6 cold email examples you’ll want to steal right now

All businesspeople get them.

They are usually bad to very bad (to awful).

Often they are automated.

They rarely include any customization or personalization.

Cold emails.

If I had a dollar for every terrible cold email I’ve received in my business career, well, let’s just say I would not be writing this article now.

But cold emails don’t have to suck. They don’t have to be deleted or unsubscribed from or marked as spam or replied with THIS IS SPAM TAKE ME OFF YOUR LIST IMMEDIATELY!

We’ve rounded up 6 of the most insanely-persuasive, guaranteed-to-rope-you-in, so-good-you’ll-want-to-steal-them emails. Examples that got replies, were shared on social media, and (many of them) ultimately helped book that ever-elusive booked meeting.

Cold emails so good you’ll want to steal them. In this case, you can.

Here are 6 of our favorite cold email examples.

Cold Email Example #1: It’s not about you (it’s about the prospect)

Let me tell you all about how great I … cough cough … my product is.

Feature dump. We do this. We are the best. Here are some of our logos. Read what our customers say about us. 

Blah blah blah. It’s like that Farside cartoon about what dog owners say and what the dog actually hears.

Once you start talking about yourself/your company and how amazing you are, your buyer tunes out. In email-speak, this means they deleted your email. Or worse, mark it as spam. Even worse? Your name/company name may leave a bad taste in their mouth. First impressions matter.

So Gong’s Sr. Account Executive, Madison, took the opposite approach in this incredible cold email to Kevin:

Lessons learned from Madison’s cold email: 

1. Leads by making the email about the buyer, NOT Gong and NOT Revenue Intelligence (the product)
2. “Go for No” pattern interrupt. (see #1 here)
3. Continues with more content about the buyer (ripped straight from his LinkedIn bio), followed by how Gong can help solve the problem … void of marketing/corp jargon and product features/pitches.
4. Wrapping with a non-threatening (warm) call to action — the Interest CTA! See more cold email stats here.

As Kevin Casey said in his full breakdown of Madison’s email, “Madison likely invested 5 minutes on LinkedIn to learn everything she needed to know about what makes me tick. And guess what? It felt special and genuine, and she then weaved that intel into the narrative that led back to her possible solution. It felt natural. It worked.”

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Cold Email Example #2: Take time to personalize

“A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” 

Dale Carnegie once said this. “Remembering names of customers, prospects, networking contacts, and colleagues,” said Mr. Carnegie, “ is critical to your ongoing professional success.”

You know what else matters?

• Including snowboarding in the subject line of your cold email (assuming the person you are sending to loves to snowboard). 
• Continuing to incorporate snowboarding (buyer’s personal interest) into the entire email — value prop and CTA

That’s precisely what this cold email example is about. Here is what the example did so well, according to the recipient: 

1. Used an “Irresistible subject line”: Shredding Pow = Shredding quarterly projections? It turns out Evan loves snowboarding. Wait. How did Madison know this personal fact? Hmmm … well … this is part of Evan’s LinkedIn bio: “In my spare time I enjoy traveling, snowboarding, and mountain biking.” That took all of 7 seconds to uncover.
2. Strong opening (hook): “As an avid snowboarding and sales leader, you know that unlike when you’re boarding, you can’t always tell when an avalanche has occurred in one of your reps’ calls/accounts.” Enough to keep him reading, right? Oh, and more snowboarding themes
3. Quickly establishes credibility and rapport: “And again, having just come from the Enterprise Account world myself, I know how important it is to ensure you aren’t blowing your only shot with these large-ticket accounts.” Madison demonstrates her understanding of what Evan does.
4. More snowboarding in value prop + CTA: “ … email outcomes so you can coach your reps when they wipeout … + “If so, would you be open to learning more about how we help inside sales leaders … shred their way to more closed deals?”

Not too shabby, huh?

Here is the full cold email: 

Did the email “work?” Yup. ​​Per Evan, he responded to her email, and a dialogue began (and continued, at least on LinkedIn.

Read Evan’s full breakdown of (yet another) awesome cold email example.

Need inspiration for your next cold email? Grab these 11 hyper-persuasive sales email templates. It’s as easy as copy-paste-win.

Cold Email Example #3: Leverage the Law of Reciprocity (and Piñatas)

In 1984, Dr. Robert Cialdini aka “The Godfather of Influence” wrote a book titled Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. This NY Times Best Seller, outlines 6 “Principles of Persuasion” … one of which is reciprocity.

As Dr. Cialdini says here, “Simply put, people are obliged to give back to others in the form of a behavior, gift, or service that they have received first.”

This is the Law of Reciprocity. 

According to Dr. Cialdini, the key is “to be the first to give and to ensure that what you give is personalized and unexpected.” 

