Is Cold-Email Dead?

Raouf Lemouchi

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Cold-emailing has long been a staple of outbound sales, helping businesses reach potential customers directly, with low costs. However, with stricter email regulations, spam filters, and shifting buyer behaviors, many claim that cold-email is dead. But is it really? In this article, we explore the current state of cold-email outreach, what works today, and how to adapt to modern challenges.

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Why People Say Cold-Email is Dead

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Increased Spam Filtering & Deliverability Issues

Spam filters have become more advanced, blocking emails that seem too promotional or that lack personalization. Even legitimate outreach efforts sometimes end up in the spam folder.

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‍Instantly offers a Inbox Placement test, allowing you to evaluate how many of your emails end-up in the inbox.

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Declining Response Rates

Compared to 10 years ago, response rates for cold emails have dropped significantly. With inboxes flooded with marketing and sales pitches, recipients are less likely to open and engage with cold outreach. It has become harder than ever to generate interested answers.

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Regulatory Challenges (GDPR, CAN-SPAM, etc.)

Privacy laws have made it more challenging to send unsolicited emails. Failing to comply with regulations can lead to penalties and reputational damage.

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Google and Yahoo new regulations

In February 2024, Google and Yahoo implemented stricter requirements for bulk email senders, fundamentally altering cold email prospecting.

These changes include mandatory email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), one-click unsubscribe options, and maintaining spam complaint rates below 0.3%. Non-compliance can lead to domain-wide email suspensions. This marks the end of mass, generic cold outreach ("spray and pray" tactics).

Sales teams must now focus on targeted, personalized outreach, utilizing deep intent signals and AI tools to identify and engage prospects effectively.

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Why Cold-Email is Still Effective When Done Right

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Personalization & Relevance

Modern buyers expect hyper-personalized messages. Sales teams that research their prospects, reference specific pain points, and provide value in their first email still see solid response rates.

For personalization, you can use Clay or Tamtam. Those tools help you personalize your email at scale and even find relevant buying signals : Job offers, New Hires, Technology Used, Relevant News, Change in the Org Chart...

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Multichannel Integration

Cold-email works best when combined with LinkedIn outreach, calls, and social engagement. A well-structured sales cadence increases the chances of getting a response. But be careful, this comes at a price and volume is often not the goal of those campaigns. Since LinkedIn has limits in its outreach (invitations mainly), this limit your entire workflow.

The best tools to do multichannel outreach are : Lemlist, Emelia, LaGrowthMachine.

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Leveraging Data & AI for Better Targeting

AI-powered tools can analyze prospect data and suggest the best times and methods to contact them. This increases open rates and improves engagement.

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You can use Clay or Tamtam.

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Best Practices for Cold-Email in 2025

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Want to generate results like those 👇

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Cold-mail great results — Cold-email results.

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Tip	Description
Use a Strong, Personalized Subject Line	Avoid generic lines like “Quick Question” and instead reference something specific about the recipient.
Keep it Short & Value-Driven	No one wants to read a long email. Focus on what’s in it for them.
Follow Up Strategically	Don’t just send one email. A well-planned follow-up sequence increases reply rates.
Test & Optimize	Test different approaches, A/B test different subject lines, email formats, and CTAs to see what works best.

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Best Cold-Email tools in 2025

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Here are the top 3 tools you can use to launch your cold-email campaigns

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Conclusion

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Cold-email is not dead, but lazy, untargeted email blasts are. The spray and pray era has finally come to an end.

If you personalize your approach, combine it with other channels, and follow best practices, cold-email remains a powerful tool for generating leads and driving sales.