cold-email

name	cold-email
description	Use when the user wants to write B2B cold outreach emails or follow-up sequences. Also use when the user mentions 'cold email,' 'prospecting email,' 'outbound email,' 'SDR sequence,' 'sales email,' or 'cold outreach.'

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.

The Anatomy of a High-Reply Cold Email

1. Subject line (open)
2. Opening line (personalized hook)
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. Under 150 words.

Subject Line Formulas

• "[Company name] + [your product area]"
• "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", "Checking in", ALL CAPS, generic claims.

Opening Line Formulas

Tier 1 — Company-specific:

• "[Company] just raised a Series B — congratulations. Scaling [function] after a raise is..."
• "Saw your post about [topic] last week..."
• "I noticed [company] recently launched [product/feature]..."

Tier 2 — Role/trigger-specific:

• "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]..."

Tier 3 — Industry-specific:

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

Value Prop Compression

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."

CTA Design

One ask. Specific. Low friction.

• "Would it be worth a 15-minute call to see if this applies to [Company]?"
• "Can I send you a 2-minute video showing exactly how this works?"
• "Are you the right person to talk to about this?"

Yes/No questions outperform open-ended questions.

Follow-Up Sequence Architecture

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..."

Deliverability: Technical Foundation

• SPF record configured for sending domain
• DKIM enabled and verified
• DMARC policy set (start with p=none)
• Custom tracking domain
• Dedicated sending subdomain (e.g., outreach.company.com)

Warm-up for new domains: 10-20/day week 1, 30-50/day week 2, 75-100/day week 3, scale week 4+.

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%

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"	Nobody reads a wall of text from a stranger. Earn the right to explain on a call.
"The follow-ups should remind them what email 1 said"	Each email must stand alone and add new value. Reminders are annoying; new angles get replies.
"Deliverability is IT's problem"	Landing in spam = 0% reach. Sending domain setup is a marketing responsibility.