Discover the Anyleads suite | Find emails, verify emails, install a chatbot, grow your business and more!.
blog

Can you cold email with HubSpot?



Can you cold email with HubSpot?


Cold email is a tried-and-tested method of connecting with potential customers who have previously ignored your business. You're essentially asking them if they want what you've got by sending a personalized message (that could be as simple as "Hey there!") directly to their inbox with no prior relationship.

If you haven't heard of this approach before, you might wonder how you can get started using it successfully. After all, most people don't like being contacted without any introduction first. But since cold email is so effective at generating leads, many businesses are now starting to implement it into their overall strategy.

The question that comes next is, "Is it possible to use HubSpot for cold email?" The short answer is yes -- but only under certain conditions. Here's why...

Can I send emails to non marketing contacts in HubSpot?

Email has been around for decades, long enough that we know it's one of the best ways to connect with prospective clients. In fact, according to Statista, 95 percent of consumers receive commercial messages via email every day. That means there are plenty of prospects out there who would welcome receiving your pitch.

But just because someone receives lots of e-mails doesn't mean they'll open yours. If you need help getting more eyes onto your message, consider setting up drip campaigns or segmentation lists within HubSpot. These tools allow you to craft specific messages based on criteria such as location, industry, job title, etc. Then you simply distribute these targeted messages through various channels including direct mailers, social media posts, and even text messaging. All while keeping track of which individual received each piece of content.

In other words, you can take advantage of the power of email marketing inside HubSpot. However, keep in mind that HubSpot isn't designed solely for email marketing purposes. It was built from the ground up to assist companies in managing customer relationships -- especially after the rise of automation. So while you can certainly leverage its features for lead generation, it may not always be the right tool for reaching out to prospective customers.

That said, here are some things to keep in mind when deciding whether or not HubSpot is the right fit for your company.

Can you email marketing with HubSpot?

It depends. There are two main types of email marketing platforms: hosted solutions and self-hosted systems. Hosted solutions include services such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, Campaigner, SendinBlue, Marketo, and Aweber. Self-hosted options include HubSpot, Infusionsoft, Eloqua, and Ontraport.

Each platform offers unique capabilities that make it ideal for different industries. For example, HubSpot excels at helping small businesses manage multiple departments, whereas Eloqua focuses primarily on B2B marketers. And both Mailchimp and Infusionsoft provide excellent analytics and reporting tools.

For the purpose of our discussion, let's assume you'd prefer a self-hosted solution instead of a hosted service. In order to accomplish this, you'll need to purchase a license for either HubSpot or InfusionSoft at $20 per user, per month. This covers unlimited users across all departments.

Once purchased, you will then need to install it on a server somewhere in your organization. Depending on your needs, installation could require several hours of work or less than ten minutes. Once installed, you'll also need to configure everything from your domain name to your web hosting plan to your database connection settings.

This process varies depending on your current setup. You should speak to your IT department about installing and configuring the system once you start looking at it. They will likely walk you through the steps required to integrate your new software into your existing infrastructure.

Afterwards, you'll need to learn how to navigate and customize the dashboard. Learning the basics takes anywhere between five minutes and 20 hours, depending on how well versed you already are in technology. Once learned, however, the interface becomes incredibly intuitive.

You won't have much trouble learning how to run reports, edit pages, schedule tasks, and perform basic customization. But advanced functionality requires additional training. These functions include creating automated forms, building landing pages, automating processes, adding integrations, and performing data analysis.

All of these tools come packed with different levels of access privileges. Some are free, others cost money. Most importantly, however, is understanding exactly how each function works. Even though some of these functionalities seem straightforward, they often aren't.

To figure out how to use it effectively, you'll need to read documentation, watch tutorials, and talk to experts. Fortunately, HubSpot provides helpful video tutorials for virtually every feature available. Plus, there are numerous blog articles written by knowledgeable staff members to guide you along.

