What is Jed Mahrle's cold email method?
It is a set of rules for each line of a cold email, published across issues of the Practical Prospecting newsletter by Jed Mahrle, founder and CEO of the outbound agency Practical Prospecting. The newsletter says its plays are the ones the agency has used to book thousands of meetings for 50+ clients, figures the agency reports about itself.
The rules are spread over several issues. This table pulls them together, with the issue number and date of each:
| Part of the email | Mahrle's rule | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Subject line | One to three words, written like a colleague's email and vague enough to make the reader curious | #112, 23 February 2025; #138, 25 January 2026 |
| First line | About the prospect and the research you did, one level deeper than a surface-level signal | #112; #138 |
| Problem | Taken from at least five recorded discovery calls with your target persona, then A/B tested | #112; #138 |
| Sequence | A strong first email, a short follow-up, then a fresh angle 60 to 90 days later | #148, 14 June 2026 |
| Signals | Most meetings come from campaigns with no signals; prove the message first, then add signals | #148; #136, 4 January 2026 |
Mahrle publishes no sample sizes for these rules, so read them as one agency's experience across its client campaigns. The sections below take each rule in turn, with examples we wrote ourselves for a fictional rota tool sold to restaurant groups.
What subject line does Jed Mahrle recommend?
One to three words that look like an internal email. In issue #112 (23 February 2025), Mahrle's best practices are one to three words at most, a subject a colleague might send, and enough vagueness to make the reader curious. The reasoning: open-rate tracking has become so unreliable that Mahrle sees no point in trusting the data, so follow the basics and move on.
About a year later, in issue #138 (25 January 2026), Mahrle ranked nine messaging variables from most to least impactful and put the subject line last, with the offer first. The rules there: one to three words, not clever, not pitchy, and written like an internal email. If the email is strong, Mahrle writes, the subject line will not save or kill it.
Two additions came in issue #148 (14 June 2026):
- The first name alone. Subject lines that are just the prospect's first name, or first name plus the sender's company, have been performing really well for the agency, particularly when no more specific subject comes to mind.
- Founder tone for small companies. Mahrle writes that campaigns for small clients up against much bigger competitors always flopped when the copy tried to sound like those competitors. Instead, for small companies, Mahrle leans into a founder tone: lowercase subject lines, maybe a typo, a casual opener.
Our examples, for the fictional rota tool: rota hours, weekend cover, Priya, Priya / [YourCo]. For more patterns, see our cold email subject lines.
What should the first line of a cold email say?
Something about the prospect that shows you did the research. In issue #112, Mahrle argues that once someone opens the email you have a fraction of a second to hold their attention, so the first sentence must be about them and the research you've done. If you already do that and replies are still low, get more specific.
The test is depth. Mahrle names a job change as an example of a surface-level signal: rather than saying you saw they just joined the company, go a level deeper and name what they appear to be focused on in the new role. Issue #138 sets one goal for the first line, making your reason for reaching out believable, and ranks four kinds of opening: an observation, social proof, a pointed question and a poke-the-bear question, which Mahrle warns can easily sound salesy.
Issue #148 adds two related rules. Mahrle calls the prospect's niche, described the way they would describe it, the agency's most consistent personalisation variable: concrete subcontractors rather than subcontractors. And if you have no good reason for reaching out, don't force one; open with a thought-provoking question instead.
| Surface-level first line (our example) | One level deeper (our example) |
|---|---|
| Saw you joined [Company] as operations director. | Looks like you're rolling the new weekend menu out to all six [Company] sites this month. |
| Congrats on the funding round. | Your careers page lists three new site managers, which usually means rotas are about to get harder. |
| Love your content on LinkedIn. | Your post on Tuesday said last-minute agency cover is eating your weekend margin. |
More starting points are in our cold email opening lines.
Where should the pain in a cold email come from?
From recordings of your own sales calls, in the buyer's words. Issue #112 lays out three steps:
Find five recorded discovery calls
Pull at least five recordings of discovery calls with the persona you plan to email.
