How many times do you follow up to end users?

[rvo]

Hi NPers,

I'm actively seeking buyers for my domains, I contact them primary by email.
I'm using Streak for Gmail as one member of this forum recommended it, it's awesome.

I can see when a person has read my email, some emails have several views but no replies so I tend to follow up again once a week but how much is too much? For example, I have sent 3 emails to a person, the initial one and two follow ups, and I don't know if I should keep going, I just don't know what to say anymore, lol.

It goes like this (made up, obviously)
First email:
Hey, I have this awesome domain, myawesomedomain.com, buy it!

Second email:
Hey, I've send you an email last week, did you think about it?

Third email:
Hello?

Fourth email:
....


I hate when I see one of my emails have several views (dozens) and no replies, what the fuck people? at least say "No thank you" so I can cross your name.

So, how do you approach outbound marketing to end users? And how many times do you follow up? Do you do it until you get an answer?

 

[SpareDomains]

I get a ton of emails from other domainers and I'll say that the majority of them end up in the spam folder. Think maybe this is from people flagging them as some of the the ones I have gotten in the inbox from the same people now go straight to the spam folder. Maybe after a few people flag them Google flags it permanently as junk mail or Google notices a pattern of the same email being used and flags them as 90%+ I don't even receive anymore. Not mad about that as never understood why someone would email another domainer but guess that's just from bulk emailing which leads to flagging.

 

[kaz2]

Here's some feedback for OP, and my useful technique which perhaps others can use




I receive such emails (as well as other crap), and it goes like this (not made up):
I have numerous email accounts in my desktop Thunderbird client, and I have set them all to send any email I manually mark as junk (click of a button) to the "local" account (down the bottom out of sight) and into it's "trash" folder, and have set that trash folder to "empty on exit" so it's purged whenever I close Thunderbird/shut down the PC.

1st email
I read it, see it's sales/spam/someone trying to sell the wrong person the wrong domain name
I click "Mark as junk" button and your email address is added to the "junk" list, and that email is sent to the local account's trash folder (down the bottom out of sight)

2nd email
Automatically sent to local trash folder, I don't see it

3rd email
Automatically sent to local trash folder, I don't see it

150th email
Automatically sent to local trash folder, I don't see it

No matter how many you send or what you say, you are just sent to junk and your emails deleted on exit. Sorry if this offends, but generally they're not interesting and just some/any old domain for sale and I don't care. I have so many places to buy domains, NP, Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic, Registrars, Flippa, etc etc and so I don't need random ones coming in to my inbox(es) as well!

It is junk, spam, etc.

Of course some people sell well using this method, but only when:

1. Your domains are absolutely of high quality
2. And your domain name is absolutely relevant to the person/company you contact
3. And your email sounds professional (not just some general Joe trying to sell etc)

I hope you sell well, but honestly there is a difference between spamming some random people hoping they want to buy your basic domain names irrelevant to them/their business (very very unlikely to work) and you sending a high quality domain name to a company or person who will have some interest in it.

Good luck

Good post. Your last point above:

"And your email sounds professional (not just some general Joe trying to sell etc)"

Are you saying here that one should never sell a domain names using a hotmail or gmail account?

 

[james haw]

Are you saying here that one should never sell a domain names using a hotmail or gmail account?

That's up to you and your business model etc, but IMO it looks much more organised and professional to use an email address from your broker domain/website. Gmail could be anyone from anywhere.

It could affect converation and your bargaining options etc. If you look like a 2bit outfit then they might go in low(er), otherwise take you seriously and negotiate accordingly.

 

[kaz2]

That's up to you and your business model etc, but IMO it looks much more organised and professional to use an email address from your broker domain/website. Gmail could be anyone from anywhere.

It could affect converation and your bargaining options etc. If you look like a 2bit outfit then they might go in low(er), otherwise take you seriously and negotiate accordingly.

Good points. My only reservation in using an email address attached to a domain I own is that I don't have any developed domains.

Therefore a potential buyer may go to the domain in my email address and just see a parked page (or worse it does not resolve) which may look a bit dodgy.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

 

[james haw]

My only reservation in using an email address attached to a domain I own is that I don't have any developed domains.

Therefore a potential buyer may go to the domain in my email address and just see a parked page (or worse it does not resolve) which may look a bit dodgy.

That could look worse than a Gmail address I agree. If you have a domain email one would expect to see a website of some kind, even if just basic.

It depends on how each person operates, someone emailing very good or premium names and to repeat buyers then it doesn't matter. You could perhaps plan to develop a site over the coming weeks/months. It's not inherently essential but (IMO) does look more professional and stand more chance.

Although, if the domains are not interesting to the recipient, like they own a similar one or site on a lesser name, then it'll likely be ignored/marked as spam anyway.

 

[biggie]

people question why the recipient doesn't reply,

but who questions the context of the email and the domain within that solicitation?

 

[mhdoc]

Good points. My only reservation in using an email address attached to a domain I own is that I don't have any developed domains.

Therefore a potential buyer may go to the domain in my email address and just see a parked page (or worse it does not resolve) which may look a bit dodgy.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

Pick a "keeper" domain on which you want to build your brand and sign up for a Weebly or Wix account. It takes almost no technical skill to build a simple website with their drag and drop tools. Then you have a place to list your domains, write about things, and look like a real business. Well worth the time in my opinion.

 

[SBS66]

Although, if the domains are not interesting to the recipient, like they own a similar one or site on a lesser name, then it'll likely be ignored/marked as spam anyway.

I recently bought a domain from someone mailing from a free account. What got me to buy it was that the name is one that used to be owned by a competitor. At first I was suspicious because I checked the Whois and this person was not the owner. But eventually I did buy it. And I'm glad I did because it's a type-in one and is already sending traffic to one of my sites. It wasn't a lot of $, being under $200, but it will certainly be worth it for me.

I also get a lot of emails with names that either have no value to me or for which I see no value if I were an end-user. Sometimes I thank them and decline, other times I don't answer. At the end of the day, I think they're just trying to make a living like the rest of us. Doesn't hurt me to just ignore them if I can't say anything nice.

 

[fm1234]

Good points. My only reservation in using an email address attached to a domain I own is that I don't have any developed domains.

Therefore a potential buyer may go to the domain in my email address and just see a parked page (or worse it does not resolve) which may look a bit dodgy.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

Given the cost/effort associated with setting up a basic webpage to help establish a professional presence (ie. "close to 0 cost/effort") it is certainly worth considering you do this. It doesn't have to be anything fancy; it can be a one-page "virtual business card" with your contact info and a link to your LinkedIn profile if you use it. Basically an online CV. And that will look vastly more professional than e-mailing people from a freemail or even an ISP e-mail address.


Frank

 

[Cdomains]

I know many here use email tracking and the best ones like streak only work with gmail.

I think it is nice to see when someone opens your email, but many end users do not take emails from free email services seriously because they can be registered by anyone and many spammers use them.

I never use free email to send to end users for this reason, but use my site email address because it looks like it is coming from a real business and I think it is taken more seriously.

 

[AEProgram]

I know many here use email tracking and the best ones like streak only work with gmail.

I think it is nice to see when someone opens your email, but many end users do not take emails from free email services seriously because they can be registered by anyone and many spammers use them.

I never use free email to send to end users for this reason, but use my site email address because it looks like it is coming from a real business and I think it is taken more seriously.

Ever test what % of the emails coming from your own domain ends up in spam vs emails that would come from say gmail?

 

[Cdomains]

I like to pound end users with emails until they bend to my will.

Only kidding!!