Can you really learn a cohesive, workable cold email outbound strategy from a chatbot?
Before I answer that, let’s back up a minute…
If you haven’t been reading about OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot (often referred to as ‘AI Chatbot’), an artificial intelligence chat app that you can sign up for to beta test right now, you’ve been living under a rock.
People are having all sorts of interesting, funny, and downright scary conversations with ChatGPT, so I thought I’d ask it about how to do cold email outreach from the perspective of a beginner, and see how helpful it could be.
The results were… very, very interesting, to say the least.
Learning cold email through conversation with an AI bot
Overall, the experience was what you can expect. If you’re hanging on the edge of your seat, dying to know whether or not it was able to put together a cohesive outbound email strategy, the answer is yes.
Undeniably, yes.
It may take a longer conversation, depending on the quality of your questions, but it’s clearly very interesting tech that I could very well see replacing search engines, recipe books, etc. in the very near future.
Here’s my conversation with ChatGPT‘s AI chatbot to learn cold email outbound marketing
I’ve read enough about ChatGPT to know that one of the best early ways to interact with it is to ask a broad question, then continue to break out specifics of the chatbot’s answer to get more granular, then circle back to previous items and get granular on them, etc. until you’ve got enough info on all the bits and pieces you’re looking at.
For this blog post, I wanted to keep things moving, and I didn’t get super-duper granular in any one area. I went into this with the idea of asking a broad cold email marketing question, then identifying and asking to focus on one thing in particular.
From there, you can dig into details and get more and more granular, then ask to clarify any specifics you need.
[Chat begins.]
Nifty Grow: Nice to meet you. Do you have a generalized knowledge of lead generation for cold email online?
AI: Yes, I do. Generally speaking, lead generation for cold emails online involves using content marketing and email campaigns to attract potential customers and increase awareness of your products and services.
This could include offering discounts, coupons, or other incentives in the emails; segmenting your list so you can personalize messaging; and measuring the performance of your campaigns.
Additionally, understanding the customer lifecycle as well as optimizing your email subject lines can help you maximize your results.
Nifty Grow: Interesting. You mentioned measuring the performance of your campaigns. What are the best ways to identify success metrics or KPIs for that?
AI: The best way to identify success metrics and KPIs for cold emailing campaigns is to determine your goals prior to launching the campaigns.
Once you do, then you can set up measurable objectives such as click-through rate, open rate, lead quality, conversion rate, and list growth rate.
Additionally, it’s important to track your online reviews as well as sentiment analysis on social media so you can adjust your strategy and maximize your results.
Nifty Grow: That is helpful, thanks. What do you mean by ‘tracking sentiment analysis on social media’? How would I do that and how does that tie back into my cold email campaign?
AI: Sentiment analysis on social media involves monitoring the conversations around your business and collecting insights.
By understanding how consumers feel about your brand and what they are saying, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
For example, you may want to change the messaging or tone of your cold emails based on what customers are saying.
Additionally, this data can help inform decisions about email personalization, segmentation, and list growth.
Nifty Grow: Interesting. So that sounds like it’s more relevant as your company/brand grows, but less relevant in the early stages of starting cold email as a sales and marketing channel. Is that your general understanding as well, or does your viewpoint differ?
AI: Yes, that is my general understanding.
As your company and brand grow, you are likely to have more data to work with and more opportunities to use sentiment analysis on social media.
In the early stages of starting a cold email campaign, it may not be as relevant, but you can still take advantage of the insights and use them to adjust your strategy.
Additionally, tracking customer feedback in other areas, such as online reviews, can be helpful in understanding customer sentiment and optimizing your email campaigns.
Nifty Grow: That makes total sense. I want to focus on the ‘lead generation’ aspect of cold email as an outbound sales channel. How do I identify good/high-potential leads? What makes a good source of those leads and prospects?
AI: Identifying high-potential leads for cold email campaigns is important to ensure that your efforts are being focused on the right prospects.
Some of the best sources of leads are lists from trade shows, industry magazines, and events; customer referrals; and purchased lead lists.
Additionally, you could consider using social media and search engine optimization (SEO) to target potential customers and increase your visibility online.
Once you have identified your leads, you can use list segmentation, personalization, and other tactics to further refine your targeting efforts.
Nifty Grow: I understand all that, and am hoping to get more granular on digital methods of discovering leads. For tech/SaaS focused leads, websites like clutch.co are a good source as it contains data for many companies in the tech space. Can you list 5-10 sites that have similar data for the purpose of discovering leads through the eyes of an email marketer?
AI: Sure. For tech/SaaS leads, websites such as Clutch.co, G2, Capterra, IT Central Station, BuiltWith, Software Advice, and VentureBeat could be useful.
Additionally, you can take advantage of Crunchbase, Yazio, DiscoverOrg, ZoomInfo, and FindTheBest to discover leads.
Finally, social media platforms like LinkedIn, AngelList, Facebook, and Twitter can also be used to identify potential customers.
Nifty Grow: Interesting. Thanks, I’ll look into them. After I’ve harvested a list of email leads, what are some popular ways to enrich the data, with additional information about the company, getting a decision maker’s personal email address, etc.?
AI: There are a few popular ways to enrich email leads with additional information.
First, you could use social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to find decision makers or key contacts at the company, as well as their personal email addresses.
Additionally, you can use lead databases and intelligence services that provide insights on companies, such as financials, employee count, phone numbers, and more.
Finally, you could consider using web scraping tools for specific types of data, such as location, contact information, and website.
Nifty Grow: Okay, thanks. When it comes to personalization of emails in cold email marketing campaigns, what are the types of things I should be personalizing? What tends to get the most positive responses?
AI: When it comes to personalization, there are a few types of things that you can use to increase engagement and maximize results.
Examples include using the recipient’s name in the greeting, using the company name or website in the body, including relevant images or data points, and adjusting the tone and language based on the customer’s industry or interests.
Additionally, it can be helpful to tailor the message so that it addresses the customer’s pain points and offers solutions.
Overall, focusing on personalization and providing value tends to get the most positive response from potential customers.
Nifty Grow: That’s great. I’m having trouble understanding what you’re referring to when you say ‘including relevant data points’ and ‘adjusting the tone and language’. I think this could be valuable to me, but I need concrete examples to really understand it. Can you provide a couple examples of each?
AI: Of course. To incorporate relevant data points into your emails, you could consider referencing current events or trends, citing relevant statistics, or mentioning mutual connections.
As for adjusting the tone and language, you may want to use a conversational style when addressing younger customers, while using a more formal tone when addressing customers from traditional industries.
Additionally, using jargon from the customer’s industry or field of expertise can show them that you have taken the time to research them.
[Chat ends.]
Takeaways from learning cold outbound email strategies from ChatGPT
Clearly, ChatGPT is a very cool, new, novel technology that’s a lot of fun to play with. Keep in mind, it’s only one of the six applications that OpenAI is currently offering.
It’s very likely bots like this will find their way into all aspects of conversation/society in the near future. It’s rough, but it’s a pretty cool start.
When it does take over, you can bet that sales & marketing will be at the forefront of that first wave – using it at scale while it’s novel and new.
Right now it’s Alexa on steroids, but tomorrow’s ChatGPT will be an educator, a creator, a validator, and a decision maker.
Leave a Reply