research and prep for hundreds of prospects every day.
Most teams rely on call scripts as a starting point and lightly personalize based on individual needs.
Cold Email Personalization
Cold email tools make personalization exponentially easier to scale.
You can automate customization of multiple email elements like:
- Subject lines with prospect’s name or company
- Dynamic content blocks tailored to individual prospect’s needs
- Personalized images, videos, or gifs
Sellers can get detailed with merge tags pulling in info like prospect’s role, company, location, interests, and past interactions for a hyper-targeted message.
The Winner: Cold Email
Automated email personalization provides more flexibility to customize messages at scale.
Measuring Performance and Optimization
Understanding campaign effectiveness is crucial for refining your cold outreach strategy. Cold calling and email tracking provide different data sets.
Let’s look at key metrics for both:
Cold Calling Optimization
With cold calling, key data to drive optimization includes:
- Number of outbound calls
- Average call duration
- Connect rates to prospects
- Objection rates
- Appointment booking rates
This provides high-level performance benchmarks. But gaining insights at the individual level is more challenging without call recording.
Cold Email Optimization
For cold email, important metrics are:
- Send and open rates
- Click-through rates
- Reply rates
- Unsubscribe rates
Email marketing software tracks these at both campaign and per-individual levels. You can see which subject lines, content, and follow-ups perform best.
Running A/B tests is simpler with cold email as well. With calling, testing requires reps to manually change approaches. Email tools allow you to automatically split test and send campaign variations.
The Winner: Cold Email
Fine-tuning cold email outreach is easier thanks to robust metrics and A/B testing capabilities.
Lead Qualification Speed
Wasting time with prospects who won’t convert is an unfortunate reality in sales. The faster you can identify warm vs cold leads, the better.
How do cold calls and emails compare for lead qualification?
Cold Call Qualification
With cold calling, you get real-time feedback on prospect interest levels. A short conversation is often sufficient to determine if they have potential or are duds.
But this assumes you actually get prospects on the phone. Studies show it takes an average of 6-8 call attempts to reach someone. Playing voicemail tag delays lead scoring.
Cold Email Qualification
With cold email, prospect engagement metrics like open and click-through rates give signals about their interest level. But email response timelines tend to be longer.
Following up multiple times via email still provides faster feedback than voicemails. Scheduling meetings via email can take weeks though versus a quick call.
The Winner: Cold Call
Overall, real-time conversations allow cold callers to qualify prospects faster. But only after getting them on the phone.
Resource Investment Required
To succeed with cold outreach, you need the proper tools, personnel, and processes in place. Let’s explore the resource investment needed for both approaches:
Cold Calling Resourcing
Optimizing a cold calling team requires:
- An auto-dialer system ($50-$150/user/month)
- Investing in lead list resources
- Hiring and training outbound callers
- Call analytics and recording software
- Scaling team to increase call volume
This can cost upwards of $2,500 per rep per month when you factor in headcount and tools.
Cold Email Resourcing
Alternatively, a properly equipped cold email team needs:
- Email automation software ($15-$150/user/month)
- Lead list purchase (can reuse for calling)
- 1-2 email campaign managers
- Email analytics and engagement tracking
- Can scale campaigns through software
The cost per rep averages around $500/month fixed for the software. Headcount can stay lean since you scale via automation instead of bodies.
The Winner: Cold Email
With its lighter tooling and headcount requirements, cold email carries significantly lower resource overhead.
The Bottom Line
So in most cases, cold email comes out ahead as the more efficient and effective lead generation scalable tactic.
However, don’t count cold calling out completely. It still has its place, particularly for time-sensitive offers or developing deeper prospect connections.
The best approach is to incorporate both cold calling and emailing into your outreach strategy. Use their respective strengths to cover all your prospect engagement bases.
Cold calling allows immediate conversations to advance late-stage leads towards deals. Meanwhile cold emailing efficiently casts a wide net to introduce your brand and qualify new prospects.
Let me know if you would like me to modify or expand this draft section in any way. I’m happy to add more details, examples, or data comparisons. Please feel free to provide any feedback to improve the quality and effectiveness of the content.
When is Cold Email More Effective Than Cold Call?
Cold calling and cold email can both be viable lead generation strategies. But in certain scenarios, email clearly provides better prospects for success.
