How to write a cold email

You know who you want to sell to, you sent a few cold emails, and nobody wrote back. Here is how to write a cold email to someone who might buy from you: under 80 words, one true line about them, one small question, then 100 of them a day. Most founders send 25 long emails about themselves, hear nothing and decide that nobody wants what they sell.

Do these three things

About 2 hours today, then about 2 hours a day, every day. Judge the email after 1,000 people, never after 50.

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1. 1Today: write one cold email under 80 words: a subject of 4 to 6 words, one true line about the person, one line on what you do with proof, and one small question. End with your name, postal address and a way to say no.
2. 2Every day: send 100 cold emails, one at a time, to named people on your lead list. AI drafts each one from your email; you write the first line yourself from a fact you checked.
3. 3Every Sunday: count replies and conversations per 100 people emailed. After 1,000 people on one version, if fewer than 1 in 100 turned into a conversation, change one part (the list, the first line or the offer) and send the next 1,000. Getting more replies goes deeper.

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1. Decide who gets the email and the one small thing you offer

Write one sentence that says who gets your cold email, then pick one small thing to offer them. A stranger will say yes to a free sample or a 15-minute call long before they say yes to a meeting about your company.

Fill in the sentence. It is the short form of your ideal customer profile. Name a job title, because you email a person, not a company. In a business of 2 to 50 people that is usually the founder; in a bigger one it is the decision maker who owns the problem.

[Job title] at [kind of business] with [size], who [the moment the problem hurts].

Email people you already know first. This is warm outreach, and they reply far more often than strangers, as in getting your first B2B clients. This guide is for everyone after them.

Then pick one offer. It must be small, free and quick to say yes to. The right one depends on what you sell:

If you run a SaaS: offer to set it up with them on a 15-minute call, as in getting your first 100 users. Before launch, ask for 3 questions about the problem instead, like a customer interview, or invite them to be one of your beta users.

If you run a B2B company: offer a free sample, a quick written check of one thing they have now, or a 15-minute call with a short demo. If you sell consulting, the written check is usually the best offer.

If you run a D2C store: email the owners of shops that could stock your product, and offer to post them a free sample. Use the same email for distributors.

If you run an agency: offer one free, written fix for one thing on their website or profile. It works without case studies, which is why it suits your first client. The agency version of this guide has the full email.

• Tool: a Google Doc.
• Time: 30 minutes.
• You will have: one sentence and one offer.
• It worked if: you can name 20 real people who fit the sentence in 10 minutes, and a stranger could say yes to the offer without asking anyone.
• Common mistake: asking a stranger for a 30-minute demo or "a call to explore synergies". In Hunter's 2026 survey, 65% of decision makers said cold emails fail because they feel too sales-focused.

2. Write a cold email subject line of 4 to 6 words

Your subject line names them or their problem, in 4 to 6 plain words. It should read like a note from a person, not an advert.

Write three subject lines from the pattern below, then keep the one that sounds most like you. Use lower case, like an email to a colleague. In Hunter's study of 31 million emails sent in 2025, subject lines of 5 to 6 words got the most replies, and "Quick question" got fewer replies than other subject lines.

[their company] + [what you make or fix]
[their product or launch] [what you make or fix]
idea for [their company]'s [thing you would improve]

The subject must match the email. The US CAN-SPAM Act bans subject lines that mislead, so never write "Re:" or "Fwd:" on a first email.

• Tool: your Google Doc.
• Time: 10 minutes.
• You will have: one subject pattern that you change for each person.
• It worked if: it has 4 to 6 words, it names them or their problem, and it would still be honest if they read only the subject.
• Common mistake: a subject about you, such as "Partnership opportunity with [your company]!", or a trick like a fake "Re:".

3. Start with one true line about the person

The first line of your cold email says one true thing about this person or their business, which you checked yourself. It shows them the email was written for them and not for a list.

Good facts are recent and about them: a product they launched, a shop that started stocking them, a job they are hiring for, something they wrote or said, a new location. Look on their website, their LinkedIn, their last few posts, or a news story. If you find the decision maker's email on their site, the fact is often on the same page. Put the fact in your sheet next to their name, so writing the line takes seconds. If one buyer could be worth more than 10 of your usual deals, spend 15 minutes on them instead of 1, and write the whole email by hand. That is account-based marketing.

I saw [one fact about them, from the last 3 months].
[Optional: one short, honest reaction to it.]

Write this line yourself. Since 8 January 2026, Gmail's Help Me Write has been free for everyone, so your buyers get more sales emails drafted by AI that all sound the same. In Hunter's 2026 survey, 69% of US decision makers said it bothers them if AI wrote the email, and 67% said a detail from public information makes them more likely to reply. You can ask ChatGPT or Claude to find recent news about a company, but open the page yourself before you use a fact. AI gets these wrong.

