Learning how to write a cold email is a powerful tool you can acquire.

You can open all kinds of

doors with it. Whether you are looking to start your business or looking for new job
opportunities, cold emailing is a great skill to have.

Master this, and you will be in the top 1% of all email senders.

That’s not me talking. Here’s what ​Sahil Lavingia​, CEO of Gumroad has to say:

“It’s a lot easier to work at your dream company than you think. Research the company. Use the
product. Write a personable, specific email to the CEO. Humbly suggest some ideas, report a
bug. If you’re a designer, include a small UX improvement.

Your email will be in the top 1% they get.

And you will almost certainly get a response back. I would be surprised if you didn’t get an offer
to meet in person or at least a phone call”.

By now you should have realised the power of cold emails. Now that that’s out of the way, here
is the idiot-proof way to write killer cold emails.

How to write the Subject Line.

Your subject line is key. It is what gets them to open your email. You might have an excellent
email but if the subject line is not attractive, no one will read it. Spend more time drafting the
subject line than the email itself.

While writing your subject line, remember to keep it short and clear. Provide context and where
possible, mention a topic the recipient is familiar with.

You can do this only when you read up on the person you’re emailing. So make sure to do that.
The subject line is your hook - use it to grab the attention of your reader.

Here are a few examples of good subject lines:

“​The legal writer you didn’t know you needed”​ - This poses a direct benefit to the reader.

“​3 changes I made to your blog​” - Specificity + Value Proposition = Killer subject line.

Or you can go with a slightly more generic line like:

“​Great work + quick question​” - Great work refers to a blog/article you can refer to in the email.

“​Great work + thought you might find useful”​ - There’s a specific value proposition involved in
this.

You get the idea.

Personalize, Personalize, Personalize.

The key to a good cold email is personalization. Personalization is critical to increase the
probability of a response or action. It shows the recipient two things: (a) You care enough to
read up on him and (b) You two have something in common.

Personalization is present in both the subject line and the body of the email.

Spend a few minutes researching each prospective recipient. Look over their blog, website,
social media until you find an article or some common link you resonate with.

You don’t have to spend a lot of time searching for the perfect article. Just find something you
can identify with and then hit em with this:
“Hey X,

I really enjoyed your blog and especially loved your post about the white elephants you saw in
Thailand. I’ve been meaning to go see them for quite a while now but haven’t had the time to
go. Your journey sounds amazing and is motivating me to find the time :)”

Here’s a simple formula you can plug and play while personalizing the first few sentences of
your email. (1) Mention the recipient’s blog or recent work (2) Select a quote or highlight a line
that you found interesting (3) Mention your thoughts on it and how you relate to it.

If you can’t find any essays or articles online, there are 2 more options you can look to.

Option 1: Look for common past experiences.

Maybe he’s an alumni at your school or college. Maybe he’s from your own hometown. Find out
that common link and hit em with this:

“Hey X,

Noticed you’re from Z place. I love the city. Growing up in Z was one of the best experiences of
my life. It feels good to connect with someone with the same roots as me. We’ve both come a
long way, haven’t we?”

If you notice, I’ve ended my first paragraph with a question. This prompts the recipient to take
action. That’s good news for you.

Option 2: Get on call.

In the off-chance you can’t even find a common past link or shared experience, you can ask
them to get on a call. Keep in mind not to use this at the start of your email. Start by saying this:
“Hey X,

My name is Y, and I do A,B and C for Z. I know how important Z is to you which is why I wanted
to ask if I could hop on a quick call with you for 10 minutes and ask a few questions about M
and N. You have a lot of knowledge on the subject so figured I’d ask.

I know you’re probably very busy so I promise to keep the call short. Thanks so much for your
time”.

Most CEOs and important executives read their own email and are constantly on the lookout for
cool, awesome people to work with even if they don’t know the sender. This means that if you
send a great cold email to your favourite founder or CEO, chances are it will get read.

PS: Don’t start by saying - “I hope you are well”. It has no value and you’d be better off spending
that email space writing something that will benefit the recipient.

Benefits >> Features.

After you have personalised the first part of the email, it’s time to go to the next level -
understanding what moves the recipient.

In a great cold email, the recipient should benefit far more than you from a potential exchange.
This is how you pique their interest and improve your chances of a response.

Go to their website and find out about their business, the industry they operate. The key here is
to understand what motivates them. Empathise with the problems they are facing. Once you
know the problems they are facing make an offer stating how you can help them solve that
problem.

So here’s what you do:

1. Give a one-sentence explanation of what you do (Feature).
2. Give a one-sentence explanation highlighting their pain points (Problem).
3. Give a one-sentence explanation how you can solve that problem (Benefit).
4. Give examples, if any, of how you have done this for other people.
 5. Include social proof if applicable. Share what other people have said about you.

Remember. People don’t care about you. People care about what you can do for them.

Example:

“Hey X,

I’m a freelance blogger in the travel niche. Having worked in the industry for N number of years,
I figured that companies like yours often face Y challenges and problems. The reason for this
could be Z. Having worked with A in overcoming Y challenges, I feel that I could help you do the
same”.

