Good cold emails are < 90 words, reference something only that prospect would recognize, and ask for one small thing.
Workflow
- Gather inputs. Refuse to write without:
- Prospect's role + company + one specific recent signal (post, hire, launch, news)
- What the user sells in one concrete sentence
- Proof point (customer + quantified outcome)
- The ask — reply, 15 min, a resource
- Draft 3 variants with different angles:
- A: Observation → hypothesis → ask (default)
- B: Question-led (opens with a question the prospect cares about)
- C: Peer proof (leads with similar customer's result)
- Score each against the checklist (see below) before presenting.
- Return the 3 emails + a one-line rationale for each.
The 90-word template (Variant A)
Subject: <4-6 words, lowercase, specific>
Hi <Name>,
<Observation: one specific thing they did/posted/shipped — 1 sentence>.
<Hypothesis: what that likely means for their work — 1 sentence that shows you get it>.
<Proof: "We helped <peer> <specific metric>." — 1 sentence>.
<Ask: open question, not a demo request — "Curious how you're handling <X>?">.
— <You>
Checklist (every email must pass)
- < 90 words in body
- Subject ≤ 6 words, lowercase, no emoji
- First line is about them, not you/your company
- One specific reference only that prospect's team would recognize
- Proof point has a number
- Ask is a question, not a calendar link (unless a clear warm lead)
- No "hope you're well", "circling back", "quick question", "touch base"
Anti-patterns (reject)
- "I know you're busy so I'll keep this brief" — then take 200 words
- Feature lists
- Generic vertical claims ("helps SaaS companies grow")
- Multiple CTAs
- More than one link
Guardrails
- If the user can't supply a specific signal about the prospect, stop and research first — don't ship generic.
- For technical buyers, replace the proof-point-metric with an architectural detail.
- If the user insists on a generic template for 1000 prospects, warn about deliverability and reply rate (< 1%).