How I Build Cold Email Campaigns From Scratch (Using a Real Client as the Example)
Troy Aitken walks through the exact process he used to build a cold email campaign for a new client—from offer to inbox, in 30 minutes.
Most people overthink cold email. They spend hours agonizing over subject lines while ignoring the thing that actually determines whether a campaign books meetings: the structure underneath it. Here's the exact process I used to build a full campaign for a new client, Spillover, in about 30 minutes. Same process I've used for the last 10+ clients. The campaigns have been ripping.
Start With the Offer, Not the Email
Spillover sells digital marketing software that bundles a lot: email marketing, online ordering, website management, text message marketing, reservation software, social media management. That's a lot to throw at someone in one breath.
So I don't.
Instead, I pick the two or three pieces that will actually resonate with the specific audience I'm targeting. For Italian restaurants with 1 to 20 employees, the relevant pain points are online presence and email marketing. For Italian restaurants with 20 to 50 employees, the relevant pain points shift to reservation software, social media management, and online reputation.
Two different segments. Two different campaigns. That's it.
Once I know the segment, I write the offer. The formula I use: help [persona] achieve [specific benefit] in [time frame] with [unique mechanism] without [common objection they already have].
For this campaign, that looked like: "We help Italian restaurants increase their revenue by $45,000 a month with online ordering, without using third-party apps like Resy or OpenTable."
Everyone in the restaurant industry knows what Resy and OpenTable are. Everyone knows the fees. Calling that out directly is not a detail, it's the hook.
Segment Before You Write a Single Word
There were around 30,000 restaurants in the US we could theoretically target. We were able to pull data on about 4,000. Rather than blast all of them with the same message, I split by employee count because company size is a reliable proxy for which problems are most acute.
Small restaurants (1 to 20 employees) are fighting for basic visibility. Larger independent restaurants (20 to 50 employees) are dealing with operational complexity: reviews piling up, social channels going dark, reservation systems eating into margins.
Same product. Different angle. Different email.
This is the part most people skip. They write one email and send it to everyone. Then they wonder why the response rate is flat.
Build Three Personalization Angles, Not One
Before I write the body of any email, I decide how I'm going to open it. I use three approaches, and I test all three as spin-tax variants in the first email:
Compliment. Something specific and human. "Came across your food on my TikTok Discovery page, my mouth is watering." "Saw your glowing reviews on Yelp, love what you've built." These work because they're low-friction and disarming. The goal is just to get them reading.
Pain point. Stick a finger in the wound. "Do you feel like booking apps like Resy and OpenTable are killing your restaurant's margins?" Notice the word "feel." I want them in an emotional state immediately. That's how buying decisions actually get made.
Direct pitch. No warmup. "I respect your time, so I'll get right to it." Some people respond better to this. You don't know until you test.
Email 1A gets the compliment. Email 1B gets the pain point. Email 1C gets the direct pitch. Same offer underneath all three. This tells me whether the opener style matters at all for this audience, and which one to double down on in follow-ups.
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Write the Emails Like a Normal Human
Once I have the opener and the offer, the email writes itself. The language should be basic. Not dumbed down, just plain. No jargon. No marketing-speak.
Here's roughly what Email 1A looked like for this campaign:
[First name], [compliment spin-tax]
We help Italian restaurants increase their revenue by $45,000 a month with online ordering, without using third-party apps like Resy and OpenTable.
We recently helped Normous Cafe raise revenue by 20% last year by implementing an online ordering system and email marketing to capture and retain more customers.
Mind if I send over a few ideas?
That's it. Four sentences. Leads with value. Has a real case study with a specific number. Ends with a soft CTA that's easy to say yes to.
Email 1B swaps in the pain-point opener and adjusts the offer framing slightly. Email 1C leads with the direct pitch. The structure underneath, offer, case study, CTA, stays the same across all three.
Map the Full Sequence Before You Send Anything
I don't just write Email 1 and figure out the rest later. I map the whole sequence upfront. Here's how I structured this one:
Emails 1A, 1B, 1C: Three opener variants (compliment, pain, direct). Offer, case study, CTA.
Emails 2A, 2B, 2C: Pain point, offer, case study, CTA. Slight variation in offer framing.
Emails 3A, 3B, 3C: Float-up bumps. Short. Just resurface the thread.
Emails 4A, 4B, 4C: New pain angle, different offer component from the bundle, case study, CTA.
Email 5: Final follow-up.
Historically, most responses come from the first three steps. That's where I focus the most copy energy. The later emails exist to catch the people who just needed more time, not more persuasion.
Key Takeaways
Pick two or three product features that match the specific segment's pain. Don't pitch everything.
Write the offer before you write the email. Formula: persona, benefit, time frame, mechanism, objection removed.
Segment by a variable that actually signals different problems, like employee count, not just industry.
Test three opener styles simultaneously: compliment, pain point, direct pitch. Let the data tell you what works.
Keep the language simple. Specific numbers and real case studies do more work than clever copy.
Map the full sequence before sending. Most responses come early, but the structure of later emails still matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you decide which product features to highlight in a cold email? I look at the segment first. Different company sizes have different acute problems. For smaller restaurants, visibility and email marketing matter most. For larger ones, it's reputation management and reservation software. I match the feature to the pain, not the other way around.
What's the right number of emails in a cold outreach sequence? For this campaign I mapped out five steps, with A/B/C variants in the first four. In practice, the majority of responses come from the first three steps. The later emails are there to catch late responders, not to wear people down.
How do you write a cold email offer that actually lands? Use a simple formula: help [persona] achieve [specific outcome] in [time frame] with [mechanism] without [common objection]. The "without" part is often what makes it click, because it names the thing they already distrust, like third-party apps eating into margins.
Why test three different openers instead of picking the best one upfront? Because you don't know what resonates with a new audience until you send to them. Running a compliment, a pain-point opener, and a direct pitch simultaneously in the first email gives you real data fast. Then you can weight the follow-up sequence toward whatever's working.
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