The playbook
Most cold emails fail before the second line — either the subject line gets them deleted, or the first sentence makes it obvious this is a template with their company name dropped in. Here's what separates a 1% reply rate from a 5%+ one.
- The subject line shouldn't sound like a subject line. Lowercase, short, specific — something a colleague would actually type. "quick question about [specific thing]" beats "Boost Your Revenue Today."
- Prove you looked, in one sentence. Not "I saw your company is growing" — that's generic enough to apply to anyone. Reference something specific: a recent launch, a job posting, a comment they made publicly. One real sentence beats three generic ones.
- State the problem before the solution. The same rule as the pitch deck: lead with their situation, not your product.
- The ask should take 30 seconds to say yes to. Not "let me know if you'd like to hop on a call sometime" — that requires them to do the scheduling work. "Worth 15 minutes Thursday at 2pm?" removes the friction entirely.
- Keep it under 100 words. If it doesn't fit on one phone screen without scrolling, it's not getting read on one.
A structure that works
Subject: quick question about [specific trigger]
Hey [name] — saw [specific, real detail about them or their company].
Most [their role] I talk to are dealing with [specific problem], usually because [brief reason].
We help [specific outcome] for teams like [comparable company/situation] — happened to think of you.
Worth 15 minutes [specific day/time]?
Hey [name] — saw [specific, real detail about them or their company].
Most [their role] I talk to are dealing with [specific problem], usually because [brief reason].
We help [specific outcome] for teams like [comparable company/situation] — happened to think of you.
Worth 15 minutes [specific day/time]?
The mistake everyone makes
Sending the same email to 500 people and calling the merge field "personalization." A first name swapped into a template isn't research — and prospects can tell the difference in one sentence.
Follow-up cadence
Four touches, spaced 3-4 days apart, is a reasonable starting cadence — enough persistence without becoming the reason someone marks you as spam. Each follow-up should add new information, not just "just bumping this up."
Know your reply rate? Plug it into the outbound calculator to see exactly how many contacts and sending domains that cadence actually requires.
Run the calculator →