How To Write a Cold Email That Gets You Results

What is cold emailing?

Cold emailing is sending emails to prospects who’ve never interacted with your business before. It’s outreach from scratch—no warm introductions, no prior relationship, just you reaching out to someone who fits your ideal customer profile.

Cold email vs. spam: Let’s clear this up right away. Cold email is not spam. Spam is unsolicited, irrelevant junk sent in bulk with no regard for the recipient. Cold email is targeted, relevant, and personalized outreach sent to prospects who match your ideal customer profile. The difference? Intent, relevance, and compliance with regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR.

Cold email vs. email marketing: Email marketing targets people who’ve already opted in—newsletter subscribers, past customers, event attendees. Cold email targets people who haven’t heard of you yet. Different goals, different approaches.

Cold email vs. cold calling: Both are outbound tactics, but cold email is asynchronous (prospects read and respond on their own time) and scalable (you can reach hundreds of prospects without being on the phone all day). Cold calling is synchronous and harder to scale, but it’s more personal and can be effective for high-touch sales cycles.

When to use cold email: Use cold email when you need to reach decision-makers at scale, when your product or service has a clear value proposition, and when you’re targeting specific industries or roles. It’s especially powerful for B2B sales, agency services, SaaS products, and recruiting.

Is cold emailing legal?

Yes—as long as you follow the rules. Here’s what you need to know:

CAN-SPAM Act compliance (U.S.): If you’re emailing anyone in the United States, you must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. Key requirements include:

• Use accurate “From” and “To” lines
• Write honest subject lines that reflect your email content
• Include your physical business address
• Provide a clear unsubscribe mechanism
• Honor opt-out requests within 10 business days

GDPR compliance (EU): For prospects in the European Union, GDPR is stricter. You need a “legitimate interest” to email someone cold, and you must:

• Clearly explain why you’re contacting them
• Make it easy for them to opt out
• Keep records of your outreach
• Only email business contacts (B2B is generally acceptable under legitimate interest)

5 tips to stay compliant:

1. Always include an unsubscribe link
2. Use your real business information
3. Never buy email lists from shady sources
4. Keep your messages relevant to the recipient
5. Honor opt-outs immediately

Bottom line: If you’re thoughtful about who you contact and why, and you follow the regulations, cold emailing is perfectly legal.

Why cold emailing is important for B2B growth

Cold emailing isn’t just important—it’s often the fastest, most efficient way to fill your pipeline. Here’s why:

• Cost-effective: Compared to paid ads, trade shows, or extensive content marketing campaigns, cold email is dirt cheap. Your main costs are email verification tools and automation software—that’s it.

• Scalable: You can reach 100 prospects just as easily as you can reach 10. Once you’ve built your list and crafted your message, automation handles the heavy lifting.

• Direct access to decision-makers: With the right targeting, you can land directly in the inbox of the CEO, VP of Sales, or Head of Marketing. No gatekeepers, no layers of bureaucracy.

• Measurable results: Every email you send gives you data—open rates, reply rates, click-through rates. You can see what’s working and iterate fast.

• Speed: Unlike SEO or content marketing (which take months to show results), cold email can generate meetings and deals within days or weeks.

According to various industry benchmarks, B2B cold emails that are well-crafted and targeted typically see:

• Open rates of 40-60%
• Reply rates of 5-15%
• Meeting booking rates of 1-5%

Those numbers might sound low, but when you’re sending hundreds or thousands of emails, they add up to real opportunities.

The complete cold email campaign process

Cold emailing isn’t just about writing a good message and hitting send. There’s a whole process that happens before and after the email itself. Here’s the step-by-step framework:

Step 1: Define your ideal customer profile (ICP)

Before you reach out to anyone, you need to know exactly who you’re trying to reach. Your ICP is a detailed description of the type of company and person most likely to buy from you.

Key characteristics to document:

• Company size (employees, revenue)
• Industry or vertical
• Location
• Technologies they use
• Growth stage (startup, scale-up, enterprise)
• Job titles you’re targeting
• Pain points they’re experiencing

The more specific your ICP, the easier it is to find the right prospects and craft relevant messages.

