122: How to Write Cold Emails That Don’t Sound Like Cold Emails

Read time: 3min

Welcome back to The Practical Prospecting Newsletter!

Today, I’m sharing my updated playbook for writing cold emails that don’t get ignored.

Agenda:

1. The Core Philosophy I Follow

2. Structuring a High-Performing Email

3. 6 Red Flags That Kill Replies

Quick Announcement

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1. The Core Philosophy I Follow

Every great cold email follows one rule: it feels like a real human sent it.

That means no buzzwords, no filler intros, and no cold email clichés.

Your only job is to keep the reader moving…

• From the subject line to the first sentence.

• From the first sentence to the second.

• All the way to the CTA.

To do this, I always read my emails out loud and ask myself:

• “Where would I stop reading?”

• “What’s confusing or generic?”

• “What’s in it for me I respond?”

And above all:

If your offer isn’t strong, no copywriting hack can save you.

2. Structuring a High-Performing Email

Most of the work should go into Email 1 — it drives ~80% of replies (based on our data from millions of emails sent).

Don’t bother “optimizing” the follow-ups until your first email is at least a 2%+ reply rate.

Here’s the structure I follow:

• Subject Line (1–3 words):

  • Make it feel like an internal note.

    • Bad: “Scaling Your Brand”

    • Good: “billing ops”

• First Sentence – Why You’re Reaching Out

  • Anchor it to a signal or insight. But don’t force it.

    • Bad: “Saw you got promoted, congrats!”

    • Good: “A lot of new VPs I talk to focus on X in their first 90 days—is that top of mind for you as well?”

• Second Sentence – Problem Framing

  • Avoid generalizations. Make it feel like a real story or pain.

    • Bad: “Most teams struggle to scale data ops.”

    • Good: “I was just talking to another construction team in Tampa, and they were spending hours trying to stitch together reports manually.”

• Third Sentence – Value Prop

  • Say what you do in plain language. Not a feature list. Focus on what’s unique.

  • Pro tip: run your best discovery calls through GPT to use language from your actual customers.

• Final Sentence – Offer / CTA

• Avoid “Quick chat?” or “Interested in learning more?”.

• Instead, give value:

  • A short video

  • A PDF

  • An audit

  • A free trial

  • A relevant benchmark or insight

    • Example: “Want me to send over the 3-min Loom we made for another ops team?”

3. Red Flags That Kill Replies

Here’s what to ruthlessly cut from your emails:

• Obvious AI phrasing: “I came across your profile…”

• Vague claims: “We help brands 3x their growth”

• Weak CTAs: “Worth a quick chat?”

• Assumptions that don’t land: “You must be struggling with XYZ.”

• Buzzwords: “synergies,” “scalable solutions,” “unlock insights.”

• Long intros: “Hope this finds you well. My name is…”

And most importantly: If your message looks like every other email in their inbox, it’s dead on arrival.

Pattern interrupts are your best friend.
So is curiosity.
So is FOMO.
(Everyone wants to know what their peers are doing that they aren’t.)

Quick Recap:

• Be human, not “professional.”

• Make your value proposition as clear and specific as possible.

• Make the CTA feel like a gift, not a pitch.

Thanks for reading,

Jed