What is Cold Email? An Ultimate Guide for Beginners (2025)

Cold email — What is it? Does it still work in 2025? And is it really better than other outreach strategies?

If you’re looking for answers, you’re on the right blog!

I’ve been in outbound for over a decade — tested every tactic, made every mistake, and seen what actually drives results.

And here’s the truth: cold emailing still works.

In this guide, I’ll answer all your questions about cold emailing — and show you how to use it to get people genuinely interested in your offer.

And by the end, you’ll be ready to send your personalized cold email campaigns.

What is a Cold Email?

A cold email is a message you send to a person with whom you have no prior connection.

They don’t know you, and you don’t know them.

The purpose: To start a conversation that leads to something valuable — a sale, a partnership, a meeting, or even just a reply.

So, does cold emailing work in 2025?

Yes, it does, here a video of what you should be doing in 2025 to boost your lead generation with cold emailing.

If you prefer the reading experience, I’ve got you covered as well.

Check out my blog on “What’s Next in Cold Email? Key Trends and Strategies for 2025“

Cold Email Example

Let’s say you’ve created an online management course. 

You find a list of students who might benefit from it, but haven’t heard of you before.

You send them a cold email like this:

Cold Email Example

Subject:Take Your Management Skills to the Next Level 🚀
Hi {First Name},

I hope you're doing well! I came across your profile and thought you might be interested in my {{business details}}.

It’s designed to help (targeted group). You gain {{mention benefits}}.

I would love to share more details. How about a quick 1:1? Let me know if you’re interested!

Best,
{{Your Name}}

This is a cold email as you’re reaching out to someone who doesn’t know you yet, and the message is personalized, relevant, and valuable!

Although cold email is mainly used to find new prospects and close deals, it is not limited to it. 

It is also used for purposes like;

• Building a connection, networking, finding job/internship opportunities, and more. (detailed use cases mentioned here)

Cold Emailing Vs. Email Marketing: Aren’t They The Same?

There’s a big difference between the two.

A cold email is sent to someone you’ve never contacted before.

Email marketing, on the other hand, is sent only to people who’ve subscribed or opted in to receive your emails.

They know who you are and have interacted with you before. And they’ve agreed to hear from you.

So, cold emailing and email marketing aren’t one and the same.

A beginner mistake most people make is treating cold emails like marketing emails — long, flashy, and packed with info the recipient didn’t ask for.

Is it Legal to Send Cold Emails?

Yes, cold emailing is legal — as long as you follow the laws and regulations surrounding it.

In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act allows cold emailing, but you need to include things like a clear way to opt out and accurate sender information. 

In the EU, you have GDPR, which sets stricter standards.

You need to prove there’s a legitimate interest or get prior consent, especially for B2C outreach.

Respect privacy laws, keep it relevant, and always make it easy to unsubscribe.

This question about cold emailing being legal arises because many people confuse cold emailing with spamming!

Many also do not follow cold email best practices and end up spamming people. 

Because of that, ESPs (email service providers) have set strict rules to ensure no one tries to spam users. 

Don’t worry. If you just remember to follow the best practices, your emails will not land in the spam folder. 

What are Some of The Benefits of Cold Emailing in 2025?

If you do cold emailing correctly, the benefits can surprise you in 2025. Let me list a few of them for you. 

1. Scalability
2. Automation for Personalization
3. Highly Targeted Approach
4. Most Cost-Effective Lead Generation Channel
5. Can Be Opted by Small Teams As Well

1. Scalability

Cold emailing allows you to scale like no other lead generation strategy. 

Using secondary domains and doing proper email warmups, you can quickly scale and send up to 10,000 emails. (daily)

(Note: I advise sending up to 50 emails per day/email account to keep email deliverability intact.)

2. Automation for Personalization

Generic emails will not work in 2025, not the usual Hello {{first name}} for sure! 

But who has to personalize every email, right? That is where email personalization tools come in.

Yes, many tools today dynamically change content and update their intent based on user behavior. 

Advanced tools also use buyer intent to take personalization and relevancy to the next level. 

3. Highly Targeted Approach

You can segment your prospects based on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) before you start sending cold emails.

