The 1% Cold Email Playbook: From Cold Leads to Warm Conversations
Morgann
February 13, 2026
|22 min read
Welcome to my Cold Outreach Copywriting Playbook.
Whether you are a founder, a sales leader, or a marketer, this playbook will help you start real conversations and turn them into sales opportunities.
Through my outbound agency, Leadix, I have sent hundreds of thousands of cold emails.
What follows has been field-tested across 30+ industries for 100+ clients.
What follows has been field-tested across 30+ industries for 100+ clients.
In this playbook, I’ll share the best practices and techniques that I have learned along the way.
You will learn:
- Why 99% of Cold outreach fails
- The truth behind the cold email Myth
- The most important acquisition rules
- The anatomy of a cold email that converts
- Why you should never stop at the first message
- How to make your campaigns 10x more efficient
And I’ll share tips & tricks, secret formulas and frameworks you can copy-paste along the way.
Let’s dive in!
Why 99% of Cold emails fail
Every day, billions of cold emails are sent to decision-makers worldwide.
Yet, less than 1% actually get to a real discussion.
And 1% of those get a signed deal.
Knowing this, you might wonder “Why on earth would I use cold email if it converts so badly?”.
Well, exactly for that same reason. Because most outreach is forgettable, which makes it far easier to stand out if you do a few things right.
But in order to stand out, you first need to understand why most fail.
99% of cold email senders are making at least one of those mistakes
(that I will teach you not to do)
- They try to sell rather than helping
- They pitch a good solution to the wrong audience
- They pitch a solution to an audience without the problem
- They sound like all the others
- They do not provide a clear path to the best next action
In this playbook, I will teach you how to avoid falling in those pitfalls, and the techniques to craft your best performing cold outreach. Before diving deeper, we need to align on one key point: the role of cold email.
The cold email Myth
Let's start by debunking a myth.
Cold email is not made to sell.
It's a tool to get your from stranger to booked meeting. Period.
That might come as a surprise to most people who use cold email to “grow their business” and end up saying “cold email is dead”.
The reason is that they confuse the goal and the means.
The goal is to sign new clients. And cold email is a means to get there.
The goal is to sign new clients. And cold email is a means to get there.
Cold email is a tool you use to kickstart a conversation that you will continue with your prospect (in a call, videocall or in person).
Your goal is to turn strangers into conversations.
To turn your ideal client persona into a lead.
To turn your ideal client persona into a lead.
Trying to sell directly through cold email does not work.
The higher the price tag, the truer this becomes.
The higher the price tag, the truer this becomes.
Selling is a multi-step process. Each step matters.
Imagine this: you walk into a bar and spot someone who instantly catches your eye. The real love at first sight.
After working up the courage, you finally walk over, and introduce yourself…. And before even hearing the other person’s name, you shout “Would you marry me?”
A bit rushed, right?
Imagine this: you walk into a bar and spot someone who instantly catches your eye. The real love at first sight.
After working up the courage, you finally walk over, and introduce yourself…. And before even hearing the other person’s name, you shout “Would you marry me?”
A bit rushed, right?
Trying to sell through a cold email is the same mistake. It’s like proposing on the first date. It shows you don't understand seduction at all.
And let me tell you: Selling is all about seduction.
And let me tell you: Selling is all about seduction.
Trying to sell through a cold email is the same mistake. It’s like proposing on the first date. It shows you don't understand seduction at all.
And let me tell you: Selling is all about seduction.
The unique goal of your cold email should be to seduce your lead into wanting to learn more. That’s when you get to transform an email reply into a meeting booked.
Your copywriting can be viewed as a “movie-trailer” of your value offering.
Don’t share everything directly, focus on teasing what you have to offer.
Once you have “hooked” your prospect, scheduling a meeting will be the next natural step.
Before :
Not interested thanks
After :
Sounds exciting! Happy to learn more. Are you available Thursday 4pm ?
The universal rule - don’t sell, offer help and get paid in exchange
While Cold outreach is an essential part of any sales process, it is not a “hack”.
It is the condensed application of sales best practices into a few lines of copywriting.
