As a hiring manager, you know how challenging it can be to find and recruit the right talent for your company. All methods are good in this endeavor since they are proven and scalable. Cold emailing is one of them. However, to really nail it with a cold email, you have to pay close attention to your lead list.
Finding the right email addresses for your most promising candidates is tiresome and time-consuming if you have no clue how to do this in the right way. On the other hand, building alist of qualified leads for cold emails can move the needle in your recruitment process.
With so much info out there, it’s easy to get confused and overloaded. No worries. We’ve condensed all the golden nuggets here, from definition and importance to 3 actionable ways to actually build a quality lead list. We’ll knock it all off for you! Keep reading.
What Is a Lead List?
First things first. Let’s define what a lead list actually is. Simply put, this is a list of prequalified contacts that can turn into potential clients if you communicate with them correctly. Usually, it’s compiled from many sources like marketing campaigns, networking events, online groups or communities, social media, websites, etc.
With the right contacts of these prospects, marketers, sales reps, or recruiters reach out to them, explain their offer, and hopefully get them interested.
Why Is Building a Lead List Important for Cold Emailing?
We can’t emphasize enough how vital a properly made lead list is when it comes to cold emailing. According to the golden rule used by marketers, 70% of the success of your campaign will depend on your cold email list. 20% will depend on how good your offer is, and 10% will go to messaging, aka copy.
That’s why it’s obvious that you need to spend time creating a good email list for your campaigns. Do it right, and you’ll enjoy the following perks.
- Better conversions. Even if your offer is killer, if you send it to the wrong audience, it won’t convert well. That’s why you need to take your time to create a list of really suitable prospects that meet the criteria of your Ideal Customer Profile.
- More efficient communication. It’ll enable you to optimize your resources and time as you’ll be reaching out to prospects who are more likely to resonate with your offer and reply to you.
- Targeted outreach. If you find the contacts of the right people who are more likely to be interested in your services or products, you’ll have more chances to hook them with your offer or pitch.
- More granular personalization. With a well-built lead list, you can send more personalized emails that will definitely boost the efficiency of your outreach.
Sounds great, right? Why not test it out?
How to Build a Quality Lead List for Cold Emailing
Now that we have your attention, we’d like to share 3 proven steps to put together a great list of prospects for your next outreach campaign.
Research and Create a Process
Keep things organized from the get-go. Make a checklist of all the daily activities you need to do to find new leads regularly. Create an SOP for each one. Here’s how your process may look.
1. Devote 20-30 minutes every single day to work on your lead lists.
2. Create separate folders in your Google Drive for each niche that you’d like to target.
3. Create New Leads, Uploaded Leads, and Verified Leads folders for every niche.
4. Have all the necessary tools in place for each step of the process.
Plus, let’s not forget about the most important part: research. Be clear about your ICP. Detail it with things like position, demographics, annual or monthly revenue, company size, industry, and country.
Finding the Leads
The next step is to start looking for suitable leads in databases of different tools and platforms. Luckily, there are so many apps out there that putting together a good lead list is not a big deal anymore. Some people turn to Apollo, while others prefer LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Crunchbase.
Lead Verification
The last step is verifying your leads and their data with special tools. It’s super important to do this before launching every single campaign as it’ll have a direct impact on the deliverability of your emails. Many marketers use a professionally designed email checker to make sure they’ve got only quality email contacts on their lists. Be ready to get 30% or 40% valid emails. Yes, the percentage is that low if you go for quality.
How to Maintain Lead List Hygiene
List hygiene is a new buzzword every outreach expert will tell you about. Yes, it’s an important thing to do and monitor. Here are a few tips that might be helpful for you.
- Do regular verification of data on your list.
- Use special tools to spot and delete duplicate emails.
- Segment all your leads.
- Make sure you have compliance with all the privacy regulations in place.
- Connect your CRM.
Implement all these steps and your list will always be fresh and clean (pun intended).
Final Words
Here you have it. All these tips and steps will turn you into a real pro in lead list creation for cold emails. It all starts with ICP and your target audience. 70% of success lies in this point. Never underestimate it. Next goes the offer. Make sure it’s so good that people can’t resist it. A well-crafted copy is a cherry on top.
To build a really quality list, follow 3 steps. Start with research and create a repeatable process. Then, find the right leads using cold email finder tools. Verify all your leads regularly. Finally, let’s not forget about your email hygiene.