Let’s explore 5 situations where cold email typically outperforms phone calls.
Lower-Level Prospects or Individual Contributors
Trying to cold call lower-level prospects like engineers, architects, or graphic designers often leads to frustration.
These individual contributor roles:
- Don’t have secretaries or assistants screening calls
- Often work collaboratively in open workspaces, not private offices
- Have roles requiring focus, limiting ability to field impromptu calls
As a result, voicemails and gatekeepers hamper your chances of ever getting these prospects on the phone.
But with cold email, you can reach them directly every time. If crafted well, an intriguing cold email can capture attention amid their crowded inboxes.
Stats also show younger millennial and Gen Z workers strongly prefer email and text over phone communication. Cold calling someone under 40 is likely an exercise in futility.
When reaching younger prospects in technical roles without assistants, cold email tends to elicit better response rates.
Introductory Outreach to Build Brand Awareness
Trying to educate completely cold prospects on your company, product, or service is tough over a quick phone call.
Cold calls force you to boil down your value prop into a short elevator pitch. This leaves little room to communicate compelling details on how you can solve their problems.
But with a cold email, you can include:
- A well-crafted subject line clearly stating your value
- An eye-catching logo and brand elements
- Bulleted or numbered lists breaking down benefits
- Website links, photos, videos, or gifs showing your product
- Third-party reviews, testimonials, or case studies proving your ROI
This multimedia approach paints a complete picture of why they should care about you.
When your goal is introducing your brand to net new prospects, an email lets you make a more persuasive first impression.
Following Up with Existing Prospects
You’ve connected with a prospect already through a website chat, trade show meeting, or referral.
But you want to move them along your funnel with helpful education and offers. How best to follow up?
Again, cold email has the upper hand for a few reasons:
1. Cold calls feel pushy to warm prospects
Since they’ve engaged with you, a cold call feels overly aggressive. But you can design email follow-ups to be helpful vs promotional.
2. Calls limit how you customize messaging
It’s hard to tailor details during a live call the way you can in a thoughtful email. Use merge tags to remind them of past touch points and tie back to previous interests they shared.
3. Timing with calls is tough
Odds are against catching them available for an impromptu sales call. But they can read and respond to emails on their own schedule.
So when re-engaging warmer prospects, leverage the versatility of email vs risking them being put off by an unexpected sales call.
Limited Sales Team Bandwidth
For many B2B companies, inside sales reps juggle both inbound and outbound duties. Their capacity for dedicated cold calling time is minimal.
But reps can still execute effective outreach through cold emails by:
- Batching campaign creation during downtime
- Using automation to sequence and deploy at scale
- Playing the “numbers game” where low response rates are expected
With only 1-2 hours per week, a rep can initiate conversations with hundreds of prospects through cold emailing.
Trying to manually scale cold calls without dedicated dialers quickly becomes unfeasible. When reps have limited capacity, email provides better returns.
Targeting Younger Demographic
Earlier we discussed how younger individual contributors favor email. This preference holds true with younger decision makers as well.
Millennials and Gen Z grew up digital natives. Checking emails on phones feels second nature, while calls feel like archaic disruptions.
As a Forbes study found, 75% of millennials avoid calls when possible since they view them as time wasters.
So when your Ideal Customer Profile skews younger, align your outreach with their preferences. Email will net better results across generations too comfortable texting to talk.
In summary, if your prospects find calls annoying, aren’t at their desks, or simply prefer digital communication, cold emailing makes more sense.
To drive higher response rates, meet your prospects where they are. Don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole with rigid calling cadences misaligned to their habits.
When is Cold Call More Effective Than Cold Email?
While email has advantages in many outreach scenarios, cold calling still plays a crucial role.
There are situations where hearing a human voice creates higher prospect engagement.
Let’s explore 5 instances where old-fashioned phone calls provide better sales results than emails.
Time-Sensitive Offers or Promotions
Cold emails often go unopened for days or get lost in cluttered inboxes entirely.
But when you need to notify prospects about expiring offers or limited-time promotions, a cold call guarantees they hear your message today.
For example, consider these time-sensitive cases where calls are preferable:
Flash sales or expiring coupons: Email risks a delayed response past the expiration date. But a well-timed cold call puts the deal directly in front of them.
Limited remaining inventory: When you’re down to the last few units, quickly call through your prospect list to claim sales. Don’t risk sell-outs waiting on email replies.
