Templates / Cold email
Cold email template
Three complete cold emails and a two step follow up, written out in full. Swap the bracketed parts, cut anything you cannot say honestly, send.
A cold email is a request for time from someone who did not ask to hear from you. That is the whole design constraint, and almost every bad cold email ignores it.
The three below are short, specific about why you picked this person, and easy to say no to. They ask for a reply, not a calendar slot, because a reply is a much smaller thing to give.
Everything in brackets has to be genuinely researched. If you cannot fill the observation line with something true about this specific company, do not send to them. That line is the only thing separating this from spam.
How to use it
- 01Build the list before you write. Twenty five companies you can actually name a reason for beats a thousand scraped addresses.
- 02Spend three minutes per prospect on the observation line. Their site, their careers page, a recent post. If three minutes finds nothing specific, remove them from the list.
- 03Pick one of the three templates per campaign and use it for the whole list, so you can tell what worked.
- 04Set follow up one for three working days after send, and follow up two for eight. Stop after two. Two follow ups is persistence, five is harassment.
- 05Send from a real person mailbox with a real signature and a physical address in the footer. Check your local rules on unsolicited email before the first send.
- 06Reply to every reply within a day, including the no thanks ones, with a short thank you and nothing else attached.
The template
Rules before you send anything
These decide whether the emails work more than the wording does.
One person, one reason. If the observation line could be pasted into any email on your list, it is not an observation, it is a template variable.
Under 120 words. Count them. Anything longer gets read as a pitch deck.
One ask, and make it small. A reply beats a meeting request.
No attachment on the first email, and no calendar link in the first email either.
Say where you got their name if it was anywhere other than a public profile.
Give them an easy exit line. It costs you nothing and it stops the report as spam click.
Never claim a result you cannot show, and never invent a customer you do not have.
Email 1. The specific observation
Best when you have genuinely looked at what they do. Requires real research per prospect.
Subject: [SPECIFIC THING THEY DID], and a question
Alternate subject: question about [THEIR SPECIFIC THING]
Body:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
I saw [SPECIFIC OBSERVATION: the careers page listing three [ROLE] roles, the new [PRODUCT OR LOCATION] launch, the post you wrote about [TOPIC]]. [ONE LINE ON WHAT THAT USUALLY MEANS, for example that suggests [TEAM] is about to get a lot busier].
We work with [TYPE OF COMPANY, not a name you cannot verify] on [THE NARROW PROBLEM YOU SOLVE]. Usually the thing that breaks first is [SPECIFIC FAILURE MODE].
Is that on your list this quarter, or is it fine for now?
Either answer is useful. If it is fine for now, I will leave you alone.
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR TITLE], [YOUR COMPANY]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]
Email 2. The problem first
Use when the observation is weaker but the role makes the problem near certain.
Subject: [THE PROBLEM IN FOUR WORDS]
Alternate subject: how are you handling [PROBLEM]?
Body:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
Most [THEIR ROLE] at [COMPANY SIZE OR TYPE] end up handling [SPECIFIC TASK] with [THE COMMON WORKAROUND, for example a shared spreadsheet and a weekly chase]. It works right up until [THE POINT WHERE IT STOPS WORKING].
We built [YOUR PRODUCT] for exactly that point. It [ONE CONCRETE THING IT DOES, not a benefit statement].
Two questions and then I am done:
1. Is [SPECIFIC TASK] still handled by [THE WORKAROUND] at [COMPANY]?
2. If it is, is fixing it worth twenty minutes this month?
If the answer to either is no, say no and I will close the file.
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR TITLE], [YOUR COMPANY]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]
Email 3. The short one, or the referral ask
Use for senior titles and for anyone who obviously gets a lot of email.
Subject: right person?
Alternate subject: quick one, [COMPANY]
Body:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
We help [TYPE OF COMPANY] with [THE NARROW PROBLEM], specifically [THE ONE CONCRETE THING].
Two options:
1. If this sits with you, reply with a yes and I will send one page on how it works.
2. If it sits with someone else, point me at them and I will stop emailing you.
If it is neither, reply with no and that is the end of it.
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR TITLE], [YOUR COMPANY]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]
Follow up 1. Send three working days later.
Reply in the same thread. Add one new thing. Never send a message that only says bumping this.
Subject: same thread, do not change it.
Body:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
One thing I should have included: [THE MOST USEFUL SPECIFIC, for example a link to the template, the one line answer to the objection you always get, the fact that setup takes an afternoon].
[ONE SENTENCE ON WHY THAT MATTERS FOR THEIR SITUATION SPECIFICALLY].
Still worth a conversation, or should I close the file?
[YOUR NAME]
Follow up 2. Send five working days after that. Then stop.
The close. It works because it is genuinely final, so only send it if you mean it.
Subject: same thread.
Body:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
I am going to assume the timing is wrong, which is usually what it is.
I will stop here. If [THE PROBLEM] comes back up in the next few months, reply to this thread and I will pick it straight back up. No pitch in between.
Good luck with [SPECIFIC THING THEY ARE WORKING ON].
[YOUR NAME]
Subject line swaps
Short, lowercase, specific. Anything that reads like a campaign gets treated like one.
question about [THEIR SPECIFIC THING]
[THEIR COMPANY] and [THE PROBLEM]
right person?
[SPECIFIC THING THEY DID]
worth twenty minutes?
Avoid: Quick question, Touching base, Following up, Partnership opportunity, and anything with Re: on a first send. Re: on a cold email is a lie in the subject line.
Lines to cut from every draft
Find and delete. Every one of these makes the email longer and less believable.
I hope this email finds you well.
I wanted to reach out because.
We are a leading provider of.
I would love to pick your brain.
Just following up on my previous email.
Any paragraph that describes your funding, your team size or your history.
Any sentence with the word solution in it.
Any statistic you cannot link to a source in the next thirty seconds.
What to do with the replies
Most of the value is here, and most people skip it.
Yes: send exactly what you promised, nothing more. No deck if you offered one page.
Not now: ask when to come back, put that date in your calendar, then actually leave them alone until then.
Wrong person: thank them, email the person they named, and mention who sent you.
No: reply with a one line thank you, remove them from the list, do not add them to a nurture sequence.
Angry: apologize once, remove them, and check what about your list building put them on it.
No reply after follow up two: mark it closed. Do not restart the sequence with a new subject line.
Where this usually goes wrong
- A fake personalization line. I loved your recent post with no post named reads worse than no personalization at all, because it proves the email is automated.
- Asking for a thirty minute call in the first email. You are asking a stranger for half an hour. Ask for a one word reply instead.
- Sending five follow ups. Two is the point where persistence turns into a complaint, and the complaints damage your sending domain, not just that relationship.
- Inventing proof. A customer you do not have or a percentage you made up will get checked by exactly the prospects you most wanted, and there is no recovering from it.
- Skipping the physical address and the opt out. Unsolicited commercial email is regulated in most places, and the rules apply to a one person send just as much as to a campaign.
Common questions
How long should a cold email be?
Under 120 words for the first send, and shorter for the follow ups. The reader is deciding in about three seconds whether this is worth a reply, and length is the first signal they use.
How many follow ups should I send?
Two. One that adds a new piece of information, and one that closes the loop. Each follow up should be able to stand on its own, because they may only ever read that one.
Is cold email legal?
It depends on where you and the recipient are. Rules on consent, identification and opt out differ by country, and some regions require prior consent for business to business email. Check the rules that apply to your list before you send, and always include a real address and a working opt out.
Should I use a calendar link in the first email?
No. A calendar link asks the reader to commit before they have decided they are interested. Get the reply first, then send the link in the answer.
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