This way, you’ll be able to tailor your messaging to what actually matters to them — their role, industry, pain points, or goals.

That’s what makes cold emailing such a highly targeted and effective approach. 

4. Most Cost-Effective Lead Generation Channel

Unlike traditional marketing and sales methods, you do not need to spend much on advertisements or referrals in cold emailing. 

All you need is a valid email address and a well-crafted message. 

Also, Saleshandy’s basic plan starts at just $25/Month (billed annually). It offers a 7-day free trial. It’s a must-try!

5. Can Be Opted by Small Teams As Well

Lastly, cold emailing is also considered easy to adapt because of its low-cost, low-effort format.

Even the smallest team, with one person, can start doing this to generate leads using the automation and AI features available in the tools. 

What are the Various Use Cases of Cold Email?

Let me share how many places you can use cold emailing. The potential here is unlimited!

1. Lead Generation Purposes
2. Booking More Meetings
3. Networking & Partnerships
4. Link Building (SEO)
5. Hiring and Career Growth
6. Industry Wise Use Cases

1. Lead Generation

• Lead Generation Agencies
• Small Businesses
• Startups

Lead Generation Agencies

Getting new clients for an agency can feel like a non-stop battle, especially with so much competition. 

Use case: Cold emails give you a direct way to start conversations with businesses that might need your services but don’t even know you exist yet.

Lead Generation for Agencies

Subject:Helping {{Company Name}} Land More Clients
Hey {{First Name}},

I came across {{Company Name}} and was impressed by your work in [industry]. 

Many agencies struggle with consistent lead flow, and I believe we could help.

Would love to share how {{Company Name}} can attract more clients. 

Open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

Small Businesses

Small agencies don’t always have the luxury of big ad budgets or massive referral networks. 

Use case: Cold emailing makes it easy to reach potential clients without spending a fortune.

Using personalized outreach, small businesses can cost-effectively generate leads, introduce their solutions, and nurture prospects into long-term clients.

Lead Generation for Small Business

Subject:More Clients, Less Effort
Hi {{First Name}},

Growing a business takes time, and finding the right opportunities can be challenging. 

We’ve been working with businesses like {{Company Name}} to help them connect with ideal clients faster.

Should I send over a few ideas?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

Startups

Startups need to find businesses quickly.  They can’t afford to wait for leads to come in organically, which can be very slow. 

Use case: Here, cold emails can help you skip the waiting and get your product/service in front of the right people faster.

Startups

Subject:Scalable Growth for {{Company Name}}
Hey {{First Name}},

Startups need traction fast, and having a consistent flow of potential clients is key. 

We’ve helped companies in similar positions build scalable lead-generation strategies.

Would love to share some insights—open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

2. Book More Meetings

Getting people actually to show up for meetings is half the battle. 

Use case: Instead of chasing them down with calls or DMs, cold emailing gives you a simple way to schedule more meetings without being annoying.

A short, to-the-point email with a clear value prop makes it easy for prospects to say “yes” and lock in a time. 

No fluff, no hard sells, just a simple invite to chat.

Asking to Book a Sales Meeting

Subject:Helping {{CompanyName}} Achieve [Specific Goal]
Hi {{First Name}},

I came across {{Company Name}} and was impressed by {specific achievement or challenge they may face}. 

We’ve helped similar businesses achieve {specific results} and thought it might also be valuable for you.

Would you be available for a quick call to see if this is a fit? Let me know what works best for you.

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

3. Networking & Partnerships

• Business Partnerships 
• Networking

Business Partnerships

Cold emailing can also be used to establish partnerships with other businesses. 

Use case: It involves reaching out to potential partners and explaining how your company can benefit theirs.

How can you connect? You can email them a compelling offer that ultimately aims to close the deal. 

Business Partnerships

Subject:Exploring a Potential Partnership
Hey {{First Name}},

I came across {{Company Name}} and saw an opportunity for us to collaborate. 

Given our shared focus on {industry or goal}, I believe we could create something valuable together.

Would you love to explore this further in a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

Networking

Every business in every stage needs to network. 

Use case: Cold emailing isn’t just for sales; it’s a great way to connect with people with whom you might get business.

How to approach it? 