Understanding those will set you apart from the crowd.
And It will drastically change the way you approach copywriting.
🦸♂ You’re not the hero. Your prospect is. Don’t sell a product or service. Sell what your customer can become, do, or achieve thanks to it. Your customer is not paying for a product or a service. Your customer will pay for a transformation from situation A (not optimal) to situation B (the desired outcome).
A great salesperson never presents himself or herself as a superhero; they are the one who enables the customer to become one. To go from A to B easily. You are the guide on your prospect's quest (the Sam to the Frodo - for The Lord of the Rings fans). Your prospect (and only your prospect) is the real hero of the story.
Most cold emails you will encounter are a list of all the attributes of a product / solution.
It’s a reflection of how we tend to see our own creations:
It’s a reflection of how we tend to see our own creations:
We want to showcase all the cool stuff about it, every detail of it.
Unfortunately, this is also the worst way to send a cold email.
It makes it long to read, energy-consuming, and all about you. Not them.
A potential customer never wakes up in the morning thinking “I hope a marketer or salesperson will send me an email to present their product”.
A potential customer never wakes up in the morning thinking “I hope a marketer or salesperson will send me an email to present their product”.
What they want, what they desire, is to solve a problem.
To take a step forward.
To achieve their goals.
In other words: they don't want your product, they want what they can achieve with your product.
- A sales director doesn't want a CRM, they want a high-performing team and deals that come in.
- A marketing director doesn't want an analytics tool, they want to prove their ROI and get their next budget.
- A CEO doesn't want a service, they want to save time, sleep better, or grow faster.
Once you understand this, every message you send will sound different.
It won’t be about you. It will be about them.
About their mission, and how you can help.
In order for you to show you can help them, the first step will be to:
In order for you to show you can help them, the first step will be to:
Make them feel understood
The “Cold” part of cold email stands for “Cold lead” in opposition to a “Hot lead”.
A hot lead is someone who is already interested in your solution and asking for it.
To transform a cold lead into a warm lead, the #1 focus should be to make it absolutely clear that your solution is a perfect fit for their problem.
Since they don’t know you yet (don’t forget it’s the first time they are reading from you), the only way to judge your solution will be your understanding of their situation.
Focus on the problem first. Always.
A hot lead is someone who is already interested in your solution and asking for it.
To transform a cold lead into a warm lead, the #1 focus should be to make it absolutely clear that your solution is a perfect fit for their problem.
Since they don’t know you yet (don’t forget it’s the first time they are reading from you), the only way to judge your solution will be your understanding of their situation.
Focus on the problem first. Always.
This will make them feel understood. It will create a connection. And that connection will make them ready to hear your proposed solution.
Focus on validating the problem. Don’t pitch the solution.
Focus on validating the problem. Don’t pitch the solution.
Imagine going to the doctor, and without any context, hearing:
🧑⚕ – Hello, take this medicine, you’ll feel much better for whatever you have.
Weird, right?
Now imagine the following discussion instead:
🧑⚕ – Most of the people I work with in your situation end up suffering from severe back pain, which prevents them from carrying out their daily tasks properly
Do you feel something like that as well right now?
👤 – Yes doctor, I do feel pain in my back, making me unable to focus at work.
🧑⚕ – Very well. Come here, I’ll show you the 3 best stretches that will make you feel like new. And if the pain persists, I also have these medicines for you that could help when the pain affects you too much during the day.
Chances are, you’d be much more willing to take that second medicine.
Chances are, you’d be much more willing to take that second medicine.
Yet, it’s the same medicine - the only difference lies in how we introduce it.
To summarize,
The first step is defining the problem you are solving.
The second step is confirming that your prospect has this problem.
The third step is introducing your solution.
Following this structure will already bring you in the top 10% of cold email senders.
Following this structure will already bring you in the top 10% of cold email senders.
❌ Before: ”Hi {{firstName}}, I want to introduce to our {{SuperSolution}} which can do:
- This
- And that
- And also this
Want to try it out? Let’s schedule a 15-minutes call”
✅ After:
✅ After:
“Hi {{firstName}}, I’ve seen {{News}} about {{company}}.
