I get cold emails from vendors that want to work with me all the time – I bet you do too. But this one really bummed me out. Read on to learn why (it’s probably not what you think!).
The full email is below – but this is what I saw in the inbox (I’ve blurred out the sender’s identifying information):
I should note that the company’s name was after the ‘@’ – it’s a name I recognized, as they are a long-time, well-respected member of the email community – and I consider their top executives to be industry friends.
While I recognized the company name, the person’s name, which appeared before the ‘@’ sign, was not familiar to me.
Check out that subject line “Continue from our call.” As I said, the person’s name was not familiar – was I on a call with them?
The preheader text pulled in the first copy from the email – you can see the salutation. They know my name so maybe I was on a call with them? And they say they appreciated my time on the phone (the vast majority of my work discussions happen via video conferencing — surely an actual phone conversion would stand out in my mind)…
At this point I am wondering if they spoke to someone who was impersonating me, because I don’t have any recollection of this call.
But I opened the email. A screenshot of the message appears below. Once again I’ve blurred out identifying information about the company.
So okay, they’re under the impression that they spoke to me and as a result of that they think there are things I should work on.
Let’s see…
Email Deliverability
We all want to get to the inbox, but all I send under my own brand is my newsletter and the occasional email about my online intensives and workshops. I don’t have any deliverability issues that I know of.
Content Engagement
Since it’s a newsletter, we don’t really write stories – we have blurbs about the different articles we’re featuring each week. So this doesn’t really make sense to me.
And the educators and administrators? Huh? That’s not my target audience – I have a lot of marketing professionals on my list from a variety of industries.
Also… our engagement metrics look pretty good. Over the last 60 days we have a 39.4% open rate (up 2.4% compared to the 60 days prior) and a 7.3% click-through rate (down 1.9% compared to the 60 days prior).
Subscriber Engagement
Again, I agree that it’s important to keep your unsubscribe rate low. We don’t seem to have an issue here either – in the last 60 days we’ve only had 12 people unsubscribe. We send the newsletter weekly and promotional messages for our online workshops and intensives once or twice a month, so that’s about one unsubscribe per send. It’s well below the 0.5% unsubscribe rate which I’ve always used as a guide.
Personalization
Truthfully, we don’t do a lot of this. It’s just not that important for the newsletters we send. Or for the promotions. First name personalization, yes. And strategic resends to people who clicked but did not convert (which is more like segmentation and targeting, I would not call that personalization, although some do). But not much past that.
And It’s a Bit Odd…
Because the things they list are the things that I help my clients with — why would I speak with them about doing this for my brand? As I said, I know the company – we don’t directly compete, but we do a lot of the same things. I am more of a boutique consultancy, working with a few clients to optimize performance. They are more of an agency model, working with a lot of clients where they handle email production and also do some optimization. It’s all good – there’s plenty for work for all of us.
And Then it Hits Me…
I didn’t talk to this person. This is a generic cold email. They are trying to make it seem like we spoke. The subject line and opening paragraphs are misleading – they’re a lie. It’s like an expanded version of the fake “Re” in the subject line.
I know it’s tough out there. I’ve spoken to so many agencies and consultancies that had a less-than-stellar 2024. 2024 was slow for us here at Email Optimization Shop too. Things seem to be picking up in 2025 (fingers crossed!).
But no matter how bad it gets, I just can’t see sending misleading emails to prospects. You’re looking to enter into a long-term relationship – and you’re beginning it with a lie. And I know that a lot of organizations do things like this in other industries, but it’s a bummer to see a company that’s been a leader in the email marketing world using these tactics.
I want them to get new business and thrive – there’s plenty of email out there that needs help, more than enough to go around. But I also don’t want misleading tactics like this to work – because then they will become more widespread.
Did they think I wouldn’t realize that I hadn’t spoken to them? That the copy would be persuasive enough to override the ‘ick’ factor? Did no one on their team recognize that I’m not a good prospect for them?
I don’t know. I wish them well — which is why I blurred out anything that would identify them. But I would never recommend a tactic like this to a client. And I would certainly never use it myself.
And here’s why.
Trust is the cornerstone of email marketing.
When you start a conversation with a lie — even a little one — it’s not just disingenuous, it’s destructive. You may win the open, but you lose the opportunity for a real relationship.
Email is a permission-based medium. When that permission is manipulated, even subtly, it chips away at the trust our audience places in us — not just as individuals, but as an industry. These tactics may earn clicks in the short term, but over time they make people more skeptical, more guarded, and more likely to hit “unsubscribe” or “spam.” And that’s something even the best copy can’t fix.
The inbox is sacred ground. If we don’t protect the integrity of how we show up there, we all suffer — from reduced deliverability to declining engagement to the slow erosion of the medium we’ve built our businesses on.
I get it. Times are tough, and everyone’s trying to fill their pipeline. But misleading subject lines, and manufactured familiarity aren’t the answer. They’re the kind of short-term play that damages long-term potential.
We can do better. And if we want our audience to trust us with their time, their attention, and maybe even their business — we have to.
Until Next Time,
jj
Photo by Taras Chernus on Unsplash
