Cold Email Outreach Tips

10 reasons why nobody cares about your cold email: 1. Your “I” to “You” ratio is 4:1. If you see a lot of “I,” “we,” “our,” and “us” words in your copy, it’s a sign your message is too focused on your company and too little on your prospect. Flip the ratio. 2. Your message is too broad. We know from research on social loafing that people are more likely to respond when they feel uniquely qualified to do so. Niche down. What inspired you to email this person? 3. Your preview isn’t enticing. This is often overlooked because people focus on subject lines. Prospects see your subject line and your first sentence in their inbox. Start with words like “caught,” “read,” “saw,” “your,” “scanned,” and “you.” 4. You’re not focused on the problem. Problems get attention. It’s why you avoid puddles. Example for Descript: “What podcast hosts hate is editing - stuff like cutting "ums" and "ahs," removing dead spots, etc.” When people feel like you get them, they naturally become curious about what you have. Solutions have no value without problems. 5. You’re asking for time. That’s a big ask. Start with a small ask. Gauge interest first. Original “Do you have 30 minutes on Friday?” Revision “Think this might help?”
 6. You’re talking about what you do, not what prospects can do. Nope - What You Do “Descript is an all-in-one video editing platform.” Yup - What Prospects Can Do “Descript takes your podcast audio and turns them into a doc so you can click, drag and cut unwanted bits in seconds instead of hours. 7. Your email is too long. Keep it under five sentences. Prospects are scanners. So are you. So is everybody. 8. You’re too generic. Generic: “Save time and money.” Everyone says that so you don’t stand out. Crispy of Specific: “You’re probably customizing reports for individual reps + hard-pasting entire Excel pages into Google Sheets/making adjustments to determine payouts.” When you’re specific, you’re more believable. 9. Your subject line is more than three words. Try “open to this?” 10. You’re not following up on unresponsive emails. It takes 6-8 touches to stack the odds in your favor for getting a response. Don’t make all your chess moves at once—one problem per email.

How to Write Cold Emails That Actually Get Replies Cold emailing can feel like shooting arrows in the dark—most get ignored. But with the right approach, your emails can land opportunities instead of in the spam folder. Here’s how: 1. Subject Line is King • Keep it short & personalized (e.g., “Quick Question, [First Name]?” or “Loved Your Work on [Project]”). • Avoid spammy words like “Free,” “Limited Offer,” or “Act Now.” 2. Get to the Point (Fast!) • Nobody has time for long intros. State your purpose in the first two lines. • Example: “Hi [Name], I saw your work on [Project] and found it insightful. I’d love to connect and discuss [Specific Interest].” 3. Personalization Over Copy-Paste • Mention something specific about them—their work, recent post, or company. • Example: “I noticed your team at [Company] recently launched [Product]. The strategy behind it was brilliant.” 4. Value Over Ask • Instead of immediately asking for a favor, show how you can help them. • Example: “I’ve been working on [related topic] and found insights that might interest you.” 5. Clear and Low-Effort CTA • Make it easy for them to respond. Instead of “Let me know when you’re free,” try: • “Would love to chat—does Tuesday at 3 PM work for a quick 10-minute call?” 6. Follow Up Without Being Annoying • If no response, follow up in 3-5 days with a short, polite nudge. • Example: “Just wanted to check if you had a chance to look at my last email. Happy to connect whenever convenient.” Cold emails aren’t about luck—they’re about strategy. Master this, and you’ll turn cold contacts into warm opportunities. Remember one cold email and application on portal made me land up in JPMC. Have a cold email tip that worked for you? Drop it in the comments.

One cold email isn’t enough. But most follow-ups are just reminders. That’s why they fail. Here’s a better sequence: Email 1 - problem / insight • Lead with a relevant industry shift or pain point. • End with a low-friction CTA. Follow-up 1 - new angle • Instead of “just checking in,” introduce a different benefit. Follow-up 2 – case study or social proof • Show how a similar company solved this issue. Follow-up 3 – final nudge • Make it easy to say yes: “Worth a quick chat, or should I close your file?” The best cold email sequences build momentum. What do you send in follow-ups?

