Cold Outreach Email Writer for Claude
Write a short, specific cold email and two follow-ups that lead with the prospect's situation, make one clear ask, and avoid every phrase that gets outreach deleted.
Fill in the variables
Prompt
<role>
You are a B2B sales writer who has run outbound campaigns with measured reply rates. You know the emails that get answers are short, specific to the reader, and ask for one small thing.
</role>
<context>
What I sell: {{offer}}
Who I am writing to (role, company, anything I know about their situation): {{prospect}}
The trigger or reason I am reaching out now: {{trigger}}
Proof I can cite (customer, number, result — must be true): {{proof}}
The one thing I want them to do: {{ask}}
My name and company: {{sender}}
</context>
<constraints>
- First email: 60–90 words. Follow-ups: 40–60 words each.
- The first sentence must be about them (their trigger, their situation), never about me or my company.
- One ask per email, phrased as a question that can be answered with one word or a time.
- Banned: "I hope this finds you well", "quick question", "touching base", "circling back", "just following up", "synergy", "solution", "revolutionary", "I'd love to". No exclamation marks.
- No fake familiarity ("Hey Sarah!") and no flattery. Use the prospect's first name once, in the greeting only.
- Cite the proof once, with a number if I gave one. Do not add claims I did not provide.
- Subject lines: 2–5 words, lower case, no clickbait, no "re:" tricks.
</constraints>
<goals>
- Earn a reply, not a sale. The email should be easy to answer "yes", "no" or "not now".
- Sound like one person writing to another person.
</goals>
<instructions>
1. Write Email 1 with a subject line.
2. Write Follow-up 1 (send 3 days later): add one new piece of value (a short insight, example or resource), do not repeat the pitch.
3. Write Follow-up 2 (send 7 days after that): the "close the loop" email, giving them an easy out.
4. After the sequence, list the two assumptions you made about the prospect that I should verify before sending.
</instructions>
<output_format>
Three emails, each with "Subject:" and the body, separated by a line. Then "Verify before sending:" with two short lines.
</output_format>
Example input
What I sell: Ledgerly — bookkeeping software for agencies that bills clients from tracked time automatically, so invoices go out the day the month ends. Prospect: Daniel, co-founder of Northwind Studio, a 12-person design agency. Their careers page shows they just hired a second project manager. Trigger: the PM hire suggests they are growing past the point where the founders can chase invoices themselves. Proof: Bright Side Creative (9 people) cut the time from month-end to invoices sent from 11 days to 1, and got paid on average 9 days sooner. Ask: a 15-minute call next week Sender: Ada Kim, Ledgerly
Example output generated with Claude Sonnet 4.6 from the example input above
Subject: invoices at northwind
Daniel,
Hiring a second PM usually means the month-end invoice chase is about to land on someone's desk full time. At a 12-person studio that is often a founder's evenings.
Ledgerly turns tracked time into client invoices the day the month closes. Bright Side Creative, a nine-person agency, went from 11 days to one day between month-end and invoices sent, and got paid nine days sooner on average.
Would a 15-minute call next week be worth it to see whether it fits how Northwind bills?
Ada Kim, Ledgerly
---
Subject: one number from bright side
Daniel,
One detail from Bright Side that might be useful regardless of Ledgerly: they found a third of their late invoices were late because time had not been approved by the project lead yet, not because of the client. A weekly approval reminder fixed most of it.
Is invoice timing something you are looking at this quarter?
Ada
---
Subject: closing the loop
Daniel,
I will stop here so this does not turn into a drip campaign. If month-end billing ever becomes the bottleneck at Northwind, the Bright Side case study is a two-minute read and I am easy to find.
Is it fair to assume the timing is wrong for now?
Ada
Verify before sending:
- That Daniel is the founder who handles billing (the other co-founder may own finance).
- That the second PM hire is recent; if the posting is months old, drop the trigger sentence and open with the invoice-delay insight instead.
Why this works & how to customize
Why it works: reply rates in cold email track with three things, and the prompt enforces all three: the opening is about the reader, the ask is small and answerable, and the length stays under 90 words. The banned-phrase list removes the patterns spam filters and tired readers both recognize. The follow-ups add value instead of repeating the pitch, which is what separates a sequence from nagging.
How to customize: if you have no trigger, say so in that field ("no specific trigger") and the model opens with the insight instead; results are weaker, so find a trigger when you can. For a warm intro, add "mention that [name] suggested I reach out" to the ask field. For a different channel, change the word limits to 40/30/30 and the model's output works as LinkedIn messages. Always fill the proof field with something true; the email is only credible if the number is.
How to customize: if you have no trigger, say so in that field ("no specific trigger") and the model opens with the insight instead; results are weaker, so find a trigger when you can. For a warm intro, add "mention that [name] suggested I reach out" to the ask field. For a different channel, change the word limits to 40/30/30 and the model's output works as LinkedIn messages. Always fill the proof field with something true; the email is only credible if the number is.
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