A graphic of an email within a golden Frame

Year-on-year, lead rates—the rate at which a prospect converts to a lead—dwindle.

There are many theories about why. But most marketers would agree this is due to the increasing number of companies running their own cold email campaigns.

And as it happens, not particularly well.

This takes us to today, where the average mailbox is filled with more poorly written and irrelevant cold emails than ever.

The “ad fatigue” you feel is felt by everyone else with an email inbox.

But is there something we can change going forward?

1. Cold Email May Survive, Direct Marketing Will.

The method of contacting a potential customer with a direct call to action (as opposed to waiting for them to come to you) will always exist. This is called direct response marketing, but the effectiveness of methods changes across time.

At one point, it was door-to-door, direct mail, telemarketing and fax. Today, it’s LinkedIn Outreach and cold email.

The method does not disprove the theory. This is not the end of direct response or even cold email. But it has to evolve, and not with the help of AI…

2. AI May Help Cold Email, But Not For Much Longer.

At the tail end of 2022, AI-based outreach tools began to flood the market in response to the launch of ChatGPT.

Van Gogh on the phone with text "But I Am Qualified" in the top right — An unqualified Van Gogh

These tools would pull data from your ideal prospects' LinkedIn pages and websites and write cold outreach messages that looked as if they were written specifically for them.

They were seen as a saving grace because it meant we could move away from vague personalisation emails (using only first name and company name personalisation fields). This was refreshing for the market.

In a sense, outreach began to feel less “cold”, perhaps lukewarm. This sent business development teams into an AI-fuelled frenzy, drowning in Chrome extensions and AI prompts. They couldn’t get enough of it.

AI works in cold outreach and still does—but less so. Similar to the ad fatigue I mentioned earlier is also now felt in the context of the amount of AI-based outreach messages.

The majority of large language models (LLMS) like Chatgpt provide similar answers across many prompts and, as a result, aren’t best used in specific use cases. Namely, cold outreach.

AI is an increasingly powerful tool, but should be used tastefully for this purpose. A poorly thought-through, but personalised strategy using AI in your outreach campaign is much worse than a well-thought-through, non-AI-based cold outreach campaign.

So, where does this leave us now?

The future success of cold email always comes back to core fundamentals. The core reasons for what makes cold outreach work, what makes cold email work (along with any sales messaging), will never die. Keep reading.

3. Want To Give Cold Email a Better Chance of Survival? Relevancy is the New Deliverability.

Using copy like shown in this campaign is straight to the point—and most importantly—works.

If your message lands in the inbox but is irrelevant, it might as well be marked as spam.

Gone are the days when the act of “landing” was a victory.

The shift is subtle but seismic. What does relevancy mean in this context?

It's not just about using a person's name or mentioning their company. It’s about showing that you understand their business. Their pain points. Their stage of growth. The nuance in what they’re selling or struggling with.

Relevancy is hard. It takes time. It requires segmentation, research, industry knowledge, and a clear point of view. Which is exactly why it’s now one of the most effective differentiators.

We’ve seen it first-hand at The ProspectAgency: prospects will forgive a slightly clunky email if it’s clear the sender understands their world.

But they’ll delete a beautiful email instantly if it’s obvious the sender doesn’t.

To succeed, relevancy has to be embedded into your campaign architecture. From data collection to message crafting, every step should scream: this is for you.

4. Your Offer Matters More Than Your Message

An image of Van Gogh in an email outfit — Email Van Gogh

You can obsess over subject lines. Run 47 A/B tests.

Even have ChatGPT rewrite the copy 19 times.

But if your offer is weak?

None of it matters.

Cold outreach isn’t just about getting attention. It’s about holding attention long enough for someone to say, “Huh. That’s interesting.”

In 2025, a good offer has risk reversal, provides results fast, and is valuable.

Not “book a discovery call.” Not “let’s see if it’s a fit.” We’re talking tangible outcomes. Clear deliverables. A reason to say yes now.

The irony? Most outreach campaigns don’t fail because of delivery or even copywriting.

They fail because the offer simply isn’t worth responding to.

If you’re struggling to get results, step back and ask: Would I reply to this offer? If not, you’ve got work to do.

Conclusion

Cold outreach isn’t dead. But it is evolving faster than most businesses can keep up with. To stay ahead, you need three things: clean and compliant data, truly relevant messaging, and an offer your prospects would fight over

The golden age of blasting a list and waiting for replies is gone. But the silver age of smart, strategic outreach? That’s only just the beginning.

At The ProspectAgency, we’ve made it our mission to build systems that thrive in this new era—combining tech, taste, and tactical thinking to drive results.

Welcome to the future of cold outreach.

Cold Outreach in 2025 and Beyond: Will It Survive?