Cold Email Subject Lines: 5 Examples (and a Free Tester)

Cold email lives or dies on the first three words. You have no brand recognition, so the subject has to earn a stranger's attention without smelling like a pitch.

5 cold email subject line examples that work

• quick question, {first_name}28 chars
• idea for {company}18 chars
• saw your post on hiring23 chars
• worth a 10-min chat?20 chars
• {company} + us14 chars

Rules for cold email subject lines

• Keep it under 4 words — long subjects scream 'mass send'.
• Reference something specific (their company, a trigger event) so it can't be a blast.
• Avoid 'quick', 'opportunity', 'partnership' — the most flagged outbound words.
• Lowercase can out-perform title case; it reads like a real person wrote it.