How to write cold emails that get replies

Is cold email dead?

It’s not.

But let’s be honest: people’s inboxes are like battlegrounds of attention. Every single company shoots its shot, often circumventing standard no-spam rules. Companies like Gmail and Yahoo reinforce stricter sender regulations. However, the endless marathon of hitting inboxes continues.

Why bother, though?

Is cold email worth the struggle?

Yes, and mainly because:

43% of salespeople think email is the most effective sales channel. (HubSpot)
77% of B2B customers prefer communicating via email. (Sopro)
65% of companies say email prospecting can reach decision-makers that other channels struggle to reach. (Sopro)

But how do I write cold emails that get opened and replied to?

Cold email writing is as much art as it is science. The good news is that crafting compelling cold emails that prompt replies is not only not dead but also very much thriving. This article will demystify the secrets behind what people usually call “catchy” cold emails, providing concrete strategies and examples to help you write emails that get opened and replied to.

Why is it so hard to get high email reply rates? Common mistakes in cold emailing

Why do so many cold emails end up unopened or swiftly moved to the trash? The problem often lies not in the act of sending cold emails but in how they're executed. Poorly targeted messages, generic greetings, and lackluster subject lines contribute to low open and reply rates.

36% is considered the average open rate for B2B cold emails. (B2B Rocket)

Based on our calculations, the average reply rate is normally between 0.5% and 1% (with Luna.ai, it’s 7 times higher).

You should aim for at least a 65% open rate and a 3% reply rate.

Now, let’s take a look at a few mistakes people make in cold emailing:

Ignoring email health

Email health is by far the most underrated factor in cold emailing. Many companies don’t even realize how important it is to maintain a solid sender reputation and email warmup practices.

Email health describes the overall performance and condition of your sender reputation, messaging, and email list. Good email health ensures your emails hit the intended recipient’s inbox rather than the spam box. To maintain good email health, you need to take care of several things, like sender reputation, proper email warmup practices, email authentication, volume consistency, and a high quality of content. Check out our previous article about email deliverability and achieving an 80% open rate.

Writing the next Shakespeare piece

Your email should not require much brain power to keep track of progress. It is vital to make it simple and concise (unless you are Shakespeare, of course). Most people check their emails between meetings or while in the restroom. They are not ready to overthink it. So don’t make them do it.

Writing a mysterious detective story

Mystery intrigues people while they watch Netflix, not while they read cold emails from salespeople. Many cold email senders try too hard to make their emails sound intriguing to pique the recipient’s interest. More often than not, they fail. The clarity and brevity of your email show that you value the other person’s time and don’t want to waste it.

Anything that resembles a fictional story, be it a complex family drama or a mysterious detective, should be discarded instead of sent to a prospect.

Inserting [name] and [company name]

Probably everyone has received an email like this at least once: “Dear [name], I’ve come across your [company name], and I am so excited about what you and the team have been achieving lately.”

This sentence screams that this email was sent to 50 other people in the same industry, probably competing companies.

Just don’t do this.

Wrapping everything around the demo meeting

No, including a Calendly URL in your email so people can schedule a conversation with you will not save the day. Instead, give people space to ask you follow-up questions and get to know you before they decide whether to book that demo.

It's important to deliver value first instead of asking for their time. Close with a call-to-action like: “Is this of interest?” “Worth exploring?” Or, “Mind if I share the strategies here?”

Writing misleading subject lines or SLs that are too long

Subject lines are important. You can play around and test a few things. Intriguing subject lines usually help achieve the highest email open rates. However, a fine line exists between a relevant subject line and a misleading subject line. For example, starting with “ACTION REQUIRED” or “URGENT” might pique interest, but they might not be your best shots at establishing a trustworthy relationship with someone.

A few tips on how to make your subject lines grab attention.

Don't make your leads think. Make them click:

1-3 words
Simple words, no overused sales words
No names (e.g., Anthony, look at this) 😣
All lowercase stands out

Check out this small but mighty guide for more: Cold Emails That Score Meetings

Not following up

This one is such a big missed opportunity. As a salesperson doing cold emailing, you should acknowledge that following up is just how you get replies. Don’t expect people to reply after your first email; most people don’t. There can be multiple reasons - your email gets buried under dozens of other emails, the person just forgets to get back to you, or your first email is not enticing enough. It’s a war for attention. Hence, don’t shy away from sending as many follow-up emails as it takes to get the coveted reply.

