Cold Email Response Rates | #13

Let's talk cold email. Pitching your photography or video services through cold email is a great way to land new clients, but it's also a grind. Did you know a 10% response rate on cold emails is a good metric? 10%! That means that only 1 in 10 cold emails that you send will get a response.

This was a tough pill to swallow when I was starting out.

I was sending so many emails to potential clients and I was getting very little traction. I was super discouraged. I had a portfolio, I had all the right things in the email... so why weren’t they responding?

It wasn’t until I talked to some industry veterans that I realized this was normal. Low response rates are just the reality with cold email. It’s still the best way to get new clients.

There are ways to improve this response rate. Better email copy, more targeted contacts, a better subject line... These days my response rates are about 20-25%

But at the end of the day, most of your emails aren’t getting a response. And that’s tough.

Let’s look at the numbers. Not all responses are going to be positive, so let's say for half of those, you end up talking to the client and sending a proposal. Of those proposals, less than half get signed. Doing the math here, that means for every 100 clients you reach out to, 10 will respond, 5 will hop on a call, and only 2 will accept a proposal to work with you. 100 emails for 2 clients sounds like a lot, but it's a grind, so don't give up. Check out my email templates below for the exact copy I use.