cold-outreach-sequence

Generate complete multi-touch outreach sequences. Not one email — a campaign where each touch has a different angle, a specific send day, and a clear job. Use the cold-email skill for single emails. Use this when one email isn't enough.

2026 baseline: average cold email reply rate is 3.43%. Signal-based multichannel sequences (email + LinkedIn) hit 15–25%. The gap is personalization and channels.

Before Writing Anything

Gather this — ask for anything missing:

1. Target — Role, company type, industry. Specific beats general.
2. Offer — What you're proposing. One sentence.
3. Credibility — Numbers, notable clients, specific results.
4. Goal — Meeting, demo, partnership, intro, advice?
5. Asset — Demo link, one-pager, case study, free tool? (goes in Touch 4)
6. Channel — Email-only or LinkedIn + email? (default: multichannel)
7. Prospect type — SMB (14–21 days, 4–5 touches) or Enterprise (45–60 days, 6–8 touches)?

Research Before Drafting

Five minutes of research before writing increases reply rates 3–5x over templates. Find a signal — something real that happened recently.

Tier 1 signals (18–25% reply rates when referenced):

• New job / role change in last 30 days
• Recent funding round
• Hiring surge in a relevant function
• Product launch or major announcement

Tier 2 signals (8–15% reply rates):

• Recent LinkedIn post about a problem your offer solves
• Company press mention or award
• Competitor move that creates urgency

Tier 3 signals (3–5% reply rates — only if nothing else exists):

• General industry trend
• LinkedIn activity (likes, comments)

Stacking two signals pushes reply rates to 25–40%. A Tier 1 + Tier 2 combo is the target.

Where to look:

• LinkedIn: recent post, new role, company milestone
• Their company blog or newsroom
• Crunchbase: recent funding
• Job postings: what they're hiring tells you what they're building
• Twitter/X: recent problem they've articulated

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The Two Sequence Structures

Multichannel SMB (5 touches, 14 days)

Touch	Day	Channel	Job	Max Length
1	1	LinkedIn	Connection request — no pitch	300 chars
2	3	LinkedIn	Engage — like or comment on a recent post	(no message)
3	4	Email	Signal-anchored opener + ask	60 words
4	8	Email	Give value, ask nothing	40 words
5	14	Email	Breakup	25 words

Email-Only (5 touches, 18 days)

Touch	Day	Job	Max Length
Email 1	1	Signal hook + credibility + ask	60 words
Email 2	3	Bump — no repitch	25 words
Email 3	7	Give value, ask nothing	40 words
Email 4	12	Social proof — specific result	45 words
Email 5	18	Breakup — clean exit	25 words

Gap logic: Widen gaps as the sequence progresses. Day 1 → 3 → 7 → 12 → 18. Fixed-interval sequences look automated.

Send time: Tuesday–Thursday, 9–11 AM prospect's timezone. Avoid Monday morning and Friday afternoon.

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The Rules That Don't Move

Subject lines:

• Touch 1 email: Short, specific. References the signal.
• All follow-ups: Re: [original subject] — stay in thread. Never break it.
• Never: "Following up", "Checking in", "Touching base", "Just wanted to"

Length:

• 50–75 words is the sweet spot for Email 1 (2026 benchmark data)
• Follow-ups: 25–40 words
• Breakup: under 25 words
• LinkedIn messages: under 300 characters

Tone escalation:

Touch	Tone
LinkedIn connection	Neutral — just get accepted
Email 1	Confident, signal-aware, specific ask
Email 2	Casual, zero pressure
Email 3/4	Generous — give something, ask nothing
Last email	Clean exit — door stays open

What each touch must NOT do:

• LinkedIn connection: Must not pitch. One sentence why you're connecting, or blank.
• Email 1: Must not be generic. Remove the name — does it fall apart? If not, rewrite.
• Email 2: Must not re-pitch. Just nudge.
• Value touch: Must not ask for a call or response. Only give.
• Social proof touch: Must not fabricate. Real clients and real numbers, or skip it.
• Breakup: Must not guilt-trip. Clean, warm, final.

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The Templates

LinkedIn Connection Request (Touch 1)

[Option A — with note]
Saw your post on [specific topic] — [one genuine reaction]. Thought it worth connecting.

[Option B — blank]
(No note. Your profile is the pitch.)

Email 1

Subject: [signal reference — their company + what happened]

Hey [Name],

[One sentence: the signal. Recent, specific, about them.]

[One sentence: what you do + strongest proof point.]

[One sentence: specific ask — "15 minutes this week?"]

[Name]

Email 2 (Day 3)

Subject: Re: [original subject]

Hey [Name],

Bumping this up.

[Name]

Email 3 — Value (Day 7)

Subject: Re: [original subject]

Hey [Name],

[One sentence: something genuinely useful for them — a resource, insight, or relevant result. No ask.]

[Name]

Email 4 — Social Proof (Day 12)

Subject: Re: [original subject]

Hey [Name],

[One sentence: specific client + specific result.] [One sentence: why that maps to their situation.]

Worth a quick call — [specific time ask].

[Name]

Email 5 — Breakup (Day 18)

Subject: Re: [original subject]

Hey [Name],

Last note. Completely understand if the timing's off — happy to revisit whenever it makes sense.

[Name]

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Workflow

1. Gather target, offer, credibility, goal, asset, channel, prospect type
2. Find one Tier 1 or Tier 2 signal — do not draft without it
3. Choose sequence structure (multichannel or email-only)
4. Draft all touches in order
5. Check every email: under 60 words?
6. Check Email 1: would it fail without the recipient's name?
7. Check each touch: does it have a distinct job from the others?
8. Label output with send days and channel

Verify

[ ] Signal found — Tier 1 or Tier 2, within last 60 days
[ ] Email 1 references the signal in sentence 1
[ ] Email 1 under 60 words
[ ] Follow-ups thread on same subject with "Re:"
[ ] Each touch has a distinct job — no repeated pitch
[ ] Value touch gives something, asks nothing
[ ] Social proof touch uses real numbers or is skipped
[ ] Breakup is clean — no guilt
[ ] Send days use widening gaps (not fixed intervals)
[ ] Send days fall Tue–Thu where possible
[ ] LinkedIn touches (if multichannel) are channel-appropriate — no pitch in connection request

See references/guide.md for complete SaaS and partnership sequences, subject-line tests, research hooks, send timing, and skip rules.