From my experience this might mean you are facing {{problem}}.
We have helped {{Similarcompany}} achieve {{result}} through {{valueOffering}}.
I think some key learnings might be useful for {{company}} as well.
Should I share more details? “
Let’s now dig into the anatomy of a cold email to bring you from top 10% to the top 1%.
Let’s now dig into the anatomy of a cold email to bring you from top 10% to the top 1%.
The anatomy of a cold email: How to write a message that converts
To convert with your copywriting, you'll need to keep these 4 goals in mind:
- Spark curiosity to get them to open the email (that’s the subject line)
- Capture their attention from the very first lines (that’s your introduction)
- Maintain engagement throughout the body of the email (that’s how you link problem and solution)
- Inspire to take action and respond (that’s your call to action)
To achieve this, the structure of your email will be essential. Every word and every sentence must directly contribute to these goals. Anything superfluous should be removed.
As our good friend Blaise Pascal would say: “I wrote you this long letter because I didn't have time to write you a shorter one.”
Be like Pascal. Write short stuff.
Less is more.
📐 To achieve this, here is my formula for an optimal cold email structure: - Email subject line - Introduction - Situation / Problem - Value / Solution - Social proof - CTA / CTC
1 - The email subject line 💬
The subject line of an email works exactly like a movie trailer: it should make people want to read the whole thing, without spoiling the content.
The best approach here is to identify the underlying value of your offer and present it briefly.
Example: if you are selling “Cold email services to sales managers” and you are at the end of Q3, you might use a subject line such as “acquisition target {{company}} Q4”
The idea is to keep it short, to the point, personalized for the person you are sending it to.
To help you achieve yours, here is my personal subject line checklist:
The best approach here is to identify the underlying value of your offer and present it briefly.
Example: if you are selling “Cold email services to sales managers” and you are at the end of Q3, you might use a subject line such as “acquisition target {{company}} Q4”
The idea is to keep it short, to the point, personalized for the person you are sending it to.
To help you achieve yours, here is my personal subject line checklist:
✅ Subject Line checklist: [ ] Sparks curiosity - the purpose of the subject line in your email is to encourage people to read more. [ ] Keep it short: 3-6 words max, ensures readability even on mobile. [ ] Make it clear - easy to understand, concrete. No guesswork. [ ] Use only lowercase - to mimic internal company communication. [ ] Relate it to the content - it must be a trailer, not a clickbait. [ ] Personalize it - show that you address this person and no one else. [ ] Avoid triggering spam filters: no capital letters, punctuation, or exaggerated wording (example: "FREE," "URGENT !!," "ACT NOW", "make money," and "limited time offer” ) [ ] A/B test your subject lines - to find the best performing ones
A few examples to re-use:
📧 {{Subject}} optimisation
📧 {{Goal}} achieved
📧 {{Topic}} results
📧 {{Industry}} strategy
📧 {{Department}} target
📧 {{Product}} milestone
2 - The Introduction
Congratulations, your email was opened.
Now it’s time to explain why you’re here (don’t forget that you invited yourself in your prospect’s inbox). That’s the role of the first sentence.
It should explain why the reader should continue reading, even though at this point you are still a stranger.
Think of it as the first line you would say to this person if you met in real life.
Tips & Tricks
👉 Make it about them, not you.
Hello {{FirstName}}, my name is Morgann and I am contacting you because I am developing Leadix, an outbound agency. We do digital marketing and prospecting for B2B companies.
I just finished listening to your podcast on {{topic}}. I particularly enjoyed your approach to {{Subject}}, which made me want to reach out.
A few examples to re-use:
🤝 Hello {{firstName}}, While reading about your recent developments in {{Press}}, I discovered that you are currently {{NewDevelopment}}
🤝 Hi {{FirstName}} Excited to see {{companyName}} at {{Event}}! We will also be there with the {{Yourcompany}} team. Let’s meet up!
🤝 Hi {{FirstName}} Congratulations on your new adventure at {{companyName}}!
