How to Write a Great Cold Email Sequence (Tips & Templates)

Cold emails still work in 2025, and when done right, they can seriously grow your revenue. But sending just one email is barely going to move the needle. Instead, you need a cold email sequence: a series of emails that warm up a lead and get them interested in your offer.

But cold email outreach with just one email can be challenging as is. Writing an effective cold email sequence must be even more complex, right? Today, we’ll show you that the opposite is true and help you craft your own cold email sequence in just a few simple steps.

What is a cold email sequence?

A cold email sequence is a series of automated follow-up emails sent to a prospect who has not previously interacted with your business. The goal is to generate interest, start a conversation, or drive a specific action (e.g., booking a call, signing up for a trial, or purchasing).

To create a cold email campaign, you’ll want to use cold email sequence software rather than writing them manually.

Key elements of a cold email sequence

A cold email campaign or sequence can have many shapes and forms, depending on your end goal and your target audience. However, these are the most common elements you should consider including in your cold email outreach.

1. Initial outreach email:
   • Introduces who you are and the reason you’re reaching out.
   • Focuses on the prospect’s pain points or interests.
   • Includes a clear call to action (CTA).
2. Follow-up emails:
   • Sent at scheduled intervals if the prospect doesn’t respond.
   • Provides additional value, such as case studies, insights, or testimonials.
   • Uses different angles to re-engage the prospect.
3. Final touchpoint (breakup email):
   • Sent as a last attempt if there’s no response.
   • Often asks for feedback or signals that you won’t reach out again.

You could also create a re engagement email sequence if the first sequence didn’t perform as expected (e.g., low click through rates).

How to create a cold email sequence that drives results, step by step

Creating a successful cold email sequence that turns leads into paying customers is not rocket science. All it takes is good cold email software and a few steps you don’t want to omit. Let’s walk you through the process of creating a sales cold email sequence.

PS. Getting good cold email software is an excellent start.

Define your goal

Ask yourself: What do I want this cold email to achieve? Your goal shapes the entire sequence, whether it’s booking sales calls, generating leads, or getting a response.

For example, if you’re a SaaS company offering a project management tool, your goal might be to get product demos booked. If you’re an agency, you might be looking to schedule a discovery call. A vague goal like “get more business” won’t help. Instead, you need something clear and measurable.

A strong goal sounds like this:
✅ Get 10 demo bookings per month from cold outreach.
✅ Increase open rates to 40% by testing subject lines.
✅ Re-engage 15% of lost leads with a follow-up sequence.

Once your email sequence goal is locked in, every email should push the reader toward that outcome.

Identify your target audience

Cold emailing works best when your message is highly relevant to the recipient. That means defining who you’re contacting and why they should care.

Let’s say you sell a marketing automation tool. Your audience might be marketing managers at e-commerce brands making $1M+ annually. If you’re a freelance designer, your audience could be startup founders who need branding help.

To define your audience, ask:

• What industry are they in?
• What’s their job title?
• What specific problem do they struggle with?

If your audience is “anyone who needs marketing help,” you’ll sound generic. But if you focus on, for instance, “DTC brands struggling with email engagement,” you can craft messages that hit home.

Research and personalize

Nobody likes receiving a copy-paste email. Personalization gets higher replies because it shows you’ve done your homework.

Example: Instead of “Hi [First Name], I love what your company is doing!”, say:

🔥 “Hey Jake, I saw your recent LinkedIn post about scaling paid ads. It’s a challenge we help brands solve.”

Where to find personal details?

• LinkedIn: Check their recent posts, job title, or mutual connections.
• Company website: Look for case studies, blog posts, or news updates.
• Podcasts/interviews: If they’ve spoken publicly, reference something they’ve said.

Personalization shows why you’re reaching out to them specifically.

Craft a compelling subject line

Your subject line determines whether your email gets opened or ignored. It needs to spark curiosity or show immediate value, especially in the initial email.

❌ Bad: “Increase your sales with our tool” (too generic)
✅ Good: “[First Name], a quick idea for {Company Name}” (feels personal)
✅ Good: “How [Competitor’s Name] increased conversions by 30%” (creates FOMO)

Keep it under 8-10 words, avoid spammy words like “FREE” or “URGENT”, and test different variations to see what works best for your target audience.

Write an engaging email body

Your email should be short, conversational, and focused on the prospect and not you.

🚫 Don’t start with: “We’re XYZ Company, and we do ABC.”
✅ Instead, open with something relevant: “Saw that {Company Name} is hiring for a sales team. Scaling fast can be tough.”

