Cold Email

Corey HainesCommunityCreated by Corey Haines

Skill
Workflow
Business and productivity
MIT
No issues found

From the author

Write and run B2B cold outbound that gets replies, from cold emails and follow-ups to sending setup, LinkedIn, multichannel cadences, and reply handling. Use when the user mentions "cold email," "cold outreach," "outbound," "prospecting email," "SDR emails," "follow-up sequence," "nobody's replying," "email deliverability," "sending domains," "warm up inboxes," "LinkedIn outreach," "connection request message," "multichannel sequence," "cadence," "cold call," "voicemail," "handle replies," "AI SDR," "teardown outreach," or "product-led outbound." Send from secondary domains, verify lists first, turn off open tracking, and stop every channel when a prospect replies. Copy avoids AI tells like 'it's not X, it's Y' reveals. For building the list and account research, see prospecting. For lifecycle email, see emails. For call scripts and sales collateral, see sales-enablement.

— the description by Corey Haines

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach to B2B cold outbound, focusing on human-centric communication that avoids common AI-generated pitfalls. It covers the entire lifecycle of an outbound campaign, including technical deliverability setup, writing principles, follow-up strategies, and reply handling. The goal is to move away from template-based sales pitches toward thoughtful, peer-level outreach that earns replies and meetings.

What it does

Guides the creation of conversational, peer-level cold emails that avoid robotic sales jargon.
Provides frameworks for structuring emails based on observations, insights, and value propositions.
Outlines technical requirements for deliverability, including secondary domains and mailbox warmup.
Defines strategies for multichannel sequences involving LinkedIn and email.
Offers guidance on managing and categorizing replies to ensure timely follow-up.
Includes benchmarks and data to help calibrate campaign performance and avoid common mistakes.

When to use it

When you need to initiate B2B cold outreach or prospecting campaigns.
When existing outbound efforts are failing to generate replies or meetings.
When you need to set up a new outbound infrastructure, including domains and mailboxes.
When you want to improve the quality and human tone of your sales copy.
When you need to integrate email with other channels like LinkedIn for a cohesive cadence.

Advantages

Reduces the likelihood of emails being flagged as spam by focusing on deliverability best practices.
Increases reply rates by emphasizing personalization and peer-to-peer communication.
Provides a clear, repeatable process for managing the entire outbound lifecycle.
Helps avoid common 'AI tells' that cause prospects to ignore or delete messages.
Encourages a data-driven approach by focusing on reply rates rather than vanity metrics like open rates.

Usage examples

“Write a cold email to a CTO at a Series B startup about our new cloud cost optimization tool, referencing their recent funding news.”: The agent generates a brief, conversational email that acknowledges the funding, highlights the specific challenge of cloud costs at their scale, and offers a low-friction CTA.
“My cold emails aren't getting replies. Can you review this sequence and suggest improvements?”: The agent analyzes the copy for 'AI tells' and length, suggests a more value-focused structure, and recommends a cadence that adds fresh proof points to each follow-up.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/coreyhaines31/cold-email/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip cold-email.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Corey Haines

Cold Email Writing

You are an expert in cold outbound. Your goal is to write emails that sound like they came from a sharp, thoughtful human — not a sales machine following a template — and to make sure they reach the inbox, work alongside the other channels, and turn replies into meetings.

Before Writing

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Understand the situation (ask if not provided):

Who are you writing to? — Role, company, why them specifically
What do you want? — The outcome (meeting, reply, intro, demo)
What's the value? — The specific problem you solve for people like them
What's your proof? — A result, case study, or credibility signal
Any research signals? — Funding, hiring, LinkedIn posts, company news, tech stack changes

Work with whatever the user gives you. If they have a strong signal and a clear value prop, that's enough to write. Don't block on missing inputs — use what you have and note what would make it stronger.

Writing Principles

Write like a peer, not a vendor

The email should read like it came from someone who understands their world and isn't trying to sell them something. Use contractions. Read it aloud. If it sounds like marketing copy, rewrite it.

Every sentence must earn its place

Cold email is ruthlessly short. If a sentence doesn't move the reader toward replying, cut it. The best cold emails feel like they could have been shorter, not longer.

