Cold Email Tips: Writing, Sending, Follow-Up

Which cold email tips matter before you write anything?

Most cold email tips are about wording. But the receiving server judges your domain and sending setup before anyone reads a word, so start with three things you control. First, sign mail with your own domain. SPF lists the servers allowed to send for it. DKIM puts a cryptographic signature on each message. DMARC checks that at least one of the two lines up with the domain in the visible From address. Our guide to DKIM, DMARC and SPF for cold email senders walks through the records in setup order. Second, clean the list. A hard bounce means the address doesn't exist, and sending to it again tells mailbox providers you don't maintain your data. Third, send only as much as your domain's history can carry. A new domain has no reputation yet, and a sudden spike looks like a compromised account.

1. 1 Publish SPF and DKIM for the domain you send from, then DMARC at _dmarc. Start with p=none so you can read the reports before you enforce anything.
2. 2 Send a test to your own mailbox and check the Authentication-Results header for spf=pass, dkim=pass and dmarc=pass.
3. 3 Verify the list before you import it, and drop addresses that hard-bounced in earlier sends.
4. 4 On a new or dormant domain, raise daily volume gradually instead of starting at full volume.

What decides cold email deliverability?

The receiving mail server decides cold email deliverability. The sender and the sending tool don't. The server checks authentication first: do SPF and DKIM pass, and does DMARC find them aligned with your From domain? Then it weighs the domain's reputation, which comes from how recipients treated earlier mail from it: spam complaints, bounces, deletions without reading, and replies. Google's email sender guidelines require everyone sending to Gmail to authenticate with SPF or DKIM. Bulk senders also have to publish DMARC and offer one-click unsubscribe. One thing that doesn't work is switching tools to get away from a damaged reputation. The reputation belongs to the domain, so it follows you to any platform that sends under that domain. Our article on what decides cold email deliverability covers every factor, and how many cold emails per day per mailbox covers volume.

What does an email deliverability rate actually measure?

Most sending platforms report the email deliverability rate as accepted messages divided by sent messages. Accepted means the receiving server answered the SMTP transaction with a success code rather than a bounce. It says nothing about where the message went after that. A server can accept a message and file it in spam, and your dashboard still counts it as delivered. Inbox placement is a separate measurement, usually done with seed tests across mailbox providers. So if your delivery rate is high but nobody replies, the problem may be the spam folder rather than the copy. Before you rewrite the email, check one of your own sends in a Gmail mailbox and an Outlook mailbox. Our article on email deliverability rate: delivery vs inbox explains how the two numbers differ.

How do you write the first cold email?

Write it as a message to one person, because that's what it is. These tips cover the content itself, and you can check each one against your draft before you send:

• Open with the reason you're writing to this person: a role change, a hiring post, a product they ship. If the line would fit any recipient, it isn't a reason.
• Make one ask. Two asks, say a call and a referral, give the reader two decisions and a reason to put off both.
• Keep the subject line accurate. The FTC's compliance guide to the US CAN-SPAM Act explains that the law bans subject lines that mislead about the content.
• Say who you are and where you're based, put a real postal address in the footer, and include a working way to opt out.
• Check merge fields for empty values. A blank first-name field produces "Hi ,", which reads as bulk mail.
• Don't attach files to a first email. Unknown attachments from a new sender are the first thing filters and security teams look at.

One thing that doesn't work: a fake "Re:" in the subject of a first email. The message doesn't reference any earlier message, so it won't thread, and the recipient knows they never wrote to you. Our collection of cold email subject line examples and rules covers subject lines in detail.

How do you write a follow up sales email?