Step 2: Build your lead list

Once you know who you’re targeting, it’s time to find them. There are several ways to build your list:

LinkedIn prospecting: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or LinkedIn’s advanced search filters to find people who match your ICP. You can filter by job title, company size, industry, location, and more.

Lead databases: Tools like Apollo, Cognism, or ZoomInfo provide B2B contact databases where you can search for prospects based on various criteria.

Native integrations: La Growth Machine integrates with tools like Clay and Persana AI to import leads directly into your campaigns.

CSV uploads: If you already have a list (from a trade show, your CRM, or another source), you can upload it as a CSV file.

Step 3: Verify email addresses

This step is non-negotiable. Sending emails to invalid addresses tanks your deliverability and can get you marked as spam.

Why verification matters: Email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) track your bounce rate. If more than 3-5% of your emails bounce, they’ll start flagging your emails as spam.

How to verify: La Growth Machine automatically enriches and verifies email addresses using 9 different providers with double validation and scoring. Other standalone tools include Hunter, NeverBounce, or ZeroBounce.

Step 4: Set up technical infrastructure

This is where things get technical, but it’s crucial for deliverability. You need to prove to email providers that you’re a legitimate sender.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC explained:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Tells email providers which servers are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a digital signature to your emails to verify they haven’t been tampered with
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication): Tells email providers what to do if an email fails SPF or DKIM checks

You’ll need to add these records to your domain’s DNS settings. Most email service providers have guides for setting these up.

Custom tracking domains: Use a custom tracking domain instead of your main domain for tracking links and images. This protects your main domain’s reputation if something goes wrong.

Secondary domain strategy: Some cold emailers use a secondary domain (like yourcompany-outreach.com instead of yourcompany.com) for cold outreach to protect their primary domain’s reputation.

Email sending limits by provider:

• Gmail/Google Workspace: 500 emails per day per account
• Outlook/Microsoft 365: 300 emails per day per account
• Custom SMTP: Varies, but typically 500-1,000 per day

To scale beyond these limits, you’ll need multiple email accounts—which is where La Growth Machine’s email rotation feature comes in handy.

Step 5: Warm up your email account

Brand new email accounts that immediately start sending dozens of emails per day look suspicious to email providers. You need to warm up your account gradually.

What email warm-up means: Gradually increasing your sending volume over time while maintaining high engagement (opens, replies, etc.). This builds your sender reputation.

Manual vs. automated warm-up:

• Manual: Send a few emails per day to friends or colleagues, have them reply, and gradually increase volume
• Automated: Use tools like Mailwarm, Warmbox, or Warmup Inbox to automatically send and receive emails with other users’ warm-up accounts

Recommended warm-up timeline:

• Week 1: 5-10 emails per day
• Week 2: 10-20 emails per day
• Week 3: 20-40 emails per day
• Week 4: 40-80 emails per day
• After that, gradually increase to your target daily volume

Daily sending volume recommendations: Once warmed up, keep your daily volume below your provider’s limits and aim for natural patterns (don’t send all emails at exactly 9:00 AM).

Step 6: Identify trigger events

Timing matters. Reaching out when a prospect is experiencing a relevant trigger event dramatically increases your chances of getting a response.

What are trigger events? Changes or milestones that indicate a prospect might be open to your solution right now.

15+ trigger event examples:

• Company raised funding
• New executive hire
• Product launch
• Company expansion (new office, new market)
• Merger or acquisition
• Award or recognition
• Negative press or PR crisis
• Competitor mention
• Job posting (they’re hiring for a role you can help with)
• Tech stack changes
• Website redesign
• Conference attendance or speaking engagement
• LinkedIn activity (new post, article, or engagement)
• Company growth (revenue milestones, employee count)
• Regulatory changes affecting their industry

Tools to monitor triggers: Set up Google Alerts for your target companies, use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for company updates, or use tools like Crunchbase or PitchBook for funding and acquisition news.

