@RPNJeff could you elaborate on your cold email strategy?
7
Sure! Came up with 3 different types of reach out emails. then A/B tested each response in a google spreadsheet. I'd then go back after every 200 or so reach outs to see which email had the most successful response rate. Once I picked the winner I would keep that email, then create two new ones in the direction of the winning email and then test the 3 again. Sort of like a "keep breeding the winning horse" type scenario.
Fortunately most artists / labels put their contact email in their SoundCloud page's description or Facebook about section, so it wasn't to difficult to find leads.
1
Awesome! That's clever!
How would you characterize your winning emails? What were the subject lines? How long were they?
(I know there's a ton of literature on cold emails, but I'm curious if your experiences aligns well with conventional wisdom)
1
Shorter and straight to the point almost always won for us. No more than 5 sentences.
1
how many emails were you sending monthly and what was your success rate?
2
A lot. Successrate was low. It was a grind
4
I'd like to see some proof. Hard to believe that Repost is doing $500k without having any sort of online signup or even pricing info on their site. Not saying it's BS, but big claims need some proof or this site just because fiction writing.
1
I would assume @csallen checks proofs before approving articles/interviews.
1
I believe he doesnt
1
You can try and apply below. We only accept channels which avg. 10k plays per upload on SoundCloud as smaller ones will not generate enough revenue to necessetate support resources. Once accepted the artist/label falls into an onboarding wizard where one agrees to TOS with pricing information included.
@RPNJeff Very practical and common sense approach to building a product, thank you for the read!
How do you think about website design, or given the demand you have, there is no need to optimise and tweak it? It just serves as THE place from which artists can sign up/apply.
Thanks!
3
I don't think flashy design matters too much. Look at craigslist...
Just make sure you know what your funnel is and do everything you can to drive the people to that funnel. Websites which have multiple calls to actions can be the biggest design mistake one can make. Even if you have multiple customer types.
One can always improve on their website's design. That said, I am more partial to optimizing our core product's design rather than risking re-designing or optimizing a marketing site which is currently doing a good enough job of bringing us new clients. So, If it ain't broke don't fix it...
2
Makes sense, very true!
I've been neglecting to create a funnel for a long time due to a lack of e-commerce experience, focusing more on the design and content side of the business.
I did recently realise the importance of it though and have switched focus.
Thanks for your answer, will definitely take notes!
1
hi Jeff, we got a product where your artists can benefit from in terms communication with their fans/following. Should I reach out with the email?
Jeff. Congrats on your success. I think by “rage quit Fullscreen” you meant to say “took everything I learned at Fullscreen, including the relationships I built, and did what I was actually supposed to be doing at Fullscreen and turned it into my own little company, which is surely an unethical move... but ALSO an illegal one. Thankfully they didn’t give a fck!” Also, you fcked over Nick V in the process by robbing him of his equity stake. But again, congrats on your success. Keep it sleazy.
1
May be I missed something but I didn't see how many people are in the team, and how much money you spent to build the whole system.
1
The company is currently 14 people (mix of Salary + PT)
We've always taken all our net-revenues and re-invested it back into the company's growth so it is hard to say the full amount. We raised a modest amount of capital in our first year (less than $500k) when we were pre-revenue. Took over 1 year to reach profitability.
1
Thanks for your reply. This information changes the whole context of the article, still valuable :)
1
Good feedback thanks. I agree, probably should have been included in the write up.
@RPNJeff could you elaborate on your cold email strategy?
Sure! Came up with 3 different types of reach out emails. then A/B tested each response in a google spreadsheet. I'd then go back after every 200 or so reach outs to see which email had the most successful response rate. Once I picked the winner I would keep that email, then create two new ones in the direction of the winning email and then test the 3 again. Sort of like a "keep breeding the winning horse" type scenario.
Fortunately most artists / labels put their contact email in their SoundCloud page's description or Facebook about section, so it wasn't to difficult to find leads.
Awesome! That's clever!
How would you characterize your winning emails? What were the subject lines? How long were they?
(I know there's a ton of literature on cold emails, but I'm curious if your experiences aligns well with conventional wisdom)
Shorter and straight to the point almost always won for us. No more than 5 sentences.
how many emails were you sending monthly and what was your success rate?
A lot. Successrate was low. It was a grind
I'd like to see some proof. Hard to believe that Repost is doing $500k without having any sort of online signup or even pricing info on their site. Not saying it's BS, but big claims need some proof or this site just because fiction writing.
I would assume @csallen checks proofs before approving articles/interviews.
I believe he doesnt
You can try and apply below. We only accept channels which avg. 10k plays per upload on SoundCloud as smaller ones will not generate enough revenue to necessetate support resources. Once accepted the artist/label falls into an onboarding wizard where one agrees to TOS with pricing information included.
https://www.repostnetwork.com/apply.html
@RPNJeff Very practical and common sense approach to building a product, thank you for the read!
How do you think about website design, or given the demand you have, there is no need to optimise and tweak it? It just serves as THE place from which artists can sign up/apply.
Thanks!
I don't think flashy design matters too much. Look at craigslist...
Just make sure you know what your funnel is and do everything you can to drive the people to that funnel. Websites which have multiple calls to actions can be the biggest design mistake one can make. Even if you have multiple customer types.
One can always improve on their website's design. That said, I am more partial to optimizing our core product's design rather than risking re-designing or optimizing a marketing site which is currently doing a good enough job of bringing us new clients. So, If it ain't broke don't fix it...
Makes sense, very true!
I've been neglecting to create a funnel for a long time due to a lack of e-commerce experience, focusing more on the design and content side of the business.
I did recently realise the importance of it though and have switched focus.
Thanks for your answer, will definitely take notes!
hi Jeff, we got a product where your artists can benefit from in terms communication with their fans/following. Should I reach out with the email?
https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/over-1m-in-sales-since-12-17-ask-us-anything-b6e02398ca
Jeff. Congrats on your success. I think by “rage quit Fullscreen” you meant to say “took everything I learned at Fullscreen, including the relationships I built, and did what I was actually supposed to be doing at Fullscreen and turned it into my own little company, which is surely an unethical move... but ALSO an illegal one. Thankfully they didn’t give a fck!” Also, you fcked over Nick V in the process by robbing him of his equity stake. But again, congrats on your success. Keep it sleazy.
May be I missed something but I didn't see how many people are in the team, and how much money you spent to build the whole system.
The company is currently 14 people (mix of Salary + PT)
We've always taken all our net-revenues and re-invested it back into the company's growth so it is hard to say the full amount. We raised a modest amount of capital in our first year (less than $500k) when we were pre-revenue. Took over 1 year to reach profitability.
Thanks for your reply. This information changes the whole context of the article, still valuable :)
Good feedback thanks. I agree, probably should have been included in the write up.
@RPNJeff Amazing article! So inspiring...
Thanks!
This is super inspirational and well written. Congratulations on your success!!!
Thank you!
This comment was deleted 8 months ago.