I just deleted 147 cold emails without reading them. Here’s what they all got wrong: Every morning, my inbox looks the same. A flood of pitches from people trying to sell me something. Most days, I just mass delete them. But this morning, I decided to actually read through them first. Within 5 minutes, I spotted a pattern. Everyone was making the exact same mistake. They were all trying to close the deal. ALL IN THE FIRST MESSAGE 🥵 Let me show you what I mean (with two small examples): APPROACH A: "The Wall of Text" Send 100 cold emails with full pitch, calendar link, and case studies. • 3 people open • 0 responses • 0 intros This looks exactly like the 147 emails I just deleted "Hi [Name], I noticed your company is scaling fast! We help companies like yours optimize their marketing stack through our proprietary AI technology. Our clients see 300% ROI within 90 days. Here's my Calendly link to book a 15-min chat: [LINK]. Looking forward to connecting! Best, [Name]" BORING!!! APPROACH B: "Micro Conversations" Same 100 prospects, broken down into micro-convo's. Email 1: "Do you know [mutual connection]?" • Send 100 • ~40 open • ~20 respond Email 2: "They mentioned you're scaling your marketing team. I'd love to connect about [specific thing]." • Send to 20 who responded • ~15 continue engaging Email 3: "Would you mind if they made an intro?" • Ask 15 engaged prospects • ~10 intros Final score: • Approach A: No intros • Approach B: 10 intros How to Apply These Lessons (Tactical Summary): 1. Focus on Micro-Conversations: Break your cold outreach into smaller, manageable steps. Build rapport before making any asks. 2. Personalize Everything: Reference mutual connections, specific company milestones, or shared interests in every message. 3. Play the Long Game: Aim for replies in the first message.. not conversions. If you’ve been struggling with cold outreach, you might just need a new approach. Give this one a try and lmk how it goes.

Let’s consider the “cold email” rumors floating around LinkedIn about applying for a #PhD.   Fact: Most (but of course not all) #STEM (and other US-based) programs do NOT require you to have contacted a faculty member before you apply for a PhD or MS.   How do I know this? I’ve been on #engineering admissions committees for 15 years at 4 different U.S. institutions.   Every #university and even programs within that university are different. For example: At Cornell's Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering we admit via committee, so your future advisor might not see your application until you meet them on campus! In Biological & Environmental Engineering, individual faculty members admit a student directly to their groups, so we interview applicants in December-January. In other programs at Cornell University, individual faculty review applications for students who indicate interest in working with them and then make a recommendation to the admissions committee. In all these cases having some initial contact with a faculty member CAN help, especially if we have a new grant and need something with specific skill sets, but it is not necessary for admission. Some programs don’t allow faculty to have any contact with applicants!   💡 Educate yourself about the norms in your specific field. Is it required, suggested, or not allowed? First, read the program’s websites that interest you to see if they mention this requirement. Then ask current students about their process. Then reach out to the graduate coordinators in the programs (info is on their websites).   If you want to send a cold email, the best time to do this is between September 1 and November 15. ⌛️ Earlier than this and we’re not ready to think about graduate admissions. ⏳ Later than this and we’re concerned that with <month to go until the deadline you are either a procrastinator who won’t get things done or not really interested in our program.   How do you write a cold email? First, DO NOT pay people for templates. You can do this. In ~200 words: 👩🏻🔬 Who you are (the highlight that’s relevant to the PI). 👩🏻🏫 Why, specifically you’re emailing (looking for x position – and don’t say “any” – be specific). 🧩 Why you’re interested in the PI’s group – specifically. DO NOT copy/paste a paper title. Show us that you’ve figured out generally what we do. 🦄 Why your skills align with the PI’s group. What specifically do you bring (preferably that others might not) from your knowledge, background or experience that will support the PI’s work. 🗒️ Close it out. Say you’ve attached a CV copy (or one is available upon request), and that you’d love to discuss any openings. 🚦YOU’RE DONE.   Please don’t be surprised if you (1) don’t receive a response - people are busy, (2) receive a template response that says either there are no positions, or we have a position but don’t pre-review applications. Just apply anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I’ve spoken to 30 founders over the past six weeks about their BDR teams. Here are the 7 most controversial (and surprising) things I learned: 1. 2023 finally broke the old BDR playbook - Cold email, cadences & data are a fraction as effective as last year - Inboxes are completely ruined as everybody sends the same crap to the same people (mine included) 2. Leaders are struggling with whether to keep underperforming but “profitable-ish” teams - Profitability aside, there are negative cultural consequences of having teams who are pushing so hard and getting so little back 3. 1H23 created headwinds for ACV, making the calculation even harder. - Companies are downsizing, purchasing less seats - What used to be expansion revenue is now often contraction - CFOs are telling vendors “cut software costs 30% across the board” on renewal 4. Many founders (like me) have eliminated BDR teams and pipeline generation hasn’t slowed - This is a weird dynamic, but it happens sometimes in business - We went from 14 to 4 salespeople and our growth rate accelerated - We kept one BDR who is working low-hanging fruit (closed lost, missed demos, churns, etc) - Great teams are lean, flooded with activity, and super happy 5. There are still channels that are working great… It’s just the “new playbook”. - The future of selling is making yourself (or your team) an influencer - Founder brand content is creating TONS of leads for our new B2B product - Other founders are telling me the same thing   6. The “new playbook” is producing warmer leads with way fewer people (good), at the cost of losing predictability (bad). - We're generating 25% fewer leads but a team of 66% fewer reps, and those reps are senior, motivated, amazing, etc,  and we are closing 25% more ARR. - I’m betting that this is the way of the future - These types of super-lean businesses won’t even require VCs - The problem is that this “founder brand” driven model can’t easily be modeled - When the time comes to sell, this probably adversely affects enterprise value 7. Pipeline is everybody’s biggest problem, except for generative AI companies - I can’t tell you how many times I heard this one, “My board/investors won’t let me do my job because they're fixated on pipeline”  - People are in desperate need of as many sources of high-intent, warm leads as possible BDR used to be creating that pipeline… In 1H23, it has failed, it is broken My biggest takeaway from the last six weeks: The Predictable Revenue model is dead. Building an assembly line of BDRs who do the exact same thing that 100,000 other B2B SaaS companies do is not going to work anymore. Start focusing on creating content that cuts through the noise. Use that and other high-velocity demand gen tactics to power a super-lean, super fast inbound sales engine that will grow profitably and sustainably. The next generation of unicorns won’t get built the way Salesforce did. They’ll get built the “new way”.