How do I set up email marketing on HubSpot?

There are three primary methods of implementing email marketing within HubSpot:

Scheduled Emails - These are automatic emails sent daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Schedules can be created individually or grouped together. Each time the scheduled task runs, a copy of the email is automatically emailed to everyone associated with the list.

Drip Campaigns - Similar to scheduled emails, drip campaigns run regularly throughout the week or month. Unlike scheduled emails, however, drip campaigns contain dynamic variables. For instance, you can change the subject line, body text, image attachment, call-to-action button, and more. Each variable changes based on the recipient's interactions with the page.

Automated Forms - These are similar to drip campaigns except they automate the entire form creation process. Instead of manually entering information into a template, you enter the details into the appropriate fields and click save. From there, the form is saved to your site where visitors can fill it out later.

Can you create an email campaign in HubSpot?

Yes! Just follow the same instructions above to set up either a drip campaign or scheduled email. When done correctly, the resulting email looks identical to one that would be produced outside of HubSpot. It includes all the standard elements found in traditional HTML emails, including images, links, colors, fonts, and styling.

However, unlike a static website, the email updates itself dynamically whenever recipients interact with the page. As mentioned earlier, HubSpot allows you to tweak almost every aspect of the email template. You can alter everything from the color scheme, font size, layout, header design, and more.

As a result, you'll be able to create highly customized emails that are optimized specifically for your target market. The possibilities really are endless. You can build automated emails that collect contact info, ask for feedback, promote a special offer, or inform subscribers about upcoming events. Or perhaps you'd rather focus on nurturing relationships by sharing relevant news stories or offering exclusive discounts. No matter what you decide, you'll find countless creative ways to use HubSpot for email marketing.

Of course, you can still reach out to contacts outside of HubSpot. But doing so requires extra effort. First, you'll need to export your spreadsheet containing names and addresses to a CSV file. Then, you'll import that data back into HubSpot. Next, you'll need to go through each person individually and update their profile accordingly. Finally, you'll need to write a custom script to trigger the new mailing sequence. Not fun.

On the flip side, HubSpot makes it easy to stay connected with contacts through regular communication. Whether you choose to communicate with your audience through emails, phone calls, live chat sessions, or SMS texts, HubSpot gives you full control over the frequency and channel used. You can also easily adjust the amount of personalization offered.

Whether you opt for a hosted solution or a self-hosted solution, HubSpot does a lot behind the scenes to ensure that your emails look professional and convey the right message. With the ability to add tracking codes, create beautiful layouts, and embed videos, your correspondence will stand out among competitors.

So, is HubSpot good for cold email? Absolutely. Using HubSpot will give you complete control over your communications, allowing you to tailor each message to suit your brand identity. Furthermore, the ease of integration and customization ensures that you'll never feel overwhelmed by technology again.

"You know what's awesome?" says a friend of mine who works in marketing. "I get to sell at work." He doesn't mean he gets paid to talk about his product all day. No, this is more like being able to walk up to someone on your team and say, "Hey! We have an opportunity that might be right up your alley!" That kind of thing. It's an amazing feeling, especially when you're working in a field where talking to people is part of your job description.

But how does one go about doing so without sounding desperate? Well, there are ways. One such way is by using cold emailing. This involves sending out unsolicited messages to potential customers (or other contacts) with the hopes of getting them interested enough to follow through. Cold emailing has been around since the early 20th century, but its modern form was born in 2012 thanks to a combination of technology and necessity.

Cold emailing has also become increasingly popular among marketers over the past few years because it's effective. According to research done by Salesforce, nearly 60% of B2B companies claim they've used some sort of cold-emailing technique within the last year. And while most of these techniques involve automated tools, many businesses still rely on their employees to write cold emails manually.

