138: Every Variable You Can Test in Cold Email

Welcome back to The Practical Prospecting Newsletter!

If you’ve ever asked “what should I test next?” in a cold email campaign, this is for you.

Because most teams tweak random lines, swap subject lines, and rewrite the same email 20 times, without ever knowing what actually changed the result.

So today I’m breaking down every messaging variable you can test in cold email, ranked from most impactful to least.

Quick disclaimer before we start: This is ONLY about messaging.

I’m not covering targeting, list quality, segmentation, or deliverability. Those can make or break a campaign. Refer to my newsletter archives if you need help with that.

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1. The Offer / CTA (biggest lever)

Your CTA can be either a “normal” ask or an offer-based CTA. And offer-based usually wins.

The problem is most “free resources” aren’t compelling enough to drive replies.

The offers I’ve actually seen work are:

• (1) real industry data/benchmarks

• (2) a video (“mind if I send a 1-min video?”)

• (3) a true audit/consultation with clear outcomes.

If you don’t have a strong offer (truthfully, most people don’t), keep CTAs simple and open-ended. Then move to low-friction options only if replies stall.

Also, avoid trendy one-liners like “open to a chat?”. EVERYONE is doing these now, and they scream marketing email.

Click here for a newsletter I wrote on how to create good offers for cold email (with real examples).

Click here for 8 CTA’s I actually use in my cold emails (including when you should use them).

2. The Hook

Your hook is the first line of your cold email. It decides whether they keep reading or delete.

The only goal is to make the reason for outreach feel believable.

The best hooks usually fall into four buckets (ranked):

1. observation (“saw you’re using X”)

2. social proof (“we just helped a similar team”)

3. pointed questions (“do you own this?”)

4. poke-the-bear questions (by careful, it’s easy to sound salesy)

The biggest problem I see with hooks is they don’t feel like a real human sent it. They read like AI wrote it or a marketing email.

Examples:

• generic flattery

• fake personalization

• marketing-style setups

3. The Problem

Your “problem” line should come directly from your sales calls. NOT what’s on your website and marketing material.

• Website/Marketing material is one-to-many messaging.

• Sales calls are one-to-one messaging.

It should sound like you actually understand their world.

The best problem statements accomplish two things:

1. Acknowledge what’s already true for them (“you probably already have X in place…”)

2. Name the friction they’re stuck with (in their language)

Problem statements usually fail when they sound too generic:

“Teams struggle with X”
“Many leaders face Y”

Avoid overgeneralized statements. And be SPECIFIC.

4. The Value Prop

Your value prop has two jobs:

• Show you understand what they actually want

• Then explain how you deliver it in a believable way.

Avoid generic outcomes (“50% increase in conversion rate”) unless you can tie it to a specific mechanism.

Again, use the client’s own wording from your sales calls.

Here’s a simple framework we use: We help [ICP] solve [Porblem] by [Unique Approach], without [Trade Off].

Value props fail when they make generic claims and/or don’t explain, with specifics, HOW they actually solve the problem.

Good rule of thumb: If it sounds like something any competitor could claim, rewrite it.

5. Social Proof (when necessary)

Only use social proof when needed. We’ll test our intial campaigns without social proof, then add it as a variable later to see if it increases reply rates.

The reason why is because social proof often backfires.

• Name-dropping another customer as social proof only works if you’re certain the prospect will know them

• Saying “We work with other SaaS sales leaders” sounds generic unless the industry or title is niche.

• 3rd party articles only work when you’re certain the prospect knows/trusts that 3rd party.

So it’s hard to do it right.

Usually, we…

• Prioritize third-party credibility: awards, reputable articles, or real customer quotes.

• Avoid name-dropping random “similar customers” unless it’s a recognizable brand they’ll actually believe (those are usually small “customer lookalike” campaigns).

• If the client sells to a tight niche, simple proof works best (e.g. “trusted by 500+ residential interior designers” or “serving this space for 7+ years”)

Note: You can usually weave proof into the hook, value prop, or CTA instead of making it its own line.

6. Objection Handle (when necessary)

Every prospect who reads your email but doesn’t reply has a reason.

Your job is to figure out what that reason is, and address it upfront.

Ask yourself: “What’s the biggest objection a prospect will have when they see this email?” 

You’ll also learn objections from real replies. Then bake the answer into the hook, value prop, or CTA, so it removes the objection.

Great cold email objection-handling is simple and specific:

• Clarify what you’re not (“not another X replacement”)

• Reduce perceived risk (“no new platform to learn, onboarding takes a week”).

I go more in-depth on this topic in this newsletter. 

7. Personalization

We avoid using personalization until we’ve seen our emails convert based on the problem, value prop, and offer/CTA alone.

The reason is because personalization is never going to be the reason a prospect replies. It only gets them to take your email more seriously and actually consider it (because they feel like it was one-to-one).

So we spend all our time testing the 6 variables above, until we’re seeing consistent replies.

THEN we layer in personalization to increase conversion rates even more.

Remember, if the personalization is not tied to why you’re reaching out, skip it.

Click here for a list of 72 personalization ideas.

8. Tone / Style

Tone/style is rarely the main reason a campaign fails. But it can help once your pain, value prop, and offer are already strong.

The goal is simple: match the audience.

• “Below the line” roles often respond to slightly more casual, off-the-cuff wording

• While IT, government, and healthcare usually need a more direct and professional tone.

Also, if your emails are longer, try shorter ones. And vice versa.

Again, this is rarely the difference maker. But it’s always worth trying.

9. Subject Line (least important)

Subject lines matter way less than people think. Open tracking is more unreliable now than ever with bot clicks and spam filters.

Follow these rules and move on:

• 1–3 words

• not clever

• not pitchy

• make it sound like an internal email

Examples:

• “New role”

• “Hiring SDRs”

• “Ops backlog”

If your email is strong, the subject line will not save or kill it.

Thanks for reading,
Jed

P.S. If you want me and my team to audit your cold email campaigns (using processes we’ve tested and refined across 50+ clients), book time here.

P.P.S. P.S. I’m launching a private group soon. It’ll include exclusive templates, in-depth campaign breakdowns, access to the exact SOPs/training videos my team and I use, and much MUCH more. Join the waitlist here!