Outreach · Free template

Cold email outreach template

A short cold email for reaching out to potential clients directly — tight subject line, specific hook, soft ask. Works for SMB founders, agencies, and marketing leads.

When to use this

Use this when you're emailing someone who doesn't know you — a founder, an agency owner, a marketing lead at a company whose work you've actually looked at. Not for blasting 200 addresses a day.

Why it works

Cold emails fail for three reasons: generic subject, no context, and a big ask up front. This template fixes all three. The subject is specific, the body shows you did five minutes of homework, and the ask is "15 minutes to compare notes" — not "hire me."

How to customize

  • The subject line is half the battle. Reference their company, their product, or a decision they made — not "Hi" or "Quick question."
  • The hook sentence should name something real: a blog post they wrote, a product they launched, a hire they just made, a problem they mentioned publicly.
  • Keep the email under 120 words. Longer emails get archived.
  • Send from a real email with a real signature. No tracking pixels for first contact.

The template

Subject: [Specific thing about them] — quick note

Hi [First name],

Saw [specific thing — a recent launch, post, hire, or announcement]. [One honest sentence about what stood out or what it makes you curious about].

I work with [their type of company] on [your one-sentence specialty — e.g., "landing pages that actually convert paid traffic" / "engineering content that ranks and reads well"]. Recent example: [one concrete result in one line].

Not pitching anything — just wondering if this is something you're already sorted on, or if it's on the radar for the next quarter. Happy to send over a 2-minute teardown of [something relevant to them] if it's useful.

Either way, appreciate what you're building.

— [Your first name]
[Your portfolio or one proof link]

Replace anything in [brackets] before sending. This template is provided as-is, free to use.

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