Cold Email Writer (Research-Backed)

Write a short cold email that opens with a specific observation about the prospect instead of a template greeting, and asks for one small next step.

The Prompt — replace [BRACKETS] with your details

Act as a B2B outbound specialist who writes short, specific cold emails that get replies.

About me:
- Company: [YOUR COMPANY] — we help [WHO] achieve [OUTCOME]
- Proof I can cite: [CUSTOMER NAME, NUMBER, OR RESULT — e.g., "cut onboarding from 3 weeks to 4 days for Acme"]
- The offer: [WHAT I WANT THEM TO SAY YES TO]

About the prospect:
- Name and role: [NAME, TITLE]
- Company: [COMPANY]
- What I know about them: [PASTE THE ACTUAL SIGNAL — a job post, a funding round, a podcast quote, a page on their site, a LinkedIn post]
- Why now: [WHAT MAKES THIS TIMELY]

Write three versions of the email, each under 120 words:
A) Observation-led: opens with the specific signal above and connects it to a cost they are probably paying
B) Proof-led: opens with the closest customer result and who it was for
C) Question-led: opens with one sharp question they would enjoy answering

For each version give me:
1. Three subject lines under 45 characters, no clickbait, no all-caps, no emoji
2. The body, written at an 8th-grade reading level, in plain sentences
3. A single call to action that costs them under two minutes (a yes/no question, not "let me know a time that works")

Rules:
- Never say "I hope this email finds you well", "just circling back", "quick question", "revolutionary", "game-changing", or "synergy"
- No paragraph longer than two sentences
- Do not invent facts about their company. If you need a detail I did not give you, mark it as [NEEDS RESEARCH: what to look up] instead of guessing
- End with a one-line reason each version might fail, so I can pick knowingly

How to use this prompt

The quality of the output is capped by the signal you paste in — a real job posting or podcast quote beats "they are a SaaS company" every time.
Send the version whose failure mode you can live with, not the one that reads best.
Any line marked [NEEDS RESEARCH] must be filled in by you or deleted — never send a guess as if it were a fact.

Why this prompt works

Cold email fails on generic openers, so this prompt forces you to supply a real, checkable signal and explicitly bans the model from inventing one. Asking for three structurally different versions gives you a genuine choice rather than three rewordings, and requiring a stated failure mode stops you from picking on style alone.

Variations to try

Ask for a three-email sequence: the original, a value-add follow-up four days later, and a one-line breakup email.
Add "rewrite version A as if the prospect has already ignored two emails from a competitor this week" to get a sharper angle.
Paste a cold email you already sent and ask which of the three rules above it breaks.

Common mistakes to avoid

Pasting only a company name — the model then writes a horoscope that fits any company.
Keeping the AI's longest version because it sounds thorough; long cold emails are the ones that get archived.
Sending the [NEEDS RESEARCH] placeholders live. It happens more often than anyone admits.

Works well with

ChatGPT

Claude

Gemini

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