Sending cold emails to Finnish businesses: what actually works

I set myself a target in January: five outreach emails per week. No exceptions.

It's now March. I've sent about 60 emails. Six have turned into actual conversations. Two of those became projects.

Here's what I've learned.

Finnish Business Communication Is Different

In many cultures, the first email is about building rapport. You warm up the relationship. You're personable. You find common ground before you get to the ask.

Finnish business culture doesn't work this way. Finns are not unfriendly — that's a myth — but they are direct. They want to know, clearly and quickly, why you're contacting them and what you want.

My first emails were too long. Too much context-setting. Too much "I've been following your work" and not enough "here's the specific thing I want to do."

The Template That Started Working

After many iterations, here's roughly what my emails look like now:

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Subject: Documentary project — [Business Name]

I'm a documentary filmmaker based in Finland. I'm working on a series about local businesses and the stories behind them.

I'd like to film a short documentary about [Business Name] — the history, the people, what keeps you going. No cost to you. You'd receive a finished film you can use however you want.

Would you be open to a 20-minute call?

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That's it. Short. Direct. Clear offer. Clear ask.

The "no cost to you" line matters. Finnish small business owners are busy and financially cautious. Removing the question of money from the first email eliminates a major reason not to reply.

What Doesn't Work

Vague subject lines. "Collaboration opportunity" gets ignored. "Documentary project — Othello Café" gets opened.

Long emails. If I can't say what I want in four sentences, I don't yet understand what I want.

Following up more than once. In most markets, persistent follow-up is normal. Here, one follow-up is probably fine. Two feels pushy.

The Othello Vaasa Reply

I sent the Othello email on a Wednesday morning. They replied Thursday afternoon.

The reply was three sentences. They said yes, they'd be happy to talk, and asked when I was free.

That's the Finnish business email: efficient, warm within its efficiency, exactly what you need and nothing else.

We met the following Tuesday. By the end of the meeting, we'd agreed to start filming.

The Honest Math

A 10% conversion from email to conversation is decent in any outreach context. A 3% conversion from email to project is realistic for cold outreach.

I'm not expecting every email to turn into something. I'm playing a volume game with quality filters — I only email businesses that genuinely interest me, so the conversations I do have are real.

The goal isn't just to find clients. It's to find the right stories. The outreach process is also a research process. Every reply tells me something about how businesses here think about media, storytelling, and investment in their own narrative.

That knowledge compounds.