How cold email templates destroy web site reputation

Jeff Molander

Sales communication coach & Managing Partner, Communications Edge Inc.

Trainer to brands like:

Use templates to customize faster

Effective templates help customize faster, not send faster.

You’re under pressure. We all are. This is why we send cold emails to large numbers of contacts… trying to start conversations.

However, if you are sending large numbers of Targeted (one-to-many) email messages it may not be best. Starting conversations with decision-makers (especially if you’re selling a complex solution) requires more.

A Tailored (one-to-one) strategy earns better response rates, more conversations. Yet Targeted campaign-style messages are used—exclusively—by most BDR/SDR and digital demand generation teams.

This can be a mistake.

If you need help choosing a strategy, strengthening your existing outreach approach we can help. Getting conversations started will be our focus in this workshop & coaching. Join us. We’re a small group of dedicated sellers.

Bad templates destroy domain reputation

Beware: Using widely-distributed templates can damage you and your company’s domain reputation. 

Consider this fact: We don’t un-subscribe anymore. Instead, we all mark un-wanted email as spam. All of us. It’s easier. Plus, it’s encouraged… to teach spam protection systems how to avoid unwanted email.

Customers marking your prospecting emails as spam damages the organization’s domain reputation. Think about it. The quality of outbound prospecting drives an organization’s domain reputation.

Use crappy templates? Prospects will mark them as spam. Guaranteed.

In fact, commonly Google’ed templates are being targeted by spam-elimination software.

The templates themselves are being targeted! Use of standardized templates make quick work of separating out your messages—spam binning them before they get to your target’s inbox.

If your spammy template does get through, lately, recipients don’t bother unsubscribe. They just mark you as spam.

All of this bad news begs the obvious question: Where are the best sources of “what works” or best practices for cold email and cold sales prospecting?

There are closed communities of sellers sharing “what works.” Join one. Also, in team sales environments internal best practices are discovered via sales communication training and facilitation of best practice exchanges.

Truth is, human beings tend to experiment and discover what works, but don’t share it. After all, in many cases, there is no incentive to. This is business, after all. All is fair in love and war!

What has your experience been? Let’s discuss below…

Sales communication coach & Managing Partner

Telling prospects, "You should consider X solution because Y research says so" is a non-starter. Pushing information at customers works far less than provoking them.


"People generally opt in to receive marketing newsletters, but no one chooses to get cold emails. This simple fact is one of the most important differences between the two," says cold email expert, Heather Morgan.


Ms. Morgan reminds us also how cold emails arrive without context. This is often the first time prospects have heard from you. Further, "you haven’t yet earned their trust or attention yet," says Ms. Morgan.


Context is key. Why talk at when you can talk with? Why push when you can pull, attract the conversation to you? 

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