🤝 Hi {{FirstName}} I came across several of your job postings, have you found out the perfect {{JobProfile}} yet ?
3 - The Situation / Problem
You’ve just reached the core of the message. Once the introduction is out of the way, it’s time to set the stage.
The focus here should be on connecting with the person by showing that you understand what they are going through, whether it’s their current objectives, challenges, difficulties or dreams.
The key to identifying problems is a precise targeting.
Your goal is to become so knowledgeable about your target’s challenges and problems that they end up thinking “Damn, this person is reading my mind”.
This can only be achieved when your targets are precise enough that they think the same way, because they face the same kind of challenges.
🎯 When setting up your target persona, be as precise as possible. The problem you are addressing should be theirs, not the company’s. It should be about them, their needs, challenges.
Let’s see what granular targeting can bring to problem identification:
- If you target marketers, they want to have great marketing results.
- if you target marketers in B2B SAAS companies, they will want to improve their acquisition funnel to reduce CAC (cost of client acquisition) and increase LTV (lifetime-value).
- if you target the new head of marketing at B2B SAAS companies who started the job within the last six months, you know they will want to challenge previous strategies and develop their own acquisition strategy to reduce CAC and increase LTV.
Show them you understand what it is to be in their shoes 🥾.
The more precise your targeting, the better your problem identification will be. That’s why a great copywriting won’t do the trick alone.
The key, is to send:
The right message, to the right person, at the right time.
The more precise your targeting, the better your problem identification will be. That’s why a great copywriting won’t do the trick alone.
The key, is to send:
The right message, to the right person, at the right time.
The right message 💬
The right message is empathic, focused on the reader, bringing a solution or proposing a better alternative to a current situation faced.
The right message is empathic, focused on the reader, bringing a solution or proposing a better alternative to a current situation faced.
The right person 👨🦰
The right person is the person best suited to understand your message. It is the person facing the problem, that has a high likelihood of looking for a solution. Ideally, this person should also be the decision maker.
The right person is the person best suited to understand your message. It is the person facing the problem, that has a high likelihood of looking for a solution. Ideally, this person should also be the decision maker.
The right time ⌚
The right time is the moment when the problem is PURE (Painful, Urgent, Recognized, Expensive)
The right time is the moment when the problem is PURE (Painful, Urgent, Recognized, Expensive)
Example: If you are proposing recruitment services or tools, the best time would be when a company has been trying to recruit a key profile for 3 to 6 months without any luck. Identifying companies that posted job offers more than 3 months ago for key roles, that are still active, would be a great place to start. There, the problem is PURE. Your solution will have more value in their eyes.
Once you showed that your message was specifically addressed to them, it’s time to present how you can help.
4 - Your Value Proposition
A good value proposition is just stating what you do, right? Absolutely not.
Your value proposition is not your offer. Your value proposition is the WHY someone should buy from you. Your offer is WHAT they buy from you.
The Golden Circle “by Simon Sinek” WHY = purpose, belief, mission (why you exist). HOW = the way you do things differently (your process). WHAT = the product/service you sell. 👉 Most companies communicate outside-in (WHAT → HOW → WHY). But the most inspiring ones go inside-out: they start with WHY.
How it helps to craft your value proposition: - If you start with WHAT, you sound like everyone else (“We do videos / we do social media content”). - If you start with WHY, you connect emotionally and stand out (“We exist to help B2B companies grow smarter by leveraging social media presence”). - Then you show HOW you deliver that promise (your unique methods), and finally WHAT you actually offer (your services). So your value proposition becomes more powerful because it’s not just a description of your offer, it’s rooted in a way that resonates with your potential clients.
Your offer is what you sell (a product, service, course, …), but it is the outcome that you will bring through your value proposition that clients purchase.
Of course, the promise (the dream outcome) does not define your value alone.
Three other aspects take part in the perception of your value:
The value Equation
The value equation by Alex Hormozi, breaks down what makes a product or service valuable in 4 components: 1. Dream outcome: How will this improve my life 2. Perceived likelihood of achievement: How likely is this to happen? 3. Time delay: How long will this take? 4. Effort & sacrifice: How much work will this take?