A casual, non-sales email can start conversations that lead to career growth, partnerships, or valuable insights from people who’ve been there and done that.

Networking

Subject:Connecting With Like-Minded Professionals
Hi {{First Name}},

I admire what you’re doing at {{Company Name}} and wanted to reach out. 

I’m always looking to connect with professionals in {industry} and share ideas.

Would you love to exchange insights? Are you open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

4. Link Building For SEO

Getting high-quality backlinks is tedious, but cold emails make it much more manageable. 

Use case: Instead of hoping for organic mentions, contact site owners directly and pitch a collaboration.

A short, friendly email highlighting mutual benefits can go a long way in securing links, boosting your SEO, and driving more traffic to your site.

Link Building

Subject:A Quick Win for {{Company Name}}
Hey {{First Name}},

I came across some of your content at {{Company Name}} and enjoyed it. 

I'm reaching out about a potential collaboration that could be mutually beneficial.

Would you be open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

5. Hiring & Career Growth

• Recruitment
• Freelancing
• Internship Application
• Job Application

Recruitment 

Finding great talent isn’t just about posting a job and hoping the right candidates apply. Sometimes, you must go to them. That’s where cold emails help.

A simple, personalized message can catch the attention of high-quality candidates, making hiring faster, easier, and way more targeted than sifting through random applications.

Hiring

Subject:Helping {{Company Name}} Find the Right Talent
Hi {{First Name}},

Hiring great talent is challenging, and I wanted to see if {{Company Name}} is looking for ways to connect with high-quality candidates more efficiently.

Would love to share some ideas. Open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

Freelancing

Freelancing involves reaching out to many potential clients daily. But as we know, freelancing gives you little time to do all these operations and sales tasks. 

Use case: Using a cold email automation system can help freelancers find new clients. 

Offering Freelancing Services

Subject:Helping {{Company Name}} with [Service You Offer]
Hey {{First Name}},

I noticed that {{Company Name}} is doing great work in [industry]. 

I specialize in [your service] and have worked with businesses like yours to {specific benefit}.

Would love to explore how I can support your team open to a quick chat? Let me know if you’d be interested.

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

Internship Applications

If you’re looking for an internship, waiting for job postings isn’t always the best move. 

A direct, well-written email can put you on a company’s radar—even if they weren’t actively hiring interns.

By showing enthusiasm and explaining why you’d be a great fit, you can land opportunities that others don’t even know exist.

Looking For Internships

Subject:Excited to Learn from {{Company Name}}
Hey {{First Name}},

I love the work {{Company Name}} is doing and would be thrilled to intern with your team. 

My background in {your skills] makes me a strong fit, and I’d love to contribute.

Would love to discuss—open to a quick chat?

Best,
{{Your Name}}

Job Application

Use case: Job seekers can use cold emails to introduce themselves to hiring managers, even if a job opening hasn’t been posted yet. 

A well-written email can showcase skills, express interest in the company, and create new career opportunities.

This proactive approach helps candidates stand out and increases the likelihood of securing an interview, especially in competitive industries.

Applying For a Job

Subject:Interested in Joining {{Company Name}}
Hi {{First Name}},

I came across the {job title} opening at {{Company Name}}, and I’d love to apply. 

My experience in {your expertise} aligns well, and I’m excited about the opportunity.

I would love to connect. Open to a quick chat?
Best,
 {{Your Name}}

6. Industry Wise Use Cases

• IT/SaaS
• SMM (social media marketing)

IT /SaaS

IT and SaaS companies often rely on cold emails to acquire new users and book product demos. 

Since these businesses operate in a highly competitive space, direct outreach helps them efficiently engage potential customers.

Use case: IT and SaaS companies can use cold emails to nurture prospects into paying customers by highlighting pain points and showcasing solutions.

Lead Generation for IT/SaaS Companies

Subject:Scaling {{Company Name}} More Efficiently
Hey {{First Name}},

Many businesses focus on improving efficiency to drive better results. 

We’ve worked with companies like {{Company Name}} to build consistent growth strategies.

Would love to share how this could fit into {{Company Name}}’s goals. Open to a quick chat?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

SMM (Social Media Marketing)

Social media marketing (SMM) companies need a steady flow of leads, and cold emailing is a great way to reach businesses that need their expertise. 

