Cold Emailing: Full Guide with Tips for 2025

Have you ever received an email from a company offering its service, or maybe a recruiter reaching out to you about a job, or a new startup introducing its new product to you in your email?

Everyone often receives many emails—some from whom we know and some from other people we’ve never met.

These types of emails are called “cold emails”, and sending that cold email is called “cold emailing”. But how does it work? Let’s understand in this guide.

What Is Cold Emailing?

When someone sends an email to a random person they don’t even know each other, but the sender has a specific goal in mind, it is called cold emailing.

Cold emailing is usually used in some professional work settings like in sales and marketing, for job hunting, and also for networking.

For example, imagine you are a freelance content writer, and you want to get more work. So you might send an email to a company you have never spoken to before. That’s it, it would be a cold email.

This is kinda like a digital way of knocking on someone’s door to introduce your idea or yourself — without showing your face. 🤣

How Does Cold Emailing Work?

The goal is to catch the recipient’s interest, whether it’s to promote something, offer a service, or build a relationship.

People use cold emailing for many purposes, such as:

Business proposals: Have any product or service that could help someone? Don’t wait, send them a cold email. Businesses use cold email campaign to find new customers.

For example:

Networking: Want to meet someone or want to learn something from them? A simple cold outreach email can be used to introduce yourself.

For example:

Job Search: Need to find a new job due to the current toxic work environment? You might send a cold email to some company or an HR to solicit roles or freelance projects. Send a cold-email to new companies or HRs that you are open to working for them. Simple!

For example:

Marketing: When a company launches any new products, it writes cold emails and sends them to others because its main focus is to attract new customers.

For example:

How to Write a Cold Email

Well, writing a cold mail is not as hard as you think. All you need is a little bit of creativity.

Don’t have any creativity? Not to worry, follow these simple tips, and then see the magic, you’ll increase your chance of getting a response.

Let’s start!

1. Personalize your message

Most important tip: Don’t send any generic mail!!!! Take a minute and mention something personal about them, like their recent post, the project they are currently working on, or something specific related to their business.

Tip: If you are sending a cold email to someone, show them you’ve done your homework. Make it feel personal and thoughtful.

Example:

“Hii [Name], I just saw your recent post about [topic], and I really liked your insight on [specific point]. Thought I’d reach out because I think we might have an opportunity to work together.”

2. Keep it clear and straightforward

Nowadays people are not having enough time to read lengthy emails. So make sure your cold email is clear and straight to the point.

Let them know exactly why you are emailing them and what you are hoping from them.

In short, no fluff content!

Tip: Keep your cold outreach message short, simple, and clear. Just focus on the main points.

Example:

“I am [Your Name] and can help your company with [specific service]. I’d like to talk to you about how we might assist you in achieving [specific benefit].”

3. Offer something of value

This is where you really need to show how you can help them. Make sure that you are

highlighting the value in your cold email – whether it’s a service, a solution, or an opportunity to connect.

Tip: People are more likely to respond if they see that you are cold emailing them in order to help them in some way. Their needs have to be met.

Example:

“We just recently helped a company like yours increase their [specific goal] by 25%. I’d love to see if we can do the same for you.”

4. Be friendly and approachable.

Remember that the whole point of cold emailing is connecting, not necessarily selling. Maintain a friendly tone and be human. Nobody likes to feel as though they’re being sold at first.

Tip: Use a conversational tone. Keep it professional but approachable. People like a warm, personal touch to the writing.

Example:

“Hello [Name], I hope you’re doing well. I have been reading up on your work and believe we can make something excellent out of a potential collaboration opportunity.”

5. Follow up, but don’t overdo it.

Don’t worry if you don’t get any reply after your cold email. People get busy. It’s completely fine to send a friendly follow-up email but don’t be spammy.

Tip: Usually, you can get by with one or two follow-up emails. Brief and gentle with a reminder about the first email that you sent over.

Example:

“Hi [Name], just wanted to follow up in case my previous email got lost in your inbox. Would love to chat more about how we could work together!”

Bonus Tips (Just for you😗)

Perfect Timing:

Perfect timing matters a lot in many things, AND it matters here as well.