The best cold emails follow this structure:

1. Hook (personalized opening)
2. Problem (acknowledge a challenge they face)
3. Solution (briefly explain how your product or service can help)
4. CTA (clear next step)

Example:

👉 “Hey Sarah, noticed {Company Name} recently raised funding. Congrats! Scaling a customer success team is tricky, especially keeping response times low. We help teams like {Competitor’s Name} automate 30% of their support tickets without hurting quality. Worth a quick 10-minute chat?”

No fluff, just value.

And if you need a detailed guide on creating a great cold email that’s a part of the email sequence, here are some actionable tips.

Plan your sequence structure

A single email won’t cut it, as most replies come after 2-5 follow up emails. Your cold email sequence should space out messages over 1-4 weeks, using a mix of angles that your target audience will find valuable.

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Example sequence:
1️⃣ Day 1: Initial email
2️⃣ Day 3: Follow-up with a new insight or case study
3️⃣ Day 7: Quick reminder with a question
4️⃣ Day 14: “Just checking if this is relevant”
5️⃣ Day 21: Final email (breakup email)

Each email should add value, not just repeat “Just following up.” Always use the same sender email accounts for one automated email sequence and one sales process.

 

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Include social proof and credibility

People trust people, not cold emails. Including proof of success builds confidence.

Instead of saying: “We help businesses improve conversions,” say:

✅ “Last month, we helped {Company Name} increase demo bookings by 42%.”
✅ “{Competitor’s Name} saw a 30% drop in churn after using our tool.”

Use:

• Client results (stats or testimonials)
• Big-name customers (if applicable)
• Press mentions (if relevant)

A simple “We work with teams like X and Y” adds trust. In fact, this is one of the most common elements in a cold email sequence template.

Use clear calls-to-action (CTAs)

The biggest cold email campaign mistake? Not asking for a clear next step. Your CTA should be specific, low-commitment, and easy to say yes to.

❌ Bad: “Let me know if you’re interested.” (Too vague)
✅ Good: “Would love to share a quick idea. Are you free for a 10-minute call next Tuesday?” (Easy to respond)

Other CTAs that work:
📅 “Can I send over a quick case study?”
📅 “Would love your thoughts. Do you mind if I send over a few insights?”
📅 “Open to a quick chat next week?”

Give one clear action, not multiple choices.

Test and optimize

Cold email isn’t one-and-done. You need to track what works and tweak what doesn’t. An effective cold email sequence may require many iterations before you find out what works for your target audience. A good move here is to use A/B testing.

A/B testing, also called split testing, is a method used to compare two different versions of an email to see which one performs better. Instead of relying on guesswork, you can send two variations of the same email to different audience segments and measure which one gets more opens, replies, or conversions. See our guide on how to carry out an A/B test.

Things to test:
✅ Different subject lines (which get the best open rates?)
✅ Email length (short vs. long)
✅ CTA wording (which gets more replies for your sales reps?)

For example, if your open rate is below 30%, your subject line may be weak and not address the audience’s major pain points. If people open but don’t reply, your email body needs work.

Monitor and iterate

Cold email is an ongoing process. The best campaigns analyze results and adjust based on what’s working.

Email sequence tools like Woodpecker help track replies and open rates. If Email A gets 5% replies and Email B gets 15%, you know what to improve and which previous email worked better.

Every month, ask:

• Which emails got the most responses?
• Which ones flopped?
• What’s one tweak I can test next?

The best cold emailers never stop refining and constantly chase the best engagement email sequence.

The most common email sequence mistakes marketers make

Even the best marketers make mistakes when crafting cold email sequences. A few missteps can mean the difference between getting a reply and being ignored. If you want to find out more about how (not) to do cold email, we have a detailed list of cold email statistics to check out.

In the meantime, here are some basic errors you should not allow yourself.

Sending emails that are too generic

Cold emails fail when they sound like they were blasted to thousands of people with no thought. If your email reads, “Hi, I wanted to introduce myself and my company,” it’s getting deleted.

Personalization isn’t just about adding a {First Name} tag. It’s showing you’ve done your research. Mention something specific about their company, reference a recent post, or tie your email to a challenge they likely face. For example:

✅ “Saw your team is hiring SDRs. Scaling outreach is tough. We help teams like [Competitor’s Name] book 2x more demos with less effort.”

A little effort makes a massive difference in response rates.

Using weak subject lines that don’t grab attention

If your subject line doesn’t stand out, your email won’t even get opened. The worst offenders are:

❌ “Quick question” (too vague)
❌ “Increase revenue by 200%” (sounds like spam)
❌ “Check this out” (offers no value)

Instead, make your subject intriguing, relevant, or personalized:

✅ “[First Name], a quick idea for {Company Name}”
✅ “{Competitor’s Name} improved conversions this way”
✅ “Is {Pain Point} still a challenge for your team?”