Because of this, we wanted to take a closer look into just how good of a tool HubSpot is for cold emailing. After researching several different cold email tactics, as well as consulting our own internal data from a previous article, we found that HubSpot isn’t really designed for cold emailing. However, if you don't mind taking shortcuts, then yes, it can help you. But before we dive into why HubSpot can't replace your traditional email client, let's first discuss exactly what cold email means.

Can you send emails directly from HubSpot?

If you want to start writing emails straight from HubSpot, you'll need to download either Mailchimp or Aweber. Both services offer integrations with HubSpot which allow you to create custom campaigns based off of prebuilt templates. These templates include everything from welcome letters to event invites to thank you notes, depending upon your industry and target audience. You won't find any real customization options here though, so you may end up having to copy/paste content between platforms in order to make things match. If you'd rather skip the hassle of switching apps altogether, however, you should check out our guide to creating personalized newsletters inside Gmail instead.

Can I send emails for free from HubSpot?

Yes, you can indeed. All of the above mentioned email service providers require a monthly fee, ranging anywhere from $10-$30 per month. For example, MailChimp charges $25 / mo for unlimited users, whereas Aweber costs $39.95 / mo for 10,000 subscribers and higher. The cost varies according to number of contacts you're trying to reach, too — the more lists you add, the more expensive each list will be. So, unless you have hundreds of thousands of contacts, those fees aren't going to save much money.

On top of that, both services charge extra for features like autoresponders and advanced analytics. While these might seem worthwhile additions to your workflow, they only come at a steep price. In fact, MailChimp even offers a 30-day free trial to new users.

The takeaway here is that neither option is ideal for cold emailing, although they could certainly serve a purpose outside of it. If you plan on running regular campaigns, however, then it makes sense to sign up for a third party provider.

Can HubSpot do transactional emails?

No. As HubSpot states itself, it focuses solely on lead generation. That said, it does provide a handful of useful features for building landing pages, forms, and webinars. Additionally, HubSpot includes the ability to schedule automatic reminders via email, which can be great for reminding clients that they signed up for something months ago. Unfortunately, this feature alone isn't enough to justify spending a whole lot of time learning HubSpot.

If you're looking for a simple yet flexible platform to build landing pages and automate tasks, try Wix. On the flip side, if you're looking for a powerful CRM system that lets you manage multiple accounts simultaneously, then consider Infusionsoft. Both of these options are far better suited for business owners who run multi-person teams than individual freelancers.

If you're hoping to leverage HubSpot to boost your social media presence, however, you probably shouldn't bother. Although HubSpot provides basic scheduling capabilities, it lacks the same robust automation features that Facebook Pages and Twitter handles have. Instead, we suggest checking out Buffer or Hootsuite for managing posts across various channels.

Can you send mass emails from HubSpot?

Unfortunately, no. Because HubSpot only manages leads, it cannot handle bulk messaging. If you want to send out a bunch of emails at once, you must switch to another platform. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives available with built-in email marketing functionality. Some examples include Sendy, Mailshake, Yesmail and Zoho Campaigns.

While none of these products are perfect, they're definitely worth considering if you're tired of dealing with the headaches of setting up your own mailing server. And if you haven't tried any of these solutions yet, now would be a great time to give them a shot. Our review process consists of testing dozens of applications throughout the course of a week, so feel free to ask us anything related to email marketing in the comments below. Let's chat!

What is a “cold” email

Cold emailing isn't just sending out mass emails to strangers. While there are certainly times when a mass blast mail will make sense (e.g., if you want to send an announcement to 100+ contacts), most often, a cold email means reaching out to people specifically because they've expressed interest in something.

"Cold," as far as email goes, refers to any email sent without permission from someone—whether it was by mistake or intentionally. Cold emails aren't always bad news, but they also don't usually lead to results.

Why does this happen so much? Because we live in a world where everyone wants to feel important. Everyone wants their name to appear in a list somewhere, anywhere. And while some companies try very hard to build "lists," others leave these lists empty-handed. So let's take a look at how cold email works, why it fails, and what types of messages are best used for cold outreach campaigns.

