Optimize · Cold Email Rewriting
Cut a Cold Email Down to 75 Words
Take your bloated 250-word cold email and cut it to 75 words without losing the proof, hook, or CTA.
foundermanagerrepBeginner⏱ ~10 min/email
When to use
Use when your email is over 150 words and reply rates have dropped. Most prospects read on mobile — anything over a screen height gets archived. Best when you've written a 'complete' email and need to ruthlessly trim it without losing the core pitch. Don't use this for nurture sequences where length signals depth.
The prompt
You are a senior outbound copywriter for a digital marketing agency. You've written cold emails that booked $2M+ in retainer revenue and you know the 75-word rule: anything longer gets archived on mobile before the CTA loads.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES]
Prospect: [PROSPECT_NAME] at [PROSPECT_COMPANY]
Current bloated email: [CURRENT_EMAIL]
What MUST survive the cut: [MUST_KEEP] (e.g., specific proof point, the CTA, the named-client reference)
Cut this email to 75 words or less (body only, not subject or sign-off). Keep everything in [MUST_KEEP]. Remove every word that doesn't move the prospect toward replying. If a sentence has 2 ideas, keep the stronger one. Don't summarize — rewrite.
- Hard cap: 75 words in the body
- Keep one specific CTA — no softening it ("open to a chat?" is banned)
- No "hope this finds you well", no "I'll keep this brief", no "quick question"
- No throat-clearing intro — line 1 must earn the read
- Keep concrete numbers and named clients; cut adjectives and intensifiers
- Reads like a peer, not a vendor
Subject line:
Email body (with word count at the end in brackets):
What I cut (bulleted list, 1 line each):Variables
- [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
- [SERVICES] — Core services
- [PROSPECT_NAME] — Prospect first name
- [PROSPECT_COMPANY] — Prospect company
- [CURRENT_EMAIL] — The bloated email you want cut
- [MUST_KEEP] — Non-negotiables — specific proof, the CTA, a named client, etc.
Example input
AGENCY_NAME: Northbound SERVICES: SEO for B2B SaaS PROSPECT_NAME: Marcus PROSPECT_COMPANY: Trelo CURRENT_EMAIL: Subject: Helping SaaS scale organic / Hi Marcus, I hope this email finds you well! I wanted to reach out because I've been following Trelo for a while and really admire what you're building. My agency, Northbound, specializes in SEO for B2B SaaS companies and we've helped over 30 clients grow their organic traffic significantly. We were recently able to help a similar SaaS, Loopflow, grow from 14k to 90k organic visits per month over 9 months by focusing on topical authority and rebuilding their /use-cases/ pages. We use a proprietary methodology that combines technical audits, content gap analysis, and link building. I'd love to set up a quick 30-minute call next week to discuss how we could potentially help Trelo. Are you available Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon? Looking forward to hearing from you! Best, Sam MUST_KEEP: Loopflow 14k to 90k in 9 months; the teardown CTA
Example output
Subject: 14k to 90k organic, 9 months Marcus — we grew Loopflow (similar stage to Trelo) from 14k to 90k organic visits/mo in 9 months. The lift came from rebuilding their /use-cases/ pages for topical depth, not new content. Trelo's /use-cases/ section looks like the exact same setup Loopflow had pre-rebuild. Want a 5-min teardown of where the biggest gains are? I'll send the doc whether or not you book a call. [73 words] Cuts: - 'hope this finds you well' / 'admire what you're building' — throat-clearing - '30+ clients grow significantly' — vague, kept the specific Loopflow number instead - 'proprietary methodology' paragraph — vendor-speak, no info - '30-min call Tuesday/Wednesday' — replaced with lower-friction teardown CTA
Pro tips
- Always paste the word count check back into the prompt — models often miss by 10-20 words on first pass.
- If you can't cut to 75 without losing meaning, your pitch has too many ideas. Pick one and run the prompt again.
- Subject lines under 6 words have ~30% higher open rates on mobile — let the prompt suggest shorter alts.
Works with
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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