question Poll: Emails to End Users - Long or Short

[tomcarl]

Experienced/pro-active domainers:

What do you find works better for you when emailing potential end users for your domain names? (which style of email do you find you get greater responses/sales)

• Longer, more detailed emails?
• Shorter, straight to the point emails?

Feel free to share some examples, stories, or reasons as to why you believe which is more effective.

 

[DomainVP]

I do agree that most most of these sales were XXX - however, even for higher amount of sale didn't seem have any influence from the length of the initial pitch.

Nothing wrong with that, xxx adds up; buy, sell, repeat.

Sometimes you take what you can get, and sometimes you can hold out. Thanks for your input.

 

[gina ferrano]

I know when I receive queries about domains I own with generic email addys, or when I recognize the name as a flipper on flippa, or emails that say nothing more than, how much for? I'll ignore. Especially when it's listed at sedo with a buy it now or B/O. Endusers I'd be more apt to respond too. That is unless the name is at auction, I'll forward the link.

When I send info about a domain I own I do keep it fairly short. Longer it runs the risk of looking like generic spam, cut & paste.

 

[ealfert]

I started sending an email with attached PDF like the sample attached to this message.

Too much?

 

[DomainVP]

I started sending an email with attached PDF like the sample attached to this message.

Too much?

Have you had converted sales using it? Looks like confusing overkill IMO. Most end users have no clue about metrics like these.

 

[ealfert]

Have you had converted sales using it?

I just started using that format this past week, so too early to tell.

 

[DomainVP]

I just started using that format this past week, so too early to tell.

I think that is good solid data for anybody who is looking for an exact match or is it domainer already and wants to have a quick snapshot.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[RU]

I started sending an email with attached PDF like the sample attached to this message.

Too much?

Hi @ealfert , you put too much unnecessary data.. IMO

 

[tomcarl]

I never open or DL attachments via email from people I don't know, period. I'm sure many are the same. I wouldn't email attachments to end users, GL tho.

 

[Loko]

I just started using that format this past week, so too early to tell.

Interesting format indeed. I would however write the 'www' in front of the domain, just to make it clear to endusers who are not in the know about the new TLDs. I do second tomcarls comments; I also never open attachments from people I don't know.

 

[N-A]

One variable that I noticed from this poll question and feedback from others (as it would be part "a") is who do you send the short or long email to? This includes the industry/niche as well as position within the company.

If I can't find a decision maker, I still stick to my guns and keep it short. Though, some may find sending a lengthier email to a secretary; for them to pitch to the ultimate end user (the one to make the decision), and you get your reply back.

With the ones who send long emails, who do you contact? Someone who is allowed to hit the BIN button or a message courier?

The answer of this question may also answer why your longer emails work as opposed to shorter.

Just a theory though.

 

[DomainVP]

With the ones who send long emails, who do you contact? Someone who is allowed to hit the BIN button or a message courier?

I send all eMails to decision makers, or whom I believe to be the decision maker. I will also cc someone in lower management or admin in case that decision maker delegates IT decisions.

Only if I cannot find someone in upper management do I contact lower mgmt or admins.

In the end, long or short, I think the length of an eMail is subject to personal opinion of the intended recipient.

Personally, I hate when people try to sell me on things, even if I need the item. I only like discussing something if I have interest in it. So if someone was selling something to me, the first mail would have to be short and the second contact would be more lengthy after an initial response.

Once an end user sends a reply they have taken an action, and will become emotionally invested in the acquisition; if they are truly interested. That's when you want to discuss the brass tax of the sale.

I am testing that out now, doing a bit of A-B testing with longer held names that there may new end users for.

Time will tell...

 

[discobull]

I don't do a lot of mailings these days, but, when I was doing them, I had good success sending out short emails ( no price included ) that directed the recipients to listings I would put up on Ebay. If they decided to take a look at the auction, they would then find a more lengthy presentation about the value of the domain. My auctions would including a starting bid that represented the minimum I was willing to accept for the domain, and a BIN in the amount that I would ideally want. The benefits of using ebay were:

- 50 free listings per month with a maximum commission of $100 in the event of a sale
- instant trust established based on my 100% satisfaction rating from previous buyers
- a deadline by which to act which creates urgency
- payment received upfront before transferring the domain ( I never had a single buyer utter a peep of protest about this )

About half the time that the domain sold, it would be because a buyer emailed or phoned me back hoping to cut a deal immediately. When that happened, I would complete the transaction on escrow.com and close out the Ebay auction thereby saving myself the commission fee.

 

[ealfert]

I don't do a lot of mailings these days, but, when I was doing them, I had good success sending out short emails ( no price included ) that directed the recipients to listings I would put up on Ebay.

Why did you stop pro-actively emailing potential end users? Did you find that the time spent researching potential end users versus the percentage of eBay listings that ended sold/unsold made the time invested not worth the effort?