Event or webinar reminders: Get higher turnout by having reps call to confirm attendance instead of just sending invites. Hearing a rep’s voice personalizes the reminder.
Price increase warnings: Call customers to alert them of an upcoming renewal rate increase so they can renew now at the lower price.
When deals necessitate urgent action, use the immediacy of calls over delayed emails.
Needing an Immediate Response
Similarly, if you simply need a quick “Yes” or “No” answer from a prospect, calling prevents them stalling.
Some examples include:
Asking for feedback: Email surveys often get low response rates. But call through a sample of customers to get quicker verbal opinions.
Seeking an introduction: Trying to network into an account? Ask contacts by phone to connect you to decision makers that day versus waiting on an emailed intro.
Verifying information: To validate data like billing details or shipping addresses, call to confirm accurate info instead of endless emails.
Following up on meeting action items: Don’t let assigned tasks slip through the cracks. Quick post-meeting recap calls ensure they complete next steps.
Picking up the phone immediately puts prospects on the spot (in a friendly way) for low-effort responses needed to advance deals.
Complex Products or Services Requiring Discussion
Does your offering require extensive consultation, configuration, or customization? Is your product design or manufacturing process highly technical?
If prospects need to fully grasp complicated details to make an informed buying decision, phone conversations are more effective than infodump emails.
Some examples where calls allow more nuanced discussions:
- Enterprise software packages
- Custom manufacturing equipment
- Medical devices or healthcare products
- Technical engineering services
- Financial services like insurance or commercial lending
With these complex sales, calls let your experts answer prospects’ specific questions in real time. Email simply can’t provide the same fluid back-and-forth.
When live problems solving is needed, avoid getting lost in dense email chains by talking it through over the phone.
Targeting Older Demographic
As discussed earlier, younger prospects tend to favor digital interactions.
But for prospects over 50, the reverse is often true. Older decision makers still value telephonic communication.
This preference stems from how they grew up communicating: landlines, face-to-face meetings, and handshake deals.
Cold calling suits the analog expectations of Baby Boomers. Try to overcome an aversion to “getting on the phone” when selling to this demographic.
Position calls as a chance to have meaningful conversations and demonstrate competence. With some finesse, you can convert digitally-resistant older buyers.
Developing a Personal Connection
Finally, cold calling builds relationships more effectively than impersonal emails.
Hearing someone’s tone and personality over the phone makes them feel real versus a faceless email address.
Cold calls allow prospects to:
- Hear the passion in your voice
- Sense you’re a genuine person, not a robot
- Ask questions and feel heard
This makes calls ideal for navigating complex sales cycles requiring a trusted advisor.
According to LinkedIn, 78% of successful sales hinge on trusting relationships between buyer and seller.
Don’t underestimate the value of personal connections cold calling cultivates.
In summary, cold calling remains unrivaled for timeliness, tough questions, older demographics, and relationship building.
To hit sales goals, incorporate calls strategically where emails fall short. With practice, you can become more comfortable “talking to people” instead of hiding behind your computer.
How to Improve Your Cold Emailing Approach
Mastering cold email requires diligence – tracking data, iterating constantly, and refining techniques.
Let’s explore key areas to focus on to take your cold email results to the next level:
Research and Segment Your List
They say you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t. The same goes for cold email lists.
Garbage in equals garbage out. So putting in the work upfront pays dividends down the road.
Purchase Targeted Lead Lists
Anyone can scrape the web for random business contacts. But carefully curated lists tailored to your ICP yield better results.
Look for list providers screening for:
- Industry, role, company size
- Technology usage signals like web activity
- First-party opt-in consent where possible
Higher quality data minimizes wasted outreach to irrelevant prospects.
Segment by Buyer Stage
Do avoid blasting your entire list with the same canned emails. Take the time to categorize leads, then tailor messaging to their status.
For example, create segments for:
- Cold leads – introductory awareness emails
- Warm leads – educational nurture content
- Hot leads – promotional offers and trials
- Customers – crossell/upsell opportunities
Personalize email copy, offers, and call-to-actions based on the prospect’s place in the journey.
Research Prospect Triggers
Before reaching out, learn what motivates your prospects:
- What challenges do they face?
- What goals are they trying to achieve?