Step 7: Write your cold email

Now we get to the actual email. Here’s how to structure it:

The anatomy of a great cold email

Subject lines: Your subject line needs to get the email opened without being clickbait. Best practices:

• Keep it short: 1-8 words performs best according to industry data
• Make it relevant: Reference something specific about them or their company
• Avoid spammy words: “Free,” “guaranteed,” “act now,” etc.
• Create curiosity without being vague

Email greetings: Keep it simple. “Hi [First Name],” works fine. Avoid overly formal (“Dear Mr. Smith”) or overly casual (“Hey dude!”).

Opening lines/icebreakers: This is where personalization happens. Reference something specific:

• A recent company announcement
• A pain point you know they’re experiencing
• Mutual connection or shared interest
• Something you genuinely appreciate about their work

The pitch/value proposition: Get to the point quickly. What problem do you solve? How does it help them specifically? Keep it brief—2-3 sentences max.

Call-to-action best practices: One clear, low-friction CTA. Don’t ask for a 60-minute demo in your first email. Instead:

• “Worth a 15-minute conversation?”
• “Interested in seeing how this works?”
• “Should I send over a quick example?”

Sign-offs: Keep it professional but not stuffy. “Best,” “Cheers,” or “Thanks” all work fine.

Email signature tips: Include your name, title, company, and a link to your LinkedIn or website. Keep it clean—no massive logos or 17 different ways to contact you.

Optimal email length

Industry data suggests that cold emails should be between 75-125 words. Lemlist’s data specifically points to around 120 words as the sweet spot.

Why? Because decision-makers are busy. They need to understand who you are, why you’re reaching out, and what you’re asking for—all in about 15-20 seconds.

Keep your paragraphs short (2-4 sentences max) and use line breaks liberally. White space is your friend.

Personalization strategies beyond first name

Using {{firstName}} doesn’t count as personalization anymore. Everyone does that. Real personalization means:

• Referencing their recent LinkedIn activity
• Mentioning a specific challenge in their industry
• Commenting on their company’s recent news
• Showing you understand their role and responsibilities
• Connecting your solution to their specific situation

La Growth Machine makes this easier by enriching your leads with relevant data points (job seniority, industry, company size, etc.) that you can use in your emails.

Step 8: Set up your follow-up sequence

Here’s a stat that should change how you think about cold email: studies show that 80% of sales require at least 5 follow-up touches. Yet most people give up after one or two emails.

Why follow-ups are critical: People are busy. They miss emails. They mean to respond but forget. Following up isn’t being pushy—it’s being persistent.

Recommended follow-up cadence: Industry benchmarks suggest sending 4-9 follow-up emails. Here’s a sample sequence:

• Email 1: Initial outreach
• Email 2: Follow-up after 3-4 days (“Bumping this to the top of your inbox…”)
• Email 3: Add value after 4-5 days (share a relevant resource or insight)
• Email 4: Different angle after 5-7 days (address a different pain point)
• Email 5: Break-up email after 7-10 days (“Should I assume this isn’t a priority right now?”)

Multichannel approach: Don’t just rely on email. Combine it with:

• LinkedIn connection requests
• LinkedIn messages
• LinkedIn voice messages (which double reply rates according to La Growth Machine data)
• Phone calls
• Twitter/X engagement

La Growth Machine’s multichannel prospecting lets you automate sequences across LinkedIn, email, and X—which gets you 3.5x more replies than email-only outreach.

Step 9: Monitor and track results

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Track these key metrics:

Open rates: Target 50%+ for cold emails. Lower than 40%? Your subject lines need work or your list quality is poor.

Reply rates: Target 5-15% for cold outreach. Industry average is around 8-10%.

Positive reply rates: Not all replies are good replies. Track what percentage of replies are interested vs. “not interested” or “unsubscribe.”

Bounce rates: Keep this under 3%. Higher than that, and your email verification process needs improvement.

Unsubscribe rates: Should be under 5%. Higher rates suggest your targeting or messaging is off.

Click-through rates: If you include links, track how many people click them.

La Growth Machine centralizes all your conversations (LinkedIn and email) in a multichannel inbox, making it easy to track replies and respond quickly.

Step 10: A/B test and optimize

Cold emailing is an iterative process. You need to constantly test and refine.

