Cold Email: An unsolicited email to a prospect

A cold email is an outbound prospecting email to someone who hasn't engaged before, designed to start a conversation that leads to a meeting.

What is Cold Email?

Cold email reply rates in 2026 average 1–3% for generic outreach and 8–15% for tightly-personalised, ICP-fit messages. Subject lines and the first 60 characters of the preview text decide whether the email gets read at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a cold email be?: Under 100 words. Three short paragraphs at most. Reply rates drop sharply past 125 words.
What's a good cold email reply rate?: 1–3% for generic outreach. 8–15% for tightly-targeted ICP-fit messages with strong personalisation in the first line.