148: 14 Cold Email Tips That Actually Work

Welcome back to the Practical Prospecting newsletter!

Today I'm sharing 22 cold email tips that are genuinely making an impact in our email campaigns today.

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1. Use the first name as the subject line.

Surprisingly, subject lines that are just “[First_Name]” or [First_Name] + [Your_Company]” have been performing really well.

Particularly when we don’t have a more specific subject line we can think of.

2. “Niche” has been our most consistent personalization variable.

Don't say "we work with subcontractors". Say "we work with concrete subcontractors".

To do this, we run a prompt that gets the prospects “niche” in the way that they would describe it.

The more specific the niche, the more it reads like the email was written for them. We use this in almost every campaign we run.

3. If you sell a product, put an image in the email.

We’ve been seeing high reply rates on email #2’s where we put an actual screenshot of the product. Not a polished marketing example, but a real screenshot that best describes the product’s value.

Our best-performing email #2 templates across multiple clients have an image. Some products are hard to describe, but a good image makes it immediately click.

4. Your offer needs details, not just a name.

Everyone is talking about how important having a “good offer” is for your cold emails.

The problem is, too many people are using surface level offers. I see it all the time.

• Bad Example: "We'll audit your outbound strategy"

• Good Example: "We'll send you a 10-page report breaking down every gap in your current outbound process based on our work with over 20 [Niche] teams"

The more specific you are about what they'll actually receive, the more replies you get.

5. Add a secondary CTA.

The first CTA is your main ask. The second one is a softer option for people who aren't ready. Since using this strategy, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in reply rates.

Here are few that work for us:

• "Or if you'd rather I just send a short video instead, I can do that."

• "Happy to send a couple examples of companies like yours we've worked with, just let me know."

• "Or would it make more sense to connect with [Colleague]?"

• "I'm sure you've got a lot of competing priorities, if this isn’t relevant right now want me to check back in a few months in case the timing changes?"

6. Acknowledge that it's a cold email.

Breaking the fourth wall works. Lines like "I know you get a lot of emails like this" actually increase reply rates because they disarm the reader. Most people appreciate the honesty.

7. If your campaigns aren't working, it's almost always one of two things.

Your offer isn't strong enough, or your reason for reaching out is weak. Out of every campaign I’ve ran, those are ALWAYS the two biggest levers I pull on.

Refer to tip #4 for improving your offer. A lot of times, it’s not coming up with a new offer, it’s more about describing it differently.

For improving your “reason for reaching out”, the truth is, sometimes you don’t have a good one. And it’s better to not have one at all than to force a reason for reaching out. In that case, I just like to open my emails with a a strong thought-provoking question.

8. If you’re a small company, lean into it in the copy

I’ve worked with many small clients who were competing against massive competitors. Our campaigns always flopped when I tried to make it sound like they were on their level.

Instead, with small companies, I lean into what I call “founder tone”. Lowercase subject lines, maybe a typo, a casual opener. People respond to humans and often appreciate smaller teams because they get the sense it’s more personal.

9. If the offer is strong enough, go stupid simple.

Sometimes the best email is two sentences and "reply YES and I'll send it over." No explanation needed. If what you're offering is genuinely valuable and easy to understand, don't overthink the format.

10. Two emails is almost always enough.

Email #3 in a sequence almost never moves the needle for us. Send a strong email one, followed by a short follow up (maybe with an image), then re-engage in 60-90 days with a fresh angle.

11. Fewer segments is better

Over-segmenting kills your ability to scale. 90% of our segmentation is persona-based, not industry-based. You can handle most industry variation with smart variables (such as the “niche” one we talked about earlier. My rule of thumb is to only create a new campaign when the messaging genuinely has to change.

Some of our best performing clients only have 1 or 2 campaigns. They just work, and we can scale the volume because we didn’t over segment.

12. 80% of meetings come from campaigns with no signals at all.

I ran the data on this recently and I was honestly surprised.

“Signal-based” campaigns sound super appealing. But they talk a lot of time to set up, the lists are much smaller, and oftentimes, they require you spending money on additional tools.

A cold message that converts at scale will always outperform a hyper-personalized signal-based sequence on volume.

13. Vertical outbound is ten times easier than horizontal.

Our best performing clients have always been vertical solutions.

If your product is horizontal, pick one vertical that has a big enough TAM and go deep. Build the case studies, learn the language, get the referrals. Then expand. Trying to go broad from day one means your message fits no one particularly well. I’ve made this mistake too many times.

14. Plain language always wins.

If you can say it simpler, say it simpler. I know everyone says this but it’s true.Read every line and ask if there's a shorter word. There almost always is.

Don't say: "We leverage our proprietary methodology to help revenue teams optimize their outbound motion."

Say: "We help sales teams book more meetings from cold email."

If a word makes you sound like a consultant, cut it.

Thanks for reading,

Jed

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