Every sales team doing outbound needs to know this about email deliverability in 2024: No EXCEPTIONS. Email deliverability is a “death by a thousands paper cuts” type of situation. Stop stacking paper cuts. ✅ Set up secondary domains. If you are still cold emailing off your primary email domain you may be in big trouble. The last thing you want (especially if you aren’t a reputable company) is to burn your primary domain. This doesn’t just affect your sales team. It affects everybody at your company. ✅ Set up your DNS (DMARC, SPF & DKIM) records for ALL of your secondary domains. ✅ Secondary domains should link to your primary. You want to make sure your prospects are being directed to your actual company domain if they are curious and click. ✅ Instantly.ai recommends limiting yourself to 3 email addresses per domain. ✅. Email Warmup - Domains should be “warmed up” for 14 days before cold emailing. Send at least 20-40 warm up emails per day per email account, with a 40% reply rate. This builds your domain reputation. NEVER switch off email warm-up. ✅ Email Volume - do NOT send more than 30 emails per day per email account. ✅ Keep your email signature plain text. No Links. AT ALL. Add your address in your signature and make sure you put a picture in your Outlook or Gmail profile. ✅ Vary your cold email copy. Sending the same template to every prospect signals that you are a spammer. Take the time to personalize emails. For emails further in your sequence, use Spintax. Use alternate phrases “Hi, Hey, Hello”. ✅ Understand that your domain gets TORCHED when people mark your email as spam. Good and relevant copy matter. Also, don’t run 7+ email step sequences. It’s okay to have sequences that are 15 steps. But make them multi-channel (Calls, LinkedIn, Email). ✅ Constantly monitor your email deliverability. Highly recommend using Instantly.ai to make this all easier. Maintaining good deliverability over time is key in the success of outbound. Curious - what else should I have mentioned here?