A/B test different subject lines and track which ones get the highest open rates.

Focusing too much on yourself

Your prospects might be more interested in solving their problems than learning about your company. Sad but true. If your email starts with, “We are [Company Name], and we specialize in XYZ,” you’ve already lost them.

Instead of making it all about you, shift the focus to them. A good structure is:

1. Acknowledge their pain point or goal
2. Briefly explain how you help
3. End with a simple, clear next step

For example:

🔥 “Hey [First Name], I saw [Company Name] is growing fast. A lot of teams at this stage struggle with [common challenge]. We helped [Similar Company] solve this. You think this is worth a quick chat?”

Make it about them, not you.

Following up too aggressively (or not enough)

Some marketers follow up too soon or too often, turning prospects off. Others send one email and give up, missing out on potential replies.

A solid cold email sequence should include 3-7 touchpoints spaced out over 1-4 weeks. A good follow-up schedule looks like:

• Day 1: Initial email
• Day 3: Follow-up with a new angle
• Day 7: Share a case study or insight
• Day 14: Short reminder
• Day 21: Breakup email

If someone hasn’t responded after 4-5 emails, move on. No one likes a desperate salesperson.

Not having a clear call to action (CTA)

If your email ends with, “Let me know what you think,” you’re making the reader do the work. A weak or vague CTA leads to no response.

Every email should have one clear action that’s easy to say yes to. For example:

✅ “Would love to share a quick idea. Are you free for 10 minutes this Thursday?”
✅ “Mind if I send over a short case study?”
✅ “Open to a quick chat next week?”

Make it specific, low-commitment, and easy to reply to.

Not testing and optimizing

If you’re sending cold emails but not tracking open and reply rates, you’re flying blind. The best email marketers test different approaches and tweak what’s not working.

Key metrics to track:
📌 Open rate (aim for 30%+) → If low, improve your subject lines.
📌 Reply rate (aim for 5-10%) → If low, make your email more relevant and conversational.
📌 Bounce rate (keep under 5%) → If high, clean your email list.

Use tools like Woodpecker to analyze performance and refine your approach.

Writing emails that are too long

If your cold email is more than 150 words, you’re probably saying too much.

Keep your message short and to the point. Your prospect should be able to skim it in under 10 seconds. Example:

🔥 “Hey [First Name], saw your company is scaling fast. Congrats! A lot of teams at this stage struggle with [Pain Point]. We helped [Similar Company] fix this and increase [Metric] by X%. Worth a quick 10-minute chat?”

Shorter emails get more responses. Cut the fluff.

Neglecting social proof and credibility

If your email lacks proof that you can deliver, prospects won’t trust you. Simply saying, “We help businesses improve their sales,” isn’t convincing.

Instead, show evidence of success:
✅ Case studies (“We helped [Competitor] increase conversions by 30%”)
✅ Well-known clients (“We work with teams at Stripe, Shopify, and Airbnb”)
✅ Testimonials (“John from XYZ said working with us was a game-changer”)

Adding credibility makes people take your offer seriously.

Giving up too soon

Cold email success takes time. Most replies come after multiple follow-ups. If you send two emails and quit, you might be leaving money on the table.

Even big companies ignore emails until the timing is right. If your offer is relevant, polite, and persistent (without being annoying), you’ll eventually land responses.

The key? Keep testing, refining, and improving. Cold outreach isn’t about luck, it’s about strategy.

Cold email sequence template: examples to copy and learn from

Looking to launch your next cold email campaign? Here are some examples you can use for inspiration. With a bit of tweaking, you can adjust them for your target audience.

1. SaaS sales outreach

Use case: Reaching out to potential B2B customers for a SaaS product.

Email 1: introduction & value proposition

Subject: [First Name], streamline [pain point] with [SaaS name]

Hi [First Name],

I noticed that [Company Name] is focused on [industry-specific challenge]. Many [industry] teams struggle with [pain point], and that’s exactly what [SaaS name] solves.

With [SaaS name], you can:
✅ [Benefit 1]
✅ [Benefit 2]
✅ [Benefit 3]

Would love to show you how it works. Does [specific date/time] work for a quick demo?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 2: follow-up with social proof

Subject: Helping [Company Name] [achieve goal]

Hi [First Name],

Just following up. Many [industry] leaders, including [Customer Name], use [SaaS name] to [achieve key result].

We recently helped [Case Study Company] reduce [problem] by [%], and I believe [Company Name] could see similar results.

Would a quick 10-minute chat make sense this week?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 3: last check-in

Subject: Should I close your file?

