If you read The Muse enough (or, just happen to be an expert at raiding people’s inboxes), you know that every successful cold email starts with a catchy subject line, a concise message, and an overall tone of appreciation and respect.
And yet, why aren’t people lining up to help you out? Well, according to Birchbox CEO Katia Beauchamp—who thanks cold emailing for helping launch her business and land investors—you forgot to check your phone: “Make sure the email is short enough that a person can read it without having to scroll down on his or her smartphone.”
You see, nowadays, everyone checks their email on-the-go, which means most people have enough time to basically open a message and give it one glance. So, while your message may’ve looked short and sweet on your laptop, it could be tedious to get through on your average phone’s screen.
And as you know, the easier you make it for someone to read your message, the more likely it is you’ll get a response. Not to mention having to scroll for days doesn’t exactly scream “I won’t take too much of your time.”
This means that before you send that “perfect” message off to someone important, send it to yourself first and open it on your phone to make sure it doesn’t involve too much scrolling. And while you’re there, also take a look at formatting. What looked fine on your computer may not look so polished on the phone (I’m looking at you, email that suddenly is in six different fonts when I’m checking it on my iPhone).
This small extra step could mean the difference between radio silence and getting your foot in the door at your dream company.