advice Critique my enduser email...

[Kevin A]

Subject: NOTREALNAME.COM is for sale!

Dear (City) area entrepreneur,

I am writing you today to let you know that the domain name www.(not the real name).com is for sale. I believe your business would greatly benefit from this fantastic name. I am asking $2,500, however, I am also open to all offers and terms. Simply respond to this email to purchase or make an offer. All transactions will be handled via Escrow.com.

Best Regards,

Kevin A. Coffman
[email protected]

LinkedIn

Tips? it's a keywordgeo, not great but not awful IMO.

 

[johname]

"I am also open to all offers and terms"

This part too begging for a low ball offer, in my opinion.

And be prepared to defend "fantastic"


Good Luck

 

[briguy]

Escrow.com.

I would make Escrow a link....also offer Paypal as a option (not many non-domainers) heard of Escrow

 

[mhdoc]

It assumes they understand the benefit of using Escrow.com.

 

[Kevin A]

"I am also open to all offers and terms"

This part too begging for a low ball offer, in my opinion.

And be prepared to defend "fantastic"


Good Luck

thanks @johname I'll just drop the "fantastic." Any better way to say open to offers or will they just offer anyway if they are going to? Also, Good or bad overall?

 

[Kevin A]

It assumes they understand the benefit of using Escrow.com.

Very true @mhdoc, should I explain it briefly (a sentence) you think? Should I explicitly offer to pay fees?

 

[inforg]

Do some research and address and customize each one to a specific person so it doesn't look like a form letter.

No exclamation point in subject line.

Agree with other poster about leaving it open for a lowball. You might not want to even mention an amount on the first email.

I also try to tie it in to their current site or business. "I saw your site at www.(some worse domain) and thought this domain would really help improve your online efforts"

End with "let me know if you are interested" and skip transaction details like Escrow.com

Just my .02

 

[Kevin A]

I would make Escrow a link....also offer Paypal as a option (not many non-domainers) heard of Escrow

Do some research and address and customize each one to a specific person so it doesn't look like a form letter.

No exclamation point in subject line.

Agree with other poster about leaving it open for a lowball. You might not want to even mention an amount on the first email.

I also try to tie it in to their current site or business. "I saw your site at www.(some worse domain) and thought this domain would really help improve your online efforts"

End with "let me know if you are interested" and skip transaction details like Escrow.com

Just my .02

Can do, Thanks everyone, glad I checked in before sending! anyone else want to chime in? I'll wait a day or two before sending and post the updated one later.

 

[alcy]

why force things so much and watch every word and detail.

why not just assume that the person reading it wants the simplest possilble thing, with least amount of words.

why not say in one line and 10 words:

I am the owner of domainX, which I can offer to you at great price. are you interested?

 

[garptrader]

Multiple links in an email will tend to trigger spam filters in which case your mail will never get read.

If you truly have a .COM which has meaningful search volume or is rather short and highly brandable, there is nothing wrong with wanting $2500 for it. However, from personal experience, if you ask for $2500 in the initial email you will probably get zero responses. I would not express openness to lower offers. Don't cheapen what you have to offer with price. If they are interested they will likely try to negotiate after asking the price. If they would not consider paying more than $25 for a domain name and you quote $2500, you will not hear back.

I generally dislike doing outbound marketing because it turns out to be a waste of time. Buyers generally buy domains when they want them not when you want to sell. But it is true those outside the industry may not be aware of the availability of a superior domain to the one they currently have. However, pricing needs to be realistic. Recently I sent out some outbound messages and received a response on one - an 11-character .COM relevant to this end user. He asked for the price. I responded $349 or best offer and he responded... "No thanks." He liked the name enough to ask but those outside this industry just do not place much value on domain names. Based on his quick dismissal of a low $XXX price, it is likely he would not consider paying more than $50 for it - a price I am not willing to sell it for as there are quite a number of end users in this niche and it is a relatively short .COM.

Since you mentioned a geo, I have found it very frustrating to deal with real estate agents. Theoretically they have the most to potentially benefit from a highly brandable name in their niche because the value of what they sell is so high. However, they are generally clueless about domains and will use personal names, crap TLDs like .info, hyphenated domains etc and will spend thousands on all kinds of ineffective advertising without giving second thought to buying a domain name.

 

[Kevin A]

Multiple links in an email will tend to trigger spam filters in which case your mail will never get read.

If you truly have a .COM which has meaningful search volume or is rather short and highly brandable, there is nothing wrong with wanting $2500 for it. However, from personal experience, if you ask for $2500 in the initial email you will probably get zero responses. I would not express openness to lower offers. Don't cheapen what you have to offer with price. If they are interested they will likely try to negotiate after asking the price. If they would not consider paying more than $25 for a domain name and you quote $2500, you will not hear back.

I generally dislike doing outbound marketing because it turns out to be a waste of time. Buyers generally buy domains when they want them not when you want to sell. But it is true those outside the industry may not be aware of the availability of a superior domain to the one they currently have. However, pricing needs to be realistic. Recently I sent out some outbound messages and received a response on one - an 11-character .COM relevant to this end user. He asked for the price. I responded $349 or best offer and he responded... "No thanks." He liked the name enough to ask but those outside this industry just do not place much value on domain names. Based on his quick dismissal of a low $XXX price, it is likely he would not consider paying more than $50 for it - a price I am not willing to sell it for as there are quite a number of end users in this niche and it is a relatively short .COM.