Personalization must connect to the problem

If you remove the personalized opening and the email still makes sense, the personalization isn't working. The observation should naturally lead into why you're reaching out.

See personalization.md for the 4-level system and research signals.

Lead with their world, not yours

The reader should see their own situation reflected back. "You/your" should dominate over "I/we." Don't open with who you are or what your company does.

One ask, low friction

Interest-based CTAs ("Worth exploring?" / "Would this be useful?") beat meeting requests. One CTA per email. Make it easy to say yes with a one-line reply.

Voice & Tone

The target voice: A smart colleague who noticed something relevant and is sharing it. Conversational but not sloppy. Confident but not pushy.

Calibrate to the audience:

C-suite: ultra-brief, peer-level, understated
Mid-level: more specific value, slightly more detail
Technical: precise, no fluff, respect their intelligence

What it should NOT sound like:

A template with fields swapped in
A pitch deck compressed into paragraph form
A LinkedIn DM from someone you've never met
An AI-generated email (avoid the telltale patterns: "I hope this email finds you well," "I came across your profile," "leverage," "synergy," "best-in-class")

Structure

There's no single right structure. Choose a framework that fits the situation, or write freeform if the email flows naturally without one.

Common shapes that work:

Observation → Problem → Proof → Ask — You noticed X, which usually means Y challenge. We helped Z with that. Interested?
Question → Value → Ask — Struggling with X? We do Y. Company Z saw [result]. Worth a look?
Trigger → Insight → Ask — Congrats on X. That usually creates Y challenge. We've helped similar companies with that. Curious?
Story → Bridge → Ask — [Similar company] had [problem]. They [solved it this way]. Relevant to you?

For the full catalog of frameworks with examples, see frameworks.md.

Subject Lines

Short, boring, internal-looking. The subject line's only job is to get the email opened.

2-4 words, lowercase, no punctuation tricks
Should look like it came from a colleague ("reply rates," "hiring ops," "Q2 forecast")
No product pitches, no urgency, no emojis, no prospect's first name

See subject-lines.md for the full data.

Follow-Up Sequences

Each follow-up should add something new — a different angle, fresh proof, a useful resource. "Just checking in" gives the reader no reason to respond.

3-5 total emails, increasing gaps between them
Each email should stand alone (they may not have read the previous ones)
The breakup email is your last touch — honor it

See follow-up-sequences.md for cadence, angle rotation, and breakup email templates.

Before You Send

Copy only matters if it reaches the inbox. Before the first send:

Send from secondary domains, never your primary one, with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up and mailboxes warmed for 3–4 weeks.
Verify every list right before upload and keep bounces under 2%.
Turn off open and click tracking. Measure replies.
Include a plain-text opt-out line and your postal address in every email.

Domain and mailbox math, the Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft rules, monitoring, and stop-loss thresholds are in deliverability.md.

Beyond Email

Most outbound that works in 2026 runs on more than one channel:

LinkedIn: profile, limits, the engage-then-connect sequence, message copy, and the automation decision. See linkedin-outreach.md.
Cadence: how email, LinkedIn, calls, video, and ads fit together by tier, and the rule that a reply on any channel stops all of them. See multichannel-cadence.md. Call scripts are in the sales-enablement skill.
Plays: value-first teardowns for services, product-led outbound for self-serve SaaS, problem-led outbound with a free sample, and founder-led outreach. See outbound-plays.md.

When They Reply

Classify every reply (positive, information request, objection, not now, referral, out of office, unsubscribe), answer positive replies within minutes, and book with two proposed times plus a link. What an agent can handle alone and what needs a human is in reply-handling.md.

Quality Check

Before presenting, gut-check:

Does it sound like a human wrote it? (Read it aloud, and check for the AI tells below)
Would YOU reply to this if you received it?
Does every sentence serve the reader, not the sender?
Is the personalization connected to the problem?
Is there one clear, low-friction ask?

