I remember when cold emailing actually got replies

Started my consulting business back in 2015 and cold emailing was my main way to get clients. I could send 50 emails and get maybe 10 replies with 3 or 4 real conversations. Fast forward to last year and I was lucky to get 1 reply out of 100. What changed? I think everyone started using the same templates and automation tools flooded inboxes. Now I focus on very specific personal touches, like mentioning a recent post they shared online. Has anyone else seen their cold outreach tank over the last 5 years?

3 comments

3 Comments

dianahayes26d ago

Yeah but here's the thing that gets me - when you mention a recent post they shared, how do you even find that stuff without spending hours digging around? I tried doing the whole personalization thing too but it felt like I was spending more time researching each person than actually sending emails. Was there some trick to making that part faster or did you just accept the time sink?

matthew16625d ago

Oh I hear you on that. What worked for me was keeping a little spreadsheet as I went. When I found something useful on someone's feed I would just copy the link and jot down a quick note next to their name. That way if I reached out again later I had something to reference without starting from scratch. Another tip is to focus on just one social platform and stick with it. LinkedIn for instance shows you their most recent activity right at the top of their profile so you can grab a comment about a post they made or a job change without scrolling much at all. It still takes some time but after a while you get faster at spotting the good stuff.

miles_garcia26d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, it's honestly not that bad if you set a time limit. I give myself 5 minutes per person max. I just scroll their LinkedIn feed for a few seconds, check their latest post or two, and grab something simple like "saw your article on X" or "noticed you're big into Y." You don't need to become their biographer, just show you did the bare minimum homework. Most people are flattered by anything, really.