cold-email

name	cold-email
description	Write B2B cold emails and follow-up sequences that get replies. Use when the user wants to write cold outreach emails, prospecting emails, cold email campaigns, sales development emails, or SDR sequences.
allowed-tools	Read, Write, WebSearch, WebFetch, AskUserQuestion
model	sonnet

Cold Email

Expert knowledge for writing B2B cold emails and sequences that get replies, book meetings, and start conversations at scale.

Core Principle

Cold email is a relevance game, not a volume game. One highly relevant email to 50 prospects outperforms one generic email to 500. Personalization is the variable that matters most.

The Anatomy of a High-Reply Cold Email

Structure:

1. Subject line (open)
2. Opening line (personalized hook — earns the next sentence)
3. Bridge (connect their situation to your solution)
4. Value prop (one sentence — specific outcome, not feature list)
5. Proof point (one concrete example or number)
6. CTA (one ask — low friction)

Total length: 3-5 sentences for the body. Under 150 words.

Subject Line Formulas

Subject lines determine open rate. They should be:

• Specific (not clever)
• Under 50 characters
• Relevant to their role/problem

Formulas that work:

• "[Company name] + [your product area]" — e.g., "Acme Corp + their onboarding drop-off"
• "Quick question about [their specific initiative]"
• "[Mutual connection] suggested I reach out"
• "Idea for [their team/problem]"
• "[Peer company] is doing this — are you?"
• "[Specific number] [outcome] for [their industry]"

Avoid:

• "Following up" (overused, signals a previous cold email chain)
• "Checking in"
• ALL CAPS
• Clickbait subject lines that don't match the body
• Generic: "Grow your revenue," "Increase conversions"

Opening Line Formulas

The opening line must make the prospect feel you actually know them — not that you merged their name from a CSV.

Tier 1 — Company-specific (highest effort, highest reply rate):

• "[Company] just raised a Series B — congratulations. Scaling [function] after a raise is..."
• "Saw your post about [topic] last week. You mentioned [specific point] — we've seen that a lot with [their type of company]."
• "I noticed [company] recently launched [product/feature]. Companies at this stage often struggle with..."

Tier 2 — Role/trigger-specific (medium effort, good reply rate):

• "As a [their title], you're probably spending a lot of time on [painful task]."
• "[Job posting for role X] tells me you're building out [function] — that usually means..."
• "I saw [company] is hiring [10+] salespeople. Growth at that pace usually creates [specific problem]."

Tier 3 — Industry-specific (lower effort, lower reply rate but scalable):

• "Most [role] at [industry] companies we talk to are dealing with [specific problem]."

Value Prop Compression

Compress your value prop to one sentence. If you can't, you don't understand it yet.

Formula: "[Product] helps [ICP] [achieve outcome] without [common sacrifice]."

Examples:

• "We help B2B SaaS companies reduce onboarding drop-off by 40% without hiring more CSMs."
• "We give growth teams one dashboard for all their paid channels so they stop spending 3 hours/week in spreadsheets."

Test: Can your prospect explain what you do to their colleague after reading this one sentence? If not, simplify.

Proof Point Selection

One specific, credible data point is worth more than three vague claims.

Good proof points:

• "We did this for [similar company type] — they went from 12% to 19% activation in 6 weeks."
• "[X] companies in [their industry] use us."
• "Reduced [specific metric] by [%] for [company type]."

Bad proof points:

• "Our customers love us."
• "We've helped hundreds of companies."
• "Industry-leading results."

Match the proof point to the prospect's likely concern. For early-stage prospects: speed of results. For enterprise: risk reduction and security. For volume-sensitive: scale and reliability.

CTA Design

One ask. Specific. Low friction.

Best CTAs for cold email:

• "Would it be worth a 15-minute call to see if this applies to [Company]?" (Yes/No question)
• "Can I send you a 2-minute video showing exactly how this works?"
• "Are you the right person to talk to about this, or would you recommend someone else?"

