The link that proves you're legit makes you look like spam: should you include links in cold emails?
The link you add to prove you are legitimate is the thing that makes you look like spam.
On April 15 I sat down with a teammate to review a new cold campaign line by line. We got as far as the first email and I stopped to set the rule before anything else:
Email we should never have a URL.
On a first email, a link is how you get flagged as spam. Everything else in the review followed from that one rule.
The rule: no URL in email one
Founders put links in cold emails for a reason that feels smart. "If they can see our website, they'll know we're real." The website is the proof. The case study is the proof. The calendar link saves them a step.
The problem is who reads the email first. It is not the prospect. It is a filter.
Deliverability guides are close to unanimous here: zero links in the initial cold email, especially on new sending domains. And they treat images the same way as links, so the logo in your signature counts too. A first email from a domain the inbox provider has never seen, to a person who has never written back, carrying a link, looks exactly like what spam filters are built to catch.
So the link that was supposed to prove you are real is the reason the prospect never sees the email.
Why links hurt a cold first touch
Think about what a cold first email is from the inbox provider's side. A stranger writing to a stranger. No history between them. No reply yet. The filter has little to go on, so it leans on the signals it can see.
Links are one of the loudest. Phishing uses links. Bulk promotion uses links. Tracking uses links. A plain-text note with no links looks like a person writing to a person, which is what you want it to be.
After someone replies, everything changes. Now there is a conversation. A link in a reply thread is normal. The rule is not "never use links". It is "never use them before you have earned a reply".
Three sentences: opener, value, ask
Once the link comes out, most founders realize the email was doing too much anyway. The link was standing in for an argument they had not made.
The rules we used on that review were short:
- A casual subject line, all lowercase, like something a person would type.
- Three sentences maximum.
- Sentence one is personal: why you picked this person.
- Sentence two is the value: what is in it for them.
- Sentence three is a simple ask, with a yes or no answer.
Three sentences feels too short until you try it. Then you see that every extra sentence was you explaining yourself, and the prospect did not ask for an explanation. They asked, silently, why they should care. The first two sentences answer that. The third gives them something easy to do.
The only metric for email one is the reply
A link in email one is also optimizing for the wrong thing. It is built for a click. A click tells you almost nothing. Someone looked at your homepage for eight seconds. So what?
I bookmarked an argument in early April that I agree with completely: open rates are not a metric you can trust, and positive replies are the only cold email number worth managing. I would push it one step further for the first touch. The reply is the whole point of email one. Not the click, not the open, not the visit. A reply is the moment a stranger becomes a conversation, and a conversation is where your links, your case studies and your calendar finally belong.
Where the link goes instead
Everything you wanted to put in the first email has a home.
- The website goes in your reply, after they answer.
- The case study goes in the reply to their first question.
- The calendar link goes in the message where you agree to meet.
- Your credibility goes in sentence one, as a specific reason you chose them. That is proof a link cannot give you.
The best first email we know is not a pitch at all. It is an invitation: would you come on my show as a guest? Three sentences, no links, a yes or no question about something that is good for them. People reply to that because it is about them.
What a three-sentence first email looks like
Subject: quick question, [first name]
Hi [first name], your post on [specific thing they said or did] was the clearest take on [topic] I have read this year. I host [show name], where [their peers] talk about exactly that, and I think our audience would learn a lot from you. Would you be open to coming on as a guest?
No link, no logo, no calendar. A specific reason, a reason it is good for them, and a question they can answer in one word. If they say yes, the next email has everything: the show page, the calendar, the prep doc.
Do this before your next send
Open your live sequence. Delete every URL and image from email one, including the signature. Cut it to three sentences. Watch replies for a week.
If you want invitations like that written in your voice and sent from domains built for it, see how invites are written and sent.
Frequently asked questions
Do links in cold emails hurt deliverability?
In a first email, yes. Deliverability guides recommend zero links in the initial cold email, especially from new domains, and treat images like links. A plain-text note looks like one person writing to another.
When can you add a link in a cold sequence?
After the prospect replies. Once there is a conversation, a website, case study or calendar link in your reply is normal and useful.
How long should a cold email be?
We cap first emails at three sentences: why you picked them, what is in it for them, and a simple yes or no ask, under a casual lowercase subject line.