The most dangerous word in cold emails?

GrowMore

GrowMore

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Most cold emails start with “I.”

• “I wanted to reach out…”
• “I’m the founder of…”
• “I thought this might help…”

But here’s the thing — when your email starts with “I,” it instantly becomes all about you.
And that’s the fastest way to lose someone’s interest.

People don’t care about who you are at first — they care about what helps them.

So instead, try this:

✅ “Noticed your show’s been getting some solid traction lately — congrats!”
✅ “Saw your team’s growing fast — are you automating any of that yet?”
✅ “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”

Now it’s about them. That’s what actually gets read.

Quick test: open your last email.
Count how many lines start with “I.”
If it’s more than one… time to rewrite it.
 
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MS Nil said:
Most cold emails start with “I.”

• “I wanted to reach out…”
• “I’m the founder of…”
• “I thought this might help…”

But here’s the thing — when your email starts with “I,” it instantly becomes all about you.
And that’s the fastest way to lose someone’s interest.

People don’t care about who you are at first — they care about what helps them.

So instead, try this:

✅ “Noticed your show’s been getting some solid traction lately — congrats!”
✅ “Saw your team’s growing fast — are you automating any of that yet?”
✅ “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”

Now it’s about them. That’s what actually gets read.

Quick test: open your last email.
Count how many lines start with “I.”
If it’s more than one… time to rewrite it.
Click to expand...
Noticed your show’s getting solid traction lately — congrats!”
✅ “Saw your team’s growing fast — are you automating any of that yet?”
✅ “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”


Noticed your show’s getting solid traction lately — congrats!”
✅ “Saw your team’s growing fast — are you automating any of that yet?”
✅ “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”
 
—

This long dash is the most dangerous thing, when I see that, I completely ignore what the email or post is saying. Whatever is being said using ''—'' is 99.9% AI garbage.

And this post is not an exception, your examples are very generic, if someone send me an email with '' “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”, I will 100% ignore it, we work with that too, we are aware about those tactics, everybody is doing that for years, my gmail associated to my small youtube channel is flooded with this kind of stuff ''I love your videos'', ''you rock'', ''loved your last video'' and bla bla bla
 
Cold emails flop when they start with “I.” Nobody cares who you are — they care what’s in it for them. Flip the script: talk about them first, not you. That’s how you get replies.
 
When a cold email starts with “I”, it instantly becomes:
Self-centered
Salesy
Low-response
Easy to ignore

Example of what not to do:
“I wanted to reach out…”
“I think you’ll like…”
“I am offering…”
 
It's dangerous in all sort of sales
 
Venusaur said:
—

This long dash is the most dangerous thing, when I see that, I completely ignore what the email or post is saying. Whatever is being said using ''—'' is 99.9% AI garbage.

And this post is not an exception, your examples are very generic, if someone send me an email with '' “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”, I will 100% ignore it, we work with that too, we are aware about those tactics, everybody is doing that for years, my gmail associated to my small youtube channel is flooded with this kind of stuff ''I love your videos'', ''you rock'', ''loved your last video'' and bla bla bla
Click to expand...
100% agree. The moment I see ''—' I am immediately put off.

Look, everyone is using AI, but if you haven't been able to go through and adapt it to your own voice, using your own terminology etc.. for all I know, the sender is just a 14 year kid trying his luck in the big bad world of WWW.
 
Fair point and yeah, the real problem isn’t the word “I”, it’s the parade of copy-paste disasters we all see every day.


My inbox greatest hits:
“I came across your amazing profile” (no you didn’t)
“Hope this email finds you well” (it found me tired)
“I love what you’re doing on your channel” sent to five thousand people who do completely different things
and of course the dramatic long dash — once I see that, my brain goes “ah yes, another AI audition” and I’m already hovering over delete


So yeah, people don’t ignore cold emails because they start with “I”, they ignore them because they smell like templates, fake compliments and zero real effort. When it sounds like it was generated in bulk, it gets deleted in bulk. Simple as that.
 