See what I did there? Get to the point quickly, be specific with the message and make it easy for
them to understand. Reduce the reader’s cognitive burden.

If you find that you have no benefit to offer, give advice to them. Here’s what you say.

“Hey X,
I’m a freelance blogger in the travel niche. I noticed that a few of your blogs have A, B, C
problems. This can cause E, F and G effects. I’ve solved for the E effect. You can check it out
here {Insert hyperlink/PDF}. Would love to talk more and understand how I can help you solve
F, G and any other problems you might be facing”.

If you find that you don’t have something that will benefit the recipient or have anything to offer,
wait. Figure out your angle and then send it. You only have one shot. Don’t waste it. If they don’t
think your first email was relevant to them, chances are they will discard all future conversations
you initiate.

Have a specific ask.

Craft a specific ask which is low friction. Make the ask as little as possible. It’s easier for
someone to give you 20 minutes over the phone or meet you for coffee than it is for them to give
you a job. So don’t ask for that immediately.
Instead, strike a conversation with them. Nurture them. Get on call with them. Understand their
business. Try to know the person you’re talking to.

Establishing human connection is important. That’s why you should ask for that first before
asking for a big favor. You want them to give you an opportunity to be charmed. End with more
information about you - maybe a link to your website or resume or a paper you’ve written.
Whatever. Just make it something they can refer to.

Don’t write “Would love to get your thoughts” or “Let me know what you think”. It gets filled in the
to-do bucket which they don’t have time to go through.

Instead, try to end your ask with a question. For example, you could say “Do you think we can
work something out?” or “Is this something you’d be interested in?”. Ending with a question
prompts the recipient to respond to your email.

Lay out exactly what the next steps are for moving the conversation forward. What are you
looking to get out of it? Is it a “Yes” or “no” via email? Or a phone call? Or Coffee meet-up?
Whatever it is, tell the recipient exactly what the next steps are and how they can benefit from
those next steps. You can even provide a time-frame for a response if needed.

It is also a good idea to give the recipient an out. Something like “No worries if you’re too busy
to reply. I know life as X can get pretty hectic”. Then sign off.

Follow up. Always.

Following up is key. You lose a lot more than you gain if you don’t follow up.

Remember that time is your investment - you need to make sure you get the most bang out of
your buck.

Also, it’s probably a good idea to assume that the recipient hasn’t had the chance to respond to
your email. It’s your job to remind him. Remember that the recipient stands to gain FAR more
than you by taking this conversation forward.
You’re in the driver’s seat. Don’t take your foot off the pedal.

So here’s what you send them in the first follow up. Send this to them 3 days after the first
email.

“Hey X,

Did you get the chance to go through the last email I sent you? I’d shown you how I can help
you solve X problem - I know how important it is to you.

{{Reiterate your ask in the first email}}

You think this is something that interests you?”

If you still don’t get a response, send them an email again after 1 week.

“Hey X,

Checking back to see if you had the chance to go through the email I sent you? I understand
you’re going through X challenges right now and I think I can help you in Y manner.

I know you’re busy - Would you be open to a quick 10 min call? I promise to keep it short”.

If you still don’t get a response, send them one last email after 1 week.

Hey X,

I’ve sent you a few emails but didn’t hear back - and realized I may have wrongly assumed you
were looking for a solution to Y problem.

But now I’m beginning to think we may not be a good fit for one another, so this is the last email
I’ll send you.

If life got in the way or you just forgot to respond, just shoot me a quick reply.
Otherwise, I wish you a life full of happiness, prosperity and great-tasting noodles!”

This is the 4 part follow-up process you can follow to follow up. Too many follows. Sheesh!

Anyways, feel free to play around with it. Maybe you find out some news on him on social media
or maybe he got a promotion or something. Whatever it may be, always look to personalisation
opportunities.

Styling and concluding thoughts.

Make sure your email is short, clear and well-formatted. This means short paragraphs and lots
of white, empty spaces.

Here’s a thought experiment you can run. Imagine your reader is reading your email before a
meeting or conference call. Treat your email like a 3-second elevator pitch. Make sure that in
those 3 seconds, the recipient understands why you’re reaching out and how it will benefit them
from continuing this conversation forward.

A word of caution: Just because your email is short doesn’t mean you can write it hastily. Quite
the opposite. Each word should mean something and each sentence should convey one idea
and one idea only. Keep track of the economy of words.

Put time and effort into it and choose your words carefully. It’s also a good idea to appear
enthusiastic and passionate about what it is you’re pitching. Enthusiasm is contagious.

With that in mind, I’ll leave you with a few screenshots of cold emails off the internet that are
good examples to follow.

Cheers,
Shounak.
___________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading. If you would like to know more about me, feel free to ​email me or reach out
on ​Twitter.

Would love to know if this helped you in any way. Always up for hearing nice stories :)

Cheers,
Shounak.