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Cold Email Isn’t Dead, But It Needs Resuscitating

Every week on LinkedIn, we hear:

“Cold email is dead!”
“Everyone’s inbox is a graveyard.”
“LinkedIn is the only channel that matters.”

But here’s the truth: cold email isn’t dead.

Bad cold email is.

At Succession, we’ve run thousands of cold email campaigns for life science teams selling into biotech and pharma. We’ve seen firsthand that when done well with strong infrastructure, targeting, and messaging, cold email is still one of the fastest, most scalable ways to get meetings.

This newsletter breaks down what we shared in our recent webinar (link above).

Deliverability: Don’t Skip It!

If your emails aren’t even making it to someone’s inbox, nothing else matters.

What’s hurting you:

• Sending from your main company domain (dangerous for your whole org)

• Tracking open rates

• Adding links, images, or signature banners in your first message

• High bounce rates from unvalidated emails

What to do:

• Use separate domains: Set up multiple separate domains like joinsuccession.bio or successionbio.com exclusively for cold outreach.

• No open tracking: Turn it off. It’s unreliable data (false positives and false negatives) and increases your chance of spam. More on that here.

• Plain text only: No links, no buttons, no logos, no Calendly links in your first email. Not even in your signature.

• Bounce rate under 3%: Use validation tools (NeverBounce, LeadMagic, Findymail) before you send.

If you’re setting up a new domain, warm it up for 2–3 weeks using warm-up tools that simulate real conversations to build sender reputation. Keep the warm-up running in the background even after launch to maintain it.

List Building: The List Is the Strategy

Writing a template, pulling a list, and pressing “Send All” might have worked 2-3 years ago, but it doesn’t anymore.

What good looks like:

• Start with a why: What’s your trigger? New hire? IND? Trial result? Cell type? New program?

• Get specific: “Scientists at 50–150 person companies focused on oncology who just announced Series B funding and are working with small molecules” is a strategy. You can now make your message SUPER specific to this audience.

• Score and prioritize: Use AI to score your list and rank your list. Send the first batch to your best-fit prospects. Positive replies early on in your campaign improve your domain reputation.

• Email Validation matters: A great message to a bounced email gets you nothing, and increases the odds Google/Outlook punish your domain.

Messaging: Them vs You

Nobody responds to a cold email that reads like a marketing blast.

Rarely will people want to “jump on a 30-minute call” with someone they don’t know.

Here are a few quick messaging tips (more in the slides above):

Subject line: 1–3 words. Make it look like an internal email. Avoid anything salesy like accelerate, enhance, improve, reduce, etc… Nobody actually writes like that when they’re emailing a colleague.

Body: Under 125 words. That’s what fits on one mobile screen. Solve a problem vs pitch your solution. If you're list is targeted, you know the problems they are facing that your solution can solve. Use the 4P email framework.

Make it about them: Count the I vs You phrasing. a 3:1 ration of them to you is what you should include.

Don’t use links, images, or attachments: This is self-explanatory…

Use a soft CTA: Make it easy for them to reply. Instead of asking for 30 minutes… “Would it make sense to share a short demo video?”, “Is this something you’re looking at this quarter?”, “Could I send over an application note?”

Personalization & Relevance:
Good: “Saw your team is working on T-cell editing, curious if you’re running into [problem].”
Bad: “Saw you just raised some money. Want to buy my stuff?”

Follow-Up: Be Persistent

No matter how good your first message is, many people will miss it, or ignore it.

Your job is to stay top of mind without being annoying.

Here’s what works:

• Minimum of 6 touches over 30 days (email + LinkedIn + other channels)

• Follow up within 10 minutes of any positive reply! They’re never going to be more interested than when they reply. Any delay, lowers your chance of actually booking that meeting.

• Respond to negative replies: “Thanks for letting me know, appreciate the reply either way.” - This sends a positive signal to Google and Outlook that there is back and forth communication happening with your emails.

• Provide value in follow ups by providing additional context to your first email in the form of data, content, insights, etc…

• If they respond and you respond and they don’t respond back, then keep following up! I see too many reps reply once, get ghosted, and never follow up again. Don’t be this person!

Questions from the Webinar

Q: Is Apollo good for contact data?
Decent for finding people. Terrible for validating emails. Always run Apollo emails through another validator.

Q: How soon should I follow up?
Depends on the message, but 1–3 days is standard. Wait longer if your second email changes angles.

Q: Do Boomers vs Gen Z need different messages?
Not really. But they may prefer different channels. Test phone, LinkedIn, and email to see what gets traction.

Q: What should personalization look like?
Tie it to their work, not their profile. Mention a trial, cell type, research theme, or hiring pattern that relates to what you solve.

Q: What’s email warm-up?
It’s the process of building reputation on a new domain before you go live. Use warm-up tools that simulate real email conversations for 2–3 weeks.

4 Things You Can Do Today

Want Us to Do It for You?

How many of you have pushed out your prospecting time block? 🙋‍♂️

I certainly have!

It’s the first thing that gets pushed when you get busy because it’s the thing you hate doing the most.

That’s just one of the many reasons we’re helping life science teams drive top of funnel through outbound.

We handle all the boring stuff and send hot leads your way so you can focus on closing!

Still want to do it yourself and learn the skills?

Join the waitlist for our upcoming prospecting course!

• Write messaging that breaks through the noise

• How to build high-quality targeted lists

• How to leverage AI (and not suck)

• Use LinkedIn to have leads come to you

• Build free automations to save you time

• Templates and resources to plug and play

• Everything else needed to be a prospecting machine!

1. Lead Generation: We’ll build target lists, write scientifically relevant messaging, and send messages on your behalf to book qualified sales meetings with biotech and pharma companies.

2. Training for Reps: A skill development platform for life science sales reps who want to improve their sales skills, exceed their quota, and take the next step in their career.

3. Training for Teams: If you want to upskill your team around prospecting, driving to close, key account management, AI, or any other topic, we can put together a training plan specific to your organization’s needs.

4. Strategy Call: Need more than training? Want help implementing and executing your sales strategy? In a 30-minute call, we will assess your company’s current situation and identify growth opportunities.