Why your cold emails are going straight to trash
and how to fix it
If you’re a founder pitching partners, a freelancer chasing clients, or just someone trying to break through the noise without a mutual connection to lean on — this is for you. As someone who’s sent more pitch emails than I can count (I was a PR gal in a past life), I know my way around an inbox. And it’s usually very simple things that make the difference between straight to trash and actually getting a response.
1. You are centring yourself
I’m not saying give no context to who you are and what you do. Context is everything. But we don’t need to start the email with a two-paragraph synopsis of your history.
Start with the reason you’re emailing. If it’s a partnership or collaboration, lead with what you can do for them. A problem they already feel. A result they want more of. Something in their day that gets easier when you show up.
Do your research. If it’s a specific person you’re wanting to connect with, tell them something you admire from their work. If it’s a partner, talk about a recent campaign or product you resonated with. Show that your outreach is curated and informed.
2. Your subject line is generic
“Partnership Opportunity”
“(Subject) X (Subject) Collab”
“Quick Chat?”
I don’t want to see it. A subject line is not the appetiser. It’s the gatekeeper. If it does nothing, your email never gets opened.
You don’t need to be loud or gimmicky (although sometimes I do love a lil pun). You need to be specific. A recent metric, a spark of relevance, a reference to something they just posted or shipped. Something that proves you were paying attention.
The subject line earns the click. The email body earns the response.
3. Your email is too long
No one wants to open their inbox to a wall of text. As cliche as it sounds, everyone is busy and has limited time, so get to the point.
I’ve seen people stack credentials, case studies, context, disclaimers, over-explanations. The only response this gets is you lose the person instantly or worse, you risk a “too long, I’ll read this later.” And we all know it will never get read later.
Short emails communicate confidence. They say: here’s the value, here’s why it matters, here’s what the next step is. One clear action. One path forward. The rest can unfold later
The real secret of good cold outreach? It feels like a continuation, not an intrusion. It shows you’ve done the work upfront. You’ve paid attention. You’ve made it easy to say yes.
Your job isn’t to be the loudest email they get today. It’s to be the most relevant one.
So before you hit send on your next cold outreach, ask yourself:
Did I make this about them, or about me?
Does my subject line prove I did the work?
Could I cut this in half and still say everything that matters?
If the answer to any of those is no — rewrite it.
Because when you do all of that, the inbox gets a lot less quiet.
Lots of love,
Remi xx