TL;DR: Your first sentence is either a hook — or a delete trigger.
Startups often obsess over tools, subject lines, and CTAs. But the first line of your cold email is the make-or-break moment. It determines whether you earn a reply… or a fast trip to the archive bin.
So let’s break it down — and help you write better cold emails starting today.
❌ Why Most Cold Emails Fail
Here’s the usual approach:
“Hi [First Name], I’m [Your Name] from [Company], and we help businesses like yours…”
Boring. Self-centered. And completely ignorable.
The problem? You’re starting with you — not them.
✅ What the First Line Should Do
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Prove relevance
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Show you’ve done your homework
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Make it feel human, not automated
Think of it as the opening move in a conversation — not a pitch.
🔍 Examples of High-Performing First Lines
Instead of:
“I wanted to reach out because we offer lead gen services…”
Try:
“Saw you recently expanded into the UK market — congrats! That’s usually when lead flow starts to hit a ceiling…”
Or:
“Noticed your team’s hiring for RevOps — curious if outbound’s part of the plan there?”
These lines:
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Show awareness
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Create curiosity
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Invite engagement
✏️ Comusult's First-Line Formula
At Comusult, we’ve tested thousands of cold emails. Here’s a simple format we teach our clients:
[Personal Observation] + [Relevance to Their Business] + [Soft Hook]
“Saw you just launched a product update — timing’s usually tight around those. Want me to show you how we help founders free up time with outbound?”
No fluff. Just context, empathy, and value.
🚀 Want Help Writing These?
We build full outbound campaigns for B2B teams — including the copy, the lists, and the systems to send at scale without sounding robotic.
📩 Need a teardown of your first line?
Send us your cold email — we’ll fix the opener for free.
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