OK, first things first..and for the 1000th time...
Cold emails are NOT spam.
SPAM EMAILS are spam.
If you intend to spam your list with a cr@ppy offer or a "make a million bucks in a week" product, don't even bother. If you bought this list and paid money for it, use it to promote something worth your time and your clients' time.
If you have a good product or offer, go ahead and promote it. Imagine what would happen if you were a sales rep (or whatever), you saw your perfect client at a networking event, and didn't talk to him because it is a
"cold approach" (!!!). Or maybe you think Morgan Stanley or Citibank contact only people who have "opted-in" through their ads?
Maybe Bigfoot is alive and kicking.. who knows?
If you have something that solves a pain, or addresses a real problem or desire, people will listen to you. And they won't care where you found them from... Have a good story to tell them and a legit product, and you're fine. If you are reeeeally worried, use Facebook or LinkedIn as an excuse
(depending on what kind of list you have; doctors, real estate agents, or single moms?).
"Hey, {{name}},
Saw your Linkedin profile, and..."
So, find a good product and just do it. Start small if you are new to this. Send 100 emails and see what happens. Then send 100 more...
Make sure you are sending them from your own domain. Good autoresponders allow you to do this. Register your domain so that your emails appear as if they are sent from dude@yourcompany.com instead of dude@sendgrid.com
Make this mistake, and you end up in the spam folder.
Avoid stupid words that raise flags. You know them. Words like "Make money fast" and such...
Put the prospects name in the title, and one or two more times inside your email copy. Especially when you send the first one. If your list is good, you have names. Use them.
Make also sure that you give them a way out. To unsubscribe. No half-ass solutions. When they say "I'm out" you let them go. Good autoresponders have this feature already incorporated, anyway.
Use litmus. They have a service where you send them an email, and they show you in which tab of gmail it will land. You will know how google sees your emails. Cool little tool.
Don't send just an email. Make it a sequence. Nobody responds or buys from a single email. You need at least 3-4 emails in a sequence. Spread them every 2 or three days. Or a week if it's more appropriate for your product.
Just my 2 cents...
Good Luck, buddy!