Liftoff with Keith Newman

Episode: "Why Cold Email Still Wins in 2025 (And How to Do It Right)"

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Keith Newman
Guest: AJ Cassada (Co-founder, Revenue Boost)

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, host Keith Newman dives deep with AJ Cassada, a leading expert in B2B marketing and co-founder of the agency Revenue Boost. The focus: demystifying cold email in today’s saturated market, exploring how it remains a high-ROI play for businesses — provided it’s done thoughtfully and with mastery. They debunk myths, outline practical frameworks, and reveal fresh tactics to stand out and book more calls through cold email, including leveraging AI for scale and personalization.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Is Cold Email Still Effective?

• AJ affirms: Cold email is still very much alive, but the playbook has evolved.
  • Cold email remains validated: "All these companies wouldn't be doing this if it didn't work, if it didn't make money for them, if it wasn't profitable, right?" (AJ, 02:03)
• Market saturation means you must "try harder to stand out;" blanket or templated emails no longer work.

2. The Five Pillars of a Successful Cold Email Campaign

AJ details the five critical factors for cold outreach, in order of importance:

1. Email Deliverability
2. List Quality — understanding your ICP (ideal customer profile) is essential.
3. Offer
4. Copy
5. Volume — sending enough outreach (03:56)

"There's like five factors ... deliverability, the list, the offer, the copy, and then the volume, like, sending enough outreach. And that's an order of importance." (AJ, 03:56)

3. Building the Right List: It's Strategy, Not Just Tools

• Success starts with a precise market definition (industry and company size are the minimum required segmentation).
• Forget the hottest tools — start with a strategic client audit to identify your best, most profitable past clients, their company traits, and the job titles of your buyers.
• "Start to understand, like, who are your best customers in terms of company size, industry, who do you work the best with?" (AJ, 06:14)

4. Copywriting That Cuts Through the Noise

• Specificity wins: Tailor messages to a tightly defined audience using their language, reference relevant case studies, or industry terms.
• Short and sweet: "They're not gonna prioritize a long sales email... Make it really easy for them to read and respond to." (AJ, 09:28)
• Social proof and differentiation are critical:
  • Share big-name clients, aggregates of clients helped, years of experience, niche expertise.
  • "Everyone's going to say, 'Oh, we can grow your business or we can save you money or save you time or increase efficiency, blah blah, blah, blah...' Okay, I've heard this before, but why should I believe you?" (AJ, 10:50)
• Use cases: Layer in unique personal, company, or process differentiators.

5. Campaign Structure: The Power of Sequences and Multi-Touch

• Don’t just send one email!
• AJ recommends a sequence of 2-4 emails, spread over two weeks, automated via cold email software.
  • "You want to write one sequence and you pre schedule it in a tool... then it would kind of send it for you one by one to each person on the list in the background." (AJ, 14:15)
• Follow-up is crucial, as many prospects miss the first email.

6. Beyond Email: Multi-Channel Outreach

• Combining channels (LinkedIn, phone, SMS) boosts results; different people respond to different approaches.
  • "When you do multiple channels, first of all, you'll kind of show up in the same place for the same person. They'll start to kind of recognize your company name and build that trust." (AJ, 15:47)
• For solo operators, starting with email is okay, but for scale, layer in additional touchpoints.

7. Advanced Tactics: AI for Personalization and Scale

• AJ’s team now uses AI to personalize cold emails at scale—e.g., referencing a prospect company’s best-selling product in the subject line.
  • "We can get AI to go out and research each prospect and customize the email based on whatever research we want it to do." (AJ, 17:39)
• Tool mentions: Clay.com (AI-driven enrichment and personalization for outbound).
• AI is good for first-draft copywriting ("80/20 rule"): use it to draft, then inject human insight for final polish and fact-checking.

  "It can start with 80% of the copywriting, but then you apply the 20% to really customize, personalize, and inject that insight." (Keith, 20:31)

• Always review AI’s output for accuracy; it still hallucinates.

8. Success Stories & Cautions

• Recent win: Secured 10 booked demos for a fintech client in the first week by customizing the first line of every email to the recipient’s country-specific regulatory issues.

  "The first line of every email is saying, 'Hey, I saw that you're in Singapore, and I'm sure as you're expanding...' So, we're really starting the email showing that not only do we understand their problem, but building a lot of credibility." (AJ, 23:06)

• The best results also require prospects to have some digital presence—social proof works both ways.

9. Cold Email vs. Other Channels: ROI & Role in the Ecosystem

• Outbound email is cost-efficient (you pay for labor and software, not media costs).
  • "When you're doing outbound, all you do is you pay for let's like labor and software..." (AJ, 24:28)
• Outbound shouldn’t be your only channel—it works best as part of an ecosystem with paid ads, content, and nurturing assets like newsletters or podcasts.
• Rapid deployment and lower upfront capital requirements make cold outreach an attractive first play for businesses with no formal lead generation efforts.

10. Where Cold Email Fits In the Funnel

• Cold email is best for the top of funnel: getting target prospects to book a call or demo — not for closing the sale.
• AJ advises also using email for re-nurturing warm leads who already know you but haven’t converted:

  "If you're not really giving attention to your existing leads, definitely start there because again, they've already heard you. They just maybe need another nudge to, to like pull the trigger." (AJ, 27:36)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You have to be better, right? You have to try harder to stand out." (AJ, 02:52)
• "Most people would know that they'd be more likely to respond if it felt like this person really took 10 minutes to again like take the effort." (AJ, 17:39)
• "If you're not using [AI] at all, you have to, otherwise it's going to be like not using the Internet, you know, 10 years ago." (AJ, 19:09)
• "Marketing is like an ecosystem... over time you should build all of these out." (AJ, 25:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:03] – Is cold email still effective in 2025?
• [03:56] – The five factors for diagnosing/perfecting campaigns
• [04:28] – Building a great list: why ICP definition > tools
• [07:28] – How to write effective copy for cold outreach
• [09:28] – Breaking through inbox clutter: specificity, brevity, social proof
• [13:50] – Structuring sequences: how many emails and follow-up cadence
• [15:47] – Multi-channel outreach: email + LinkedIn + calls
• [17:39] – Using AI to personalize and scale cold email outreach
• [20:31] – The 80/20 rule for AI-human creative workflow
• [21:50] – Success story: rapid demo booking for fintech via email
• [24:28] – Email vs. paid ads ROI; email in the marketing ecosystem
• [26:53] – Email’s role: top-of-funnel activity; value of re-nurturing warm leads

Guest & Resource Links

• AJ Cassada: Co-founder, Revenue Boost, expert in cold outreach and B2B lead generation.
• For more content, find AJ’s newsletter and podcast on his website.
• Host: Keith Newman, ex-journalist and GTM exec, interviews founders and B2B leaders for actionable, witty conversations.

Final Takeaways

• Cold email isn’t dead—it’s just more competitive.
• Only those who build great lists, craft specific and proof-rich copy, use strategic follow-ups, layer channels, and leverage AI for personalization are winning in 2025.
• Focus on ecosystem marketing; email is often the fastest, lowest-cost lever for new business, but multiplies in value when paired with other efforts.

For further information or resources, check show notes or reach out to AJ Cassada directly via social or email (see links in the episode description).