Should you include images or attachments in cold emails?

Images and attachments create problems for cold email that outweigh potential benefits.

Why to avoid images:

Many email clients block images by default

Images signal marketing or promotional content

Broken image placeholders look unprofessional

Image-heavy emails often land in promotions tab or spam

Tracking pixels (invisible images) raise privacy concerns

Why to avoid attachments:

Security filters often block or quarantine attachments from unknown senders

Recipients are trained not to open attachments from strangers

Adds file size that can trigger limits

Suggests you want something from them (review this, sign this)

Alternatives:

Link to resources hosted on your website

Offer to send materials if they express interest

Describe content rather than attaching it

Use video thumbnails linking to hosted video rather than embedded

Exceptions:

Small, tasteful signature logos (with proper alt text)

Personalized images if your tool supports them well

Follow-up emails where relationship is established

Plain text cold emails consistently outperform HTML-heavy alternatives.