The nitty-gritty of doing cold emailing right and ensuring a high reply rate

Except for avoiding the general mistakes many salespeople make in cold emailing, you can go a step further and up your game. Grab these tips and tricks for your next cold email.

Concrete offer

Apart from the warm hello, your email has to offer something - otherwise, why would you even bother writing it? Make your offer easy to grasp and easy to quantify. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. That never works. Hence, instead of saying: “Luna.ai is an AI-powered sales outreach tool that offers features like GDPR compliance, top-notch security, smart controls, and easy integrations,” say, “Access a 300M database of prospects and automatically send your leads highly-targeted and personalized cold emails without having to type a word.”

Both sentences cover what Luna.ai offers. However, while the first sentence highlights features that may or may not be easy to grasp for the recipient, the second one is more concise, tackles pain points and is about the "outcome" experienced by the lead.

Laser-focused targeting

Knowing who exactly you are sending a cold email to is such a benefit. The more you learn about your prospect, the more personalized your email can be. Try to learn the following:

Industry
Company size
N of employees
ARR/MRR
Locations
Decision Maker(s)
Their technology stack
Their pain points
Their wishes

Make it about them, not you

After writing down the first draft of your cold email, sit down and analyze the structure. Cut off anything that’s not about the recipient or their business. Your email structure should roughly look like this:

Start with an observation
Share a problem/insight you derive from the observation
Add credibility to speak to them about that problem
How do you solve that problem?
Interest-based CTA

Poor example
Dear [name],

To introduce myself, I’m Jean-Paul, and I work for Luna.ai, which is a leading AI-powered platform that offers the following features and functionalities - GDPR compliance, top-notch security, smart controls, and easy integrations for cold email outreach.

At Luna.ai, we understand the importance of staying up-to-date with the best practices in B2B cold email outreach. That’s why we’ve developed this AI-powered platform to help SDRs do email outreach more effectively and proactively without having to spend hours crafting emails, testing subject lines that work, and sending follow-ups.

We’d be happy to organize a meeting with you to discuss your role in [company name] and explore ways Luna.ai can help you achieve your goals. We can then share how our other customers have benefited from Luna.ai. How does next Thursday work for you?

Kind regards

Good example (assuming you already know quite a lot about the prospect)

Initial email

[lead_name] - I know you’re the only one in charge of new business.

But did you know you can leverage AI to 10x [company_name]’s sales?

Mind if I share the strategies here?

Jean-Paul

P.S. [Personalized compliment]

‍

Follow-up email

Hi {lead_name},

The strategies I had in mind were going after:

DMUs in companies similar to [[company names of case studies mentioned on [lead_name]’s website]]
Companies who are hiring for [[roles/job titles [lead_name] could reach out to, to sell its product/service to]]
[[roles/job titles [lead_name] could reach out to, to sell its product/service to]] who recently changed company
Relevant companies who recently visited your website
Companies using [certain software tools]

A good chunk of these are in-market for a [[product or service [lead_name] is selling]] right now.

For most of them, you can use Luna.ai to automatically reach out to them. On top of that, Luna.ai automatically researches the leads to ensure all emails are relevant and personalized.

Mind if I share the leads Luna.ai found for your business - and the personalized copy it created for those leads?

Jean-Paul

Avoid GIFs, animations, PDFs, and videos in your first email

Thinking that someone would fully read your first email without knowing you and check out the seven-page PDF presentation about your company you’ve attached to it is, well, brave.

As a rule of thumb, it’s better to leave additional materials to the second or third “date” with your lead. Also, only send those when you have a good reason for that or when the seven-page presentation is tailored to the prospect’s pains and desires vs your own.

Final note

That’s a wrap! If you need an AI-powered tool to follow all the best practices listed in this article, just give Luna.ai a try. You can create a free account; no credit card is required.