Should I send a Loom video in the first cold message without asking, or ask first? Also, do Loom videos hurt email deliverability?

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Should I send a Loom video in the first cold message without asking, or ask first? Also, do Loom videos hurt email deliverability?

I think there are a couple of things to clarify. First, the idea that a Loom video almost always lands in spam is not true. Sending links in email at larger volumes does decrease deliverability and can negatively impact your ability to reach the inbox, but it doesn't mean every email goes to spam; deliverability might drop from, say, 95% to around 75%. Some emails will still land in spam, and if your Loom videos are poor, recipients may mark you as spam, which can hurt your sender reputation over time. However, it's not an all-or-nothing situation. Think of deliverability as a gradient. You can move toward the delivery side by improving practices—using multiple mailboxes, low sending volumes, perfect DNS records (DMARC, DKIM, etc.), good subject lines, and valuable content. Adding a link pushes you toward the no-delivery side, but strong deliverability practices can pull you back. Regarding your specific tactic: I don't send a 'can I send you a quick two-minute video?' preamble anymore. That approach used to work, but now it's common and doesn't stand out. Instead, I record the Loom video ahead of time, make it highly valuable and customized, and then distribute it across multiple channels (email, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, etc.). If each platform gives roughly a 20% chance of being seen, the combined probability of being seen on at least one channel is about 1-(0.8)^5 ≈ 67%. Multiplying that by a conservative deliverability estimate of 75% gives roughly a 50% chance the video is seen. If the video is really good and hyper-customized, maybe one out of two recipients replies, yielding around a 25% response rate. The bottom line: there's no definitive rule from email providers about links causing spam; they approximate based on signals. Use common sense, test the approach, and see what works for you.

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Are you referring to using Loom videos for Upwork job applications when you say they're the best form of cold outreach?

Email deliverability isn’t a simple spam‑or‑not‑spam binary; it’s more like a sliding scale. Adding a link to an email nudges it toward the spam side, but excellent copywriting can pull it back toward the inbox. Adding images moves it further toward spam, yet a strong warm‑up routine, a pristine list, and high engagement can still keep you in the inbox. If you send a Loom video that’s incredibly high‑value and gets a great response, you might willingly take a small deliverability hit because the back‑end conversion makes up for it. Likewise, cutting your daily email volume—say, from 25‑30 down to 5‑10—improves your sender reputation and helps the mailbox provider see you as a real user. Platforms like Instantly let you run separate campaigns (e.g., a Loom‑video‑only campaign) and monitor deliverability on just those mailboxes, so you can isolate any impact. In short, when I say Loom personalized videos are the best form of cold outreach, I’m talking about using them to apply for jobs on Upwork (and similarly via Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn DMs, and email).

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youtube ↗Cold Email

Nick, do you mind if I send a Loom video as my default cold email strategy?

The Loom video approach was terrible for me. My other approach was sending a lead magnet (a Google doc). To reconcile scale with customization, there are two approaches: low volume, high customization—sending a personalized Loom video that solves a problem, delivers value, and builds a warm connection to maybe 10‑30 people a day; and high volume, low result—blasting a generic “do you mind if I send you a Loom video?” to a million people and only recording when they reply. The latter is overdone and saturated; it’s not effective anymore.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

What’s the current effective cold Loom video strategy on LinkedIn in 2026, and how many follow‑ups should I send when I get no replies?

Sending just a few Loom videos per day (e.g., nine in three days, about three per day) yields low reply rates. Successful students in Maker School send 20‑30 videos daily, seeing a 30‑40% connection acceptance rate and a 30‑50% reply rate, which translates to roughly 10‑15% overall reply rate and about five warm leads per day. To improve results, break your outreach into a funnel and boost volume at each stage. The Loom video itself should be dynamic—start with high‑value content in the first few seconds, avoid AI‑generated templates, and add personal touches like zooming in on the recipient’s picture or embedding a short GIF. Consistently send more videos (20‑30 per day) and follow up as needed; there’s no strict limit, but higher volume with personalized content drives better engagement.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

Can you explain your advice on using Loom videos in cold emails and provide a demo?

Using Loom videos in cold emails works and can be effective, but it lowers deliverability because links and media trigger spam filters. You trade volume for personalization—send fewer, highly tailored emails with a Loom video that shows you’ve already built the asset, which creates a pattern break and raises perceived value. To compensate for lower deliverability, reduce volume or improve mailbox practices. It’s not fully scalable like pure text cold email, but it’s a valuable tactic when you need to stand out.

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