Cold emails are one of the most powerful tools in a salesperson’s arsenal. It provides you with the ability to reach far more people with far less effort, all at the click of a button. When you’re calling, you can only reach one prospect at a time; with an email, you can potentially read hundreds or even thousands in one go. It can also be a hugely effective way to break past the traditional gatekeepers that you can encounter in cold calling. 

With that said, there is an art around how to send a cold email. Digital spam is at an all-time high, so it’s important to ensure that your offerings stand out in comparison. Personalisation is a key step in attracting attention and standing out from the crowd — and it goes far beyond just adding the first name of the recipient to the subject line. After all, would you rather receive an email that’s directly addressed to you specifically or an obvious copy and paste job with a simple “Hi” at the top? The same applies to your customers too.  

But how do you take your cold email personalisation to the next level, that speaks directly to the individual at the receiving end, without spending too much time? There are a number of mail merge programs you can use to populate mass emails with names and addresses. 

One technique that’s gained an increasing amount of traction is by leveraging personalised video to support cold emails. So, let’s take a closer look at how to send cold emails with personalised videos and why adding some personal flair can increase your conversion rates by 4x and clinch more sales.

Utilising personalised videos as part of your email strategy is a great way to humanise both yourself and the business you’re representing. You can put a literal face on the company — which is a big improvement over the usual cold calling or rote emails that ordinarily do the rounds.

(This doesn’t mean you can ignore the basics, of course. Rule 101: Make sure that the client’s name and their company are spelled correctly!)  

But once you’re in the inbox, how do you grab attention in a cold email? Shock tactics, outrageous headlines, and attention-grabbing antics might have their place in getting people to open your email — but they won’t endear you to a prospective customer if the content itself is totally irrelevant to them or doesn’t align with the subject line. One of the first prospects you should consider when sending an email that contains a personalised video is using the word “video” in your subject line for better open rates. Craft catchy subject lines such as: “Personalised video just for you, [first name]”, “I made you a video today, [first name]”, or “[Sender name] just sent you a personalised video”. Without tethering on the lines of clickbait, you will earn the client’s lasting attention, so you can remain top of mind. 

This is where your skill as a salesperson enters the equation. Sometimes, the best approach isn’t a hard pitch. Perhaps providing them with a learning and development session will be a better lead-in? Maybe they’d be interested in a state of the nation address that provides information about this particular customer’s industry. Or you might even find success opting for a simple product demonstration video that they can watch at their leisure. Every piece of correspondence should be targeted and important, but it doesn’t have to be a hard pitch specifically. Occasions such as holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and more can all be great ways to touch base with both customers and prospects.

So, do video sales emails work? They certainly can. As with any other tool in a salesperson’s kit, the way they’re utilised is what will determine their success. Let’s take a look at some of the other considerations around using them as part of your sales pipeline. 

Of course, it’s all well and good to talk about the importance of using personalised video — but where are you getting the footage from, and how is it actually being personalised? 

The general misconception is that you’d have to film a separate video for every customer, but that’s not the best use of time. More sophisticated techniques, like using Elevate to increase your conversion rates, have recently come to prominence. This app brings back face-to-face selling with innovative, automated videos that are designed to drive sales. From outreach to follow up, no matter what stage of the sales funnel you’re targeting, Elevate allows you to increase response rates while using video to accelerate your pipeline, move MQLs to SQLs, and close deals faster. 

Existing company footage can be repurposed, or new footage freshly shot internally or by a partner shot in order to provide you with the raw material you need. Screen capture tools can be extremely useful for product demonstrations or recording presentations as they occur. 

Once you’ve got the footage, you can then use a personalisation service like Elevate. This allows you to customise key elements, such as title screens, outros, or captions — that way, you can reuse the same footage or core video multiple times, without any need for reshoots. This smooths the process and ensures that you can distribute videos far more quickly and efficiently.

If you’re wondering how to send mass cold emails, there are a huge number of mass-email marketing tools that can distribute for you, so you can test where to embed your videos to ensure an ideal outcome. It’s crucial to recognise whether your video is the first, second or third touchpoint. If the message of your video is to introduce your company, this should be included in your first outreach message. But if you’re digging into the challenges facing the prospect, this might be a wise follow-up email tactic to employ. 

Look at what sort of responses you get and refine your content and subject lines as relevant. Sales is a numbers game, and the more prospects you’re reaching out to, the better — but there’s no benefit to you if you’re just sending them something they’re never going to see.

Looking to expand your sales palette? The team at Shootsta can assist with getting you and your whole sales team into full gear with a range of video services. As longtime professionals, we’re uniquely positioned to work with you and help you create the personalised videos you need to boost your sales results.