- What provoked interest in past interactions?
Aligning emails to their driving needs increases relevance and response rates.
Write Compelling Subject Lines
Even the greatest email goes straight to the trash if your subject line sucks.
Apply these best practices to craft magnetic cold email subject lines:
Hook With the Prospect’s Name
Subject: Hi [First Name], I have a quick question
Seeing their own name piques curiosity and helps break through the noise.
Speak to Their Industry
Subject: 3 Ways WidgetCo Increased Efficiency in Manufacturing
Including their industry intrigues prospects with relevant case studies.
Lead With Value
Subject: How We Reduced Client Onboarding Time by 50%
Promising specific value improves open rates by giving prospects FOMO.
Pose a Thought-Provoking Question
Subject: Is Your Team Struggling With Long Equipment Downtimes?
Questions encourage prospects to open seeking answers.
Limit to 6-10 Words
Keep subject lines scannable – don’t make prospects work too hard.
Tweak & Test Iteratively
Try different formulations and see what resonates best with your audience.
Personalize Email Body Content
While compelling subject lines get opened, personalized content keeps them engaged.
Let’s explore easy ways to customize your cold emails:
Use Merge Tags For Names
Insert the prospect’s first name and company where possible:
Hi {{FirstName}},
I noticed {{Company}} uses outdated XYZ software. Our AI-powered alternative helps companies like yours improve efficiency…
Add Dynamic Images
Include their logo, headshot, or images tied to their industry:
{image: ProspectCompanyLogo.png}
Our customers in the {{CompanyIndustry}} industry experience 60% faster order processing after switching to Acme ERP.
Reference Past Interactions
Jog their memory by mentioning prior touchpoints:
I really enjoyed meeting you at the Digital Marketing Conference last month in San Francisco. Since then, I’ve helped other marketing teams in your industry reduce cost-per-lead by over 40% using our automated nurture campaigns.
Speak to Their Pain Points
Cite problems specific to their role and company:
As a {{ProspectTitle}} at a fast-growing startup, I know you’re constantly balancing efficiency with tight budgets. That’s why ultra-lean companies like {{Company}} love our ROI-focused digital ads platform.
Share Targeted Case Studies
Highlight successes from similar prospects:
Check out how WidgetCo, the #1 {{ProspectCompanyIndustry}} in {{ProspectCompanyCountry}}, drove 22% higher engagement by optimizing their purchase funnel journey.
This level of tailored messaging makes prospects feel understood. Show them you get where they’re coming from and can provide a solution fitting their unique needs.
Send Follow-Up Emails
Don’t expect prospects to respond after just one email. Consistent nurturing is crucial.
On average, it takes 5-12 outreach touches to connect and convert a cold lead.
Set up email drips to automate following up if they don’t open or reply.
Effective nurture cadences include:
Day 1: Initial Outreach
Send first cold email.
Day 3: Follow Up #1
Send another email restating your value proposition.
Day 5: Follow Up #2
Share educational content like articles or guides.
Day 7-10: Follow Up #3
Offer limited-time discount or exclusive trial.
Day 14: Follow Up #4
Send case studies of clients in their industry.
Day 21: Follow Up #5
Ask for feedback on their challenges.
Don’t be afraid to follow up 4-6 times over several weeks. Census data shows it takes an average of 6-12 touches to close new accounts.
Set expectations in your initial email:
“I’ll follow up in a few days in case you have any other questions.”
Then persist politely.
A/B Test Different Elements
Take cues from direct marketing by constantly testing email variables.
Using split tests, identify which elements perform best:
- Subject line formulation
- Value proposition messaging
- Use of images or gifs
- Call-to-action copy
- Landing page linked
This will vary across segments, so you need sufficient sample sizes.
Email tools like Mailchimp allow simple A/B test automation using groups.
The key is to only change one variable at a time when split testing. This isolates the impact of each design choice.
Over time, the winning variants create a recipe for high-converting emails specific to each buyer persona.
Use Email Tracking Software
It’s hard to optimize when flying blind. That’s why response tracking is essential.
Email tracking software like YesWare or Mailtrack provides metrics like:
- Open rates
- Click-through-rates
- Reply rates
- Unsubscribe rates
This reveals engagement levels for each campaign and contact.
You can also see who opens emails multiple times, indicating higher interest.
