Prompt · Cold outreach
Cold pitch for a collaboration or swap
Get a yes-in-principle. The logistics are the next email.
- Email type
- Cold outreach
- Business
- Creator
- Tone
- Friendly
- Length
- 100-140 words
The cold outreach email prompt
Write a plain-text cold email to [WHO THEY ARE] proposing [WHAT YOU PROPOSE]. We have never spoken. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes. Rules: - 100 to 140 words. Four short paragraphs at most. - Open with [THE SPECIFIC THING] — a real detail from their work, in one sentence. Generic praise reads as a mail merge and is worse than no opener. - Put [WHAT THEY GET] before what I get. A collaboration email that leads with my side is a favour request wearing a partnership costume. - State the proposal in one clear sentence. No decks, no attachments, no phases. - Ask only for a yes in principle. The dates and the logistics belong in the next email, and asking for them now makes the reply expensive. - Do not describe our audience with adjectives. If a size or a figure matters, leave [XX] and I will fill it in. - Never invent a number, statistic, subscriber count or engagement rate. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX]. - No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case. Write a subject line under 45 characters that names the proposal rather than opening with a compliment. Return subject, body, sign-off.
What to fill in first
[WHO THEY ARE]- Name, and what they make. Specific enough that it could not be anyone else.
[THE SPECIFIC THING]- A particular piece of their work you actually engaged with. Not "love your newsletter".
[WHAT YOU PROPOSE]- The swap, guest slot or collaboration, in one sentence.
[WHAT THEY GET]- The value flowing to them. Lead with this. If you cannot name it, the pitch is not ready.
[XX]- Leave as written. The placeholder for a figure you supply, never one the model supplies.
When to send it
Once you have actually engaged with their work, not before. This email lives or dies on its first sentence, and there is no prompt that can manufacture a specific detail you do not have. Read three things first, then write it.
What to change first
[WHAT THEY GET]. Nearly every collaboration pitch is structured around the sender’s goal with the
recipient’s benefit tacked on at the end, and readers with an audience have seen a thousand of them.
Moving that one paragraph to the top changes the whole register from asking to offering.
What good output looks like
Subject: A swap for the October issue
Your piece on pricing by the hour has been stuck in my head for a month, mostly the part about quoting the number you are afraid of. I have quoted the safe number ever since and regretted it.
You would get a full issue to my list, written however you want it, plus the archive link. No approval process on my end.
In exchange I would write one for yours, on whatever you think your readers actually need.
Worth a yes in principle? Dates can wait until after.
The prompt writes the words. Bring them here and the studio builds the campaign — branded, dark-mode safe, and ready to import.
Generate your ownIn the studio
A model writes copy. It does not write email.
Production HTML that survives Outlook, dark mode and a Gmail clip is a different job from writing the words. Describe the send once and export it to Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign or MailerLite.