Send a follow up sales email as a reply in the original thread, not as a new message. Threading is a technical mechanism. The internet message format standard defines the In-Reply-To and References headers, which carry the Message-ID of the earlier email. Mail clients use these headers to group messages, so the recipient sees your first email right under the follow-up. If you change the subject or send from a different address, that link breaks. Each follow-up should add one thing the first email didn't have: a short example, a relevant detail from the prospect's own public material, or a simpler ask. "Just bumping this" adds nothing. Before every follow-up, check for bounces and opt-outs. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guidance sets a deadline for honouring opt-outs, and follow-ups to a bounced address only cost you reputation. Our guide to cold email follow up: timing, threads, limits covers timing and when to stop.

Sales follow up email template: no reply after the first email

Use this sales follow up email template when the first email got no answer, and send it as a reply in the same thread. It adds one new detail and makes the ask smaller instead of repeating the pitch. Fill in the bracketed parts, and cut any line you can't make specific.

Hi [first name], one thing I left out last time: [specific detail tied to their company, e.g. the integration they announced]. That's usually where [problem you solve] shows up first. If it's not on your list this quarter, a one-word "no" is fine and I won't follow up again. If it is, would [day] work for a short call? [Your name]

Follow up sales email template: after a call or demo

This follow up sales email template is for after a conversation, when the prospect already knows you. It sums up what you agreed, names one dated next step and asks for confirmation. Send it as a reply to the meeting thread so the context stays attached. Our sales follow up email template examples include more versions for different call outcomes.

Hi [first name], thanks for the time today. What I took away: [their main problem in their words], and [the constraint they mentioned]. Next step as agreed: I send [document or proposal] by [date], and we look at it together on [date and time]. Can you confirm that slot, or suggest one that suits [colleague they mentioned] better? [Your name]

Do cold email tips from US guides hold in the EU?

Not entirely. Most cold email tips online assume the US model of the CAN-SPAM Act: you're allowed to email first, and you have to honour opt-outs. In Germany, the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) treats advertising by email without the recipient's prior express consent as an unreasonable nuisance, and that covers business recipients too. Separately, the GDPR requires a legal basis for processing a prospect's personal data, such as a name and a work email address. The rules differ between EU member states, so check the law of the country your recipients are in, not just the country you're in. These rules apply to how you operate. No sending tool settles them for you. Whether a campaign is lawful depends on your list, your basis for contacting people and how you handle objections.

Where EmailFlow OS fits: one recording, one version per recipient

EmailFlow OS is built for B2B cold outreach with personalised AI video, and the sending side stays under your control. You record one video and upload it to EmailFlow OS. You connect your own Brevo account and your sending domain, and you import your prospect list into EmailFlow OS, where it's kept. EmailFlow OS turns that one recording into a separate personalised version for each recipient (each person, not each company). Every email goes out from your own inbox, through your Brevo account and under your domain. There's no shared platform sender, so the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records described above are still the ones that count, and the domain's reputation stays yours. The EmailFlow OS personalised video outreach page describes how the per-recipient video works.

Questions people ask

? How long should a cold email be?

Short enough that the reason for writing, the one ask and the opt-out all fit on a phone screen without scrolling. There's no standard word count. A better test is the structure: one line on why this recipient, one or two lines on what you offer, and one question. Anything that serves a second ask belongs in a later email.

? How many follow-ups should a cold email get?

Stop at a bounce, an opt-out or a clear no, however many you've sent. Otherwise, each follow-up has to add something new: a detail, an example or a smaller ask. When you run out of new things to say, end with a short closing message in the same thread. Follow-ups also count toward your daily sending volume per mailbox.

? Does using my own domain for cold email risk my main domain?

Yes. Reputation is tracked per domain, and complaints about cold sends hit the domain that signs the mail. That's why some teams send from a separate domain. Either way, the sending domain needs its own SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. A new domain has no sending history, so build up volume gradually before running full campaigns.

? Should a cold email be plain text or HTML?

A cold email should read like a personal message, so keep formatting light: no heavy templates, few images and ideally one link. Including a plain-text part alongside the HTML part (multipart/alternative) means every client can show a readable version. Heavy HTML, tracking pixels and image-only layouts look like marketing mail to filters and readers alike.