• Tool: Google, LinkedIn, the person's website, and ChatGPT or Claude to search.
• Time: about 1 minute a person, less once the fact is in your sheet.
• You will have: a first line for each of your first 10 people.
• It worked if: every line could only be sent to that one person, and you saw every fact yourself.
• Common mistake: a line that fits anyone, such as "I hope this email finds you well" or "I came across your company and was impressed". The other mistake is a compliment with no fact in it.

4. Say what you do in one sentence and ask one small question

After the first line, write one sentence on what you do and for whom, one line of proof, and one question that offers your small thing from step 1. You write this middle part once and use it in every email.

Use your buyer's words, from your value proposition: what they get, not how it is built. Then add one line of social proof. With few clients, use what you have: a result for your first client (the start of a case study), a number about your product, or the years you did this job before. Ask your first clients for a short testimonial so you have a better line next month.

End with one question that can be answered with "yes". Hunter found that open questions, such as "Open to learning more?", work better than asking for a meeting. Leave out your calendar link: it asks a stranger to do work before they trust you. Leave out your price too, and give it on the call.

I [what you do] for [who you do it for]. [One line of proof: a result, a client like them, or a fact about your product.]Would [your small offer from step 1] help? [When you can do it: this week / next week.]

• Tool: your Google Doc.
• Time: 20 minutes, once.
• You will have: the middle of every email you send.
• It worked if: it is under 50 words, has no "we are a leading" or "our platform", and ends in one question.
• Common mistake: a paragraph about your company and every feature. The other mistake is two asks, such as a call and a link to your site.

5. Add your name, address and a way to say no, then cut it under 80 words

End every cold email with your name, your company, your postal address and one line that lets them say no. Then cut the whole email to under 80 words and read it on your phone.

The law asks for this, and it also makes you look like a real person. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act makes no exception for business email. Every email needs a true "From" name, a subject that does not mislead, a clear sign that you are selling something, your postal address and a way to say no. You must honour a "no" within 10 business days, and each email that breaks the rules can cost up to $53,088. In the UK, you may email companies without asking first, but sole traders and some partnerships count as people and must have agreed, so do not cold email them. You must always say who you are and give an address to opt out. The UK rules are under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. In the EU, rules differ by country, so check them before you email buyers there.

Then cut. In Instantly's benchmark of cold email sent in 2025, the best campaigns kept emails under 80 words. Paste your email into a word counter, cut every word that does not change the meaning, and send it to your own phone. It should fit on one screen.

Send plain text. No images, no logo signature, no attachments and no pitch deck: Hunter found images and attachments made no difference to replies, and a stranger will not open a file. If you add a link, add one, written out in full and pointing to your own site. Gmail asks that links be "visible and easy to understand". Check that the top of your homepage says what you do in one line, and that your LinkedIn profile says the same: many people look you up before they reply.

A cold email is one-to-one. Never add the people you email to your newsletter list unless they ask to join.

Subject: [their company] + [what you make or fix]Hi [first name],I saw [one fact about them].I [what you do] for [who you do it for]. [One line of proof.]Would [your small offer] help? [When you can do it.][Your name], [company], [phone]
[Postal address]
Not for you? Reply "no" and I won't write again.

• Tool: Gmail and any free word counter.
• Time: 15 minutes.
• You will have: one finished email, ready to change for each person.
• It worked if: it is under 80 words above your name, it fits on one phone screen, and it has no attachment and at most one link.
• Common mistake: no address and no way to say no. In the US that breaks the law, even for business email.

6. Send 100 cold emails a day, one at a time

Every day, send 100 cold emails to named people who fit your sentence, one at a time. AI drafts each one from your email; you write the first line.

100 a day sounds like a lot. It is the point. In Instantly's 2025 benchmark the average reply rate was 3.43%, including "no", and 58% of replies came from the first email. So about 2 in 100 people answer your first email. At 25 emails you will most likely hear nothing, and learn nothing. At 100 a day you get about 2 replies a day, and after 1,000 people, about 10 days, you know if the email works.

Keep the list full. 100 a day needs about 3,000 names a month. Add 100 named people to your lead list every day, each with one fact for the first line. Do not buy a list. Build your own, of people who fit your step 1 sentence.

Let AI do the drafting. Paste 10 rows from your sheet into ChatGPT or Claude, each with the person's name, company and fact, plus your email from step 5. Ask for one email per person, under 80 words, with only the subject and first line changed. Then rewrite each first line in your own words, check the fact once more, and send. With the fact already in your sheet, that is about a minute an email.

