Build the ICP and clean the list
Cold email fails most often for one reason: the list. A bought list = old emails (bounces = a burned domain), the wrong industry (no one needs it), the wrong contact level (we write to someone without decision power). Cleaning the list isn't a nice-to-have — it's the condition for a campaign surviving.
Build the ICP in 6 fields:
- Industry (which industries have the problem you solve),
- Company size (from how many to how many employees — budget and scale),
- Role (who you write to: decision maker, user, decision influencer),
- Location (market, language),
- Problem (a specific pain you solve — not 'we help generally'),
- Signal (what indicates readiness: hiring, funding, expansion). List cleaning in 3 steps:
- remove duplicates,
- verify emails (a verification tool or SMTP check),
- remove what doesn't fit the ICP (even if you have 5000 emails). List readiness threshold: <2% wrong emails, every lead has a role and a signal, at least 50 leads to start. AI helps: it assesses leads against the ICP, proposes research signals, but you confirm the decision 'which companies are in the ICP'.
A bad ICP: 'marketing agencies'. A good ICP: 'performance agencies of 5-20 people in PL that run Meta/Google campaigns, have <10 specialists, lose leads between tools, role: Head of Agency / Founder, signal: hiring a performance specialist'. From this definition a list of 50 companies, after verification 48 emails, each with a signal. Reply rate on such a list can reach 5-10%.
You are a cold email strategist. Context: I sell [PRODUCT]. It solves the problem: [PAIN]. My current list: [WHERE I GOT THE EMAILS, HOW MANY]. Task: Build my ICP: 1. Industry (2-3, with justification — who has this problem the most) 2. Company size (employee range) + why 3. Role (who decides, who I write to) + how to find it 4. Location 5. Problem (specific, measurable — not 'they want growth') 6. Signals (3-5, what means 'ready now') 7. List cleaning plan: how I'll assess my list and what I'll remove 8. Readiness threshold: when the list is good enough to start Format: 8 sections.
Variations & alternative scenarios
B2B services version: ICP at the company + decision maker + budget level.
SaaS product version: ICP + technology + accounts with expansion potential.
Practical exercise
Fill in the ICP in 6 fields for your product. Take 20 leads from your list (or propose sources) and assess how many fit the ICP. Write down what needs cleaning.