What to Avoid

Opening with "I hope this email finds you well" or "My name is X and I work at Y"
Jargon: "synergy," "leverage," "circle back," "best-in-class," "leading provider"
Feature dumps. One proof point beats ten features
AI tells, which prospects spot in the first line and delete:
- Contrast reveals ("It's not about X, it's about Y") and "no X, no Y, no Z" lists
- A claim followed by a comma and more restating clauses
- Self-answered questions ("The result? 40% more meetings.") and colon reveals. A real question you want them to answer is fine
- Stock phrases: "Here's the thing," "I'll be honest," "Quick question" as an opener, "Say goodbye to," "Unlock," "Take it to the next level"
- Em dashes
- For the full blacklist, use the copywriting skill's AI-tells reference
HTML, images, or multiple links
Fake "Re:" or "Fwd:" subject lines
Identical templates with only {{FirstName}} swapped
Asking for 30-minute calls in first touch
"Just checking in" follow-ups

Data & Benchmarks

The references contain performance data if you need to make informed choices:

benchmarks.md — Reply rates, conversion funnels, expert methods, common mistakes
deliverability.md — Sending domains, mailboxes, mailbox-provider rules, warmup, monitoring, stop-loss rules
linkedin-outreach.md — LinkedIn profile, limits, sequence, copy, automation risk
multichannel-cadence.md — Cadences by tier, cross-channel rules, calls, video, direct mail, ads
outbound-plays.md — Value-first teardown, product-led, problem-led, and founder-led plays
reply-handling.md — Reply types, speed, booking, early objections, agent permissions
personalization.md — 4-level personalization system, research signals
subject-lines.md — Subject line data and optimization
follow-up-sequences.md — Cadence, angles, breakup emails
frameworks.md — All copywriting frameworks with examples

Use this data to inform your writing — not as a checklist to satisfy.

Tool Integrations

For setup, see the tools registry, including its sales outbound quick start. Tools most used with this skill:

Job	Tools	Guides
Email sending and sequences	Instantly, lemlist, Outreach	instantly.md, lemlist.md, outreach.md
LinkedIn steps	HeyReach, lemlist (both carry LinkedIn terms-of-service risk)	heyreach.md
Verification before send	Truelist, Hunter	truelist.md, hunter.md
CRM and reply logging	HubSpot, Attio, Close	attio.md, close.md
Booking	Calendly, SavvyCal	calendly.md, savvycal.md

Instantly's webhooks (reply received, lead interested, bounced, unsubscribed) are the simplest way to drive the cross-channel stop and reply triage from an agent.

prospecting: For building and qualifying the prospect list, signals, enrichment, verification, and account research — the natural upstream step before cold-email
copywriting: For landing pages and web copy
emails: For lifecycle/nurture email sequences (not cold outreach)
social: For LinkedIn and social posts
product-marketing: For establishing foundational positioning
revops: For lead scoring, routing, pipeline management, and the outbound stage model
sales-enablement: For cold call scripts, voicemails, and deal-stage objections
marketing-loops: For running outbound on a schedule (signal sweeps, reply triage, domain health, sequence reviews)

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer881 B
LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
SKILL.md12.3 KiB
evals/evals.json10.2 KiB
references/benchmarks.md6.3 KiB
references/deliverability.md7.6 KiB
references/follow-up-sequences.md3.9 KiB
references/frameworks.md5.3 KiB
references/linkedin-outreach.md5.6 KiB
references/multichannel-cadence.md5.4 KiB
references/outbound-plays.md6.0 KiB
references/personalization.md5.1 KiB
references/reply-handling.md4.5 KiB
references/subject-lines.md2.9 KiB

references/linkedin-outreach.md

LinkedIn Outreach

LinkedIn is the second channel in most B2B outbound and the first for some audiences: people who ignore cold email often accept a relevant connection request. It also has the tightest limits and the highest account risk of any channel. This reference covers the profile, the limits, the sequence, the copy, and the automation decision.

Figures below come mostly from LinkedIn automation vendors' and agencies' own datasets (2025–26). Use them as ranges.

Fix the profile first

Every prospect who gets a request or a message looks at the sender's profile. Before outreach:

Headline says who you help and how.
About opens with the problem you solve, then proof.
Featured holds one case study, teardown, or resource a prospect would actually click.
Recent activity shows posts or thoughtful comments from the last few weeks. Accounts that post regularly see noticeably higher acceptance rates.
A real photo and a banner that reinforces what you do.

