Hey ​@PaulGilbert I agree with that approach - especially if you these are cold outbound emails. Removing links and images can help ensure that your emails make it to the inbox vs the spam folder. 

I typically suggest customers keep the first email to under 100 words and that you have only one, clear call to action or question.

You might also test 1 cadence where the first step is a call and the second (on the same day) is an email and second Cadence with the email first and call second. We’ve found depending on your market/product/geography one way tends to over perform the other. You can just copy the Cadence so essentially they are the same outside of the first and second step - that way you can best judge which way works better for your prospects.

Hope that helps! 

Thanks everyone. I am a fan of using variants and they tend to put me on the right path. Good to know I am on the right track. Appreciate the guidance