Podcast Summary: B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt – “Cold Email: Lessons from Real Outbound Campaigns in 2025”

Introduction

In the May 26, 2025 episode of B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt, host Dave Gerhardt delves into the nuanced world of cold emailing—a critical component of B2B outbound marketing strategies. Joined by experts Zoe Hartsfield, Will Allred, Max Greenwald, and Alex Fine, the episode explores why most cold emails underperform and offers actionable insights to enhance their effectiveness. The discussion culminates in a “roast” session, where real cold emails are dissected to extract valuable lessons.

Why Most Cold Emails Fail

The conversation kicks off with Danielle highlighting common frustrations with cold emails—most famously, why they “absolutely suck” and clutter inboxes without delivering value. Max Greenwald posits that a primary reason for poor performance is the lack of effective email writing skills. “People don’t know how to write a good email,” he asserts (04:54), emphasizing the need to view emails from the recipient's perspective.

Alex Fine adds that traditional professional email training often fails to translate into effective sales or marketing copy, leading to emails that are overly formal and detached from the recipient’s needs (05:15). Will Allred echoes this sentiment, noting that many senders focus too much on themselves rather than addressing the recipient's pain points: “You’re solving for someone else's problem, not telling them who you are” (05:30).

Balancing Automation and Personalization

The panel transitions to discussing the delicate balance between automation and personalized human touch in cold emailing. Max emphasizes the importance of targeting: “Who you’re emailing and why you’re emailing them” (06:33). Zoe concurs, adding that leveraging AI and intent data can help determine the optimal timing for outreach, making emails feel less cold and more relevant (09:43).

Will recommends tiering account lists, suggesting that high-priority prospects should receive personalized, manual emails, while automation can be effectively employed for tier 2 and tier 3 accounts with appropriate personalization (06:53).

Roasting Real Cold Emails

The episode’s highlight is the “roast” segment, where the panel critiques real cold emails submitted by listeners. Two primary examples are discussed:

1. Rigorous Technology’s Email: Robots for Small Manufacturers

   • Subject Line: “Robots for small manufacturers. Let’s talk.”

   • Performance: 58% open rate, 0% click, 0 replies.

   • Critique:

     • Max Greenwald (11:50): Points out the overly long and marketing-sounding subject line which immediately signals a sales pitch, reducing open rates.
     • Alex Fine (12:41): Highlights the imbalance in “I to you” ratio, where the email focuses too much on the sender’s company without addressing the recipient’s needs.
     • Danielle (13:47): Notes the assumption that every recipient has a robotics team, which is often not the case.

   • Notable Improvement Suggestions:

     • Will Allred (15:45): Advises incorporating specific, personalized insights such as company growth indicators to make the message more relevant.
     • Max Greenwald (16:56): Recommends shortening the email and making it mobile-friendly to enhance readability and engagement.

   • Rating: Participants unanimously rate this email poorly, assigning scores between 1 and 2 out of 10, citing lack of personalization, overly complex language, and poor targeting.

2. Workbooks CRM’s Email: “Stuck with a Bullshit CRM”

   • Subject Line: “Stuck with a bullshit CRM.”

   • Performance: Mixed responses with some receiving profanity-laden replies and others acknowledging engagement.

   • Critique:

     • Alex Fine (21:03): Describes the email as overtly marketing-focused, causing recipients to disengage quickly.
     • Will Allred (23:13): Highlights the excessive use of marketing elements like images and multiple links, which can trigger spam filters and reduce deliverability.

   • Notable Improvement Suggestions:

     • Zoe Hartsfield (24:33): Suggests limiting profanity to maintain professionalism while still grabbing attention.
     • Max Greenwald (26:28): Encourages focusing on specific pain points and reducing the number of self-referential statements.

   • Rating: Similar to the first example, the panel rates this email between 1 and 2 out of 10, criticizing its aggressive marketing tone and lack of meaningful personalization.

Best Practices for Effective Cold Emails

Drawing from the critiques, the panel outlines several best practices to improve cold email performance:

1. Personalization Over Automation:

   • Tailor messages to the recipient’s specific needs and circumstances.
   • Use data-driven insights to determine when and how to reach out effectively.

2. Compelling Subject Lines:

   • Keep them concise and avoid overt sales language.
   • Incorporate elements that pique curiosity without appearing spammy.

3. Recipient-Centric Content:

   • Focus on addressing the recipient’s pain points rather than promoting your own company.
   • Utilize the “tell me about you” approach to engage readers.

4. Clear and Strong CTAs:

   • Include actionable requests, such as offering a resource or asking a pertinent question early in the email.
   • Avoid vague or overly ambitious calls to action.

5. Brevity and Readability:

   • Keep emails short and to the point, especially for mobile readers.
   • Use formatting tools like bolding to highlight key information and make content skimmable.

6. Avoiding Spam Triggers:

   • Limit the use of images, links, and excessive formatting that can push emails to spam or promotions folders.
   • Maintain a natural and conversational tone to enhance deliverability and engagement.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a recap of the key takeaways for crafting effective cold emails. The experts emphasize the importance of understanding the recipient’s perspective, maintaining a balance between automation and personalization, and continuously refining email strategies based on real-world feedback and performance metrics. By adhering to these principles, B2B marketers can significantly enhance their outbound cold email campaigns, driving better engagement and higher conversion rates.

Notable Quotes

• Max Greenwald (04:54): “People don’t know how to write a good email. They don’t necessarily think about it from the perspective I get these emails. I would not like to receive these emails.”

• Will Allred (05:30): “You’re solving for someone else's problem, not telling them who you are. This isn't it.”

• Alex Fine (06:30): “It's hard with the headphones. I could maybe grab one.”

• Zoe Hartsfield (09:43): “Using intent to figure out the right time to reach out. Because it could be a warm email that is just the worst timing.”

• Will Allred (15:45): “If you have something relevant to say to that person, then personalization is still a very viable way to do things.”

• Danielle (27:18): “I would just completely rewrite this.”

• Zoe Hartsfield (38:32): “Lean into that for sure. But if you're targeting a mid-market company...”

Final Thoughts

For B2B marketers striving to enhance their cold email effectiveness, this episode underscores the necessity of empathy, personalization, and strategic communication. By learning from real-world examples and expert critiques, marketers can refine their approaches to create more impactful and engaging outbound campaigns.