How I Built BuyEmailOpeners.com from $0
Hi everyone, I’m Matt — I’ve been deep in the newsletter space for a while now, and like many of you, I’ve felt the pain of trying to grow an engaged email list from scratch.
Pop-ups. Lead magnets. Social posts. Paid ads.
I tried them all.
The result? A slow grind with very little return — and even when people subscribed, they rarely stuck around.
So I flipped the script.
Instead of doing all the work to get someone’s email first, I thought:
What if I sent the value first and only collected the emails of people who actually opened and engaged?
That’s when everything changed.
I started running small, targeted campaigns with content that felt like it came from a newsletter, not a brand. If someone opened the email, I’d collect that data — and now I wasn’t just building a list.
I was building a list of verified openers.
People who already liked the tone. The style. The value.
No guessing games. No deadweight subscribers.
Just a list full of people who had already raised their hand.
And it worked — better than I expected.
I began helping creators and small brands do the same. Every time, the engagement was better, faster, and more sustainable. That’s when https://buyemailopeners.com/ was born.
I built it with $0 — no outside funding, no big launch, just sweat equity and a strategy that worked.
We help people skip the slow grind and build email lists with subscribers who already open emails.
This isn’t about buying “leads” — it’s about proving interest first, then capturing data.
That mindset shift has made all the difference.
So if you’re stuck in that cycle of giveaways and growth hacks that don’t actually move the needle… I’ve been there. And there’s a better way.
I’m not here to sell — just sharing what’s worked for me in case it’s helpful.
If you want to talk through the process or poke holes in the idea, I’m all ears.
Thanks for reading 🙌
Always open to feedback or discussion.
I’ll admit I don’t know much about this space but your post left me confused. You couldn’t get people to sign up to your mailing list so you started emailing a bunch of people and tracked the ones that opened? Seems pretty sketchy…
Now you’re basically selling email lists? What are the privacy implications here? If I’ve ended up on your list, I don’t want my email sold to other businesses, regardless of whether or not I’ve opted in to receive marketing email at some point and deep in the terms and conditions it gives you permission to do just that. Nah.
Also, aren’t you going to get to the point where you oversaturate your “openers” to the point where they get tired of so many emails and stop opening? I’d imagine there’s correlation between the number of emails someone receives and the likelihood of them opening an email. So the more “success” you have ends up exhausting your openers, reducing the quality of lists you sell to clients…
Also, what does “15+ years of experience” translate to in this case? I always find it strange when founders conflate personal experience with how a given business/service. Even more so, when it’s 3x founders with 5 years each and they say, “let’s just add them together “! Regardless of your own personal experience, seeing 15 years experience on a domain that’s barely 6 weeks old makes me doubt the veracity of your claims.
When we say “15+ years of experience,” we’re referring to the combined experience of our founding team in the email marketing and growth space not the age of the brand itself. You’re right that the service is new (just launched a few months ago), and we should have made that distinction clearer.
Hey, really appreciate you taking the time to raise these concerns — they’re totally valid, and I want to clear things up.
First, I’m not selling raw email lists or passing along people’s private data without consent — that would be unethical and illegal. What we do at Buy Email Openers is help marketers grow their email lists with verified, opted-in users who have shown actual engagement (they’ve opened real email campaigns we've run on behalf of clients).
Here's how it works:
We run targeted campaigns to users who have already opted in to receive marketing emails.
When someone opens an email from one of those campaigns, we verify that engagement and make that contact available to our clients.
These are real people, not bots or scraped lists, and every contact has given prior consent to be contacted by brands.
We’re transparent about our practices and comply with relevant email marketing laws (CAN-SPAM, GDPR, etc.). The idea isn’t to trick people or spam them — it's to provide businesses with warm leads who’ve already shown interest in the types of emails our clients send.
You're totally right about oversaturation — it’s something we actively manage. Our goal is quality over quantity — helping businesses reach people who actually care, not blast out emails indiscriminately.
I get that this space has a bad rep, and your skepticism is warranted. That’s exactly why we prioritize ethical sourcing, clear opt-ins, and engagement-based delivery. If you ever want to dive deeper into how it works or voice more concerns, I’m happy to chat.
@mxsuite care to add anything?
Yeah how does this work exactly? You have a big list with multiple niches and then send it from your domain/email to clients and the ones who open the email are then sent to your users database and they can download details of the user and email and reuse the email in the future? Or do the clients click on an opt in link for the user of your saas?
You provide the email content you want to send (subject line, body, etc.), and we take it from there. Using our trusted domains and segmented, high-intent audiences, we send your campaign out to real, opted-in users who are already open to receiving marketing messages in your niche.
When someone opens your email, we track that engagement in real time — and that’s when the magic happens. We verify the open, capture the user’s data (including email address and niche info), and instantly add them to your list. These are real, engaged contacts who’ve shown interest in your content.
Don't think we're going to get a reply. Just another BS post about a BS product on IndieHackers.
Hey, sorry for the delay — just been buried with work lately! Definitely not trying to ghost anyone or drop a “BS product” and disappear
Happy to answer any questions or clarify anything if you're still curious!
This is such a refreshing take, Matt.
The mindset shift from "collect first, then hope they engage" to "prove value first, then collect engaged emails" is genius — and honestly feels like where email marketing should be headed.
Love how you built it from $0 with real results, not hype. Also appreciate the way you’re not just selling leads, but offering verified intent. Big difference.
Would love to hear more about the exact tools or tech you used to track openers — super curious!
Wow, that means a lot!
That mindset shift was a big one for me too. I’ve seen too many people burn through cold lists hoping something sticks… but proving value first just creates a way better foundation (and experience) for both sides.
And yeah, verified intent > random leads all day — glad that came through!
On the tech side: we use advanced email tracking technology to monitor opens in real time, which helps us ensure the data we provide is both accurate and up-to-date
Interesting idea! Seems like a cool way to get a more engaged list. I wonder how sustainable it is long-term, but definitely worth checking out for faster growth. Might give it a try for my next project.
Thanks! Appreciate you giving it a look 🙌
Totally hear you on the sustainability, i's something I'm always thinking about too. The goal is to keep things super targeted so you’re getting real engagement, not just a flood of contacts. Used right, it can actually improve long-term list health by helping you build with people who are already showing interest.