Use tracking to prioritize following up with hot leads showing engagement.
And refinement or re-engagement for cold leads not opening your messages.
Automate with Cold Email Tools
Composing personalized emails at scale quickly becomes unscalable without automation.
Tools like Mystrika streamline cold outreach by:
Simplifying list management
- Import, organize, segment prospects
- Track interactions and activity per lead
Optimizing email creation
- Build templates with dynamic content
- Quickly customize and send one-off emails
- Schedule email follow-up sequences
Analyzing campaign performance
- Collect open, click, and reply rates
- Identify high/low engagement leads
Integrating with your tech stack
- Connect your CRM, calendar, and email
- Sync data across systems
This allows one person to execute highly customized outreach like a team.
Let software and algorithms do the heavy lifting!
The Bottom Line
Mastering cold email requires diligence, creativity, and persistence.
But the payoff can be well worth the effort. Use these tips and tricks to grab prospects’ attention amid crowded inboxes.
With well-targeted, compelling, and automated email campaigns, you can generate 10X more qualified leads without growing your team.
How to Improve Your Cold Calling Approach
Cold calling has a reputation for being annoying, intrusive, and ineffective. But it doesn’t have to be!
Let’s explore techniques for making your cold calls better received:
Limit Calls to Warmer Prospects
A common mistake is treating all leads equally. But not every name on your list is worth calling.
First, identify indicators that a prospect is primed for a cold call:
- Previously downloaded content from your site
- Engaged with your ads or social media
- Visited your pricing or contact page
- You were referred to them by someone familiar
These “warmer” leads are more receptive since you’re already on their radar.
Next, cross-reference your list with lead enrichment tools like ZoomInfo. Filter for:
- Correct job titles (roles with authority)
- Work emails vs. consumer email accounts
-Verified company and contact data
Scrub outdated, fake, or irrelevant records.
Finally, segment the list into temperature tiers:
- Hot (engaged with your brand)
- Warm (good title, company, verified)
- Cold (unverified, no prior engagement)
Then only call the warmest, sales-ready leads first.
Use the cold contacts for preliminary email outreach to warm them up before calling.
Schedule Calls at Optimal Times
Ever feel like you get voicemail every time you dial a prospect? There’s a science to maximizing your odds.
Research shows call connect rates improve:
- Throughout the day: The highest call pickup rates happen from 4-5 pm. Calls mid-morning perform worst.
- Throughout the week: Thursdays and Fridays win for cold calls. Monday is the worst day to call.
- Throughout the year: Connect rates peak mid-February and July. August is the worst month for calls.
Plan call times around these daily, weekly, and yearly patterns.
Bonus tip – sync call times with when prospects are already dialed in on conference calls to catch them at their desks!
Perfect Your Sales Pitch
An artful cold call pitch intrigues prospects quickly and tees up next steps.
Structure your script following these key elements:
1. Greeting
- Address them by name
- Use a pleasant, lilting voice
2. Introduction
- Your name and company
- Reference your shared connection
3. Purpose
- The reason for your call
- Problem you can solve for them
4. Proof
- Credibility builders like impressive metrics
- Testimonials from similar companies
5. Call to Action
- Clear desired next step
- Easy way to get started
6. Contact
- Repeat name and contact info
Keep calls snappy but incorporate these essential ingredients.
Master your delivery with practice and role playing. Record yourself and self-critique areas needing polish.
Use a Collaborative Dialer Platform
Manually dialing one call after another is tedious and inefficient.
Leverage a power dialer platform like Outreach to optimize prospect engagement.
Power dialers eliminate manual dialing by automatically:
- Calling multiple prospects simultaneously
- Detecting voicemails, busy signals, no answers
- Logging call outcomes and duration
- Retrying unreached prospects
- Scheduling callbacks
This increases rep productivity 2-3X.
They also provide capabilities to:
- Screen pop CRM records
- Record calls
- Whisper tips during calls
- Notify reps of best time to reach prospects
By automating the dialing process, reps stay focused on high-value conversations.
Take Thorough Call Notes
We retain only 20% of what we hear. That’s why taking detailed call notes is vital.
Log key details while they’re fresh for reference during follow-ups:
- Business challenges prospect faces
- Biggest priorities and pain points
- People mentioned and relationship
- Compelling parts of your pitch
- Objections raised
- Next steps agreed upon
CRM tools like Salesforce allow logging directly against each Contact record.