Since you mentioned a geo, I have found it very frustrating to deal with real estate agents. Theoretically they have the most to potentially benefit from a highly brandable name in their niche because the value of what they sell is so high. However, they are generally clueless about domains and will use personal names, crap TLDs like .info, hyphenated domains etc and will spend thousands on all kinds of ineffective advertising without giving second thought to buying a domain name.

All spectacular points, I am trying to remove all links except my sig but the email program is being a pain. I will say that the name is FLOWERS(city).com but the city can be either commonly abbreviated or spelled out I have the abbr. though I don't think it affects value much as both are used often and the other is taken and parked. oddly enough one of my targets registered the .florist version though it's used to redirect to their main site.

 

[Michael]

I definitely wouldn't have an exclamation point in the subject line because it triggers spam filters, the phrase "for sale" will either trigger a spam filter or make the recipient think it is spam. You may even want to put your domain as "SomeDomain .com" (notice the space) in the body to prevent it from becoming a link that triggers spam.

What I like to do for the subject line is say "TheirDomain.com Question" where you put their domain in the subject line, not yours. It's defensible because you are asking a question about their business, i.e. does their company want to acquire something that you own. In my experience this gets a lot more opens for obvious reasons, no business will delete an inquiry about their company without even reading it, so as long as you can tread carefully past the spam filters and get the right decision maker you're in.

Then I just keep the body very simple. Don't tell them the domain would be good for their business, some people get offended that you think you know what is good for them, and there's no point because if the domain gets their attention they'll just know it.

What other people said about not mentioning being open to offers is spot on. If you say that nobody is going to take it at $2,500. And if they have it in their head that you've already talked yourself down to $2,000, they're going to start even lower. Everyone knows they can make an offer if they want so it doesn't need to be said, it just starts you off from a position of weakness, which you're already starting with by you contacting them instead of them contacting you. No need to make it worse.

I wouldn't mention a price in the initial email, just get them on the hook. Then when they ask how much you can tell them, and send a more elaborate email justifying your price with comparable sales and saying some benefits of owning the domain. I think it is bad form to make them name a price first when you're the one who contacted them, so when they say "how much" I wouldn't play around and say that you're open to offers. But sometimes you'll get lucky and they'll make an opening offer that may even be higher than you wanted. Who knows.

Finally, the most important thing with outbound sales is getting the email to the right person. This is very rarely the person in the WHOIS. Go to their website and find someone high up in sales or marketing, or go right to a C-level executive or even the president of the company.

TL;DR, what I would do is this...

Subject: TheirDomain.com Question

Message:

My company owns SomeDomain .com and we are looking to sell it. If you have any interest let me know and we can discuss price. Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

[Signature]

 

[Michael]

Also once you get them to respond with something like "how much" almost no email programs will send any future emails to spam, so at that point you can basically say whatever you want, include links, prices, etc. So the goal is to get them to respond, not to make your entire pitch in the first email.

 

[jbjbjbjbjbjb]

anyone actually tried sending a physical letter for domains with a higher price tag?

 

[inforg]

anyone actually tried sending a physical letter for domains with a higher price tag?

I tried some really nice postcards once for a domain I thought had a lot of potential end users. 50 sent, zero response rate.

If you do letters, hand address them. Bonus points for going on eBay and buying older commemorative postage to use. I've had really good results on other projects (political campaigns) doing this.

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

You may even want to put your domain as "SomeDomain .com" (notice the space) in the body to prevent it from becoming a link that triggers spam.

Guaranteed ways to trigger a spam filter:

Obfuscating E-mail or URL in any way.

Spam filters have gotten wise, they know regular users will send links and emails normally and that obfuscated links or emails are only used by spammers. You actually have more chance of reaching an inbox without hiding the email or URL in any way.

 

[DomainVP]

In the first eMail I

Subject: NOTREALNAME.COM is for sale!

Dear (City) area entrepreneur,

I am writing you today to let you know that the domain name www.(not the real name).com is for sale. I believe your business would greatly benefit from this fantastic name. I am asking $2,500, however, I am also open to all offers and terms. Simply respond to this email to purchase or make an offer. All transactions will be handled via Escrow.com.

Best Regards,

Kevin A. Coffman
[email protected]

LinkedIn

Tips? it's a keywordgeo, not great but not awful IMO.

I wouldn't talk money in the first eMail, and as you have heard already 'open to offers and terms' just makes the message sound desperate.

Asking someone what they think goes a long way; keep the communication conversational.

The best advice I can give is to keep the message short, personal, direct, and leave from for some friendly negotiation.

 

[biggie]

what benefits?

best regards?

sending not great, but not awful names, really sucks

no one should ever give advice to requests like this, especially without knowing the actual domain name and who it's intended target is.

why?

1. it could be a worthless name and of no use to the recipient
2. because you could be an accomplice

imo...

 

[Dominic Belley]

what benefits?

best regards?

sending not great, but not awful names, really sucks

no one should ever give advice to requests like this, especially without knowing the actual domain name and who it's intended target is.

why?

1. it could be a worthless name and of no use to the recipient
2. because you could be an accomplice

imo...

It is just a matter of knowing what others do. I don't see anything wrong with it.

It is like asking for an example format for a resumé or a resignation letter. No need to know where to person wants to apply or works.

 

[biggie]

It is just a matter of knowing what others do. I don't see anything wrong with it.

It is like asking for an example format for a resumé or a resignation letter. No need to know where to person wants to apply or works.

it's monkey see, monkey do, letter writing, nothing more. you can google templates if that's all you want.

also, if someone is writing a resume, it should be tailored for the specific opening they are applying for, not just general practice info.... if you want the job.

imo....