Many companies struggle with social media management but don’t actively seek help.

Use case: A well-crafted cold email can introduce SMM companies, demonstrate value, and encourage businesses to explore how social media marketing can improve their brand presence.

Lead Generation For SMM Companies

Subject:Helping {{Company Name}} Grow Faster
Hi {{First Name}},

Businesses like {{Company Name}} always seek ways to improve efficiency. 

We’ve been helping companies streamline their client acquisition process for better results.

Should I send over a few insights?

Best,
 {{Your Name}}

What is Cold Email Outreach, and How to do it Effectively?

“Cold email outreach is a strategic way of sending highly personalized emails to individuals or businesses to grab their interest in your product or service.”

Cold email outreach generates leads, builds brand awareness, and converts recipients into paying customers.

It is a simple 6-step process. Let’s break it down!

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience and Build an ICP

Start by researching and identifying your target audience. Cold emailing without considering prospects’ needs and interests will be ineffective.

By narrowing down your target audience, you can craft relevant and compelling emails to each person you want to connect with.

Once you have completed your research, you must create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). 

To create an ICP, based on what you’ve gathered from your research, create a list of key customer characteristics you’d like to see in your prospects. 

Some characteristics to consider may include:

1. Location
2. Budget
3. Department
4. Annual Revenue
5. Company size
6. Industry, etc.

Step 2: Build Your Lead List

“A lead list is a curated collection of potential customers aligned with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).“

It includes key details like name, email, designation, and more.

But where to find them? Well, there are 5 places from where you can buy leads.

1. Searching Web Manually: Best for niche targeting and accuracy, but is time-intensive.
2. Using Email Scrapping Tools: Automate email extraction from websites and social media using email extraction tools. 
3. Using LinkedIn Email Finder Extensions: LinkedIn has one of the biggest professional data collections on the web. 

4. Using Third-Party Tools: Tools like Saleshandy’s lead finder, which has a huge database of 700M+ professional profiles, are among the best available.
5. Buying From Third-Party List Providers: This is similar to the above point, but instead of tools, people/organizations with vast databases are available. 

Step 3: Account & Email Deliverability Setup

After your lead list is ready, choose your preferred cold emailing tool and start setting up your email account. 

I suggest Saleshandy as it is the best tool for advanced cold emailing that is AI-assisted. 

Its AI-assisted features, such as AI variants, AI bounce detection, and automation, make cold emailing easy without draining your wallet. 

While setting up your account, you must set up a proper email deliverability setup. 

This will ensure that your campaigns run smoothly and give you optimum results. 

A few things you can take care of while setting up your account for email deliverability are

• Checking if all the DNS records like DMARC, DKIM,  and SPF are verified.  
• Get a unique domain that suits your business and stands out from the competitors. 

• Make sure you warm up your domain and email accounts to save your domain reputation.  

Today, you don’t have to manually do warmups, as tools like Trulyinbox, which are made for email warm-ups, can ensure your emails are all set.

• Enable custom tracking in your tool to monitor important cold email metrics like click rates, engagement rates, or inbox placement rates. 

• Set your daily email sending limits to keep spam complaints under control. 

Step 4: Content Writing, Optimizing, and Personalizing 

Once your account is all set, it’s time to start writing the perfect cold email. 

There are many frameworks available to write a cold email. Let’s learn them quickly with this video. 

To write the perfect cold email, you need to understand how to write a perfect

1. Cold Email Subject Line

• It should be under 5 to 7 words, 
• Without any spammy words, 
• And exciting! (find 100+ cold email subject lines that are highly effective)

2. Perfect Preview Text

It should match or continue the intent of the subject line while keeping curiosity intact. 

3. Perfect Email Body Content

• Written with advanced personalizations in under 100 to 150 words. 
• Without spammy words. 
• With relevant and valuable content. 
• That solves the prospect’s pain point. 
• And has a clear CTA. 

Don’t know how to write multiple variants of your cold email? 

Saleshandy offers an AI content variant that creates variants of your content following cold email standards to help you A/B test your content without any additional effort. 