Note: This article contains information which may seem old fashioned or outdated. However, I'm focusing on basic principles here, rather than specific tactics. If you'd rather see examples of successful cold emails, check out our guide to cold calling and follow us on Twitter @Hubspot_Inc.

If you're looking to grow your business through cold email marketing, then you've probably heard of HubSpot's platform. In fact, many companies have successfully used this tool as a way to increase their revenue by reaching out to prospects they wouldn't normally reach otherwise.

HubSpot is one of those tools that has been around since 2008 but still remains relatively unknown among marketers. It was once called "inbound" before being rebranded in 2017 as HubSpot CRM, which stands for Customer Relationship Management. But regardless of how you want to classify it, HubSpot offers tons of benefits when it comes to growing your brand. And while there are plenty of ways to get started using its services, here we'll focus on just two: automated lead generation and email campaigns.

In terms of automated leads, HubSpot provides lots of free resources like forms, landing pages, webinar registrations, etc. But if you'd rather see some results quickly than wait for them, you might consider paying $80/month for HubSpot Marketing Pro. This plan allows you to create up to 20 custom workflows, 10 custom automations, unlimited form integrations, 30 customized landing page designs, and 5 custom reports. Not bad!

And even though most people tend to think about HubSpot only when they need to build websites or sell products online, it's actually useful beyond that too. For example, HubSpot is great at managing customer relationships and gathering contact information from customers so you can follow up later after getting more details from them. And because HubSpot integrates well into other platforms such as Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, Facebook, Google AdWords, LinkedIn, etc., it makes sense to put all these different channels together under one roof so you don't lose track of important info.

So what exactly does HubSpot offer for sending out automated emails? Well, first off, its Lead Ads feature lets you run ads for specific keywords related to your industry (e.g. SEO) and target them based on location and interests so you can find potential clients who are likely interested in what you have to say. You can also set up rules within the system to automatically send emails to certain contacts every week, month, day, etc. So basically, it helps you automate everything involved in sending out emails without having to manually go through each step yourself.

But aside from this automation aspect, HubSpot also includes several built-in features that make it easy for anyone with basic knowledge of HTML to design effective emails. These include prebuilt layouts that help you save time and effort by allowing you to select various elements like fonts, colors, images, headlines, subheads, body text, etc. and drag them onto a canvas where you can add new ones easily. There's also a library full of readymade content that you can choose from, including blog posts, articles, videos, surveys, polls, FAQs, white papers, case studies, checklists, infographics, etc. The best part about all of this is that you don't have to spend hours trying to figure things out yourself — someone else already did it for you.

Now let's talk about why you shouldn't be able to use HubSpot for sending out cold emails — especially if you're targeting businesses that aren't familiar with HubSpot itself. First of all, it doesn't allow you to send personalized messages directly to individuals. Instead, it will show you a list of contacts from your database and ask you to pick which ones you would like to message. Then, it will generate a template email tailored specifically for each person selected. If you were hoping to skip this step by creating individualized messages beforehand, sorry to disappoint you.

The reason HubSpot won't allow you to customize your messages is pretty simple. As mentioned above, it's designed primarily for businesses. Even though you can technically sign up for a paid account and try building your own website, HubSpot isn't really meant for non-profits and small businesses anyway. That said, if you're serious about growing your company and expanding your customer base, then you should definitely give it a shot. Just keep in mind that you may end up spending a lot of money on additional features, training, support, etc. unless you know exactly what you're doing.

Finally, HubSpot users often complain that it lacks a good interface for designing emails. While you can certainly tweak the layout for better aesthetics, it's nowhere near as intuitive as Mailchimp or Sendloop. Plus, you can always hire freelancers to fix any issues or perform minor tweaks instead of dealing with the headache yourself.

