Cold Email Triggers for Auto-Delete

I just deleted 85 cold emails today without reading them. Here’s what they all got wrong: ❌ No clear ask – Rambled for paragraphs without ever telling me what they wanted. If I can’t understand your ask in 5 seconds, I won’t read further. ❌ Buried the point – Put the actual purpose halfway down, after fluff about themselves or their company. I don’t have time to dig. ❌ One-sided pitch – Treated the email like a billboard. Business isn’t charity. If you’re only talking about what you want, I’m gone. ❌ Zero personalization – Obvious copy-paste sent to 500 people. If you don’t know who I am or what I do, why would I reply? ❌ No mutual value – Failed to answer the most important question: Why should I care? As someone who posts a lot of content, I end up top of mind for many people and my inbox is flooded with thousands of messages every week. It’s unrealistic to respond to most of them, but of course there’s always a few I end up replying to. The biggest difference? Those emails make it obvious why replying is worth my time. They don’t just ask for something, they give something. And everyone has value to offer, as long as you state it upfront. Here are some ways you can actually add value in a cold email: ▶️ Comment on or engage with my content so I already know your name ▶️ Introduce me to someone in your network who’s relevant ▶️ Share a resource, tool, or insight that solves a real pain point ▶️ Show you’ve done your homework and know what I care about Want to see what a successful cold email looks like? Drop your email below and I’ll send you an example 👇

Here's a screenshot of my junk folder right now + 5 cold email subject line and preview text mistakes we can avoid. #1: "Open me to see a pitch!" subject lines. "Clone trending ads in mins" = pitching a solution for ads "Struggling with outreach" = pitching solution for leads Don't need to open the email to know it's a cold email. The subject line tells us. The only one that stood out was "Idea for Demandjen". It made me think the sender looked at my company and had an idea (not a product pitch) for me. I like ideas. So do your prospects. #2: Preview text screams "this email was sent to 1000 people". "Most companies" and "Many companies" language suggests we couldn't be bothered to research their company. Your reader is selfish. They use preview text to determine if this is a message written for them. Instead, get to the point about something you read/heard/saw that prompted you to reach out now. This shouldn't be a random fun fact. It should establish the logic for the problem you think they might be up against. (This is where the "Idea for Demandjen" email fell apart. Subject built curiosity, but preview text screamed cold email.) #3: "Thoughts & Threats" It's not the last follow-up. It never is. Build urgency by making the note relevant to something critical happening in their business, not by making empty threats. I haven't met a single person who fears being removed from someone's cold email cadence. #4: "Sending one more note" Maybe it's just me - but when I read lines like this in preview text - I assume I've already seen their other notes and decided it wasn't worth replying. #5: First name in the subject line 7 years ago, first names in the subject line was the move to show you wrote a personalized email. Then, Marketing automation made it easy for vendors to add the <first name> tag. Now, it screams "you're on a list". (Keep in mind - I'm a nobody. I'm not a CXO. DemandJen isn't a big company. So, if my junk mail looks like this - you can only imagine how your prospect's inbox looks.)

I do not even look at 95% of cold emails I get I immediately delete them after reading the subject line Here is a selection of bad subject lines from the last weeks: ❌ Question for Patrick ❌ buyer intent TASKBASE ❌ Taskbase - Company XYV ❌ Idea on B2B selling for Taskbase ❌ Taskbase‘s window of opportunity ❌ cold email announcement - Patrick ❌ Patrick - Name Salesperson @ Company XYV ❌ Realizing Global Expansion: See How We Can Make It Happen ❌ 9 top revenue tools worth $32k for free w/HubSpot, ActiveCampaign+ ❌ Global Natural Language Generation (NLG) Market Insights and Forecast To 2030 ❌ Hi Patrick. Using tools and techniques for sales optimization? Something we need to share with you… And I only had one good one: ✅ Learning Initiative There are elementary rules for subject lines out there that have been proven by evaluating millions of cold emails: 👉🏻 Ideally use one word - and a maximum of 4. One word is by far the best option you have (it performs 87% better than average). An exception: You personalise the subject line. 👉🏻 Don't use any numbers in the subject line. They have constantly been proven to land in spam or just don't work either. 👉🏻 Don't use "?" or "." - but what you can actually try is asterisk (*). Subject lines with an "*" perform 88% better than average. 👉🏻 The subject line needs to resemble a subject line I would get from my clients or internal colleagues. Nobody ever uses my name in a subject line. That already smells like a cold email. And everybody knows you can do that with a simple word replacement. That is NOT considered personalized. We use subject lines such as: "Personalised Learning" "Feedback" "Greetings from Thomas" (a referral) That is it. No rocket science. Which ONE word describes your area in the simplest and most understandable way? Take that word. PS: Want another valuable tip that will save you months/years? Don't start a lead generation business. There are already 234'945 out there

Your cold email subject lines are triggering the spam filter. Here are 5 non-obvious mistakes destroying your opens: ❌ Mistake #1: Your subject line is too long (wraps on mobile) Real examples from my inbox: - Hi Elric Legloire, Let's Work Together on a Creative E-commerce AI Project (74 chars) - Podcast Pitch: Guest Collaboration on Outbound Kitchen - Sales Podcast (70 chars) - Tech Sales Leader Run Over By Car Three Times: Story Of Inspiration (67 chars) If your subject line wraps to a second line on mobile, it gets cut off with "..." Most people check email on mobile. Your full subject line never gets seen. ❌ Mistake #2: Using questions Real examples from my inbox: - Quick Call? Elric - Would You Be Open to a Quick Talk? - What happens when you combine HubSpot + AI + revenue psychology? Questions in subject lines lower your open rate by 56%. (Lavender data) Why? Because questions trigger the "sales pitch" filter. Your prospect knows you're asking for something before they even open. Save the questions for inside the email. ❌ Mistake #3: Using their first name Real examples from my inbox: - quick question for Elric - Hi Elric Legloire, Let's Work Together on a Creative E-commerce AI Project - Elric, What's your thoughts about your youtube channel? This one surprises people. Everyone thinks personalization = good. But data from Salesloft shows subject lines with first names get 12% fewer replies. Your reader knows their name. Using it in the subject line screams "automated outreach." ❌ Mistake #4: Including numbers Real examples from my inbox: - 4.6 Stars After 108 Episodes - 5 spot left! (thumbnails) - 15-minute Zoom call Numbers in subject lines reduce your opens by 46.33%. (Lavender data) Why? They immediately signal "sales pitch" or "marketing email." Your brain sees "10X" or "50%" or "15 minutes" and thinks: spam. ❌ Mistake #5: Using punctuation Real examples from my inbox: - What happens when you combine HubSpot + AI + revenue psychology? - Let's Collaborate! - Optimize Your QA Process with Expert Automation! Punctuation — especially "?" or "!" — reduces opens by 36%. (Lavender data) It adds urgency and excitement that feels forced. It triggers the spam filter. Keep it clean. No punctuation needed. Here's what most people get wrong: They think personalizing with first names helps. It hurts. They think asking a question creates curiosity. It tanks opens by 56%. They think numbers add credibility. They reduce opens by 46%. The goal of your subject line: Create enough curiosity to get an open. That's it. Stop the scroll. Get an open. Nothing more. 📌 Tomorrow I'm sending a newsletter on how I'm getting 70%+ open rates (including a prompt to automatically create subject lines) If you want to learn how to get your prospects to actually open your emails, you'll want to read it. Get it here: https://lnkd.in/extGYXdY