What to test:

• Subject lines
• Email length
• Opening lines
• Call-to-action wording
• Sending times
• Number of follow-ups
• Personalization tactics

How to run A/B tests: Create two versions of your email (change only one variable), send each to a statistically significant portion of your list, and measure which performs better. La Growth Machine includes built-in A/B testing for email subjects, content, and hooks.

Sample size requirements: You need at least 100-200 emails per variation to get meaningful data. Smaller sample sizes can give you misleading results.

Iterating based on results: Once you’ve identified what works, implement it in your main campaign. Then test the next variable. Continuous improvement compounds over time.

Cold email best practices (data-backed)

Here are the specific tactics that move the needle, backed by industry data:

1. The best time to send cold emails: Industry data suggests Tuesday and Wednesday between 9-11 AM in the recipient’s timezone. These are when people are checking email but not yet swamped with meetings.

2. Optimal subject line length: Keep it to 1-8 words. Longer subject lines get cut off on mobile devices (where 50%+ of emails are opened).

3. Email length sweet spot: 75-125 words. Lemlist’s data specifically shows 120 words as optimal. Anything longer and you lose people.

4. How many follow-ups to send: Data from multiple studies suggests 4-9 follow-up emails. Lemlist’s analysis shows most positive replies come between the 3rd and 5th touch.

5. Using images in cold emails: Generally avoid images in initial cold emails. They can trigger spam filters and don’t always display correctly. Text-only emails tend to perform better for cold outreach.

6. Personalization that actually works: Go beyond {{firstName}}. Reference specific details about their company, role, or recent activity. Emails with genuine personalization see 2-3x higher reply rates.

7. Multichannel outreach strategy: Combine email with LinkedIn engagement. According to La Growth Machine data, multichannel campaigns generate 3.5x more replies than email-only campaigns.

8. Staying out of the spam folder:

• Warm up your email account properly
• Keep bounce rates under 3%
• Avoid spam trigger words
• Use proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Maintain good engagement rates
• Don’t send from free email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)

9. Email sending frequency: Don’t blast your entire list at once. Spread sends throughout the day to mimic human behavior. Aim for 50-200 emails per day per account depending on your warm-up status.

10. The importance of A/B testing: Even small improvements compound over time. If you improve your reply rate from 5% to 7% through testing, that’s a 40% increase in meetings booked.

Common cold email mistakes to avoid

Even experienced cold emailers make these mistakes. Here’s what to watch out for:

1. Sending to unverified lists: This kills your deliverability. Always verify emails before sending.

2. Generic, non-personalized emails: If your email could be sent to anyone, it’s not going to get replies.

3. Weak subject lines: Boring or spammy subject lines mean your email never gets opened.

4. Being too sales-y in the first email: Nobody wants to be sold to by a stranger. Lead with value and relevance, not your product features.

5. No clear CTA: If prospects don’t know what you want them to do, they won’t do anything.

6. Not following up: One email is never enough. Most replies come from follow-ups.

7. Sending without warming up: This is the fastest way to land in spam. Always warm up new accounts.

8. Ignoring deliverability best practices: If your emails aren’t reaching inboxes, nothing else matters.

9. Too long or too short emails: Too long and they won’t read it. Too short and you don’t provide enough context.

10. Not tracking and optimizing: If you’re not measuring results and iterating, you’re flying blind.

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What to do if your cold emails are failing

Low reply rates? Here’s how to diagnose and fix the problem:

Diagnosing low open rates (under 40%):

• Check your subject lines—are they compelling?
• Verify your emails are reaching inboxes (use a seed list)
• Check your sender reputation
• Make sure your emails are properly authenticated

Diagnosing low reply rates (under 5%):

• Is your targeting right? Are you reaching the right people?
• Is your message relevant to their specific situation?
• Is your CTA clear and low-friction?
• Are you following up enough?
• Try A/B testing different angles

How to fix deliverability issues:

• Reduce sending volume temporarily
• Check your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Remove bounced emails from your list immediately
• Improve engagement (get more replies)
• Consider using a warm-up service

When to pivot your approach: If you’ve tested multiple angles, your targeting is solid, and you’re still not getting results, it might be time to reconsider whether cold email is the right channel for your offer. Sometimes the problem isn’t the execution—it’s the fit between your solution and the outreach method.

