How to Fix Every Part of a Broken Cold Email Campaign

Episode Overview

In this episode of Cold Email Breakdown, George and Josh run through a long list of common cold email questions. Instead of diving deep into one topic, they cover everything from open rates and copy length to list hygiene and reply timing. It’s a full teardown of what to consider when building or troubleshooting your outreach system.

How Important is the Offer?

Josh emphasizes that the offer is one of the most important parts of any campaign, second only to your list quality. What you’re offering — and how clearly you present it — determines whether people engage.

Are Open Rates a Vanity Metric?

Josh views open rates as mostly vanity. They’re skewed by which provider you’re sending to (Office 365 machines often trigger false opens), and the data should only be used as a baseline or to compare subject line A/B tests.

How Many Emails Before You Know It’s Working?

You can’t measure success from 20 or 50 emails. Josh recommends:

• At least 500 sends per A/B test
  
• 1,000 sends for overall campaign assessment
  

This gives enough data to detect real trends, especially with low reply rates.

How Fast Should You Reply to Leads?

Replies should happen within 24 hours. Josh sets up auto-replies that respond within 60 minutes during business hours but avoids instant replies outside business hours to keep things human. The balance is to be responsive without looking robotic.

Google Workspace vs. Office 365

Josh notes that either platform can work well. However, if a Google mailbox is suspended, it silently fails and continues to act as if it’s sending. Office 365, on the other hand, blocks all sends, making it easier to detect problems. Josh prefers the clarity that Office provides when things go wrong.

Should You Use Social Proof?

Josh says yes, but only if it’s believable. Social proof should be verifiable and specific. Generic claims about results often sound fake unless backed by real data, case studies, or testimonials.

Single or Double Verification?

Josh generally uses single verification — but only with trusted tools that include threat detection, not just validity checks. His bounce rate rule:

• Live under 1% bounce rate
  
• Switch tools if you’re consistently over 3%
  

George notes that Email Chaser will soon launch double verification using two tools.

Best Practices for Subject Lines

Josh prefers short subject lines, ideally 5–7 words. Personalization with the recipient’s name or company tends to perform best. Mentioning recent activity like an article or update can also help grab attention.

When Should You Pause Due to Bounce Rate?

Josh recommends watching for these thresholds:

• Over 3% — monitor closely
  
• Over 5% — pause and investigate
  

Blips can happen, but recurring spikes often mean bad list segments or out-of-date hygiene.

Ideal Cold Email Length

Josh says keep it under 150 words — and ideally under 75. Even if the message is good, longer emails get ignored. The best results come from:

• Two-sentence emails
  
• Clear, direct writing
  
• No fluff or filler
  

How Many Emails in a Sequence?

Josh typically recommends 2–4 emails. Three is his sweet spot:

• Email 1 and 2: focused value
  
• Email 3: humorous or human closer
  

Anything past that usually wastes sending capacity. Better to reach more leads than chase the 1% of replies that might come from email four.

Spintax or No Spintax?

Yes to spintax — but strategically. Josh recommends:

• Using spintax for 50% of the email
  
• Avoiding spintax on the call to action (CTA)
  
• A/B testing CTAs directly instead
  
• Spintax for greetings, sentence phrasing, and signatures
  

The more variation in your sends, the better your inbox placement.

How to Write a Strong Call to Action

Josh avoids overly aggressive CTAs. Instead, he prefers short, reply-focused asks like:

• “Reply to this email for more info”
  
• “Let me know if you want details”
  
• “Open to chatting?”
  

Make it feel like a natural first step — not a sales trap. The goal is to start a conversation.

Wrap-Up

This episode is packed with clear, practical advice that’s easy to implement. If your campaigns aren’t working or you’re just getting started, Episode 20 offers a checklist of what to tune up across your copy, systems, and strategy.