Cold emails without spam
Lesson 15 of 31 in the course “Million Dollar Sales Course”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
Cold email: to whom and why
In the last lesson you wrote stories to people who gave you their email themselves. But sometimes you need to write to someone who has never heard of you: a creator, a podcaster, a future client. That’s a cold email. Robert Indries and Alex Berman, authors of the Cold Email Manifesto, built an agency on emails like this. They say one five-line email brought in $600,000 in annual revenue within 30 days, and their pitches to appear as a podcast guest got 30% positive replies. Berman even landed his first job with a cold email. But the authors have a strict rule: cold email is for big offers. Selling a $200 product to a stranger is pointless, they say. So Misha doesn’t send his $49 course to strangers. Cold, he offers editing to channels and collabs to creators, and he sells the course to people who subscribed on their own.
Law comes first
A cold email can easily turn into spam, and spam gets fined. The rules differ by country. In the US you can write without consent, but the subject must be honest, the email needs the sender’s real postal address and a way to opt out, and opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days. The Federal Trade Commission fine is up to $53,088 per email. In the EU and the UK, ads to private people need consent, and for companies it depends on the country: in Germany you need consent even to email businesses. In Canada you need consent, at least implied. In Russia the Advertising Law requires prior consent for email ads. Misha’s safe path: one personal email to a specific person with a business offer, sent to a work address they published for contact themselves, plus a clear “if it’s not for you, just say so.” This isn’t legal advice, so check your country’s rules before you send.
An email in 5 parts
Indries and Berman build every cold email from five parts. Subject: two to five words. Their champion is “Quick question”: with the right recipients, the authors say, it gets opened 80–90% of the time. Compliment: one sentence that shows you actually know the person. Case study: one sentence about a result you’ve already delivered for someone similar. A question that’s easy to answer “yes” or “no”. Signature: name, website and contacts, so it’s clear you’re a real person. The three middle parts do the heavy lifting: the compliment grabs attention, the case builds trust, the question leads to a call. The whole email is three sentences and takes 15 seconds to read. And remember the goal: not to sell in the email, but to get a reply and set up a conversation.
The first line is about them, not you
Busy people get dozens of emails from strangers every day. The first line decides whether they read on. The authors advise opening with a specific compliment: something the person recently made, said or released. They say an email like that works 10 times better than a template. Compare. “Love your content!” could be sent by a bot to anyone. “Hooked on your Tokyo video, the subway transition is fire” could only come from someone who actually watched. Two limits. One sentence is enough: long praise looks like sucking up. And don’t overdo it: videos, projects and posts are fine, but their home, family and private life are creepy, that’s stalking. The authors advise writing your first 100 lines like this by hand, no templates: that’s how you learn to notice what’s genuinely interesting about a person.
A one-line case and a yes-or-no ask
After the compliment comes the case. The formula: who you helped, what result, how fast. “Edited 12 Shorts for Anya’s travel channel, and in a month retention rose from 31% to 52%.” Every word does a job: a similar client, a number, a time frame. The authors point out that a stranger doesn’t need to like you, they need to trust you’ll deliver. So real numbers only. No case yet? First do 1–2 projects cheap or free for people you know, and ask permission to share the result. The last line is a yes-or-no question: “Want the same for your Shorts? Say so and I’ll send a couple of times for a call.” An open question like “What are your biggest problems with the channel?” makes people think, and they simply don’t reply.
No reply? That’s normal
Silence isn’t a “no” yet. The person may have been in a meeting, got distracted or simply forgot. So after the first email the authors run a chain: four emails max in total, all in the same thread, no new subject. After 3–4 days, a short “bump”: “I know you’re busy, bumping this up.” Then an email with a fresh result: “Just helped another channel hit 100,000 views.” And the last one, the breakup: “Looks like this isn’t a priority right now. If that changes, I’m around.” The authors write that the breakup email works more often than you’d expect: the person sees they’re not being pushed and replies calmly. The main rule: if someone answers “no” or “don’t email me”, stop right away and never write to them again.
Prep: domain, verification, pace
Remember lesson 12 on deliverability? Cold emails get more complaints, so prep matters even more. First: a separate domain. The authors advise sending not from your main address but from a similar one, like mishaedit.co instead of mishaedit.com. If you mess up, the backup domain lands in spam and the main one stays clean. Second: verify addresses. Without verification, the authors say, 30–40% of emails bounce and the inbox goes straight to spam. The goal is 8% bounces or fewer, so run addresses through an email verification service before sending. Third: pace. Warm up a new inbox for at least two weeks, then send 10 emails a day in week one and add a little at a time. The best time, in the authors’ experience, is Tuesday or Wednesday morning in the recipient’s time zone. Slow, but the address lasts for years.
Do it yourself: 10 emails you’re proud of
List 10 people or companies your offer truly helps: creators, channels, podcasts, shops. For each, find a work address they publish for contact themselves. Check your country’s rules. Write each one their own first line about their latest work. Put one case into one sentence: who, result, how fast. End with a yes-or-no question. Plan up to three follow-ups in the same thread, the last one a breakup. Send 2–3 emails a day and note who opened and who replied. Next lesson: how to split subscribers into groups and set up emails that send themselves.
Check yourself
- What do you tell Misha?
Correct answer: Don’t: ads to strangers without consent are often illegal. These are ads to private people without consent. That’s not allowed in the EU, UK, Canada or Russia, and per the authors a $49 course doesn’t sell cold anyway. Misha sells the course to people who subscribed themselves. - Which first line is best?
Correct answer: “Your Baikal video: that ice time-lapse is fire”. A specific detail from a recent video proves Misha actually watched. One sentence, about the work, no flattery. - What went wrong?
Correct answer: The addresses weren’t verified before sending. 34% bounces is right in the book’s 30–40% for unverified addresses. The goal is 8% or less, so addresses go through a verification service first. - What should he do next?
Correct answer: A short bump in the same thread, 4 emails max. Silence isn’t a no yet. After 3–4 days a short bump in the same thread, then a fresh result and a breakup email. If he says no, that’s a stop.