Cold Outreach Checklist

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Tailored to tech & startups. But can be applied elsewhere imho. Made for friends of Luke :)

🧑🏼‍🍳 Key Ingredient Checklist

Don’t let your subject line look like spam
Great hook to keep em reading
Clear ROI for them to take the action you want
Are all of the words you’re using absolutely necessary?
Credentialize yourself (stats, social proof, mutuals, etc)

📄 General Guidelines

  • Full length should fit on a smart phone.
  • Don’t trigger spam reflexes!
  • Best practices usually don’t help
    • Stuff often-said by others = triggers people's spam reflex
  • Put yourself in their shoes. Do it many times.
  • Use small batches (5-10 emails) until you find copy that really works, then turn on the jets.

🪄 Helpful Tricks

  • Get. Reps. In.
  • Add time pressure
  • Write 3 orthogonal emails. Re-read when your mind is clear. Pick the one that resonates the most.
    • ex: one over-indexed on shortness, another on social proof, another on casualness, etc etc
  • Know the metrics
    • Open rate = subject line performance / deliverability.
    • CTR = email copy
    • Action Rate = (CTR)*(open rate)*(product appeal)/(friction)
  • Mention something related but niche so they know you did your homework (ex: old blog post, one-liner in podcast, etc).

🔁 Feedback loops

  • Send it to yourself and check how it looks from mobile & desktop
  • Clarify the end action you want recipients to take
    • Ex: reply to email, buy the product, fill out the form, etc.
    • Open rates and CTR are leading indicators, BUT not what really matters. What matters is getting them to take the final action (ex: buy, sign up, etc). Judge yourself on that metric.
  • Before turning on the jets: ask if the CTR, open rate, & action rate sound intuitively good.
    • If yes, then fire away. If no, then keep iterating with batches.
    • General #s: open rate = 60-70%, CTR = 15%, Action = 5-10%

✅ Examples of Good Copy

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subject: folk - 2nd round
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subject: HubSpot + Sarah Ventures - quick question
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subject: Hi Don
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subject: Investing In Africa
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subject: NextWave

❌ Examples of Bad Copy

  • Honestly, just look at your spam folders and notice patterns at how similar everything is
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subject: Five Dimensions x Little Data
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subject: introducing a game-changing saas solution

💡 Extra: Running List of Other Ideas / Tips on Cold Outreach

  • The best cold emails are personalized. There is no one method that will work.
  • Use AIDA format: Attention, Interest, Desire, & Action.
  • Be helpful. Give, give, give. Don’t wait for a response to give.
    • Figure out what they want. What will make them look good.
  • Make it ridiculously easy for someone to respond
    • Do all possible intellectual work for them first. Be specific.
    • Have a low commitment ask.
  • Keep it short
    • Full length should fit on a smart phone.
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Make your words sing (vary sentence length)
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Tim Ferriss Email Tips
  • Introduce yourself, but only relevant points
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Other tips / tactics
  • If in tech, you can be casual.
  • Show your momentum / traction, show evidence why you’re the high growth young person everyone wants on their team
  • Say you’re a student (if you’re recruiting). Sales is about people, momentum, & stories.
  • 10 unique cold emails > 100 copy & pasted emails
  • NO FUCKING BULLSHIT COMMENTARY
  • Build the muscle. Cold message 3-5 ppl a day.
  • It’s a mentality. Just reach out to more people. Increase your surface area of luck.
    • Give with no expectation of anything in return
    • Know why you’re reaching out. What do you really want? Why?
    • Make it easy for people to help you too. Be specific
  • Follow up with helpful, concise resources. Email is just the start. Great relationships require a long-term mentality.

❤️ Extra Pt. 2 (because I love you)

Actionable Ideas / Specific Mentalities To Increase Your Surface Area of Luck