...If you tell me who is your target audience, I can tailor the length and punchiness...

No offense, but em dashes are my personal AI red flags now. Still, your core idea is solid. Email copywriting is an art. 99% of the cold emails in my inbox are trash. I think the real win isn’t avoiding I. It’s about sounding like you actually looked at the person and have something specific to say.
 
Great advice. 100% you want to make it about them by using "you" rather than "I" or "we". The more personal you can make that initial cold e-mail the better.
 
Yup, and the most dangerous words are too many words :p

I always, always write my messages under 40 characters
 
What you shared is very true. Usually, I start by asking what you want or if I'm in a hurry, "Do you need this?" Then I'll introduce myself, keeping it as brief as possible so that the reader doesn't get too much information.
 
What you are tackling is your client, not yourself, so you definitely should not use that word to improve your cold email and even in sale.

Your experience is very helpful for me to improve not only the way I think about cold email, but also the way I operate when closing clients.

If you are in marketing niche, this is definitely one of the best post to follow and improve your mindset in terms of competing with your competitors.

“Noticed your Google Ads have been pulling solid traffic lately — congrats!”
“Saw your campaigns are scaling nicely — are you renting any extra accounts yet?”
“Your latest ad push was fire — want a quick way to 3x your spend without the suspension headaches?”
 
NovaDigital said:
What you are tackling is your client, not yourself, so you definitely should not use that word to improve your cold email and even in sale.

Your experience is very helpful for me to improve not only the way I think about cold email, but also the way I operate when closing clients.

If you are in marketing niche, this is definitely one of the best post to follow and improve your mindset in terms of competing with your competitors.

“Noticed your Google Ads have been pulling solid traffic lately — congrats!”
“Saw your campaigns are scaling nicely — are you renting any extra accounts yet?”
“Your latest ad push was fire — want a quick way to 3x your spend without the suspension headaches?”
Click to expand...
The "I" problem is real, but the bigger issue is lack of relevance. You can start with "I" if the next thing you say shows you actually know something about their business

Example: "I noticed you recently added a new service line, here's how we help businesses like yours handle the outreach for it."

Generic "I love your content" is dead. Specific "I saw X" still works
 
The author effectively points out the common mistake of centering cold emails around the sender ("I") instead of the recipient. By focusing on the recipient's needs and interests, cold emails are more likely to grab their attention and lead to a response
 
GrowMore said:
Most cold emails start with “I.”

• “I wanted to reach out…”
• “I’m the founder of…”
• “I thought this might help…”

But here’s the thing — when your email starts with “I,” it instantly becomes all about you.
And that’s the fastest way to lose someone’s interest.

People don’t care about who you are at first — they care about what helps them.

So instead, try this:

✅ “Noticed your show’s been getting some solid traction lately — congrats!”
✅ “Saw your team’s growing fast — are you automating any of that yet?”
✅ “Your latest episode was fire — want a shortcut to reach more listeners?”

Now it’s about them. That’s what actually gets read.

Quick test: open your last email.
Count how many lines start with “I.”
If it’s more than one… time to rewrite it.
Click to expand...
That’s actually very true, especially in gambling/CRM traffic

We’ve noticed the same thing with email + SMS reactivation — once the message feels sender-focused instead of player-focused, engagement drops really fast

Curious, are you mostly talking about cold outreach here or retention/reactivation campaigns too?
 
the "I" rule is basic copywriting 101 but those template examples are just as burnt out now. if i get another email saying "saw your latest post — congrats!" it goes straight to spam. people can smell that automated fake personalization from a mile away. the real trick is finding an actual trigger event, like a new job posting or a specific tech stack change, and just being direct. no fake compliments needed... they never work anyway.
 
Why? Because it often triggers spam filters and also lowers trust. Most people immediately think it’s a scam or low-quality offer when they see it.
 
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