I sent 50 cold LinkedIn DMs to get my first users. Here's what actually happened
I'm building ReplyF — a Chrome extension that reads your full email thread and replies in your tone, not a generic robot tone.
Last week I started cold outreach on LinkedIn. Here's the honest breakdown:
50+ DMs sent
7 people opened
3 replied — all said no
0 beta users so far
What I learned:
Targeting "freelancer" broadly is a mistake. A backend developer freelancer and a copywriter freelancer have completely different problems. Wrong audience hurts more than wrong message.
Still building. Still sending. Launching on Product Hunt April 29th.
Has anyone else struggled with finding first users through cold outreach? What actually worked for you?
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I know a few freelance copywriters, consultants, and VAs personally, and they'd probably be willing to answer any questions you have if you want. They definitely deal with client emails all the time. Let me know if you want me to pass your questions along.
Love that you're in the trenches doing cold DMs to get those first users. It highlights a common struggle for RevOps leaders and sales teams at early-stage companies: that initial manual hustle. As you grow, the real pain comes from not knowing which of those replies actually turn into pipeline. Getting clear visibility into that linkage, beyond just tracking activity, really helps remove the guesswork and manual CRM updates. Happy to chat if you want some thoughts on improving that flow.
Just sent you a DM on LinkedIn 👍 (Aryan Y.)
Easier to continue there — shared a quick thought on the naming angle too.
Those numbers actually point to something pretty specific.
7 opens out of 50 → means the hook isn’t landing at all.
So the problem likely isn’t reply copy…
it’s that the message doesn’t immediately signal:
“this is for me.”
Also — “reads your email thread and replies in your tone” sounds useful,
but it’s still a bit abstract for cold outreach.
In a DM, people don’t process features — they react to a very clear, immediate benefit.
Something like:
“write replies 3x faster without breaking your tone”
is easier to latch onto than how it works.
You already caught the audience issue — this is the next layer:
making the value obvious in 2–3 seconds.
Curious — what was the exact first line you were using in those DMs?
This is exactly the layer I was missing aryan singh. I was selling the mechanism not the outcome. The first line I was using was "how many client emails did you rewrite this week?" — hook was okay but the benefit never got clear fast enough. Updating everything around "3x faster without breaking your tone." Thanks for this.
That makes sense — your hook wasn’t bad, it just didn’t close the loop.
One tweak I’d push further:
“3x faster” is strong, but still slightly generic.
What usually converts better is tying it to a very specific moment they already feel.
Like:
“stop rewriting client emails at midnight”
or
“send client replies in minutes, not 30–40 mins each”
That instantly clicks because they’ve experienced it.
Cold DMs aren’t really about clarity alone —
they’re about making the person feel:
“yeah, this is exactly my problem right now.”
If you nail that, replies jump fast.
Curious — who are you going after next specifically (freelancers is still broad)?
Your 'stop rewriting client emails at midnight' example completely changed my messaging. That one line did more than weeks of testing.
To answer your question — narrowing down to freelance copywriters, consultants and VAs. They write client emails daily so the pain is real for them.
As a thank you — free first month access to ReplyF on April 29. No strings.
Would you be open to that?
That’s a solid segment — I’d just tighten it one more layer.
“Freelancers” still vary a lot.
Best results usually come from:
one role
one exact moment
Like:
“send client replies in minutes instead of spending 30–40 mins rewriting tone”
Also quick thought — “ReplyF” feels a bit abstract for cold outreach.
If the name hinted at speed + tone, your opens likely improve instantly.
If you want, I can share a couple of angle + naming combos that perform well here.
Yes, why not
If you’re on LinkedIn, happy to connect there — easier to share a few directions properly.
I’m Aryan Y. there 👍
username is tayyab-i-4866742a3
Tried finding you but couldn’t locate the exact profile.
Can you drop your LinkedIn link here?
Easier to connect and continue there 👍
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayyab-i-4866742a3
The 7 opens out of 50 DMs is a data point worth digging into. The open rate tells you the connection request was accepted, but the 3 replies all saying no suggests the message itself landed but the framing didn't match the problem the recipient was experiencing. For a tool like ReplyF, the person most likely to convert in cold DM outreach is probably someone who was complaining publicly about email reply quality, not just a broad freelancer or developer.
That targeting insight is sharp — going after people already complaining publicly about AI email quality instead of broad freelancers. That's a completely different search approach on Sales Navigator too. I was filtering by job title, not by pain signal. Going to try finding people who've posted about this frustration. Appreciate it. Thanks tdubq