Step 5: Analyze & Track

After your email is launched, tracking and analyzing its performance is essential. 

What can you check? Metrics like,

1. Deliverability Rate

“Email Deliverability in cold emailing refers to the ability of your email(s) to reach the inbox of your ideal prospects and not in the spam or junk folder.”

Here are a few metrics that can help you to decide your email deliverability:

1. A 0-3% bounce rate is acceptable for your email deliverability.
2. Email service providers (ESPs) consider a delivery rate of 95% (or higher) good.
3. You risk losing your account if you’ve more than a 0.1% spam complaint rate. Take it very seriously!

2. Reply Rate

The reply rate refers to the percentage of total emails sent that receive a reply. 

Here is an example: If you sent 1,000 emails and got 100 replies, then your cold email reply rate is 10%.

Though no strong/accurate research or survey has been done in the past, according to some cold emailing experts, the average email reply rates are around ~10% of total emails sent.

3. Click-through rate (CTR)

“A CTR in cold emailing means a number of people who have taken action (be it scheduling a call or signing up for a product or service, etc.) based on the goal of that cold email.”

The average CTR for cold emailing is 2.3%. Though it may differ from industry to industry, this can be considered a benchmark when starting cold emailing.

Step 6: Optimize

With all those details, you can optimize your next cold email campaign. 

What can you optimize? Here are a few points. 

1. Timing: what time works best for your prospects?
2. Email Length: What length of emails do your prospects reply to the most?
3. CTA: What kind of CTA do your prospects react to quickly? 

Cold Emailing Best Practices to Achieve the Desired Outreach Goal

You can trust me that if you follow these best practices, you won’t struggle with email deliverability issues or legal penalties. 

1. Use Multiple Email Addresses
2. Make Sure Your Email List is Verified
3. Make Sure Your Email Accounts are Warmed Up
4. Send Follow-up Emails
5. Use Unsubscribe Links
6. Make Sure the Email Content is Under 100 – 150 Words
7. Always Add a CTA in The Cold Email
8. A/B Test Your Emails

1. Use Multiple Email Addresses

This means using secondary domains with your primary domain. 

It is always better to safeguard the sender reputation of your primary domain, as reverting it takes time once it is ruined. 

Under each secondary domain, you can buy multiple emails. This helps in running bigger campaigns efficiently. 

So, using secondary emails reduces the risk of your domain getting blacklisted. 

How? 

When you send the same emails using secondary emails, ESP takes it as separate actions. Hence, it won’t flag you as spam. 

2. Make Sure Your Email List is Verified

Email list verification is non-negotiable whether you get your leads manually or buy leads from a third party. 

These lists often contain outdated, inaccurate, or inactive emails. By verifying them, you can remove the ones that harm your campaign. 

3. Make Sure Your Email Accounts are Warmed Up

Everyone wants to scale quickly. 

But with properly warmed-up email accounts, the speed of scaling and the results of the efforts double. 

It’s like winning the trust of ESPs once you are not here to spam. After that, you can gradually increase the number of emails you send daily. 

It’s ok if you feel you are not well informed to do this all by yourself. You can utilize email warmup tools and leave the rest on them. 

4.  Send Follow-up Emails

You increase the chance email opens by ~30% when you send a follow-up email. 

A perfectly written follow-up email has often been more effective than the first email because of its value. 

With Saleshandy’s mobile app, you never reply late. With live notifications and scheduled replies, you never miss out on closing a deal!

5. Use Unsubscribe Links

Users should be free to decide whether they want to receive emails from you or not. That’s also the legal requirement. 

Even when you carefully prepare your lead list, some people might no longer want what you offer. 

So, giving an unsubscription link like the one shown below can clearly show ESPs that you don’t wish to spam anyone!

6. Make Sure the Email Content is Under 100 – 150 Words

Cold emails should be short and to the point. You don’t have to show creativity in them. 

You have limited time before the reader closes your email or marks it as spam to convince them you have a genuine solution to their problem. 

Hence, keep the word count under 100 to 150 words max. 

7. Always Add a CTA in The Cold Email

You have written the cold email with the purpose of making a sale. 

Even if you don’t pitch the service in the first email, it is important to direct them toward the next steps you want them to take. 

