Challenges of Cold Email
The pitfalls of this tactic have increased over the last several years as regulations have tightened and the practice has gained traction on a wider variety of platforms.
Breach of privacy
Individuals want more privacy, and cold emailing directly goes against that wish. People simply do not want their information given to companies who will not do their research and will instead spam them with useless information; it’s annoying and intrusive, and it decreases the credibility of the company using this tactic.
Regulatory violations
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes down pretty hard on purchased email lists, leaning more toward European opt-in requirements. While GDPR is an EU regulation, it covers emails that are sent from businesses based outside Europe. If a company sends emails to European contacts (either knowingly or unknowingly) without their consent, they may be in breach of GDPR.
Spam complaints
When a company sends cold emails, many may be marked as spam. Email providers track the number of people who reported email as spam out of the total messages sent, also known as spam complaint rates.
The email provider flags senders with high spam complaint rates, and those businesses may face blacklisting. Ensuing emails could be blocked by ISPs, meaning customers who want that information will no longer get it, or all future emails will go directly to the junk folder. Removing an IP address from blacklisting is doable but not without substantial work.
Damaged reputation
Every time an email is sent, it strengthens or hurts the company’s email sender rating. Internet and email service providers aim to deliver a high-quality experience for their users and limit any content that isn’t valid, relevant, or interesting.
A sender score, or email sender rating, is similar to a credit score, and it determines how many of your messages make it through filters and is given priority status in the inbox.
Fractured relationships
Unsolicited bulk email received by any business isn’t just unwanted but opens up numerous long-term risks that could hurt the viability of a brand. These risks include being subject to consumer-protection laws, security implications, reducing deliverability rates, being seen as annoying, investing in high-cost/low-return efforts, and burning bridges with desirable organizations.
Ultimately, the decision to employ cold emailing will be determined by a company’s bandwidth to invest in the slow-burn process of improvements without cutting spending in areas that drive growth.
