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.
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.
Prove relevance
Show you’ve done your homework
Make it feel human, not automated
Think of it as the opening move in a conversation — not a pitch.
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:
Show awareness
Create curiosity
Invite engagement
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.
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.