CTA principles:

• Yes/No questions outperform open-ended questions ("Would you be interested?" vs "Let's connect")
• Specific time commitment ("15 minutes" not "a quick call")
• Make the "no" easy — some of the best replies are "not us, but talk to [person]"

Follow-Up Sequence Architecture

Most replies come from follow-ups, not the first email. But each follow-up must add value, not just nag.

5-touch sequence:

Touch	Timing	Content
Email 1	Day 0	Full pitch — problem + value + proof + CTA
Email 2	Day 3	New angle — different pain, different outcome framing
Email 3	Day 7	Social proof — case study, testimonial, or relevant stat
Email 4	Day 14	Content offer — relevant article, checklist, or resource
Email 5	Day 21	Break-up email — "I don't want to keep bugging you..."

Break-up email formula: "I've sent a few notes and haven't heard back — I'll assume the timing isn't right. If [problem] ever becomes a priority, we're at [email]. Rooting for [Company]."

Break-up emails often get replies because they remove pressure.

Personalization at Scale

True 1:1 personalization doesn't scale. Use a tiered personalization model:

Tier 1 (10% of list): Fully custom opening line for high-value accounts. Spend 5-10 minutes per prospect.

Tier 2 (30% of list): Trigger-based personalization. Use signals (job post, funding, product launch) to auto-populate opening line templates.

Tier 3 (60% of list): Segment personalization. One version per segment (industry, role, company size). Opening line references their segment, not their name.

Signal sources for personalization:

• LinkedIn activity (posts, job changes, company announcements)
• Job postings (what they're hiring for reveals their priorities)
• Funding announcements (Crunchbase, TechCrunch)
• G2 reviews (see what their customers say — mirrors their selling language)
• Recent news mentions

Deliverability: Technical Foundation

A great email that lands in spam is worthless.

Required setup:

• SPF record configured for sending domain
• DKIM enabled and verified
• DMARC policy set (start with p=none, move to p=quarantine)
• Custom tracking domain (not shared with other senders)
• Dedicated sending subdomain (e.g., outreach.company.com, not company.com)

Warm-up protocol for new domains:

• Week 1: 10-20 emails/day
• Week 2: 30-50 emails/day
• Week 3: 75-100 emails/day
• Week 4+: Scale to target volume
• Use warm-up tools: Lemwarm, Warmbox, Mailreach

Reputation signals to monitor:

• Bounce rate < 2% (clean your list with ZeroBounce or NeverBounce)
• Spam complaint rate < 0.1%
• Unsubscribe rate < 0.5%

Reply Rate Benchmarks

Scenario	Expected Reply Rate
Generic mass email	< 1%
Segment-personalized	2-5%
Trigger-based personalization	5-10%
Full 1:1 personalization	10-20%
Warm intro (referral)	40-70%

If reply rate is below 2%, fix the list quality or personalization before scaling volume.

Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"We need to send more emails to get more replies"	Volume amplifies a broken message. Fix reply rate first, then scale.
"Our product is complex — we need to explain it fully in email 1"	Nobody reads a wall of text from a stranger. You earn the right to explain more on a call.
"The follow-up emails should remind them what email 1 said"	Each email must stand alone and add new value. Reminders are annoying; new angles get replies.
"We'll personalize later when we have more resources"	Generic outreach at any scale has 0-1% reply rates. Personalization is a prerequisite, not a luxury.
"Deliverability is IT's problem"	Landing in spam = 0% deliverability. Sending domain setup is a marketing responsibility.

Verification

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured for sending domain
• New domain warm-up protocol followed before full volume
• List verified with bounce-check tool (bounce rate < 2%)
• Opening line is prospect-specific (not just a merged first name)
• Value prop is one sentence with specific outcome
• CTA is a Yes/No question with specific time commitment
• Follow-up sequence covers 5 touches with different angles
• Reply rate tracked weekly (target > 5% for personalized campaigns)