Cold email outreach, step by step (2026)

Step 0: check the legal basis

Before anything else, check whether you are allowed to email the people on your list. Rules vary by country and often cover business recipients: in Spain, article 21 of the LSSI requires prior request or express authorisation for promotional emails, and the law defines recipients as natural or legal persons. This is not legal advice.

Step 1: define your ideal customer

• Industry and company size
• Geography: countries, cities or regions
• Who decides: owner, managing director, head of marketing…
• The problem you solve and how you can tell from the outside that they have it

"Marketing agencies in Barcelona with 5–20 people" is far easier to write to well than "any company that might need marketing".

Step 2: build the list

• Relevant companies that actually fit your profile.
• Addresses you are allowed to use.
• Verified addresses if you send email: bounces hurt your domain. Note that OpenSells does not verify mailboxes; if you use its public emails, run them through a verifier first.

OpenSells finds businesses by industry and city from public Google Maps listings and each company's website, with the phone number when published and the email if it appears on the site.

Step 3: write the email

1. Subject: specific, short, never generic.
2. Opening line: something specific about their business.
3. Value proposition: one sentence — what problem you solve for companies like theirs.
4. Proof: a similar piece of work you can show.
5. One low-commitment ask.
6. Who you are and how to opt out.

Step 4: personalise with care

AI can read a company's website and suggest a draft, which saves most of the research time. Review every draft: AI can get details wrong or fall back to generic text when a website says little.

Step 5: follow up

One or two short, spaced follow-ups that add something new. Stop as soon as someone asks.

Step 6: protect your domain

• Follow Google's sender requirements: SPF/DKIM (and DMARC for bulk senders), spam rate below 0.3%, one-click unsubscribe for bulk marketing.
• Start with low volumes and increase gradually.
• Remove bounces and opt-outs immediately.

Step 7: measure

Replies, positive replies, meetings and deals per campaign. Opens are unreliable. See our measurement guide.

Consider the phone

If you sell to local businesses, a prepared phone call is often a more direct first contact than email. That is what OpenSells' AI call brief is for.

Try OpenSells free: first month of the Professional plan free, no card; then Professional €39/mo and Agency €89/mo including Spanish VAT (29 USD and 69 USD when paying from Latin America). See pricing and terms. Note that the app interface is currently in Spanish.