The Five-Line Cold Email
Write a first email in five to seven lines: why them, their likely problem, what you do about it, one proof, and one easy question.
Widely shared practitioner advice; reply-rate data on email length mostly comes from vendors and is not peer-reviewed.
Why it works
A cold email is read in a few seconds on a phone. A short note about them, with one question, is easy to answer, while a long one about you is easy to delete.
How to do it
- Subject: three to six words about them.
- Line one: one true, specific thing about this person or company.
- Lines two and three: the problem people like them have and what you do about it.
- Line four: one proof with a number.
- Line five: one easy question, such as worth a ten-minute call next week?
What to say
Subject: Field hiring for your MP expansion
I saw you're opening new territories in Madhya Pradesh. Most seed companies we speak to find it hard to hire area managers who already know local dealers. We place only people who have done that job. Last season we filled eleven such roles in about three weeks each. Worth a ten-minute call next week?
Avoid
Opening with a paragraph about your company and attaching a brochure. It looks like a mass mail and goes unread.
Example
Aditya cut his cold email to a Ranchi agri-input distributor from fourteen lines and an attachment to five lines. The owner replied from his phone asking for a call on Saturday.
Practise it
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