We all use digital calendar links, but misusing them could prevent you from landing the big meeting. Here's what to do to ensure you land your next important meeting. Yes, calendar scheduling links are an incredible time saver. They eliminate the email ping-pong of trying to coordinate two busy calendars. I use them all the time. But there’s a nuance here that too many people miss—especially when you’re reaching out to someone whose time you’re requesting, e.g. an advisor, a potential investor, a senior leader. Dropping a link that says, “Here’s my Calendly, grab a time” might save you a step—but it often costs you the meeting. There’s a power dynamic at play. You’re the one asking for time. So why are you also asking them to do the work of navigating your calendar? Here’s a more thoughtful approach: “Let me know your preferred way to schedule time. I’ve shared my availability here in case that’s easiest—happy to work around your schedule.” This signals flexibility, professionalism, and self-awareness. It gives the other person options—and makes it more likely that they’ll book the meeting (even if it is through your link). Give it a try and see if your response rate improves. Or, if you have a go-to line that works well when scheduling with busy people, drop it in the comments. I’m always learning. #LIPostingDayApril #meetings #courtesy #productivity

Cold emailing got my candidate a ₹9 LPA job offer. Yes, the same “cold emailing” that people love to call dead. The thing is, it only feels dead because most people do it the wrong way. Let me explain what actually works. 👇 One of my students didn’t come from a top college. No fancy referrals. No previous experience. But she had skills. And more importantly, she was willing to show up. So instead of applying to portals and praying for a callback, she did this: ✅ Identified 10 companies she genuinely wanted to work at ✅ Found the right people (hiring managers, founders, and team leads) ✅ Wrote personalized emails (no copy-paste templates, please). ✅ Attached a 2-slide pitch of what she could help with (not a long resume dump) ✅ Followed up 3-4 times One of those cold emails turned into a conversation. That conversation turned into a test task. And 7 days later… she got the job. So, if you're wondering what that email looked like, here's the structure: “Subject: Quick help with your IG growth strategy Hi [Name], I recently came across your [brand/project] and was impressed with the content, especially your campaign on [XYZ]. I’m a marketing student, and I’ve helped 2 other small brands improve their IG reach with reels and creator collabs. I noticed your current strategy misses a few high-engagement formats. Would love to share a few ideas. Here’s a 2-minute video I made with suggestions: [Link] If you find it useful, I'd love to intern with you and support your team. Best, xyz” Cold emailing still works. But not if you're sending the same “Hi, I’m looking for opportunities” to 100 people. Make it warm and specific. #Coldemail #jobsearch #interviewcoach

99% of AEs and SDRs believe the secret to cold email is to sharpen the message and desired outcome. They're wrong. Here's what the top 1% of cold emails do differently (3 examples in the video): 1. They agitate pain. Step 1 in a successful cold email is to describe the PAIN better than the prospect can say it. That's not the same thing as promising an outcome. Cold buyers aren't thinking about outcomes (yet). They're thinking about the thorn in their side. Capture that thorn, and you'll earn the right to have them read the next sentence. 2. They create a compelling "chain" of sentences. Write this one down - EVERY sentence your write in a cold email has one purpose: To get them to read the NEXT sentence. The only exception to this rule is the last sentence. If a sentence doesn't accomplish this, strike it. Pretend you get $100 for every word you remove. Get ruthless. 3. They read like a page in your buyer's journal. As the buy scans your email, the way you capture the pain should FEEL like a conversation they already have going on in their head. The "best of the best" cold emails get this response: "Damn, that puts words to something I've been struggling to articulate." If it could pass as a journal entry, you're bound to win. 4. They have an "easy to say YES to" call to action. The best cold emails are easy to say yes to. They don't ask for 30 minutes. That's hard to say yes to for any busy exec. They don't ask for time (explicitly). They simply reference the problem, and ask if it's worth having a conversation to explore fixing it. TAKEAWAY: Almost everyone gets cold email wrong. They either think it's ALL about outcomes and benefits. Or they think it's all about WHAT and HOW you do it (positioning). Cold email is about neither of those. It's about a describing your buyer's problem so well, it feels like you're peering into their soul. Tag an AE or SDR that would like these tips. P.S. Once you book the meeting, here's 39 questions that sell that generate urgency, uncover pain, and create momentum: https://go.pclub.io/list