A cold email built on the only thing that works: relevance. Researched angle, 90 words, one easy ask — plus two follow-ups.
Write a cold email that earns a reply. I'm {WHO I AM} reaching out to {WHO THEY ARE} because {WHAT I WANT — meeting / partnership / sale / backlink}.
The relevance rule — this decides everything: the first line must prove this email could ONLY have been written to them. I'll give you my research: {SOMETHING SPECIFIC about them — recent launch, post they wrote, problem their company visibly has}.
Structure (under 90 words total)
- LINE 1: their thing, not my thing. No "I hope this finds you well." No my-company intro.
- LINE 2–3: the bridge — why their thing connects to a specific problem/opportunity I can help
with. One concrete proof point (number, name, result).
- THE ASK: one question, answerable with one word. ("Worth a 15-min call?" not "I'd love to pick your brain sometime about potential synergies.")
- P.S. (optional): one human touch.
SUBJECT LINE: 3 options, max 5 words, lowercase-casual beats corporate. No clickbait — it poisons the reply.
Then write FOLLOW-UP 1 (3 days later, adds new value, 40 words) and FOLLOW-UP 2 (7 days later, the graceful "closing the loop" that often gets the reply, 30 words).