The best times to send cold emails: are Tuesday and Thursday.

Wednesday: Some reports indicate that people are more likely to act on emails received on Wednesdays.

Best times of day to send:

Don’t send it in;

Evenings and late night: People will generally be getting over with work hence the emails won’t be open.

Also, don’t send emails during the weekends.

Now you know what is the best time to send a cold email.

Subject Line Matters:

The first thing they will read is your subject line, so make it as catchy as possible yet to the point. The subject line can be the reason your email will get opened.

Examples:

“Quick Question About [Their Business]”

“How We Can Help You [Solve Problem]”

“Let’s Talk About [Specific Opportunity]”

Proofread:

Never miss out on spelling and grammar errors. A typo-free cold email makes you look more professional.

What to Avoid in Cold Emailing

Don’t spam: Avoid sending the exact same email to a lot of people without making it personal. Instead, simply use cold emailing tools to customize your messages for each person.

Be Clear About Why You’re Writing: People won’t understand what you want if your email is confusing. So tell them why you’re reaching out to them, and ask for something easy such as a reply or book a meeting with you.

Don’t Send Too Many Emails: Don’t just spam their inbox. Give them some time to reply before you send another email.

Think About Time Zones: Sending an email when someone is asleep isn’t helpful. Use cold email automation to send messages at a good time for them.

Don’t Be Pushy: If someone is not interested or not replying to your email, don’t force them. (Ignore them the way they ignored you😂) Just kidding. Stay polite and respectful.

Keep It Friendly: Don’t use fancy or stiff language. Write in a simple, natural way so your email feels genuine.

Advanced Cold Emailing Strategies

Audience Segmentation

Divide your audience into different groups based on their working industry, which job they are doing currently, or need. Now write emails that are specific to each group to make them more interesting and relevant.

Combine Cold Emailing with LinkedIn Outreach

After sending a cold email to a person, search for them on LinkedIn and send a connection request. Don’t forget to mention your email in your connection request to remind them. Sounds weird? But trust me, this will work. For example:

“Hi [Name], I sent you an email about [topic] and thought I’d connect here too. Looking forward to hearing from you!”

Subject Line A/B Testing:

Try to use different subject lines for each email and see which one gets the best response. Try to make them short, sweet, clear, and interesting. For example:

Option A: “Quick Question About Your [Problem]”

Option B: “How We Helped Businesses Like Yours Grow by 25%”

Now you know what is cold email and how does cold emailing work.

But what about the list of email IDs??

Do you have a bunch of email IDs for cold mailing?

If not, then don’t worry, all you need is ScrapeLead’s Email Extractor.

Our email extractor will pull all the email IDs from any website, no matter how complex it is.

But how?

Just enter the URL in ScrapeLead’s Email Extractor and it will automatically pull out emails from contact pages, blog posts, forums, or any other sections where emails might be listed.

This tool lets you create a strong lead list in just minutes without manually going through page after page of content.

If you want to expand your business, contact potential clients, or run a targeted campaign, ScrapeLead’s Email Extractor makes it easy and efficient.

Is Cold Emailing Illegal?

Who told you huh?? See

But that doesn’t mean you can do cold emailing as per your rule. You must have to follow legal regulations and maintain ethical practices:

Follow this checklist to stay compliant, avoid mistakes, and build trust with your audience!

Best Cold Outreach Tools

But don’t forget ScrapeLead’s Email Extractor – the best cold email outreach tool.

Wrap Up

In a nutshell, cold emailing does not have to be frightening at all! It is just personal, clear, and insightful. So whether you are looking for business, networking, or job opportunities, always remember the golden rule of being nice and respectful. Timing and personalization will do the trick and don’t worry about following up if it takes some time to hear back.

Now if you want to build your list of emails quickly and easily ScrapeLead offers an Email Extractor that gets you emails off any website within a couple of minutes and is a super way to create your lead list to send cold email campaigns!

Just keep practicing, stay consistent, and soon enough you’ll get the hang of it. So, go ahead and start sending those cold emails – you never know what connections you might make! 😊

Good luck, and happy emailing!