Cold Email for Agencies: The Complete Guide to Outreach

Cold email is a first email to a business that has never heard from you, sent to start a conversation. For an agency the work has four parts, in this order. Choose who gets it, find one true thing to say, set up sending, then follow up three times. In our own test the list moved replies more than the wording did.

This guide covers cold email outreach from the list to the last follow-up. Each part links to a deeper page.

What is cold email?

Cold email is email sent to a person or business with no earlier contact, written to open a business conversation. Cold emailing is the practice of doing that across a chosen list, usually as a short series of messages.

Three things separate it from spam. It goes to a business the sender chose. It says something specific to that business. It comes from a named person who answers replies.

Our short entry on what a cold email is has the definition with an example.

Does cold email still work?

Cold email still gets replies, at low rates. In our own test, businesses with weak websites were about 3.2 times more likely to reply positively than a random sample of the rest.

Start with the broad picture. Backlinko and Pitchbox studied 12 million outreach emails and found that 8.5% got a reply (Backlinko). That study dates from 2019 and covers outreach of all kinds, link requests included.

Our own test asked a narrower question. Does it matter who you email? We scored 20,000 Dutch company websites and took the 20% with the most problems as prospects. We then sent 3,570 emails over 5 working days to three groups.

Who received the email changed positive replies about 3.2 times. What the email said made no statistically significant difference. The gap between B and C had p = 0.238. The method is in our write-up of the test.

The limits matter. The test covered Dutch companies and email only. It did not include businesses with no website, and it says nothing about letters or LinkedIn.

Who should you send cold email to?

Send cold email to businesses where you can point to a public reason for writing. For an agency, that reason sits on the prospect's own website.

Most advice on B2B cold email is written for software companies that sell to departments inside other companies. Their salespeople have to guess at a "pain point". An agency can see it. A slow page, a form that fails on a phone or a homepage offer from three years ago is visible to anyone who looks.

A prospect is worth an email when three things are true.

1. One new customer is worth a lot to them. A roofer, a dentist or a law firm can justify a new website with a handful of new customers.
2. Their website shows a problem you can name in one sentence. Our list of nine signs a business needs a new website gives you the checks.
3. You can find the owner's name. An email to an info@ address with no name on it reads as a flyer.

Checking websites by hand is the slow part. An earlier campaign reached 1,382 companies. Reviewing each of those websites by hand would have taken about 184 hours, at about 8 minutes a site.

Leadodo is one of the tools built for this step. You search by industry, area and company size. Twip, the AI inside it, scores every website in the search out of 100 across 10 domains. Sites that score below 40 form the shortlist, and Twip's findings become the opening line of each letter and email.

For more ways to fill the list, see our guide to agency lead generation.

What do you need in place before you send?

You need a sending address that mailbox providers accept, and a daily volume low enough that every email is still true.

Google's email sender guidelines have applied since February 1, 2024 to everyone who sends to personal Gmail accounts, the ones that end in @gmail.com or @googlemail.com. Three of the rules matter on day one.

An agency that sends 30 first emails a day is far below the bulk line. The spam rate applies all the same. As plain arithmetic, 0.3% is 3 reports in every 1,000 emails.

Volume in our own test was modest. The 3,570 emails went out from 24 sending addresses over 5 working days, which works out to about 30 emails per address per day.

Our post on cold email deliverability covers the setup.

What goes in a cold email?

A cold email holds five lines, each with one job, in under 100 words.

Here is one that follows the pattern. The business and the sender are made up.

Subject: Ortega Auto Repair's winter tire offer

Hi Luis,

I looked at ortegaauto.example on my phone today. The homepage still leads with a winter tire special that ended in March 2023.

A new customer who sees an offer that old may wonder whether the shop is still open.

I build websites for repair shops in Dayton. Want me to send a sketch of the homepage with this month's hours and services at the top?

Jamie Lindqvist

That email is 69 words. Our guide on how to write a cold email takes each line in turn. For wording to copy, use our first-email templates and our list of subject lines.

How many emails should you send, and when?

Send three emails a few days apart, then stop.

In the 2019 Backlinko and Pitchbox study, one follow-up brought 65.8% more replies than a single email, and sequences of three or more messages did best (Backlinko).

The schedule below is the one your Outbound Machine runs in Leadodo. It has six steps over 19 working days.

The sequence stops for a business the moment it replies.

For emails 2 and 3, use our follow-up templates or the eight versions in follow-up email after no response. Our post on the sales cadence covers the 19 working days as a whole.