Make sure your CTA doesn’t ask for too much. 

It’s a cold email, and the prospect doesn’t really know you, so it would not make sense for them to make bold decisions just based on one email. 

Instead, go for a low-commitment CTA and slowly move towards making a decision. 

8. A/B Test Your Emails

Last but not least, keep testing your emails with different versions. This will help you understand what works for your prospects. 

Tools like Saleshandy allow you to A/B test your content (up to 26 variants) and do it all on automation. 

Want more detailed tips for perfecting cold emails? Check this: Cold email tips.

What are the Best Cold Email Tools?

There are many tools available for cold emailing today. But to save you the time for finding the best tool, I will suggest to you my top 3 picks. 

1. Saleshandy
2. Woodpecker
3. Smartlead

1) Saleshandy

Saleshandy is an AI-assisted, all-in-one cold email automation tool. It’s safe to say if you use Saleshandy, you will need little to no need to add integrations.

It has everything you need to run a successful cold email campaign and scale it in 2025. 

Why Saleshandy? 

• Complete Email Deliverability Toolkit – Includes account health checks for DNS records, blacklisting, and much more. (check here)

• Highly Personalized Content – Utilize merge tags, long texts, variable tags, and spintax.

• Saleshandy’s B2B Lead Finder – Access database of 700M+ B2B professional profiles. You can scrape up to 10,000 leads at once here.
• Powerful AI Features – Get AI variants, AI bounce detection, and AI reply categorization to save hours.
• Advanced Automation – Enable automated follow-ups & sender rotation.
• Unified Inbox – Manage all replies in one place for a seamless workflow.
• Intuitive Visual Reports – Easily track performance & make data-driven decisions.
• Mobile App – Receive live notifications & engage instantly. 

These are just a few; there are many more amazing features at a very reasonable price of $25/ month (billed annually). Check here for more pricing plans. 

Want to give it a try? Follow the below-mentioned steps. 

1. Sign up on Saleshandy. 
2. Create your account with easy-to-follow tutorials. 
3. Run a campaign and see the results after a week. (7 days free trial available)
4. Optimize and start closing deals!

2) Woodpecker

Woodpecker is another option for cold emailing. Using this, you can send automated emails. 

One of its live features is the users’ drip campaigns, making preparing email sequences easy based on the triggers set. 

However many users have mentioned that due to its limited database, it becomes challenging to scale. 

3) Smartlead

Smartlead is one of the best cold emailing tools that makes your outreach efforts easier.

A few of its loved features are dynamic IP rotation, email warm-ups, and decent cold email templates. 

But. Smartlead users commonly rant about paying too much for add-ons. 

In the end, if you want to pick just one to start, I would recommend Saleshandy due to its price effectiveness, user-friendly UI with guides and tutorials to learn how to use it quickly, and latest features. 

Cold Emailing In 2025: TL;DR

• Cold email is a message sent to someone you’ve never contacted before — with the goal of starting a conversation that leads to a sale, meeting, or opportunity.
• It’s not the same as email marketing. Cold email is outbound. Email marketing is inbound.
• Yes, it’s legal — just follow privacy laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, and include opt-out links.
• When done right, cold emailing is still one of the most scalable and cost-effective outreach methods in 2025.
• You can use it for lead generation, partnerships, hiring, link building, networking, and more.
• To get replies, your cold email must be personalized, relevant, under 150 words, and include a clear CTA.
• Use tools like Saleshandy to automate campaigns, warm up emails, track performance, and scale faster.

Bottom line? Cold email isn’t dead — bad cold emails are.

Do it right, and it’s still one of the fastest ways to get in front of the right people.

FAQs

1. What is a good cold email?

A good cold email is personalized, concise, and provides value to the recipient. 

It should have an exciting subject line that encourages opening the email. 

In the email body, it should clearly state who you are, why you’re reaching out, and what you’re asking for. The email should end with a clear call to action. 

2. Is cold email legal?

Yes, cold emailing is legal in many countries, including the US and Canada, as long as you follow specific regulations.

3. What is cold email outreach, and why is it important?

Cold email outreach involves sending highly personalized emails to individuals or businesses to pique their interest in your product or service.