Also categorize notes by call outcomes for training:
- Appointment booked
- Follow-up scheduled
- Not interested
- Wrong contact
Thorough notes prevent promising prospects from slipping through cracks.
Leave Engaging Voicemails
Unfortunately, 70-80% of cold calls go to voicemail. Make yours worth returning.
Follow these best practices for compelling voicemails:
Do:
- Identify yourself and reason for calling
- Speak slowly and clearly
- Be personable and use humor
- Leave callback number twice
- Offer specific value
- Limit to 20-30 seconds
Don’t:
- Use salesy cliches and jargon
- Speak quickly or mumble
- Be pushy
- Overstay your welcome
End by positioning next steps, like asking for a quick 15 minute chat.
To increase callbacks, follow up every voicemail with an email summarizing key points.
The Bottom Line
While cold calling presents challenges, perfecting your approach maximizes results.
Use these tips to call smarter – reaching the right prospects at the right times with compelling pitches.
Mastering outreach contact strategy and tactics boosts connect rates and conversions.
Key Metrics to Track for Cold Calls vs Cold Emails
Determining the success of your cold outreach requires picking the right KPIs.
Let’s explore key metrics to monitor for both cold calls and emails.
Cold Email Metrics
Thanks to automation, cold email lends itself to extensive data collection.
Be sure to watch these core email metrics:
Open Rates
The open rate reveals how well your subject lines and send times are working.
Benchmark targets:
- B2B industry average: 18-25%
- Finance industry average: 21-30%
- Technology industry average: 18-29%
If your open rate falls below 10-15%, tweak your subject lines and sending cadence.
Click-Through Rates
Click rate shows if your content resonates.
Industry averages:
- B2B: 2-3%
- Finance: 2-5%
- Technology: 2-4%
Low clicks indicate weak call-to-actions or irrelevant content. Improve email copy and offers.
Response Rates
What percentage reply or convert from your emails?
Typical conversion rates:
- Cold email: 0.5-2%
- Warm email: 2-4%
- Hot email: 10-15%
Review email threading to discover common questions and pain points. Address them to nudge non-responders.
Segment by lifecycle stage as well to identify where drop-off happens. Then optimize those phases’ messaging.
Cold Call Metrics
Unlike automated email, individual cold calls must be logged manually.
Be diligent in tracking these key telephonic metrics:
Connect Rate
What percentage of dials result in a live prospect?
Benchmark target:
- 20-30% connect rate
If your contact rate falls below 15%, modify call times, tighten targeting, and use an auto-dialer.
Length of Calls
How long do prospects stay on the phone?
Target call length:
- 3-5 minutes to qualify
- 5-20 minutes to discuss and close
Very short calls likely indicate poor messaging.VERY IMPORTANT
Lengthy calls suggest engaged prospects.
Objection Rate
How often do prospects raise objections or pushback?
Target objection rate:
- 20-30% overall
- 5-15% on qualified warm leads
High objections mean prospects aren’t sold. Refine scripts to pre-emptively address concerns.
Also track critical call outcomes like:
- Appointments booked
- Follow-ups scheduled
- Requests for proposals
- Shut downs or “not interested”
Analyze these to calculate your call-to-meeting and call-to-sale conversion funnels. This reveals sticking points.
Review call recordings to quantify where conversations stray or break down. Then improve scripts to guide prospects to your desired outcome.
The Bottom Line
Consistently tracking performance data is crucial to optimizing cold outreach.
Monitor these email and call KPIs to isolate strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve.
Combining Cold Calls and Emails for Maximum Effectiveness
At this point, you may be wondering – should I focus on just cold calls or cold emails?
The answer is…both! Each channel has strengths that balance the other’s weaknesses.
Let’s explore tips for integrating cold calls and emails to boost your outreach potential:
Use Both Channels to Touch All Buying Stages
Buyers pass through multiple stages on their journey – from awareness to consideration, evaluation, and finally purchase.
Use calls and emails in tandem to nurture prospects across the entire lifecycle:
Cold Calls:
- Intrigue and educate early-stage prospects
- Book demos to advance mid-funnel prospects
- Close deals and upsell existing customers
Cold Emails:
- Attract net new leads with valuable content
- Follow up and build rapport with engaged prospects
- Share helpful resources to aid evaluation
- Direct customers to promotions and referral programs
This combination provides the right communication for each milestone.
