Having analyzed millions of cold emails, we've compiled the list of typical mistakes people make that usually lead to bad results.

From low-quality email lists to slipups when writing emails, you'll find everything you need in this checklist. Consider this as a resource you can ALWAYS use to identify problems you're experiencing in your campaigns.

The plan is simple. Every mistake you see below, don't let it happen to you... or your colleagues.

Building your email list

💀 You haven't set up your .csv file properly. Avoid empty spaces in column headers and check if emails have been entered properly

💀 Don't send a cold email campaign to everyone at the same time

💀 You didn't develop your ideal customer profile (buyer personas) prior to building a list... HUGE mistake

💀 You didn't invest enough time in one of the most important components of cold email outreach - research

Pro advice: Good research is 50% of the work. It will help you build relationships with your prospects, write cold emails faster and better, as well as to stop wasting time on leads that will never convert

Setting up technical components of email outreach

💀 Set up your SPF:

• Here's the link if you have a Google account
• Here's the link if you have a Exchange account

💀 Set up your DKIM:

• Here's the link if you have a Google account
• Here's the link if you have a Exchange account

💀 Don't forget to set up your custom tracking domain

💀 Didn't warm up your email address before sending is a highway to hell... but not in a good, AC/DC way

How-to: Complete guide for email address warm-up

💀 You didn't verify emails before launching the campaign

How-to: Verify emails faster than Usain Bolt runs

💀 You're using a fake Gmail account and pretending to be someone else. Sales is about relationships. Never start one based on a lie

💀 You're emailing your prospects aggressively and sending messages every day instead of setting delays. Here's a rhythm we recommend:

• 2-day delay between email 1 and 2
• 2-day delay between email 2 and 3
• 3-day delay between email 3 and 4

Writing cold emails and sequences

💀 You forgot to add the {{firstName}} tag for a prospect. This is like asking somebody if they speak English? It's not a cool-to-have, it's a must

💀 You haven't personalized your email and are emailing everybody the same 💩

How-to: Create Harvey Specter image with a dynamic first name update

💀 You're missing follow-up emails and are just emailing prospects once, which results in a low reply rate

💀 Your call-to-action is either unclear or multiple options that are confusing your prospects

💀 You're not focused on building relationships and are seeing prospects as 🤑 in your pocket

💀 Avoid talking about you, your product, its features, and your company. Focus on prospects and their needs

💀 There's no A/B testing which means you're in the dark about what works best

💀 You didn't add the opt-out link. Remember, GDPR requires you to do it

The part people tend to overthink

💀 Get lost chasing perfection (e.g. endless hours spent on perfecting the copy and not letting prospects tell you what they prefer)

💀 Worrying about what's the best time to send instead of focusing on more important things

💀 Stopped using cold emails in your sales strategy after one unsuccessful campaign

💀 Not analyzing your results. Don't forget, every campaign brings a lesson

💀 Your open rate is below 50%, which is a usually a sign of low email deliverability

💀 You're focused on open rates more than you are on your reply rate, which is a big mistake. The goal is always to get a response

Bottom line

This sums up our checklist with typical cold email mistakes to avoid at all costs.

Remember, anybody can upload a list with hundreds of emails, write a generic copy, take shortcuts and blast everyone. The price of these shortcuts? Poor results.

You don't need a PhD in sales to get high reply rates and boost revenue. You just need to avoid these mistakes and you're golden. While we're on the subject, you'd also probably want to check out our email deliverability checklist and cold email tips as well.

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