Limits

Action	Safe range
Connection requests	About 100 a week per account; 15–25 a day. New or low-activity accounts start at 20–30 a week
Messages to connections	Roughly 50–100 a day, spread out
Profile views	A few hundred a day at most
InMail	Limited by your Sales Navigator or Premium credits

Volume isn't the only thing LinkedIn looks at. In 2026 it also flags unusual behavior: activity from data-center IP addresses, identical timing between actions, and low acceptance rates. A 15% acceptance rate tells LinkedIn your requests are unwanted. Keep acceptance above about 25–30% by sending fewer, better-targeted requests.

Withdraw requests that are still pending after 2–3 weeks; a large pending pile counts against you.

The sequence

Warm up the account's visibility before asking for anything:

Day 1: view their profile, follow them, and react to or comment on a recent post (a real comment, not "Great post!").
Day 2–3: connection request. A note is optional (see below).
After acceptance: a short first message tied to why you connected. No pitch.
3–5 days later: a message with value: an insight, a resource, a relevant example.
5–7 days later: a light ask, or a voice note.

Stop at three messages without a reply. Vendor data shows replies falling sharply beyond that.

Run LinkedIn alongside email, not instead of it, and stop both the moment either gets a reply. See multichannel-cadence.md.

Copy

Connection request

Notes cut acceptance slightly but raise replies once accepted (one 2025 agency study: about 25% vs 28% acceptance, 8% vs 5% reply). Use a note when you have a specific, credible reason; skip it when you don't.
Under ~200 characters. The reason you're connecting, nothing else.
AI-written notes underperform human ones by a measurable margin in vendor data. Write these yourself, or edit hard.

Saw your post on moving pricing tests off the homepage. We've run a few of those for SaaS teams; would be good to connect.

First message after acceptance

150–200 characters performs best in vendor datasets.
Reference the reason you connected. Ask something easy to answer.

Thanks for connecting. Curious how you're deciding what to test first on the new pricing page. Is that sitting with you or with product?

Voice notes (mobile app only) stand out in a text inbox. Keep them under 45 seconds, say their name and the specific reason, and never read a script. Public data on voice notes is thin, so test them.

InMail suits senior people you can't reach any other way. It gets the same rules as cold email: short, specific, one ask.

Everything in the main cold-email skill about voice and AI tells applies here, even more strongly: LinkedIn messages sit next to the sender's face and name.

The automation decision

Every third-party LinkedIn automation tool violates LinkedIn's User Agreement. That includes cloud tools, browser extensions, and APIs that operate your account through its session. LinkedIn has escalated from restricting individual users to acting against vendors: it removed company pages for Apollo and Seamless in 2025 and HeyReach in March 2026, and sued scraping vendors.

Make the decision deliberately:

Option	Risk	When it fits
Manual (Sales Navigator, phone, a daily routine)	None beyond normal limits	Tier 1 accounts; founders; anyone whose personal profile is a business asset
Assisted (tools that queue tasks for a human to do, CRM reminders)	Low	Most teams
Automated (HeyReach, Expandi, La Growth Machine, Dripify, Waalaxy, Unipile-based tools)	Account restriction, and the vendor itself can disappear	High-volume Tier 3 programs, on profiles the business can afford to lose

If you automate:

Use only real profiles owned by the people they represent. Never rent or buy accounts.
Stay well under the limits above, with randomized timing.
Prefer tools with dedicated residential IPs per account.
Keep a plan for losing the tool overnight: export your data regularly.

For agents: HeyReach and Unipile expose APIs (and HeyReach an MCP), which makes them the most scriptable options. The terms-of-service risk is the same as any other automation.

Measure

Metric	Typical range (vendor data, 2025–26)
Acceptance rate	25–30% average; 30%+ for active, followed profiles
Reply rate to messages	7–10%

Track positive replies and meetings, the same as email. A high acceptance rate with no replies means the targeting is fine and the messages aren't.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by

Corey Haines

Publisher

Corey Haines (Community)

Source

coreyhaines31/marketingskills · skills/cold-email · commit 96798cf

Licence

MIT License (redistribution allowed)

LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)

Synced

2026-11-09

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Corey Haines or Corey Haines.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download cold-email.zip