Cold Email Template
Dear {name},
I know you’re really busy and that you get a lot of emails so this will take only 60 seconds to read.
{Say who you are. 1 or 2 lines that establish credibility}
Thank you for all the amazing work you’ve put out there, it seriously changed my life.
{Ask a very specific question}.
I totally understand if you’re too busy to respond, but even a 1 or 2 line reply would really make my day
All the best,
{Name}
How To Write a Good Cold Email
The other day I was reading “The Third Door” by Alex Banayan and in the book he tried to meet up and interview the world’s most successful people, like Bill Gates, and ask them questions about their lives.
How is this relevant?
Well during one chapter he told a story about how he succeeded in getting an interview with Tim Ferris.
And in that chapter, Alex explained this cold email template he had learned from Tim Ferris.
So that’s where I yoinked it from.
A cold email means that the person who you’re sending it to doesn’t know who you are or what the hell you’re trying to achieve from sending that email.
So that’s what you need to tell him.
And apart from the template here are 5 tips on writing better cold emails:
1. Do a lot of research
Do a lot of research about the person you’re sending it to.
And I’m talking about serious investigation, not just looking up their myspace profile.
The best thing that you can do is talk in their language.
Make them think “Oh wow, they did some research on this”.
The worst thing that you can do is make it feel like it’s just another general spam email that someone copy-pasted to 100 contacts.
2. Don’t waste time
Don’t be that YouTuber that has 7 minutes of intro asking you to subscribe and then 3 minutes of actual content.
Within your email of course.
Tell them who you are, what do you want, and why you want it.
Keep it short and concise.
No one is going to read a 10-paragraph email about you and what you need. Make it short and show the person that you value their time.
It’s a lot more likely that someone will answer a short email because the shorter it is the more likely the person is to read what’s in it.
3. Try to find something you have in common with that person
Try to find something common between you and the person you’re sending the email to.
People bond over common interests, ambition and vulnerability a lot more than small talk. – Ali Abdaal
Finding something in common will make the email feel a lot more personal and warm making it more likely that the person responds.
4. Don’t use fancy language
Don’t use fancy language, make it sound like a human wrote the email (as hard as it may be these days).
You can use a website called the Hemingway app and paste your email text in there (it’s free).
It will find all the grammar and style mistakes and also give you suggestions about which words are best to use for the email.
5. It’s about them, not about you
Spend time talking about what they have done, not about what you need.
Because no one cares.
Don’t ask for big things.
It’s unlikely that a person who doesn’t know you and you haven’t met before will give you $300 randomly or mentor you for the next 3 years.
It’s even better if you write your cold email not expecting anything in return, just sending a compliment or something that that that person has done for you that you appreciate.
People subconsciously want to return the favor even if you don’t ask anything in return.
Putting good energy into the world without expecting anything in return will actually come back to you tenfold.
Thanks for reading 👋.