If you’re having trouble crafting a concise value proposition, you can use the Steve Blank formula to distill it down:
The Steve Blank formula
At {{Company}}, we help X, do Y, by doing Z. Example: At Leadix, we help B2B companies fill their acquisition pipeline by introducing them to their next best clients.
Keep in mind that your proposal, as presented in your email, is not the entire meal.
It is the aroma from the kitchen that entices people to come eat.
Start with an aroma, then some appetizers, that is perfectly aligned with their current situation.
5 - Social Proof
Nobody wants to be the first one to be fooled. That’s why social proof is so important. On good landing pages, communication, marketing, and yes, most certainly in cold outreach.
If you already have experience in your prospect's field or industry, mention it.
If you have worked with well-known companies in the sector, name them.
If you have case studies to present, don't hesitate to share them.
Showcasing social proof will increase the perceived likelihood of achievement of your offer, which increases the overall perceived value
6 - Call to Action (CTA)
Your CTA is the last part of your email. It is what will push your lead to your desired action.
Your CTA should feel safe, simple, and specific. One clear next step. Zero friction.
A good CTA is a question that does not require brainpower.
If the rest of the message convinced, it should be the next logical step.
And your prospect should be able to answer by YES or NO. If it needs more than that, simplify it.
Rules of thumb:
- One ask only.
- Answered by YES or NO.
- No links unless requested (reduces friction and spam risk).
- Offer an out (“If not relevant, I’ll close my loop.”) → builds trust.
CTC is the New CTA
Most people think “CTA” means pushing for a meeting or demo directly. In some case you might. But for most cases, it will feel like too much, too early.
The real win in cold outreach isn’t closing a deal. It’s starting a conversation. Then, once your lead is qualified (when he is “hot” - aka interested) you book a meeting.
That’s why I like to say CTC (Call to Conversation) is the new CTA (Call to Action).
A Call to Conversation is about validating whether your prospect is facing the problem you solve, and if they’re open to exploring it further.
It feels safe, light, and human — instead of transactional.
How to phrase a CTC
❌ “Book 30 min in my calendar to discover our platform.”
❌ ”Do you have 15 min to discuss this further?”
After:
✅ “Is this also a {{problem}} you are currently facing?”
✅ “Should I share more?”
✅ “Happy to send a 2-min Loom with the approach, then you tell me if it’s worth discussing. What do you think?”
👉 A good CTC doesn’t push the meeting directly on a first contact.
It pulls the prospect into admitting: “Yes, that’s my problem” → and from there, the next step (call, demo, etc.) becomes natural.
Why you should never stop at the first email
You have now crafted the perfect email. You pressed send. And then…. nothing.
No reply.
Should you stop there ? Most people will. Precisely 81% of sales will stop after one email sent.
But you won’t. And here is why:
Most people assume that a lack of reply means a lack of interest.
Although the argument is coherent, in reality, the figures suggest that nothing could be further from the truth.
A lack of reply can also be that:
- Your email got lost in the crowd,
- Your email was received at the wrong time of day,
- Your email was read quickly,
- Your reader got interrupted by a disruptive element,
- Sometimes even, your email landed in SPAM (although Lemwarm will help you prevent that).
This is a client’s Lemlist campaign results - step by step:
In this particular case, we contacted 350 people with a highly targeted offer. While the first message got us 6 positive replies, the rest of the sequence enabled us to generate 14 more leads. That’s a 233% increase in results, just by adding 3 follow-ups.
While it is true that your probability to get a reply on the first email is higher than on the follow-ups, the number of leads generated by a single email will always be lower than by an email sequence.
But the thing is, most follow-ups are awful.
“Hey, have you seen my last email ?” - Nobody wants to reply to that.
The best way to craft qualitative follow-ups is to be sure to add value in every email you send.
While your first email will be an introduction and a “trailer” to your value offer, the follow-ups should be key elements of your USP (unique selling proposition) that you put forward.
Each follow-up email should add value to your exchange. And if you have no value left to give, then your sequence stops.
