# Cold email that reads like a person wrote it, under 120 words

> Writes a short, specific cold email with one small ask, bans the phrases that give AI away, then audits its own draft for anything that still does.

- **Author:** [Elena Rossi (@elena_rossi)](https://promptabide.com/elena_rossi)
- **Tested on:** Claude · Opus 5.5
- **You fill in:** `recipient`, `sender`, `research`, `ask`
- **Published:** 2026-07-28
- **Updated:** 2026-09-24
- **Tags:** `email-marketing`, `sales`, `copywriting`
- **Keywords:** cold email that doesn t sound like ai, write a personalized cold email, b2b cold email under 120 words, cold outreach email prompt, make ai email sound human
- **Views:** 1379
- **Likes:** 39

**Best for:** Freelancers, agency owners and B2B founders doing personal outreach to a short list of prospects they've actually researched.

## Prompt

```
Write a cold email from me to {{recipient}}.

About me and what I offer: {{sender}}
Why them, specifically (real details I found): {{research}}
What I want: {{ask}}

Rules:
- Under 120 words, plain text, no formatting.
- The first line is about them and uses one of the specific details above. An observation, not a compliment.
- One ask, and keep it small (a reply, not a meeting, unless I said otherwise).
- Banned: "I hope this email finds you well", "I came across", "I wanted to reach out", "quick question", "leverage", "synergy", "game-changer", "delve", "in today's fast-paced world", em dashes, and any sentence that could be sent to someone else unchanged.
- Write like a busy professional writing to a peer: contractions, short sentences, no exclamation marks.
- Don't claim anything about them that isn't in my research.

Give me 2 versions and 3 subject lines (lowercase, under 5 words). Then list any sentence in your versions a reader might still flag as AI-written, and fix it.
```

## Variables

- `{{recipient}}` — Name, role and company (e.g. Priya Raman, head of operations at Northfield Dental Group (11 clinics in Minnesota))
- `{{sender}}` — Who you are, what you do, and one real result (e.g. a two-person studio that builds patient intake forms that write directly into Dentrix)
- `{{research}}` — Specific, public facts about them (e.g. posted three front-desk job openings last month)
- `{{ask}}` — The one small thing you want (e.g. a reply saying whether intake paperwork is on her list this quarter)

## Example input

```
recipient: Priya Raman, head of operations at Northfield Dental Group (11 clinics in Minnesota)
sender: I run a two-person studio that builds patient intake forms that write directly into Dentrix, so front desk staff stop retyping paper forms. For Lakeside Family Dental (4 clinics) we cut check-in time from 9 minutes to 4.
research: Northfield posted three front-desk job openings last month; Priya wrote in a LinkedIn post in August that "our front desks are drowning in paperwork since we added Saturday hours"; they opened their 11th clinic, in Rochester, in July.
ask: a reply saying whether intake paperwork is on her list this quarter
```

## Output

*Produced by Claude · Opus 5.5.*

```
**Version 1**

Hi Priya,

Your August post about the front desks drowning in paperwork since Saturday hours started stuck with me, especially with three front-desk roles open now.

We build patient intake forms that write straight into Dentrix, so staff stop retyping paper forms. At Lakeside Family Dental's 4 clinics, check-in went from 9 minutes to 4.

Is intake paperwork on your list this quarter? A yes or no is plenty.

[Your name]

**Version 2**

Hi Priya,

Three front-desk openings and an 11th clinic in Rochester since July. If Saturday hours added as much paperwork as your August post said, I'd guess some of it is retyping intake forms.

We build intake forms that write directly into Dentrix. Lakeside Family Dental cut check-in from 9 minutes to 4 across their 4 clinics.

Is intake on your list for this quarter, or a later problem?

[Your name]

**Subject lines**
- intake forms at northfield
- saturday hours paperwork
- lakeside's 4-minute check-in

**Sentences that could still read as AI, fixed**
- "stuck with me" (V1) is a stock cold-email move. Fix: "Your August post said the front desks were drowning in paperwork since you added Saturday hours. With three front-desk roles open, I'm guessing that hasn't eased."
- "or a later problem?" (V2) is fine, but "Is intake on your list for this quarter" repeats V1's shape; if you send both to different people at the same company, vary one.

**Two things to check before sending**
- Your research doesn't say Northfield uses Dentrix. If you can't confirm it, change the line to "If you're on Dentrix, our forms write straight into it."
- Make sure Lakeside has agreed to be named.
```

## Why it works

The **banned-phrase list** removes the openers that make readers stop at line one, and banning **"any sentence that could be sent to someone else unchanged"** is a stronger test than any word list: it forces every line to be about this recipient. A **small ask** (a reply, not a call) lowers the cost of saying yes. **"Don't claim anything that isn't in my research"** stops the model inventing flattering details. The final **self-audit** catches what the rules miss, because stock phrasing slips through even with a ban list.

## When not to use it

Not for mass sequences: if you can't supply real research per person, the prompt has nothing to work with and the result will be generic anyway. Check your outreach follows the rules where you send it (CAN-SPAM in the US, stricter rules in the UK and EU). Get permission before naming a client, as this example does.

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