Cold email copywriting and follow-up templates: subject lines, personalized openers, short bodies, soft asks, and outreach cadence. Use when drafting or rewriting cold emails, LinkedIn messages, or follow-ups.

Apache-2.0 Environment-independent; web search helps personalization research. Any OS.

Instructions

Overview

Every first-touch message to a stranger is judged in seconds on three things: is it about me, is it short, and is the ask small. This skill holds the shared craft so every outreach type (sales, press, investor, partner, creator, link) uses the same rules and only the research and the ask change.

Mental model

A cold message earns the right to a reply, not the sale. Each part has one job: the subject gets the open, line one proves you looked, the body states one relevant idea, the ask costs the reader almost nothing. Anything that does not do one of those jobs is cut.

Rules

Structure

Part	Job	Limit
Subject	Get the open without deceiving	2 to 6 words, lowercase is fine, no clickbait or fake "Re:"
Line one	Prove you looked	One specific, checkable fact about them or their company
Body	One idea, why it matters to them	2 to 4 sentences
Proof	One number or name that is true	Optional, never invented
Ask	One low-friction question	"Worth a quick look?" beats "30 minutes Tuesday?"

Whole first touch under about 100 to 150 words depending on audience. Plain text, one link at most, no attachments, no tracking pixel on first touch.

Personalization depth

Real personalization is a reason, not a merge field. Rank by value:

A trigger event: funding, hiring, launch, a post they wrote last week.
A stated priority: from their site, talk, or filing.
A role-level problem you can name credibly.

Name-and-trivia ("loved your alma mater") reads as automation, especially to senior buyers. If you cannot find a real reason, the target is not ready for outreach.

Cadence

3 to 5 touches over 2 to 4 weeks for email alone; stop earlier for media, investors, and editors (two touches).
Every follow-up adds one new angle or fact. "Just bumping this" is not a follow-up.
Vary channel only where the channel allows it. Keep LinkedIn touches manual.
Stop on a no, an unsubscribe, or a bounce. Record it so no later sequence re-contacts them.

Words to avoid

Spam triggers and hollow phrases: free, guarantee, act now, "I hope this finds you well", "revolutionary", "synergy", "quick call to pick your brain".

Honesty

No fake threads ("Re:", "Fwd:"), no invented mutual contacts, no false urgency, no unverifiable claims. Results quoted from benchmarks are labelled as benchmarks.

Examples

Bad: "Subject: Quick question!!! Hi {{first_name}}, I hope this finds you well. We are the leading provider of..."

Good: "Subject: your Q3 hiring post. Hi Priya, you posted three SDR roles last week, which usually means pipeline is the constraint. We help teams cut ramp time by pre-building the first 50 targets. Worth a quick look?"

Checklist

Subject honest, 2 to 6 words?
Line one cites one specific, verifiable fact about them?
One idea, one proof, one small ask?
Under the length limit, plain text, one link at most?
Each follow-up adds something new, with a stop rule?
Nothing invented: no fake thread, contact, number, or urgency?

Composition / References

Pair with outreach-deliverability before sending volume and outreach-compliance for consent and opt-out rules.
Type-specific skills add the research and ask: outreach-investor, outreach-link-building, outreach-influencer, outreach-podcast-guest.

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