Cold email outreach advice
Hey guys. I’m an email developer trying to transition to agency. Things are going pretty good for me on upwork, but I’m trying to get more clients outside this platform.
After reading (and procrastinating) a lot, I’ve started to send at least one cold email for the past weeks. My target clients are small marketing agencies, since 90% of my clients fall under this category.
So far I had a very good response rate but I’m failing to convert them after that.
Usually the emails I send are something like “do you code email templates?”, which obviously will get more responses since that implies I’m interested in their services. This is a tactic that actually applied someone on me, and since it got me into in conversation with the guy doing outreach to me I found it clever.
So the question would be how to lead them after the initial response. I usually try to provide some value first when possible, but I’m not sure if switching from enquiry to selling like I’m doing might sound offensive.
Would love to hear some thoughts from someone more experienced in the field.
Approach it from a consulting perspective and not sales. Don't just explain what you do but why they should hire an email developer and why your the right person for the job. Could be to drive engagement, more sales, better deliverability, cost etc
Try a subject like
Trevor, are your emails getting a sub par ROI
If they say yes at the end, tell them great and give them a tip or advice that they don't expect. If they don't need you now they may in 3 months.
I’m still trying to figure out how to present the benefits though. The main issue when coding emails is to make them render properly on every email client, not sure if that’s enough to present as benefit
Sure it is but what are drawbacks if they are not rendered properly on every email client. Does engagement or sales drop, if so how much. What are the extra skills, time, cost to make sure they look pro on every client. If its a small agency would coding emails be a drain on their resources or would they have the skills to make them look polished. Another option but may work better in a follow up is to showcase a template with results and why it worked well. Play off one of your strengths or highlight one of their pains or preferably both.
Im sure some will disagree but a free trial or offer can defintely work but it needs to be presented to the right company who wont think twice about paying you next if the work is good. Don't do it as a favour or for a young startup that counting every bean. Make sure they have an allocated budget.
Wow thanks for the feedback. Well free trial it’s not possible since each email takes hours, plus I prefer with people that is willing to pay. This I’ve started offering a 50% discount for the first order to try the service.
Hey @richardA. Although that’s not exactly what I offer, you’re right, presenting the benefits instead of just sayin what we do is something that may work better. Thanks!
Hi Javier. The key is to say I have this product to sell, are you interested? People buy when you meet them at the point of their need. Don't beat about the bush. Just let people know the benefits of your product. If they are interested, they'll buy.
Thanks @noahb :)
What is your aim for the call? To close a specific deal? Or to build up a relationship so they think of you next time they need emails coded?
Why do you think the conversation is falling apart after the first email?
Hey, thanks for jumping in. The goal would be to get them at least to try one project, maybe offering a discount but definitely not for free.
I'm still not sure how to provide value properly using this approach-
Well, any tip you have may help!
wait, are you selling them email coding, or hoping to code emails for them next time they need to offer that to their clients?
Yes, email coding. But obviously, it depends on their client's orders. Usually, these agencies have regular clients and thus, monthly or weekly emails.
cc: @louisswiss
@jrenzi This trick might get you attention, but it will also potentially trap you. There are several other alternatives to build a context for sending a cold email. I am working on this - https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/tractionmate-50-curated-cold-email-templates-for-makers and it has many examples that you could pick up to explore.
Um, so you got them to respond using deception... I'm not sure that's a good way to start a conversation.
Yes, that's what I thought, but it worked for me on the receiver end. And it just got me into 3 conversations last week, and one of them looks interested.
What subject do you think might work best?
This comment was deleted 4 years ago.