Cold email software: choosing the right tool

The right tools make all the difference. Here’s what to look for:

Key features to look for:

• Email verification and enrichment
• Multichannel capabilities (email + LinkedIn + other channels)
• Automation and sequencing
• Personalization at scale
• A/B testing
• Deliverability features (email rotation, warm-up)
• Reply management (unified inbox)
• CRM integrations
• Analytics and reporting

Why La Growth Machine stands out: Unlike most cold email tools that focus solely on email, La Growth Machine is built for multichannel prospecting. You can combine LinkedIn, email, phone calls, voice messages, and X (Twitter) in a single automated sequence—which is why users see 3.5x more replies compared to email-only outreach.

Key features include:

• Automatic lead enrichment with verified emails
• Multichannel automation across LinkedIn, email, and X
• LinkedIn voice messages (proven to double reply rates)
• Email rotation for better deliverability
• Unified inbox for all conversations
• CRM sync with HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Breakcold
• Built-in A/B testing
• AI copywriting assistant

Pricing comparison: Most cold email tools range from $50-150/month per user. La Growth Machine starts at €50/month for the Basic plan, €100/month for Pro (includes advanced features like LinkedIn intent data and social warming), and €150/month for Ultimate.

Integration capabilities: La Growth Machine integrates with Clay, Zapier, Make, Phantombuster, Persana AI, and major CRMs, making it easy to build your ideal sales prospecting stack.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a cold email be?

Aim for 75-125 words. Industry data shows that 120 words is the sweet spot—long enough to provide context, short enough to respect their time.

What’s the best time to send cold emails?

Tuesday or Wednesday between 9-11 AM in the recipient’s timezone tends to perform best. Avoid Mondays (inbox overwhelm) and Fridays (people are checking out for the weekend).

How many cold emails should I send per day?

Start with 20-50 per day per email account while warming up, then gradually increase to 100-200 per day. Never exceed your provider’s limits (500 for Gmail, 300 for Outlook).

What’s a good cold email response rate?

Industry average is 8-10%. Aim for 5-15% reply rates. Anything above 15% is excellent.

Should I use images in cold emails?

Generally no for initial cold outreach. Text-only emails perform better and are less likely to trigger spam filters. Save images for follow-ups or warm leads.

How do I avoid spam filters?

Warm up your account, verify emails, keep bounce rates under 3%, use proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), avoid spam trigger words, and maintain good engagement rates.

What are the best cold email subject lines?

Short (1-8 words), personalized, relevant to the recipient, and create curiosity without being clickbait. Avoid “Free,” “Guarantee,” or other spam triggers.

Is cold emailing legal?

Yes, as long as you comply with CAN-SPAM (in the U.S.) and GDPR (in the EU). Include an unsubscribe link, use accurate sender information, and honor opt-out requests immediately.

What’s the difference between cold email and spam?

Cold email is targeted, relevant, personalized outreach to prospects who match your ICP. Spam is unsolicited, irrelevant junk sent in bulk with no regard for the recipient.

Should I buy email lists?

No. Purchased lists are typically low-quality, unverified, and can hurt your sender reputation. Build your own lists using LinkedIn, lead databases, and prospecting tools.

Wrapping up

Cold emailing isn’t magic, but it’s not rocket science either. It’s a skill you can learn, test, and improve over time.

The key is to remember that you’re reaching out to real people with real problems. If you can make your emails relevant, personalized, and valuable—and if you follow up consistently—you’ll see results.

Start small. Pick 50 prospects, write a thoughtful email, send it, and see what happens. Learn from the responses (or lack thereof). Adjust. Test again. Iterate.

The difference between cold emails that work and cold emails that don’t usually comes down to:

• Targeting the right people (not just anyone)
• Personalization that shows you’ve done your homework (not just {{firstName}})
• Clear value proposition (what’s in it for them?)
• Following up (most people give up too soon)
• Continuous testing and optimization (what worked last month might not work today)

And remember: cold email is just one channel. The best results come from combining email with LinkedIn outreach, phone calls, and other touchpoints. Multi-channel beats single-channel every time.