Send them one at a time. Do not paste the same text into a bulk tool. Gmail requires every sender to have SPF or DKIM, two settings that prove an email really comes from your domain, and to keep spam reports below 0.3%. Since November 2025, Gmail has been rejecting more mail that breaks these rules. If you email more than about 50 strangers a day, send from a second domain so your main email stays safe, and warm it up first. Send no more than about 30 emails a day from each warmed mailbox, follow-ups included. How many mailboxes and domains you need for 100 new people a day is in the warm-up guide. While they warm up, or if you have fewer, send the rest of the 100 as LinkedIn messages or phone calls, with the same words. Do not lower the 100.

Write every day; send on their working day. On days your buyers are not at work, write the day's emails anyway. In Gmail, click the Down arrow next to Send, then "Schedule send", and pick their next working morning. Gmail holds up to 100 scheduled emails.

Answer and follow up. Reply to every answer the same day. If they say yes, book a discovery call or post the sample. If they say no, mark them and never write again. If they say "not now", ask if you may write again in 3 months, and put the date in your sheet; that is the start of nurturing a lead. Follow up with everyone who has not replied, up to 3 times, in the same thread. In the same benchmark, 42% of replies came from follow-ups.

• Tool: Gmail, ChatGPT or Claude (both have free plans), and a Google Sheet with the columns Name, Company, Fact, Date sent, Reply, Next step. A CRM can wait until the sheet gets slow.
• Time: about 2 hours a day for 100 emails, plus the time to find 100 new names. Block the same 2 hours every day, before anything else.
• You will have: 700 first emails a week, each logged.
• It worked if: 100 go out every day, each with its own first line, and fewer than 2 in 100 bounce. More bounces mean the addresses are wrong: fix the list before you send more.
• Common mistake: sending the same email to 500 people at once from a new domain. It lands in spam and can hurt your main email too. In Hunter's 2025 data, campaigns to 21 to 50 people got 6.2% replies; campaigns to 500 or more got 2.4%.

7. Count replies every Sunday and change one part at a time

Every Sunday, count how many replies and conversations you got for every 100 people you emailed. After 1,000 people on one version of your email, change one part if fewer than 1 in 100 turned into a conversation.

Count replies, not opens. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from seeing if you opened their email, so open rates are wrong for many readers. Turn off open tracking if your tool has it. Judge by conversations: a call, a meeting, or a request for your sample or check, from the first email or its follow-ups.

Week | Version | People emailed | Replies | Conversations | Bounces | What I changed

After every 1,000 people on one version, use this rule:

• 1 or more conversations per 100 people: keep going. Spend the time on the calls they book and the quotes that follow.
• Fewer than 1 conversation per 100 people: change one part, then send the next 1,000. Go in this order. First the list: are these the people in your step 1 sentence? Then the first line: is it really about them? Then the offer: is it small enough?
• Replies, but almost no conversations: the people are right and the offer is wrong. Make it smaller.

Change one part at a time, and write it in the last column. If you change three things at once, you will not know which one worked. If you have changed all three and still get fewer than 1 conversation per 100 after 3,000 people, go back to step 1 and check that the problem is real.

Once you know which emails bring replies, track which channel brings each deal, so you can compare cold email with LinkedIn and calls. Once a month, look at all of it in a marketing review.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 20 minutes every Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and a clear answer on whether your email works.
• It worked if: you can say how many conversations you get per 100 people, and which change caused each jump.
• Common mistake: judging after 50 emails, judging by opens, or rewriting the whole email every few days.

Your cold email checklist

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Step 1 · Decide who gets the email and the offer

• Write one sentence on who gets the email: job title, kind of business, size and the moment it hurts.
• Pick one small, free offer: a sample, a quick written check, or a 15-minute call.

Step 2 · Write a subject line of 4 to 6 words

• Write three subject lines of 4 to 6 words and keep one.

Step 3 · Start with one true line about the person

• Write a first line for your first 10 people, each from a fact you checked yourself.

Step 4 · Say what you do and ask one small question

• Write the middle once: what you do, one proof, and one question.

Step 5 · Add your name, address and a way to say no

• Add your name, company, postal address and a way to say no.
• Cut the email under 80 words, in plain text, and read it on your phone.

Step 6 · Send 100 cold emails a day

• Check your sending address, and set up a second domain if you will email more than about 50 strangers a day.
• Every daySend 100 cold emails one at a time; AI drafts, you write each first line.
• Every dayAdd 100 new named people to your list, each with one fact.
• Every dayAnswer every reply the same day and send the follow-ups that are due.

Step 7 · Count replies every Sunday

• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet.
• After 1,000 peopleKeep the email, or change one part: the list, then the first line, then the offer.

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