Cold Email Writing

Write emails that sound like a sharp, thoughtful human — not a sales machine following a template.

Before Writing

Product context: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it first and tailor output to it; only ask for what it doesn't cover.

Understand the situation (ask if not provided):

1. Who are you writing to? — Role, company, why them specifically
2. What do you want? — The outcome (meeting, reply, intro, demo)
3. What's the value? — The specific problem you solve for people like them
4. What's your proof? — A result, case study, or credibility signal
5. Any research signals? — Funding, hiring, LinkedIn posts, company news, tech stack changes

Work with whatever the user gives you: a strong signal plus a clear value prop is enough to write. Don't block on missing inputs — use what you have and note what would make it stronger.

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Writing Principles

Write like a peer, not a vendor

Read like someone who understands their world, not someone selling. Use contractions; read it aloud; if it sounds like marketing copy, rewrite it.

Every sentence must earn its place

Cold email is ruthlessly short — if a sentence doesn't move the reader toward replying, cut it. The best cold emails feel like they could have been shorter.

Personalization must connect to the problem

If removing the personalized opening leaves the email intact, the personalization isn't working — the observation should lead naturally into why you're reaching out. See personalization.md for the 4-level system and research signals.

Lead with their world, not yours

The reader should see their own situation reflected back — "you/your" dominates "I/we." Don't open with who you are or what your company does.

One ask, low friction

Interest-based CTAs ("Worth exploring?" / "Would this be useful?") beat meeting requests. One CTA per email, easy to say yes to with a one-line reply.

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Voice & Tone

Target voice: a smart colleague who noticed something relevant and is sharing it. Conversational but not sloppy; confident but not pushy.

Calibrate to the audience:

• C-suite: ultra-brief, peer-level, understated
• Mid-level: more specific value, slightly more detail
• Technical: precise, no fluff, respect their intelligence

Avoid these patterns — they signal template or AI-generated email:

• Opening with "I hope this email finds you well" or "My name is X and I work at Y"
• Jargon: "synergy," "leverage," "circle back," "best-in-class," "leading provider"
• Feature dumps — one proof point beats ten features
• HTML, images, or multiple links
• Fake "Re:" or "Fwd:" subject lines
• Identical templates with only {{FirstName}} swapped
• Asking for 30-minute calls in first touch
• "Just checking in" follow-ups
• Sounding like a pitch deck compressed into paragraph form or a LinkedIn DM from a stranger

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Structure

No single right structure — choose a framework that fits the situation, or write freeform if the email flows naturally without one.

Common shapes that work:

• Observation → Problem → Proof → Ask — You noticed X, which usually means Y challenge. We helped Z with that. Interested?
• Question → Value → Ask — Struggling with X? We do Y. Company Z saw [result]. Worth a look?
• Trigger → Insight → Ask — Congrats on X. That usually creates Y challenge. We've helped similar companies with that. Curious?
• Story → Bridge → Ask — [Similar company] had [problem]. They [solved it this way]. Relevant to you?

Full catalog of frameworks with examples: frameworks.md.

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Examples

Example 1: Observation → Problem → Proof → Ask

Subject: hiring sres

Body:

Noticed you're hiring 3 SREs — usually means the on-call load is getting unsustainable for the current team.

We built an alert routing layer that cut Brex's mean-time-to-acknowledge from 12 min to under 2. Their SRE team went from 24/7 rotation to business-hours-only within a quarter.

Worth a 15-min look at whether something similar applies to your setup?

Example 2: Trigger → Insight → Ask

Subject: series b ops

Body:

Congrats on the round — saw the announcement this morning.

In my experience, the 6 months after a B usually surface a finance ops bottleneck: more vendors, more headcount, same 2-person finance team closing the books manually. Lattice hit that wall at almost exactly your stage and moved their close from 18 days to 5 after we helped automate the reconciliation piece.

If that resonates at all, happy to share what the first 30 days looked like for them.

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Subject Lines

Short, boring, internal-looking — the subject line's only job is to get the email opened, not to sell.

• 2-4 words, lowercase, no punctuation tricks
• Should look like it came from a colleague ("reply rates," "hiring ops," "Q2 forecast")
• No product pitches, urgency, emojis, or prospect's first name

Full data: subject-lines.md.

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Follow-Up Sequences

Each follow-up must add something new — a different angle, fresh proof, a useful resource. "Just checking in" gives no reason to respond.

• 3-5 total emails, increasing gaps between them
• Each email stands alone (they may not have read the previous ones)
• The breakup email is your last touch — honor it

Cadence, angle rotation, and breakup templates: follow-up-sequences.md.

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Quality Check

Before presenting, gut-check:

• Does it sound like a human wrote it? (Read it aloud)
• Would YOU reply to it?
• Does every sentence serve the reader, not the sender?
• Is the personalization connected to the problem?
• One clear, low-friction ask?

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Data & Benchmarks

References with performance data for informed choices — use to inform your writing, not as a checklist to satisfy:

• benchmarks.md — Reply rates, conversion funnels, expert methods, common mistakes
• personalization.md — 4-level personalization system, research signals
• subject-lines.md — Subject line data and optimization
• follow-up-sequences.md — Cadence, angles, breakup emails
• frameworks.md — All copywriting frameworks with examples

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Related Skills

• copywriting: For landing pages and web copy
• email-sequence: For lifecycle/nurture email sequences (not cold outreach)
• social-content: For LinkedIn and social posts
• product-marketing-context: For establishing foundational positioning
• revops: For lead scoring, routing, and pipeline management