A cold email is a one-to-one email to someone who doesn't know you yet, about something relevant to their work: a service they might need, a partnership, an introduction. "Cold" means there was no earlier contact, as in a cold call.
Cold email and spam
The difference is relevance and respect. A good cold email goes to a person whose job makes it relevant, says who's writing and why, makes a small ask, and is easy to say no to. Spam is the same message sent to everyone, with no way out.
What a good one looks like
- Under 100 words, in plain text.
- A first line about them, not you.
- One clear reason you're writing and one question to answer.
- Followed up a few times, then stopped.
What it takes to run it
A verified lead list, sending domains separate from your main one, warmed-up mailboxes, a modest daily volume per mailbox and a way to handle replies. Laws differ by country: CAN-SPAM in the US, PECR and GDPR in the UK and EU, and CASL in Canada.