How to end a cold email so the reader knows what to do next

I've written about the subject line and the first line. Those get the email read. Then the reader hits the bottom and has to do something about it.

By the last line, they're deciding whether you get a reply. If they have to work out what you want first, most people won't bother for a stranger.

How to end a cold email comes down to the ask, the sign-off, the signature and maybe a P.S. Some of this has decent evidence behind it. Some has very little, and I'll say which.

How to end a cold email: the short version

End with one clear question that's easy to answer. Follow it with a plain sign-off, then your name, role, company and one way to reach you. A P.S. is optional.

I think the ask does most of the work. The sign-off and signature mostly tell the reader that a real person wrote this.

Ask for one thing

Count the things you want from the reader. "Can you check these sites, send me your rates, and tell me who handles guest posts?" is three jobs. The reader has to answer all of them, or pick one and hope it's the one you cared about. Closing the tab is easier.

Pick the one thing that moves this forward. The rest can wait until they've answered.

Keep the first ask small

The best data I found on this comes from Gong, which looked at 304,174 emails and counted meetings booked within the next 10 days. It compared three types of ask:

Interest: "Are you interested in learning more about X?"
Open-ended: "Do you have time next week to meet?"
Specific: "Are you available to meet on Tuesday at 4pm?"

In cold emails, the interest question came first. Once a deal was under way, the order flipped and the specific time did best.

Which makes sense to me. A stranger can't tell yet whether you're worth a Tuesday at 4pm, but they can tell whether the topic interests them.

I wouldn't lean on this too hard. Gong sells sales software, the post is from 2020, and it doesn't publish a full set of cold email figures. Its data also comes from sales teams, so it says nothing direct about link building or recruitment. For those I'd apply the same idea and ask about the next small step: "Would you be open to a piece on this topic?"

"Are you interested in this?" is a real question. "If you're interested, let me know" looks close, but it asks nothing, and the checker flags it.

Long asks are the other trap. "Book a demo" or "a 30-minute call" asks a stranger for time before they have a reason to give it.

I for one don't like invitations to a call. In my industry we'll never meet in person, so a call is superfluous. Why get to know each other through a shitty video call when we can have a perfectly civilised, friendly working relationship by email? That's my industry and my taste, though. Gong's study counted booked meetings, so plenty of sales teams clearly want the call.

Closing lines that hand the work back to the reader

Cold Email Critic flags closers like these. Most of them leave the reader to work out the next step alone.

Some just wait, which is bland:

"Looking forward to hearing from you"
"Hope to hear from you"
"Waiting for your reply"
"Waiting for your good response"

The last one is a stock phrase from mass outreach. In my test sample it shows up in about 3% of spam and in no genuine emails.

Some never say what you want, and fall flat:

"Let me know what you think"
"Any thoughts?"
"Feel free to reach out"
"Don't hesitate to contact me"
"Would love to chat"

Some lean on the reader, or assume the answer. These are annoying, and the assuming ones make me mad:

"I am waiting"
"Get back to me"
"Positive response"

And some hand out homework, which comes across as presumptuous and arrogant:

"Please check my sites"
"Let me know which ones you like"
"Waiting for your order"

Try this on your own last line: could someone answer it with one word? "Would you be open to a piece on this topic?" passes. "Let me know your thoughts" doesn't.

Does the sign-off change anything?

Maybe, but don't expect much from it. The study most guides quote is from Boomerang, published in 2017. It looked at over 350,000 email threads and compared response rates by closing:

Thanks in advance: 65.7%
Thanks: 63.0%
Thank you: 57.9%
Cheers: 54.4%
Kind regards: 53.9%
Regards: 53.5%
Best regards: 52.9%
Best: 51.2%

The baseline across all the emails was 47.5%.

Look at those response rates, though. Cold email reply rates run far lower. The threads came from mailing lists of online communities, often people asking for help. Boomerang couldn't tell who already knew whom, and it reports no significance tests.

So I wouldn't change anything based on the exact percentages. I also found "no sign-off" figures attributed to this study on other sites, and they aren't in the original article.

I usually sign with "thanks in advance" myself. I feel it puts a tiny bit of pressure on the reader, nothing serious. It's not a bribe. It's more of a reward given in advance.

I'd use whichever normal sign-off fits how you write. "Thanks," is fine. "Best," is fine. Cold Email Critic only checks that you have one.

The signature

Your name, your role, your company, and one way to reach you. An email with no sign of who sent it reads as a mass message.

Mine is name, role, company and WhatsApp number. My email address is already in the email, so it doesn't need repeating.

Leave out anything that has nothing to do with why you're writing. I covered this in more detail, with examples, in my post on cold email length.

Should you end a cold email with a P.S.?

You'll read that nearly everyone reads the P.S. first, often with a figure of 90%. When I traced that back, the trail led to Siegfried Vögele's research on printed direct mail, which I could only find reported secondhand. Paper letters aren't inboxes, and I found no solid email data either way.

So treat a P.S. as optional. It's a decent place for one short, useful detail, such as a link to a relevant piece of work. Don't use it for a second ask, because then you're back to making the reader choose.

The checker gives no points for a P.S., and takes none away.

One bad ending, rewritten

These are made-up examples, built from the patterns above.

Before:

"Please check my sites and let me know which ones you like. If you are interested, feel free to get back to me for pricing. I am also open to a 30-minute call. Waiting for your positive response.

John"

That's seven flagged phrases in four sentences. The reader is meant to browse a list, choose, ask for prices, and maybe book half an hour.

After:

"Would you be open to a piece on sizing boxes for fragile items?

Thanks, John Smith Editor, Example.com"

One question, answerable with a yes or a no. The reader knows who's asking and what happens next.

Check your ending before you send

Cold Email Critic scores the call to action as one of five sections, out of 20 points, for cold emails and follow-ups. It takes points off for:

each weak closing phrase from the lists above (minus 4)
a long ask, such as "book a demo" or "30-minute call" (minus 4 each)
several separate asks in one email (minus 4)
no sign-off (minus 3, or minus 10 if nothing shows who sent the email)

If it can't find an ask at all, you get a tip with no points lost. Phrase matching can't judge whether your ask is a good one, only whether the usual warning signs are there. A high score means no red flags. Whether anyone wants what you're offering is another matter.

Paste your next draft into Cold Email Critic and start with the call to action section.