Cold Emailing

Spam is unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail. In the off-line world we call it junk email technique. The marketer in this case is not trying to make contact with any specific type of company or individual. Tens of thousands to millions of emails are sent to random individuals. This technique is mostly used in the business to consumer "b2c" realm of business and the item that is being sold is generally of low value. Zero research has been done in regards to the recipients and the list of emails is usually purchased in bulk from list vendors who specialize in this field. "Spammers" are realistically looking for a .05%-.1% percent response rate.

Cold Emailing enables sales professionals to contact people through a technique which is in no way related to spam. Here is a quick comparison between spam and cold emailing.

Spam:

(1) bulk/junk email sent tens/hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously
(2) the message is not targeted to the recipient and sent to any email address
(3) the target recipient of the email is not known
(4) the sender/author of the email is not known
(5) return address and headers are fake and misleading
(6) the sender is usually selling unscrupulous products or even a scam

Cold Emailing:

(1) one email is sent out to one specific individual
(2) the message is tailored specifically for the target recipient
(3) the target recipients name and background is known based upon research
(4) the sender/author is clearly identified in the email signature
(5) return address and headers are real and not misleading
(6) the sender is trying to create contact with the recipient to discuss business

Cold emailing is very similar to cold calling. Also, most professionals prefer receiving a cold email versus a cold call.