Imagine a beach. Late summer, when it’s still warm and pleasant, but no longer too hot. Soft sand glittering under the morning sun, palm trees swaying in the breeze. The waves, high and imposing, drawing you in, daring you to take up the surfboard and mount them.

Now, doing outreach can easily compare to surfing in a tropical paradise such as this. I own the wave, glide through water on my board, in perfect sync and balance. And I end up falling only 70% of the time.

Think of the water like the matter it is composed of - an uncountable amount of imperceptible atoms and molecules. Though individually insignificant, together they can support the weight of a man, and, given time - even erode entire mountains and grind them into dust. Emails work in a similar way, their flow keeps the internet up and running. Too bad that the vast majority of those are unwanted cold emails and spam.

People sending out those assume that a tiny percentage of them will be successful, so they aim for sheer quantity - when they should strive for quality instead. Their plan is to send out a gazillion of them and hope for the best. But how are you going to send that many emails by yourself? Well, guess you won’t. Instead, you’ll automate the entire process and send as many unpersonalized emails as you possibly can just to get your boss off your back. And when you send that kind of email - made for everyone, which means it’s tailor-made for no one - hardly anyone will even notice it, let alone open and answer it.

And the cycle of endless emails continues. Thus, the spammy outreach email was born.