To do so, you can follow my Diamond Rule:
“Hey, have you seen my last email ?” - Nobody wants to reply to that.
The best way to craft qualitative follow-ups is to be sure to add value in every email you send.
While your first email will be an introduction and a “trailer” to your value offer, the follow-ups should be key elements of your USP (unique selling proposition) that you put forward.
Each follow-up email should add value to your exchange. And if you have no value left to give, then your sequence stops.
To do so, you can follow my Diamond Rule:
💎 The Follow-ups Diamond Rule
Your value offer - aka Unique Selling Proposition, can be seen as a diamond. Each facet represents a part of your value. Depending on the client in front of you, you will showcase different facets.
Those facets are the key value points that make you unique, and could convince prospects you are the right solution for their needs. Each of your follow-ups should detail one of those value points based on their importance for your target.
[Exercise] - craft your follow-up structure based on the diamond rule
Take a sheet of paper, write your company name in the center, then add around (in a mind-map format) all the value elements of your Unique Selling Proposition.
Try to be MECE - Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive, meaning, focus elements that will set you apart, and try to be as complete as possible, but avoid repetition or synonyms.
Work on it until you get down to 3 to 6 key value points. When looking at those elements, people should be able to recognize your company.
Once you have those, rank them from the most important to the least important for your specific target. Do not re-use those that have no value for your target.
Each of your follow-ups should detail 1 value element at a time.
That way, you add value in every message.
And never send a valueless follow-up.
Example: A sales tool specialized in pricing for Sales Leaders could have 3 Key values such as “Reducing sales inefficiency”, “Improving closing rate” and “Making it enjoyable”. They will then have a first follow-up presenting how the tool can help reduce sales inefficiency. Then a second one about how it also improves closing rates. And the last one will be about how enjoyable the entire sales process becomes. Et voilà.
With all that in mind. You’re now ready to craft your perfect sequence.
How to make your campaigns 10x more efficient
We established that a good copywriting is important, but will not sufficient alone. It should address the right person, at the right time.
The right person is the person for whom your solution has the most value.
The right time is when your target has the highest probability to be interested in your offer.
We call that a trigger.
Trigger-based outbound 🧲
A trigger is a publicly available information or event that tells you the moment is right to reach out. It also gives you a good reason to start the conversation.
A trigger can be at the company level:
- a company that was mentioned in the press,
- a company that closed a fundraising round,
- a company hiring for a specific job,
- a company hitting a milestone,
- …
Or at the person level:
- a recent new job in the company,
- a recent promotion in the company,
- participation in an event,
- content published,
- …
The number of people you can reach through a trigger based approach will be limited. But the efficiency of reaching out at the right time will make up for it.
[Exercise] - Build your own trigger list
Start by writing down your ideal client problem(s). Then map all key moments in the life of a company or career of a person where this arises.
For each moment, identify the publicly available information that best signals it.
Once your list is complete, score each item from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least probable and 5 being the most probable. Then, score them again from 1 to 5, this time from least to highest volume of leads. Finally, order your list by score.
The higher the score, the better the triggers.
Example: if you sell marketing tools or services to B2B companies, your triggers could look like: “hiring a marketer”, “New head of marketing in the company”, “Rebranding”, “New presence on a social platform”, “Fundraising”, “New technology used”, …
Don’t stop at emails - Go multichannel
When writing a cold emails, you are limiting yourself to one channel of communication.
While some people carefully read all their emails, most won’t.
They might be more LinkedIn or phone oriented.
That’s why crafting multichannel sequences will bring you more results.
Adding a channel to your outbound efforts will on average 1.5x to 2x your results per new channel.
Simply because as you add more touchpoints, people will notice you more.
Coordinating a multichannel approach is not always easy. Thankfully, Lemlist is the perfect tool to build efficient multichannel campaigns semi-automated.
Example of a simple multichannel approach in Lemlist
Here is an example of a multichannel outreach sequence to book meetings before a physical event.
You’ll quickly notice that playing with LinkedIn and email steps will open way more doors than email only.
Convey emotions, not just facts
Do you know what motivated your last purchase?