Extract three pains from each
Paste each transcript into ChatGPT and ask for the top three pain points the prospect mentioned, each summarised in one short, clear sentence you can use in cold email. That is our paraphrase of Mahrle's prompt.
A/B test the pains
Send versions that lead with different pains and keep the one that resonates most. Mahrle's reason: these are real problems from real potential customers, in their own language.
Issue #138 gives the principle behind it. The problem line should come from sales calls, which are one-to-one, and not from your website and marketing material, which are one-to-many. A good problem line acknowledges what is already true for the reader and names the friction they are stuck with, in their words. Generic lines about what teams or leaders struggle with usually fail. The same issue offers a frame for the value proposition: we help [ICP] solve [problem] by [unique approach], without [trade-off].
If you ran the discovery calls yourself, start with those recordings. Our example of the output: an operations director says on a recorded call that weekend agency staff get booked on Friday afternoon at premium rates. The pain line becomes: you're paying agency rates for Saturday shifts you knew about on Monday.
How do you pick a fresh angle after 60 to 90 days?
Change what you lead with: a different pain, a different offer or a different frame. Mahrle's rule in issue #148 is a strong first email and a short follow-up, then a return 60 to 90 days later with a fresh angle. That tip doesn't spell out what a fresh angle is. We drew these options from other issues:
- A new hook each pass. In issue #145 (19 April 2026), Mahrle's maths for a large market assumes contacting everyone once a quarter and, each time, rotating the angle, updating the message and re-engaging non-responders with a new hook.
- A softer ask for products buyers rarely replace. Issue #153 (27 September 2026) splits products into trigger-driven ones, which buyers only replace when something breaks or a renewal forces a review, and continuous-demand ones. For trigger-driven products the agency emails the rest of the market one or two emails a quarter with a soft call to action, such as offering a quick video or a one-pager.
- An offer matched to the persona. The same issue says audit offers consistently perform well with founders and owners and underperform with operators, who respond better to a benchmark of how their peers handle the problem.
- A date the prospect gave you. In issue #152 (21 September 2026), replies with context, such as a request to check back in a few months, go into a nurture campaign timed to what the person said, or 90 days later if they gave no time.
| Pass (our example) | Lead with | Example opening (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | A pain from your calls | You're paying agency rates for Saturday shifts you knew about on Monday. |
| About day 75 | A benchmark, for operators | Want a one-page summary of how [number] groups your size staff their weekends? |
| About day 150 | An audit, for owners | Happy to review last month's rota and send three changes. Reply yes and I'll send them. |
Do buying signals matter? Mahrle's data challenges our approach
Less than the attention they get suggests, by Mahrle's account. Tip 12 of issue #148 reads: "80% of meetings come from campaigns with no signals at all." Mahrle writes of running the data recently and being surprised, and gives three reasons: signal-based campaigns take a lot of time to set up, their lists are much smaller, and they often require paying for additional tools.
Issue #136 (4 January 2026) makes the longer case: "Signal-based outbound is often a waste of time, especially at the beginning." Mahrle argues that signals often matter more to the seller than the buyer, that in most markets only 10 to 20% of accounts show real signals at any given time, and that starting with signals makes it hard to know why a campaign worked. In one client's market of about 180,000 contacts, about 4,000 (2.22%) had just changed jobs. The order Mahrle recommends: prove the message on a broad segment, make it convert consistently, then layer in signals.
Four limits are worth knowing. Tip 12 doesn't say how many campaigns or meetings were counted, over what period, or what counted as a signal. A share of meetings is also not a rate: campaigns without signals reach far more people, so they can produce most meetings even if each signal-led email converts better, and the issue gives no meetings per contact for either. In issue #145, Mahrle writes that the agency doesn't take on clients whose total addressable market is smaller than about 100,000 to 200,000 contacts and, while saying there is no exact number, points markets of fewer than 10,000 reachable contacts to the targeted route, with higher-intent signals. And Mahrle still uses signals: issue #140 (15 February 2026) describes custom ones the agency builds, such as checking whether a fleet company recently failed an inspection.
