Cold outreach for idea validation…
What is the proper way word a cold email as it pertains to idea validation? Without it sounding like trying to set up a sales meeting.
I’d like to conduct potential customer/industry research.
I have many email addresses that I’ve collected, but I’m just not sure the optimal way to ask for a “research” interview.
Would love to see examples of what other people have used
EDIT:
The first interview is scheduled for tomorrow; Going to try to snowball subsequent referral interviews
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Super hard since its cold. Expect low baseline engagement.
Otherwise, always good to lead with an offer instead of an ask if you can. Like try this for free in exchange for feedback.
If people have already had a good experience with your solution (or an alternative more likely in this context), its good to ask for their input to help others have a similar experience. There’s something empowering about helping people help others.
Else I’d go for the most direct, succinct message.
Good luck!
Ask if they have the problem you are trying to solve in a very specific way.
For example - If you solution helps save insurance costs for employers
Question would go something like this - “How do you know you’re not being overcharged for workers comp insurance?”
The goal is to make them think and not to ask leading questions to get the answers you want.
I think the best way here would be to just email saying them you are working something around the area they are working on and you would just like to have a 15 minute call with them
A few people also suggest mentioning you would be happy to pay for their time as well and in most cases, people would be happy to get on a call without charging anything.
This is what I do (without offering to pay). Works pretty well. People have been surprisingly generous with their time.
I have to automate it though. I send out requests to a large list of people slowly over time. This gives me time to build the features they ask for.
Interesting. Could you share a complete example email?
Also,
How many emails are you sending out?
What does your open-rate/"conversion" rate look like - (if you've gathered those statistics)
Are you manually sourcing your lists of emails? Browsing LinkedIn? Directory Sites etc?
Sure thing. I’ll DM you my opener. It feels weird to post it online.
I actually don’t use email. I use LinkedIn connection requests. I automate sending them with phantombuster.
I get the contact lists directly through LinkedIn by using the advanced search. I don’t have sales navigator, but even the regular search seems to be enough for me to target.
I send out 3 connection requests per day. It’s a pretty slow pace, but that gives me about 2-3 interviews per week. With my day job and other stuff, that’s about all I can handle. Using those numbers, 21 invitations and 2-3 meetings per week, that’s about 10ish%.
I’ve dabbled in cold email, but only to try and sell. My current method works well for me, so I haven’t changed it. I’ve always wanted to try cold email for idea validation, but I never have.
When I did use cold email, I tried a bunch of stuff. Pretty much everything. My favorite stack, was just using Apollo. They have their own database so you don’t even have to use LinkedIn even though you can.
Funny you say that; I just got my first interview scheduled via LinkedIn connection notes.
And that'd be great, thanks
Way to go. Linkedin has been great for me with this stuff.
Btw, it doesn’t look like I can DM on here so I sent you a follow on Twitter.
Pretty sure I followed you back; Let me know.
Offer them something of value in exchange for answering your questions.
Here is my general Cold Email outreach for this scenario. I've had some decent success. Feel free to customize, but the general outline works great.
Example Template:
Title {Dope Title, Personal, and Attractive}
Intro Line: {make it personal, i.e. love your product, recent post, etc}
Benefits: {i'll do x for you, i.e. free audit, send you traffic, etc} in exchange for you {doing x}
Credibility: {proof that you are real, and will do it}
The Ask: {simple, shoot for a 1 word answer, or a action. i.e. Yes or Clicks link to book meeting}.
Hope this helps.
The standard rules of cold emails apply here, IMO.
Be extremely specific on your customer profile. People whom the problem you are solving resonates with are much more likely to respond.
Provide value. What's in it for them? Early access to your first iteration, access to results of the study, free consultation, etc.
Build relationships. This one doesn't always work, but I've seen lots of advice to start cold emails by asking about problems and offering to provide value, and only then pitching your solution – or making the ask.
Here I fixed the title for you:
"Sending spam for idea validation..."
What are some other alternatives to cold emailing, especially when you are really “out of network” for a particular industry.
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