Chances are that you will give a logic answer: I needed it, it was a smart investment,…
But then why this brand and not the other one ? Tougher to explain with logic.
Chances are that you will give a logic answer: I needed it, it was a smart investment,…
But then why this brand and not the other one ? Tougher to explain with logic.
That’s normal. Logic does not make you buy. Emotions do.
Logic is a step that follows to rationalize your decision.
And this goes for most of your decisions (including taking a meeting with someone).
Our decision-making process can be represented by a Decision Hill, also known as the ELMR framework.
🤔 The Decision Hill - The ELMR Framework
The buying decision-making process always follows the same order: 1. Emotions 2. Logic 3. Motivation 4. Reward
It starts with emotion (the initial spark that grabs attention), then gets justified with logic (facts, features, ROI), fueled by motivation (urgency, trust, scarcity), and finally reinforced by the reward (the satisfaction of making the right choice).
In outbound marketing, this means you can’t lead with logic alone. If your message doesn’t first trigger an emotion — curiosity, relief, ambition — it will be ignored.
Emotion opens the door, logic puts your foot in it.
Tips & Tricks
👉 A touch of humor can go a long way. If your message makes them smile, you’ve already won. Reply rates will spike.
👉 A touch of humor can go a long way. If your message makes them smile, you’ve already won. Reply rates will spike.
Personalize key parts of your message
As important as targeting is, your message also needs to feel authentic.
This means it should feel specifically written for the reader.
A 1-to-1 conversation, not a 1-to-many.
That’s where personalization can make a big difference. Personalization is the idea of adapting small bits of your message to perfectly fit the reader.
You can start by using variables such as {{companyName}}, {{firstName}}, or {{lastName}}, but that’s only scratching the surface of the potential.
Personalization can go way further, showing you did your homework, and knowing who you are talking to.
AI can be your ally here, but don’t rely on it blindly. AI can automate a proven process, but won’t fix a broken one. It can help you do something faster that you used to do manually, but it won’t invent anything new.
My best advice: Never let AI write entire messages. Use it to craft only small parts of it, keeping the overall message on point, while adding some real personalisation where it matters. If you master it well, AI can replace basic variables and Spintax by allowing you to fully personalize one or two sentences in each message of your sequence.
But this can require a whole new playbook to properly cover it .. Maybe the next one ? 🤙
Don’t fall for templates - build your own
You may wonder why this playbook is not filled with winning Copy-Paste cold email templates.
The reason is quite straightforward: I don’t believe in templates.
Cold emailing is like any type of marketing. What worked yesterday won’t work tomorrow.
The key to achieving new results is innovation.
If something has worked well in the past, chances are, people have seen some version of it. Like ads on your smartphone, after a while you don’t even notice them. You develop what we call “ad blindness”.
Cold email works the same way. The moment people feel they’re reading something mass-produced, you’ve lost their attention.
This doesn’t mean you can’t find inspiration in a template. But always make it your own.
Change parts, move sentences, add context. Make it feel like a real talk.
That’s the key to generating tangible results.
Tips & tricks
👉 read your email out loud. If it sounds strange when you say it, it’s not done yet. Write it the way you would say it.
🎉 Congratulations!
You’ve made it to the end, and that’s no small feat.
By now, you’ve uncovered my best insights, principles, and tactics to craft outbound sequences that actually get replies and drive results.
But before you go, I want to leave you with one final gift.
I’ve said it before: I don’t believe in rigid templates. They make you sound like everyone else.
However, I also know how intimidating a blank page can be.
So here’s my solution: a starter framework.
Think of it as a launchpad: copy, paste, and adapt it to your audience, your offer, and your style.
Because the goal isn’t to copy me.
It’s to make it yours — and write cold emails that feel authentic, personal, and impossible to ignore.
Bonus: Your [copy-paste] starter cold email framework
I wish you a happy and efficient prospecting.
Good luck!
Morgann
Hi, I’m Morgann, CEO of Leadix. I share the pieces I wish I’d had when I started scaling acquisition without wasting time or budget, along with practical insights drawn from scaling acquisition for 100+ companies.