 

[discobull]

Why did you stop pro-actively emailing potential end users? Did you find that the time spent researching potential end users versus the percentage of eBay listings that ended sold/unsold made the time invested not worth the effort?

I stopped because a) I'm lazy and b) I started making enough money through passive sales that I no longer needed to market. OTOH, I know that emails are an effective way to sell domains and that I'd be making more money if I put in the effort. My problem is that I've always enjoyed the part of domaining that involves researching which domains to buy, but I've never cared very much for the selling part.

 

[hookbox]

Everyone here is focusing on the email itself but the subject line gets them to open it. Without a a good subject line it will be deleted instantly. I would like to see some examples of the subject line if possible.

I have always used

XXXXXX.com is now available for purchase

 

[ealfert]

For keyword domains, I don't use the "keyword1keyword2.tld" domain name in the subject line... I use "keyword1(space)keyword2" only. I'm thinking that if they are interested in those keywords in the subject, they would open the email and look at an exact match domain offered for sale.

 

[hookbox]

For keyword domains, I don't use the "keyword1keyword2.tld" domain name in the subject line... I use "keyword1 keyword2" only I'm thinking that if they are interested in those keywords in the subject, they would open the email and look at an exact match domain offered for sale.

I had thought about doing that also but never did. I would think that end users receive tons of emails for good keywords and then open the email up to see that It's a .biz or .co or some other extension that isn't desired by them. Because they receive so many emails that over time I would assume they would just automatically delete the email if they don't see .com in the subject line as to not waste their time.

I always wondered if you put the full domain in the subject line if it would be looked at as spam. Does anyone know if that's true? Sometimes I will put a space between the name and .com just so it's not read as a URL by the email software just in case.

 

[ealfert]

To clarify, I don't write "Keyword1 Keyword2 is now available for purchase", I write "Keyword 1 Keyword2" only. Example: "Industrial Exchange"... that is it... the totality of the subject line.

 

[JudgeMind]

I started sending an email with attached PDF like the sample attached to this message.

Too much?

Any luck with sales? Also is this a spreadsheet you created or is it from something like estibot.

 

[ealfert]

Any luck with sales?

Too early to tell how effective it is since I just started using it last week.

AAlso is this a spreadsheet you created or is it from something like estibot.

It is a spreadsheet I created where I just type the info in that I manually gather from various sources like Google searches, Google Adwords Keyword Tool, dnpric.es, etc.

 

[hookbox]

To clarify, I don't write "Keyword1 Keyword2 is now available for purchase", I write "Keyword 1 Keyword2" only. Example: "Industrial Exchange"... that is it... the totality of the subject line.

I don't think I would open an email that only has a couple words in it. I think most would think it's some form of spam. Have you had luck using this strategy?

 

[DU]

I don't think I would open an email that only has a couple words in it. I think most would think it's some form of spam. Have you had luck using this strategy?

If you want to be complete honest about things this thread should be renamed:

Spam to Random Business Users - More or Less Annoying

Maybe not quite that extreme but most people are NOT end-users and it's spam whether it's 1 line or 100 lines.

Most people are quite happy not ever being contacted...but.. if you get someone who is actually interested in the name then it is unlikely that it really matters whether the email is long, short, medium.

If they aren't interested in won't matter if it is long, short, medium.

The only time it will really matter is if they aren't that interested in the first place and might be swayed.. and I would guess that medium would be best

What is medium?
In my opinion.

What is it you are selling
Who you are and all your contact information
Never contact us again information.

And anything else that makes you look polite, courteous and professional.

Fake deadlines, nonsense about traffic and attachments are all spammy.

 

[hookbox]

I don't think it's spam if you are offering something to a company that they could possibly want. If you have a rare gold coin and you email a coin collector I wouldn't consider that spam. Last week I emailed a company that uses the name MyXXXXBrand.com and I have the XXXXBrand.com domain. They were ecstatic that I was offering the name to them for sale at a reasonable price. The sale is now in Escrow.

I don't think when they opened the email that they considered it spam but were very happy that I approached them about it. The name dropped a couple weeks ago. The name had been registered for the last 8 years and they had sent numerous emails to the previous owner without ever a reply from them.

 

[DU]

I don't think it's spam if you are offering something to a company that they could possibly want.

Well I suppose, technically, I could want Viagra, Cialis, or to meet that cute girl/guy who keeps writing about a dating profile I don't recall setting up.

 

[JB Lions]

What is medium.

It's that place in the middle.

If you want to be complete honest about things this thread should be renamed:

Spam to Random Business Users - More or Less Annoying

Maybe not quite that extreme but most people are NOT end-users and it's spam whether it's 1 line or 100 lines.

Unsolicited, yes. But what usually goes with that is bulk. If you contact a few parties that might be interested, don't see anything wrong with that. I really don't see much difference if somebody visited some brick and mortar offering some type of goods or services to them. It's just business to business sales type stuff.