Hi [First Name],

I haven’t heard back, so I assume [solving pain point] isn’t a priority right now. No problem. I’ll close your file for now.

If you’d like to revisit this in the future, just reply, and I’ll be happy to help.

Best,
[Your Name]

2. Recruitment / headhunting

Use case: Engaging potential job candidates.

Email 1: opportunity introduction

Subject: [First Name], exciting opportunity at [Company Name]

Hi [First Name],

I came across your profile and was impressed by your experience in [skill/industry]. We’re hiring for a [Job Title] at [Company], and your background in [relevant experience] caught my attention.

This role offers:
📌 [Key benefit 1]
📌 [Key benefit 2]
📌 [Key benefit 3]

Would love to chat. Are you open to a quick call this week?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 2: follow-up with role details

Subject: [First Name], still open to new opportunities?

Hi [First Name],

Just checking in. This [Job Title] role at [Company] could be a great fit for you. We’re looking for someone with [specific skill set], and your experience at [Previous Company] is exactly what we need.

Let’s set up a time to chat. How’s [specific date/time]?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 3: last check-in

Subject: Final follow-up on [Job Title] opportunity

Hi [First Name],

I understand you may be busy, so I’ll keep this brief. If you’re still interested in exploring new opportunities, I’d love to connect. If now isn’t the right time, no worries. I’d be happy to stay in touch for future roles.

Let me know!

Best,
[Your Name]

3. E-commerce partnership outreach

Use case: Connecting with influencers or potential brand partners.

Email 1: collaboration inquiry

Subject: Let’s collaborate, [First Name]!

Hi [First Name],

I love your work with [Mention a past campaign or relevant content]. At [Brand Name], we’re looking for partners to help us showcase [Product].

We’d love to send you [Product Name] for free and collaborate on a campaign that benefits us both. Let’s discuss how we can make this work!

What do you think?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 2: follow-up with incentive

Subject: [First Name], let’s create something amazing together!

Hi [First Name],

Just following up. I’d love to collaborate and offer you [specific incentive]. Many of our partners have seen great engagement with their audiences using [Product Name].

Would you be open to a quick chat?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 3: final check-in

Subject: Last chance to collaborate with [Brand Name]!

Hi [First Name],

I won’t keep bugging you, but I wanted to check one last time. Would you be interested in trying [Product Name] and working together?

Let me know if you’d like to move forward!

Best,
[Your Name]

4. B2B lead generation for agencies

Use case: Reaching out to businesses for marketing or consulting services.

Email 1: problem-solution approach

Subject: [First Name], quick question about [pain point]

Hi [First Name],

I see that [Company Name] is in [industry], and I know many businesses in this space struggle with [specific challenge]. Our clients see [specific result] by working with us on [service].

Would you be open to a quick chat to see if we can help [Company Name] too?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 2: follow-up with case study

Subject: [First Name], results like these for [Company Name]?

Hi [First Name],

I wanted to share how we helped [Client Name] increase [metric] by [%]. If you’re facing similar challenges, we’d love to explore if we can do the same for you.

Can we set up a quick call this week?

Best,
[Your Name]

Email 3: final outreach

Subject: Should we close this out?

Hi [First Name],

I haven’t heard back, so I assume this isn’t a priority right now. I’ll leave the door open. If you’re ever interested in [solving pain point], just reply!

Best,
[Your Name]

Conclusion

A cold email sequence is one of the best tools to help you go from cold leads to satisfied customers. However, there are plenty of moving parts and things to get right. Hopefully, we’ve given you some glimpse of what it takes to create a cold email sequence that drives real results, such as increased revenue.

If you want to use cold sequences as an email marketing strategy, you need a reliable tool for the job, and at Woodpecker, we have everything in one place. Email verification, domain warmup, advanced sequence builder with workflows, automated follow-ups, detailed analytics… This is just a part of what Woodpecker offers.

Sign up for your free trial today.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cold email sequence?

A cold email sequence is a series of follow-up emails sent to a prospect to generate interest and start a conversation. It typically includes an initial outreach email and multiple follow-ups if there’s no response.

What is the 30/30/50 rule for cold emails?

The 30/30/50 rule suggests that 30% of success comes from targeting the right audience, 30% from crafting a compelling message, and 50% from effective follow-ups. This emphasizes the importance of persistence in cold outreach.

How do you structure a cold email?

A cold email should include a personalized introduction, a value-driven body, and a clear call to action. Keeping it short, relevant, and engaging increases the chances of a response.

How many emails should be in a cold email sequence?

A typical cold email sequence includes 3-7 emails spaced over one to four weeks. The exact number of emails in a follow up email sequence depends on the industry, audience, and response rates.