Sending a cold email is more of an art than a science.
The best cold emails can get your foot in the door in any work environment or introduce you to any influential person in the world.
I’ve noticed the people we deem “impossible to reach” are often checking their emails even more than us regular folk.
That makes them a great target for reaching out! In this post, I want to talk about intention with cold emails, and how to make one stand out.
First, step of cold emailing is understanding your why.
Why do you really want to cold email that certain person or organization.
Make sure if it’s for a job search, you don’t send more than 10-15 cold emails because then your focus is too scattered and your why is not specific enough.
Each cold email should be extremely specific to the recipient, have a call to action, show some credentials or social proof, and have a strong subject line.
Too many people spam cold emails that are not specific enough to the recipient.
Make sure the person who reads your email is blown away by the amount of research or your reason for why you are reaching out.
This is not a numbers game - sending 1 very specific and well-done cold email beats 100 lukewarm cold emails every single time.
Next, the cold email should ask for something particular.
Don’t be afraid to be clear in what you’re asking for - if you’ve done your research and sent a personalized email, then you deserve what you are asking for.
Whether it be to invest in your company, land an internship, or just get to know someone, make sure you’ve communicated that clearly.
Next, be sure to explain why you are of value to the person.
What have you done in the past that can explain your expertise or provide some sort of social proof.
If you’ve developed an app with a million downloads or you study computer science at Stanford, make sure to mention why this person should take you seriously.
Lastly, possibly the most overlooked portion of a cold email is the subject line.
If this was a YouTube video, an email subject line acts as both the thumbnail and the title.
How do you get this person to click and start reading? A strong example would be “17 y/o SWE Interested in Building ___.” Notice how there is a wow factor - a 17 year old software engineer - and the clear ask already in the subject line.
As a founder, I would like to see what this kid has to say and why I would want him on my team.
You’ll really only understand the art of cold emailing once you start getting some of your own - so I suggest going out there and building a brand of which you can start using as leverage.