All told, HubSpot is a decent option for both B2C and B2B businesses alike. However, if you're planning to pitch your product to a large group of people (i.e. hundreds or thousands), then you're going to need something much simpler and less advanced. A service like Mailshake ($20 per month) could be ideal for that type of situation.

How do I send cold emails to HubSpot?

First, head over to www.mailshake.com and log in using your credentials. Once inside, click Create Campaign to start making changes to your campaign settings. From here, you can specify the type of recipient(s), subject line, body text, call to action, etc. To add recipients, simply enter their names in the search bar located below the header section. When you find one whose name matches the criteria you specified, tap on his or her avatar to bring up further options for adding him or her to your list.

To change recipients' preferences, hover over the icon next to their name until the menu pops up. Scroll down and hit Edit Settings to open up another screen where you can adjust their profile information. Finally, scroll back up and hit Save Changes to close out this window. Repeat steps 1 - 4 until you've added everyone you want to send emails to.

Once done, click Next Step to continue editing your campaign. Here, you'll be asked to provide a description for your campaign, upload relevant documents, decide whether to share your link publicly or privately, and confirm your privacy policy. After confirming, click Finish Campaign to finish setting up your campaign. Now, whenever you want to send a new email to your list, you just need to login to your Mailshake dashboard, click New Email, paste in the URL you created earlier, fill out the rest of the fields, and publish it.

How do I send an email to HubSpot?

When it comes to writing personal emails, you can either use HubSpot's default editor or install a third-party app like G Suite Writer. Both apps come with a bunch of cool features like autocorrect, spellchecker, grammar checks, etc. to take care of pesky errors.

As far as formatting goes, HubSpot uses Markdown format, which means you can write plaintext emails and convert them into readable HTML code. Of course, you can also apply stylesheets to your texts if you prefer.

You can also import data from Excel spreadsheets, CSV files, PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint presentations, scanned images, video clips, audio recordings, etc. via Dropbox or OneDrive. To learn more about integrating your existing systems into the HubSpot ecosystem, visit our guide on how to connect multiple accounts.

How do I email cold network?

For starters, you'll need to identify your top competitors and prospects along with their social media handles. Then, download their profiles from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Medium, etc. and analyze the various stats available through each channel.

Next, determine which metrics matter most to your company and prioritize accordingly. Maybe you value engagement rates highly. Or maybe you want to measure how many followers each competitor has compared to yours. Whatever it is, you'll want to make sure to pay attention to these numbers regularly so you can continually improve your performance.

After that, you'll need to develop a strategy for approaching each of these targets individually. Ideally, you'll want to avoid direct messaging altogether and opt for an indirect approach instead. For instance, you might post a question on Reddit asking your audience what they believe is holding you back. By answering this question personally, you demonstrate genuine interest in learning more about their point of view. This gives you leverage when you eventually introduce yourself to them later.

Finally, remember to stay patient throughout the process. Don't expect instant success right away. Your goal is to gain momentum slowly by consistently engaging with your audience over time. Eventually, you'll notice a rise in traffic coming from organic sources as well as conversions from your cold email campaigns.

This material is designed for educational and informative purposes only and is not intended to be health or medical advice. If you have any questions about a medical condition or your health goals, always see a physician or other trained health expert.


Author

Anyleads

San Francisco

We are the leading marketing automation platform serving more than 100,000 businesses daily. We operate in 3 countries, based in San Francisco, New York, Paris & London.

Join Anyleads to generate leads

Error! Impossible to register please verify the fields or the account already exists.. Error, domain not allowed. Error, use a business email. Welcome to the Anyleads experience!
More than +200 features to generate leads
Register to start generating leads

Create your account and start your 7 day free trial!

Error! Impossible to register please verify the fields or the account already exists.. Error, domain not allowed. Error, use a business email. Welcome to the Anyleads experience! By registering you agree to the Terms and conditions agreement.
More than +200 features to generate leads

We offer multiple products for your lead generation, discover them below!

>> Unlimited access to all products with one single licensecheck our pricing.