AI prompt for writing a cold email

Written for Claude. Compiled as a marketing copy task — persuasive copy written to produce a specific action.

<role>
You are a direct-response copywriter who sells with specifics rather than adjectives.
</role>

<audience>
This is for {{recipient_role}} at {{company_type}}. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.
</audience>

<context>
Why this person specifically: {{why_them}}. What we can honestly claim: {{provable_claims}}.
</context>

<task>
Write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.
</task>

<constraints>
- No more than two sentences before the ask.
- Open with something about them, not about us.
- One ask, stated plainly.
- Every product claim must come from the provable claims listed above.
- Avoid i hope this email finds you well.
- Avoid quick question.
- Avoid circling back.
- Avoid revolutionary.
- Lead with a specific benefit stated concretely, not with an adjective or a superlative.
- Never invent statistics, testimonials, awards, customer counts, or product capabilities.
- No exclamation marks, no "unlock", no "revolutionary", no "game-changing", no "in today’s fast-paced world".
</constraints>

<output_format>
Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 110 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.
</output_format>

<success_criteria>
Before you finish, check the output against every item below and fix anything that fails.

- A recipient could decide yes or no without opening a second email.
</success_criteria>

Now, write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.

Open this in the prompt builder to add your own context and see what would improve it most.

What makes writing a cold email hard to prompt for

Cold email fails in the first two lines or not at all. The hard constraint is honesty: models invent customer counts and case studies to fill a persuasion-shaped gap, and an invented claim in an outbound email is a real liability.

Why this prompt works

Background comes before the instruction

The model reads the situation before it learns what to do with it, which stops the instruction being diluted by everything that follows. The task is then restated as the final line, where models weight it most heavily.

Rules a marketing copy task assumes but nobody writes down

Lead with a specific benefit stated concretely, not with an adjective or a superlative. Never invent statistics, testimonials, awards, customer counts, or product capabilities. These are added automatically because leaving them implicit is the most common reason this kind of output disappoints.

Success criteria the model checks itself against

Stating how the output will be judged gives the model something concrete to verify before it finishes. Prompts without criteria produce work that is plausible but incomplete, because nothing defined when it was done.

What to replace

Check the output before you use it

• Is every claim about your product traceable to something you actually supplied?
• Count the sentences before the ask. More than two is too many.
• Would the opening line survive if sent to a different company?

The same prompt for other models

Identical content, packaged the way each model reads most reliably.

## Role

You are a direct-response copywriter who sells with specifics rather than adjectives.

## Audience

This is for {{recipient_role}} at {{company_type}}. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.

## Context

Why this person specifically: {{why_them}}. What we can honestly claim: {{provable_claims}}.

## Task

Write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.

## Constraints

- No more than two sentences before the ask.
- Open with something about them, not about us.
- One ask, stated plainly.
- Every product claim must come from the provable claims listed above.
- Avoid i hope this email finds you well.
- Avoid quick question.
- Avoid circling back.
- Avoid revolutionary.
- Lead with a specific benefit stated concretely, not with an adjective or a superlative.
- Never invent statistics, testimonials, awards, customer counts, or product capabilities.
- No exclamation marks, no "unlock", no "revolutionary", no "game-changing", no "in today’s fast-paced world".

## Output format

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 110 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.

## Success criteria

Before you finish, check the output against every item below and fix anything that fails.

- A recipient could decide yes or no without opening a second email.

Now, write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.

**Task**

Write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.

**Role**

You are a direct-response copywriter who sells with specifics rather than adjectives.

**Audience**

This is for {{recipient_role}} at {{company_type}}. Pitch the level of detail, vocabulary, and assumed background at that reader specifically, not at a general audience.

**Context**

Why this person specifically: {{why_them}}. What we can honestly claim: {{provable_claims}}.

**Constraints**

- No more than two sentences before the ask.
- Open with something about them, not about us.
- One ask, stated plainly.
- Every product claim must come from the provable claims listed above.
- Avoid i hope this email finds you well.
- Avoid quick question.
- Avoid circling back.
- Avoid revolutionary.
- Lead with a specific benefit stated concretely, not with an adjective or a superlative.
- Never invent statistics, testimonials, awards, customer counts, or product capabilities.
- No exclamation marks, no "unlock", no "revolutionary", no "game-changing", no "in today’s fast-paced world".

**Output format**

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer. Length: 110 words. Treat this as a requirement, not a suggestion.

**Success criteria**

Before you finish, check the output against every item below and fix anything that fails.

- A recipient could decide yes or no without opening a second email.

Now, write a cold email to {{recipient_role}} about {{offer}}.