How do you write a first cold email?

A first cold email interrupts someone who did not ask for it. Four questions justify that interruption: why this person, why now, what do you want, and how do they say no. Every sentence either answers one of them or comes out.

What are the parts of a first cold email?

Six parts, in this order.

1. Subject. Up to six words, in sentence case, about what the email contains. It must match the body. A subject that misleads breaks anti-spam law in several jurisdictions, and the recipient notices anyway.
2. Opening line: why this person, why now. Use a fact the recipient can check: a role they are hiring for or a page they published. Compliments cannot be checked, so leave them out.
3. One idea. One paragraph with one point. The whole body stays under 90 words in step one.
4. One ask. A question that is easy to answer with a no. "Is this worth 20 minutes next week?" works because it takes one line to reply.
5. The way out. One sentence that tells the reader how to decline, plus an unsubscribe link. It reads as courtesy and it is also a legal expectation in many places.
6. Signature. First name, last name, role, company and one link. No banners and no quotes.

What does it look like with placeholders?

The table shows each part for a fictional case. Braces mark snippets, which are fields the sending tool fills from your data.

The idea line in the table is deliberately plain. It states what the product does and stops. It carries no number because no number is available for this fictional case, and an invented one would be worse than none.

What should you cut from a first cold email?

Cut anything that fakes familiarity or adds a second request.

• Subjects such as "quick question" and fake "Re:" or "Fwd:" prefixes that imitate a thread.
• "I hope this finds you well" and any other opening that fills the first line without saying why you wrote.
• A line that pretends you noticed something about them, such as "I saw you are in {industry}". The recipient can tell a template when the fact is generic.
• Two asks in one email, for example a reply and a booking link.
• Attachments and several images. They add risk to delivery and give the reader nothing they need in step one.
• Claims with no number behind them, and any promise about results.

How do you check the email before sending?

Four checks take five minutes.

1. Read it aloud. A sentence you stumble over will stumble on screen too.
2. Count the words in the body. Over 90 means one idea too many.
3. Check every snippet against a prospect with an empty field. The fallback should still read as a sentence.
4. Send a test to a mailbox you own at Gmail and at Microsoft 365, then read it as the recipient would.

What are the limits of a good first email?

No wording secures a reply. List quality and the offer move results more than any phrase in the body. A well written email to the wrong person still gets no answer. The structure above removes avoidable reasons for a no. It does not create interest that is not there.

A first email is step one of a sequence. Write the second step before you launch the first.

How does anymail handle this?

In anymail you write each step with snippets and custom fields. Each snippet carries a fallback, so an empty field does not ship as a blank. You can preview any step before the campaign runs and test up to four variants of a step. The editor and the branching are described on the sequences page.