Sam Hyatt, Enterprise SDR at Gong, nailed it in this cold email to (An)Drew Bickers:

Here is what Sam did with near perfection: 

1. HE SNAIL-MAILED DREW A PIÑATA! End of story. The Law of Reciprocity says “to be the first to give and to ensure that what you give is personalized and unexpected.” First to give? Check. Unexpected? Check.
2. Personalized the email: “I saw that you’ve been traveling recently, so I hope it found it’s way to the family at least … Even if the gesture is a bit corny – I hope you (or the girls) enjoy the candy :)” Sam did three things well here. First, he knew Drew had been traveling, called out the “corniness” of the gesture, and mentioned his girls. These specifics about Drew are readily available with a quick perusal on his LinkedIn profile. 
3. A creative approach: Sam wrote, “I thought I’d “take a swing” at catching your attention by sending a piñata …” He tied in the pinata to the copy — “take a swing.” Well done.
4. Did his homework: “I know you follow us on Linkedin, were targeted while at Actsoft, and Dean mentioned you had an idea of what we do.” Taking the time to learn about your prospect can pay huge dividends. 
5. Soft close: Instead of saying, “how about 5 PM on Friday?” Sam went with more of an interest CTA, “would you be open to setting aside some time next week?” Nice.

How did Sam reply? By posting this on LinkedIn, of course. Pink Pinata in hand one hand, candy in another. Oh, and all while blowing a bubble (from the bubble gum Sam sent):

Cold Email Example #4: Learn about your prospects

The previous few cold email examples have leaned in on the tactic of personalization. 

This one also falls into the personalization and “learn about your prospects” category, but it goes further than doing your basic LinkedIn research.

Alli sent a killer cold email that got the attention of its recipient.

Alli learned a bit about her prospect by looking at some of her TikTok posts. It was there Alli uncovered a tidbit that would catch Amanda’s attention. Amanda got a new dog, a Goldendoodle puppy named Raider, to be specific.

The cold email included a line, “since I too am a doggos, I hope you can appreciate this analogy I crafted for you.” She then proceeded to talk about what Gong services can do for Amanda using dog language. 

Wow. Next level, right?

(VP of Sales) Amanda’s advice: “Take the TIME to LEARN about your prospects before you reach out to them. You’ll be far more successful than just dumping them into a sequence and hoping something will stick.”

Read (and watch) Amanda share what made this cold email so great.

Cold Email Example #5: Send a personalized letter and caricature

Want to stand out?

How about doing what this cold email example did: Send a personalized letter and caricature to the prospect.

While sending a caricature may be out of left field (and out of your personal skillset), it is not for Mike. As his LinkedIn short bio says, “Sales* during the week, Cartoonist on the weekends” it would seem that Mike is kinda sorta good at this drawing stuff. 

Check out what Mike sent Morgan: 

Wait. How did Mike know about Morgan’s love for Minnesota football? His LinkedIn bio states, “Very few people have an appreciation for fat guys. But as a former Big10 offensive lineman, I have found that both my teammates and now my professional peers value my substantial presence for my ability to remove obstacles and drive execution. #ilovewinning.”

What Mike did certainly falls into both the personalization and Law of Reciprocity buckets. However, the TYPED, SNAIL-MAILED LETTER is a stand-out move. No email that may get deleted without being read, but an actual letter. In the mail. With a super-personalized caricature of his buyer.

Cold Email Example #6: Donuts, puns, and persistence win.

This example is similar to the previous one (personalized letter and caricature), but it’s more punny.

Wait for it. 

One of Gong’s Enterprise Sales Development reps, Zach, sent a personalized letter and a package of “frost your own” donuts to Casey… who also happens to be a “Mother of Dragons (i.e. 3 young, enthusiastic boys)”, a “lover of dogs,” and an “Orangetheory Fitness advocate & enthusiast.” 

Yeah, I did my own sleuthing on LinkedIn. 

Fun fact. Like Morgan, Casey is also a B1G alum (PSU), though she did not play O-line, not that I know of, at least.

Here is what Zach’s letter said: 

Donut want my message …

Solution sales leaders knead …

Punny. Very very punny, Zach.

But beyond a personalized letter (and puns) and the donuts, Zach also played the long game in his persistence. According to Casey’s very detailed summary of what Zach did to score a meeting, he “did his research. Without ever speaking to me directly, he followed the breadcrumbs in my LinkedIn profile, and he tapped into the thing I care MOST about in my life – my kids.

He didn’t send me an Amazon gift card. He didn’t pay Khaleesi to send me a scripted video via Cameo. He didn’t send me an OrangeTheory heartbeat monitor with his company’s logo on it.”

*Not sure what Casey was referencing by great white shark, Alfred Dean, and 1959? Neither was I. It turns out Dean caught a 2,664-pound great white shark in 1959, the heaviest recorded fish ever.

Casey’s parting advice? “… for all those prospecting ninjas out there, trying hard to break through to your future buyers – be persistent, be personable, be purposeful, be creative, be patient.”

Well said, Casey. We’re also adding it to our favorite sales email examples.

Try these hyper-persuasive cold outreach email examples

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