According to research by Mailshake, 72% of companies using both channels see increased conversions.
Balance Channels According to Buyer Preferences
As discussed earlier, certain personas inherently favor calls or emails.
Factor contact preferences into your outreach cadence.
Target millennials with more emails given their aversion to phone calls.
Prioritize calls for executives and boomers who better engage over voice.
When possible, learn individuals’ preferences directly by asking “How do you prefer to be contacted?”
Alternatively, use prospecting tools like Crystal to uncover archetypes’ tendencies.
Then align outreach accordingly for maximum response.
Double Your Touches with Omnichannel Outreach
Research shows it takes 4-10 touches for cold prospects to convert.
Use both calls and emails to efficiently hit this cadence target.
Here’s a sample 5-touch omnichannel sequence:
Touch 1 – Send introductory cold email
Touch 2 – Follow up with secondary value email
Touch 3 – First cold call to confirm interest
Touch 4 – Send case study email with pricing
Touch 5 – Call to finalize and close deal
Consistently reaching out across channels improves conversion rates 22% compared to relying on a single method.
The key is spacing touches 2-3 days apart to nurture without overwhelming prospects.
Pro Tip – Automate omnichannel sequences based on lead response signals using tools like Outreach or HubSpot. This Tailors outreach to where individuals are in their journey.
The Bottom Line
An effective sales cadence combines both cold calling and emailing.
Leverage their respective strengths – calls to engage and convert ready prospects, emails to nurture net new ones.
Just be sure to match contact channel preferences to each target persona.
Key Takeaways
Deciding whether to use cold email vs cold calling depends on many factors. Here are the key lessons to guide your outreach strategy:
- Cold email scales better for mass outreach thanks to automation, while cold calling allows more personal conversations.
- Target lower-level and younger prospects with cold emails, which they often prefer. Reserve cold calls for executives and older demographics.
- When you need urgent responses or immediate feedback, pick up the phone over sending emails.
- Cold emails enable better education for net new prospects. Cold calls engage late-stage leads ready to purchase.
- To optimize cold emailing, personalize content, write catchy subject lines, send follow-up sequences, and leverage email tracking software.
- For better cold calling, call qualified warmer leads, schedule calls strategically, perfect your pitch, and take detailed notes.
- Track engagement metrics for both channels—like open and reply rates for email and connect rates for calls.
- A balanced approach combining email and call touches across the buyer’s journey leads to maximum conversions.
- Align your outreach channels and messaging to each prospect’s preferences and stage.
Mastering both cold calling and emailing improves results by filling gaps through an omnichannel sequence. Use this definitive guide to maximize your prospect engagements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have some lingering questions about optimizing cold outreach? Here are answers to some common FAQs:
Q: Is cold calling or cold emailing more effective?
There is no universally “better” method. Each has pros and cons that make it preferable in certain situations. Use a combination of both channels.
Q: When should I use cold calling vs cold email?
Use cold calling for time-sensitive offers, immediate feedback, complex solutions, and building connections. Use cold emailing for scalability, non-urgent asks, and low-level prospects.
Q: How do I improve my cold email deliverability?
Research and segment your list, write compelling subject lines, personalize content, follow up consistently, A/B test elements, and use email tracking software.
Q: What is the best time to cold call prospects?
Late in the day (after 2pm) and later in the week (Thursdays & Fridays) have highest connect rates. Schedule strategically.
Q: How can I optimize my cold email automation?
Use merge tags, triggers, and workflows to deploy a well-timed drips campaign nurturing prospects towards conversions.
Q: What metrics should I track for cold outreach success?
For emails, monitor open, click, and response rates. For calls, track connect rate, call length, objections, and appointments set.
Q: How many cold outreach attempts should I make before moving on?
It takes 4 to 10 touches on average before a prospect responds and converts. Be persistent yet professional with appropriate follow-up spacing.
Q: Should I use the same follow-up sequence for sales calls and emails?
Not necessarily. Omnichannel sequences that leverage both calls and emails at different stages tend to perform best.
Q: How do I segment my prospect list for optimal outreach?
Divide into hot, warm, and cold leads. Factor in engagement level, demographics, role, industry, and contact preferences.