62 cold emails, 0 replies. Then I stopped sending the problem and started sending the fix.

I'm building AbleScan — a free scanner that checks any site against the EU Accessibility Act and gives you the exact code to fix what's broken. Free to scan; you pay €9.90 only to unlock the full fix list + a PDF.

The product works. Distribution is where I keep dying. So I did the unglamorous thing: cold-emailed small e-commerce shops whose sites fail the checks.

The first 62 emails ran the obvious script: "Hi, I scanned your homepage, here are 3 accessibility issues, reply if you'd like the full list." Replies: zero. Not "no." Just silence.

Then I changed one thing. Instead of describing the problem, I pasted the actual fix — the two lines of code that fix their single worst issue — right in the email. No link, no attachment, no screenshot. Just: here's your broken thing, here's the exact fix, paste it in.

The next batch broke the silence. A small chocolatier wrote back — he'd already spotted the alt-text I flagged and said he's fixing it now. First human reply after 62 silent ones, and it came off the free fix, not the finding.

Still $0, to be clear. One reply is a signal, not a sale. But the finding-only version earned 0/62; the fix-in-the-inbox version got someone to write back on the first try. A working fix sitting in your inbox is much harder to ignore than "you have 3 issues."

I've since run the same shape into more niches (chocolatiers, coffee roasters, plant shops today). Same build: one free fix, paste it in; the paid part (full list + PDF) stays paid.

What I'm still chewing on: does giving away one fix open the door, or just hand them the fix they needed and end the conversation? So far the people who reply tell me they're more broken than one fix covers — which is exactly who'd buy.

If you've done cold outreach that actually got replies: did you lead with the problem or the solution? And where would you draw the free line?