Agencies
Cold Email Playbook: Performance & Paid Media
Sell ad management and CRO. Data-driven buyers, ROAS-obsessed, easy to prove value.
36%
avg open rate
4.4%
avg reply rate
1.7%
meeting rate
22%
close rate
Who to target
Titles
Head of Growth, CMO, CEO (DTC), E-com Director
Company size
$1M-50M revenue
Trigger
Rising CAC, scaling ad spend, new markets
Budget signal
$10K+/mo in Meta/Google ads
Industry focus
DTC, e-commerce, SaaS, apps
Geography
US, UK, EU, AU
Messaging angles that work
These are the 3 approaches that consistently get replies in this vertical. Pick the one that fits your prospect best.
1. CAC trend
"Your Meta CPM went up 40% this year. Your ROAS probably went down. There's a fix."
Why it works: Every performance marketer feels CPM inflation. You're naming their pain.
2. Ad library audit
"I checked your Meta Ad Library. You have 12 active creatives. Only 2 have been running more than 7 days."
Why it works: Specific, verifiable, shows you did the work. They know creative fatigue is a problem.
3. Channel diversification
"80% of your budget is in Meta. If they change the algorithm tomorrow, you lose 80% of pipeline."
Why it works: Concentration risk is real. CFOs especially respond to this argument.
The 7-step sequence
Email + LinkedIn, orchestrated over 18 days. The channel alternation is what makes this work.
Day 1
CAC trend or ad library audit
Lead with data they can verify.
Day 2
Connect
"Sent you a note on {{company}}'s ad performance."
Day 5
Share industry benchmark
Post or DM a relevant CPM/ROAS trend for their vertical.
Day 6
Channel diversification angle
Risk argument. CFO-friendly.
Day 10
Send message
"Quick q -- what % of your pipeline comes from Meta vs other channels?"
Day 13
ROAS case study
Similar brand, specific ROAS improvement.
Day 18
Breakup
Clean close.
Ready-to-use templates
Copy these directly into your campaign. Each one is pre-scored for deliverability.
CAC trend
Score: 87/100
Subject: {{company}} ad performance
Hi {{firstName}},
Meta CPMs in your vertical went up 40% this year. For most companies that means ROAS is down 20-30% on the same spend.
We help brands like {{company}} get ROAS back up without increasing budget -- through creative testing, audience optimization, and channel diversification.
Last quarter, we improved ROAS by 35% for a DTC brand your size.
Worth a 15-min review of your current setup?
Best,
John
When they push back
The most common objections in this vertical and exactly what to say.
"We manage ads in-house"
Most companies do. But managing and optimizing aren't the same thing. We audit 100+ accounts per year. The patterns we see across all of them = an unfair advantage for each one.
"Our ROAS is fine"
Fine compared to what? Industry benchmarks shift every quarter. "Fine" 6 months ago might be "below average" today. Happy to run a free benchmark comparison.
Run this playbook in Overloop
Every template is ready to paste into a campaign. First meetings in 3 weeks.
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