What do you do when a business replies?

Answer the same day, and stop every automated step for that business.

From the first reply on, a person writes every message.

Why send a letter before the first email?

A letter gives the first email something to point to.

An owner who has opened your letter reads "I posted you a letter last week" as a fact they can check. Without the letter, the same email is one more message from a stranger.

Fewer marketers use mail than use email. In the ANA's Response Rate Report 2021, 38% of respondents used direct mail and 82% used email. Letter-sized envelopes gave the best return on prospect lists, at 112% (ANA). The survey spans several industries, and the press release gives return on investment with no response rates.

In the Outbound Machine a posted letter in the US costs about 86 cents, for one page in black and white, sent First Class. That covers printing, postage and the envelope. Our email test says nothing about letters, so we make no claim about their reply rates. Our guide to direct mail for agencies explains what goes in the letter.

Is cold email legal?

In the United States cold email is legal when each message follows the CAN-SPAM Act. The Act makes no exception for B2B email, and each email that breaks it can carry a penalty of up to $53,088 (FTC).

The FTC's guide lists eight requirements.

1. No false or misleading header information.
2. No deceptive subject lines.
3. Identify the message as an ad.
4. Give a valid postal address.
5. Say how to opt out.
6. Subscribers and members can opt out too.
7. Honor opt-outs promptly, within 10 business days, and keep the opt-out working for at least 30 days after sending.
8. Monitor what others send for you.

Rules change at the border. Canada's anti-spam legislation asks businesses to obtain consent before sending commercial electronic messages (Government of Canada). Check the rules of the country you send to.

This is not legal advice. Our post on whether cold email is legal goes through the US rules.

How do you measure cold email?

Count positive replies per 100 emails sent, then calls booked, then clients won.

A positive reply is one that shows interest, such as "send it over" or "call me Thursday". An out-of-office message does not count.

Use our test figures to plan. Businesses with weak websites replied positively 2.35% of the time when the email named the problem. At that rate 200 emails give 4.7 positive replies, so expect 4 or 5. A random sample of the other websites replied positively at 0.50%, which gives 1 from the same 200. These figures come from one test on Dutch companies. Treat them as a planning range and nothing more.

A reply is the start of a sale. In the earlier campaign by It'sJustContent, emails to 1,382 Dutch companies brought 5 positive replies, 3 sales calls and 0 clients.

Cost belongs in the count too. Our whole test cost €242.25, which came to €5.15 per positive reply in the two selected groups.

What should you avoid in cold email?

Avoid these five mistakes. Most of them come from starting to send before the list is right.

• Starting with the sending tool. Warm-up and sequences matter after you know who you are writing to.
• A first line that fits any business. "I came across your website and was impressed" could go to 500 owners.
• A large ask. A 60-minute strategy session is a lot to give a stranger.
• No end. Three emails, then stop. A no ends the sequence on every channel.
• Email alone. Email is one channel of several. Our plan for cold outreach sets it next to the others.

Questions

How many cold emails should I send per day?

Send as many as you can make true. In our test each sending address carried about 30 emails a day, which is 3,570 emails divided by 24 addresses and 5 working days. If you write each first line by hand at about 8 minutes a site, 20 emails take about 2 hours 40 minutes.

What is a good reply rate for cold email?

No benchmark fits every list. In the 2019 Backlinko and Pitchbox study, 8.5% of outreach emails got any reply. In our own test, positive replies ranged from 0.50% for a random sample to 2.35% for weak websites when the email named the problem. A positive reply is a stricter measure than a reply.

What is the difference between cold email and email marketing?

Email marketing goes to people who signed up to hear from you, and every subscriber gets the same message. Cold email goes to a business you chose, one reader at a time, with a reason specific to that business.

What is the best day to send a cold email?

In the 2019 Backlinko and Pitchbox study, Wednesday was the best day by a small margin. A small margin is a weak reason to wait. Send on a weekday and spend the saved time on the list.

Can AI write cold emails?

AI is good at the research step. In our test, generating 1,190 problem descriptions cost about €5. Your name is on every email, so how much you read before it goes out is your choice. In Leadodo you can review every letter and message before it goes, review a sample such as the first 100, or let your Outbound Machine send without review.

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Next step. Your Outbound Machine runs the whole sequence, from the letter that arrives on day 1 to the last LinkedIn step on day 19, and stops for a business the moment it replies. See the Outbound Machine.