Cold Email That Actually Works (We Sent 842 and Learned)

We sent 842 cold emails promoting our AI automation services. Here is what we learned.

The Setup

Fifteen emails per day, weekdays only. All sent from a warmed domain. Follow-ups on day 3 and day 7.

What Worked

Short subject lines. Three to five words outperformed everything longer.

Personalized first lines. One sentence of research made the difference between read and delete.

Specific offers. I can save you 10 hours a week outperformed vague pitches by 3x.

What Flopped

Long emails were deleted. Attachments were ignored. Hard sells got 0.5% conversion.

The Numbers

23% open rate, 4% reply rate, 2 meetings booked, 1 signed client. At $0 cost per email, the ROI is real.