Is emailing a company you don’t know spam, and will it hurt your name?

Cold email is not spam just because you don’t know the company. There are two tests. One is the law, which sets rules for commercial email. The other is the reader’s: people call a message spam when it was sent to many, is about nothing in particular to them, and is hard to stop. An email like that can hurt your name. One written to a single company for a reason, and easy to decline, reads as an ordinary business letter.

Is cold email spam under the law?

That question has its own page. The rules for commercial email in the United States are set out in Is cold email legal?. Treat them as the floor. An email can follow every rule and still be unwelcome, and the person reading it won’t check the rules before deciding what it is.

What makes an email feel like spam?

Three things.

• It was sent to many. Nothing in it could only have been written to this company. Swap the name at the top and it would read the same.
• It’s about nothing in particular to them. It describes the sender at length and the reader not at all. There is no sign of why it arrived now.
• It’s hard to stop. There is no plain way to say no, or the messages keep coming after silence, or after a no.

Will it hurt your name?

It can. Every email carries your name and your firm’s, and it goes to the people you’d like as clients. If it reads as spam, that is their first impression of you, and in a small field people compare notes. There is no way to email strangers with no risk at all.

Most of that risk is in your hands. It comes from what you send, to whom, how often, and how easy you make it to say no.

What protects your name?

• Write only to companies with a reason to hear from you. Something you can see from outside suggests they need what you do, now. If you can’t name the reason, don’t write.
• Write to the person whose job it touches. One person, by name, who would deal with the problem you solve. Not a general address, and not five people at once.
• Use your own words. It should sound like you and say only what you’d say across a table. A claim you couldn’t back up in conversation doesn’t belong in it.
• Send a few at a time. A few is a number you can read and stand behind, one by one.
• Stop at the first request. One “no thanks” ends it for that person, for good. Silence ends it too, after one or two follow-ups.
• Never write to people you already know as if they were strangers. A past client who gets an introduction from you learns that you didn’t notice them. Keep a list of everyone you know, and keep them off.

What should you check before anyone sends in your name?

If software, an agency or a service will write for you, your name is in their hands. Ask four things.

• Do I see each email before it goes? Many tools let you choose. Valley has an Autopilot switch: off, every message waits for your approval; on, it sends by itself within its sending hours. 11x’s documentation describes three settings, from reviewing every message to reviewing none, and advises against starting with none. RegieGO says nothing sends unless you tell it to. Find out how yours is set.
• How many go out, and to whom? Ask for the number per day, and ask to see the list.
• How does someone opt out, and what happens next? Ask how quickly they’re removed, and whether they could ever be written to again.
• Who is left out? Your clients, past clients and contacts should be taken off before anything is sent.

How does Defrost handle this?

We find companies that fit and check for reasons they’d need you. We find the right person and write an email in your name. You approve every email before it goes. We send a few at a time, in working hours, follow up, and bring you the reply. It is email only. What we do shows each step.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between cold email and spam?

Spam, as most people use the word, is a message sent to many, about nothing in particular to the reader, that is hard to stop. A cold email worth sending is written to one company for a reason, goes to the person whose job it touches, and stops when asked. The legal rules are a separate matter, covered in Is cold email legal?.

Is it unprofessional to email a business you don’t know?

No, if the email is about them, short, and easy to decline. Businesses write to each other about work all the time. What reads as unprofessional is a message that was plainly sent to hundreds of companies at once.

What should I do if someone replies angrily?

Apologize in a line, say you won’t write again, and don’t. Then look at why that company was on your list, because the reason to write to them was probably too thin.