This challenges the signal-first approach Siela takes. Its AI SDR's Hot leads setting contacts only people with a buying signal right now, and it looks for signals such as people asking how to solve the problem, comparing tools or hiring for the work you automate. If your market is under 10,000 reachable contacts, Mahrle's own advice points to signals too. If it is larger, test it: run one campaign without signals beside a signal-led one and compare meetings per 100 contacts. Siela's Normal setting, the default, adds everyone who fits your customer profile after the hot leads, while still skipping people who don't fit. Our guide to buying signals for small teams covers the signal side.
How to test Mahrle's cold email tips this week
Spend one week rebuilding a single campaign with these rules, then let the test run. This plan is ours, built from the rules above.
Monday: mine five calls
Pull five recorded discovery calls with one persona, run the pain prompt on each transcript and list the 15 pains. Circle the two that come up most often.
Tuesday: write two subject lines
One to three words each, written like an internal email. Make one of them the prospect's first name. Don't spend longer than 15 minutes: Mahrle ranks this variable last.
Wednesday: write deeper first lines
For 20 prospects, write a first line one level deeper than the obvious signal. Where you can't find a real reason, use a thought-provoking question instead.
Thursday: split by pain
Send two versions of email one to similar halves of your list, each leading with one of your two pains. Keep the subject line the same, so the pain is the only difference.
Friday: book the second pass
For everyone who doesn't reply after email two, set a reminder 60 to 90 days out, with the new angle written down now: a different pain, a benchmark or an audit.
Frequently asked questions
What subject line does Jed Mahrle use for cold emails?
One to three words that read like an internal email, neither clever nor pitchy. Mahrle ranks the subject line as the least important of nine messaging variables, partly because open tracking has become unreliable. In June 2026 Mahrle reported that the prospect's first name alone, or first name plus the sender's company, had been performing really well.
How do you find pain points for cold email copy?
Jed Mahrle's method is to take at least five recorded discovery calls with your target persona, ask an AI tool to pull the top three pain points from each transcript as short sentences, and A/B test those pains in your emails. The aim is to describe real problems in the buyer's own words, taken from one-to-one conversations instead of your website.
Do signal-based cold email campaigns book more meetings?
Jed Mahrle's published data doesn't answer that per contact. In June 2026 Mahrle wrote that 80% of meetings come from campaigns with no signals at all, which shows where the meetings came from without giving the sample, period or meetings per contact. Mahrle still advises signals for markets under about 10,000 reachable contacts.
What should the first sentence of a cold email be about?
The prospect and the research you did on them. Jed Mahrle advises going one level deeper than a surface-level signal: instead of noting that someone changed jobs, say what they appear to be focused on in the new role. If you have no genuine reason for reaching out, Mahrle suggests opening with a thought-provoking question instead.
Should a small company sound bigger in cold emails?
Jed Mahrle's experience says no. Mahrle writes that campaigns for small clients competing with much larger rivals always flopped when the copy tried to sound like those rivals. Instead, Mahrle leans into a founder tone: lowercase subject lines, maybe a typo and a casual opener, because people respond to humans and often feel a small team is more personal.
Sources
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #112: The 6 Most Common Cold Email Mistakes (published 23 Feb 2025)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #136: Signal-Based Outbound is Overrated (published 4 Jan 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #138: Every Variable You Can Test in Cold Email (published 25 Jan 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #140: The Signals We Actually Use in Outbound (published 15 Feb 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #145: Why You Should Send More Emails (published 19 Apr 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #148: 14 Cold Email Tips That Actually Work (published 14 Jun 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #152: How to Convert More Meetings From Email (published 21 Sep 2026)
- Jed Mahrle, Practical Prospecting #153: The 2 Cold Email Strategies You Should Know (published 27 Sep 2026)
- Practical Prospecting homepage (team and services) (checked 20 Oct 2026)
- Practical Prospecting newsletter home (checked 20 Oct 2026)