strategy Share your creative outbound emails

[Joe N]

I was inspired by this post made by @Arpit131, and tonight I decided to craft a truly personalized email with attitude for an outbound sales attempt (will share in my next post).

I would love to make this thread a central resource for inspired ideas of how to grab the attention of a potential buyer with a well-written opening email. Members like @Ali have shared personalized intros in the past, and I know many found it incredibly helpful.

So post your original email creations, and let's give constructive feedback to one another on how to improve our email writing skills.

 

[frank-germany]

The majority of these emails would go from my inbox to marked as spam before even reading a single sentence.

definetely

 

[tonyk2000]

I have yet to receive any creative email from another domainer

So far, basically:

1) Is <...> for sale, and, if so, how much?

No offer is made. If the domain is indeed for sale - then it has a lander with a price or at least make offer or contact form, which is an appropriate channel to establish contact. If the domain does not have such a lander - it is likely not for sale. Yet. Or - at all. OK, any domain can possibly be sold for some price. But I have nothing to respond here. In many cases, folks will start spamming the whole world promoting my domains as theirs, with higher price - as my asking price, if disclosed, would not be public in this case. So - no response.

2) Pre-release or pendingdelete frontrunning. "Only the domain is for sale, no website". Yeah. Sometimes I like the domain and acquire it after the drop

3) Somebody added my email to their so-called "marketplace" and is sending me "Weekly domain name listings". Will not mention their branding here, no extra ads... Shame on mailchimp for allowing such customers to send their spam.

 

[Randolph]

The examples I've seen in this thread would get filtered and manually sent to spam.


Do not start with you.


Look through your spam folder and you will see what I mean. Saying "I am a company [...]" or "I am/want to reach out to you for [...]" does not provoke a single bit of emotion outside of annoyance. Don't play them for stupid, we can all see through these phrases.


For this reason, it is why we start with them.


A good outbound message will evoke emotion, consume their mind, show the light — all while, seemingly, being harmless. (Not a sell)


You must:

Do your research - Read their About Us page, find the decision maker on social, circle around ways you can help or make a connection with them.

Make a connection - Be human. What would you do if you were meeting this person face-to-face? You wouldn't throw products in their face — you would find mutual grounds of comparison, compliment on their business or accomplishments, then push for other means of contact or begin your pitch. Treat outbound the same way.

Ask leading questions - These are questions that answer themselves and make the receiver's gears turn. Play to their emotion, whether it be fear, desire, or other. After making a connection, say something like "What would you say if I could increase your social media post click-through rate with a few simple suggestions?" The obvious answer here is "tell me more!" (And now you have a reply.)

Be an arbitrary party - The receiver must feel you are here by chance, not necessity or for any reason (especially not to take their money). You are contacting them because you care about something they are doing and you have valuable input; Ideas are free, help them with some simple information (noticed a typo, should post on Twitter more, I liked this campaign and you should do it more, etc) and they will be in the palm of your hand.

Give value, value, and value - As an arbitrary party, you want to help out of the good within your soul. You just so happen to have a domain they may be able to make use of in a positive manner.

Be patient - They say it takes about 7 touches to convert a cold lead. Don't push directly for the sale in your first message. Your goal for your initial contact is to get an answer and your foot in the door as someone that can benefit their organization.


There's your homework; I will be back later to give a few examples and pick apart a few of the creatives others have shared (no offense).

 

[ThatNameGuy]

The majority of these emails would go from my inbox to marked as spam before even reading a single sentence.

Nick....i've got a portfolio of outbound marketing materials to include a domain I own DomainEthics.com that I'll sell for 64K. Ask Jim if he's interested

 

[NickB]

If you are emailing most companies, especially with 500+ employees from an unrecognised email the recipient will have a big warning displayed on their email saying it has come from an outside source and advise them to be careful or delete the email, this happens if you included a link or not......

Keep it short and sweet,

Use their first name

Try the old jedi mind trick (still works - I get replies apologising that they missed my call )

"I have tried calling you several times without success"

Promote 3 USP's (unique selling points) and why it would benefit their business

Provide a link to a sales lander (call to action)

Ask if there is a good time to call them and give them the option to call you (provide phone number)

Include in your signature your LinkedIn profile full name, business name (if applicable) and contact number (social proof)

Do NOT ramble
Do not OVER PROMOTE
Do NOT use unprofessional language or words
Do NOT use a personal email account

Would help if you can speak to people on the phone, otherwise you are throwing sh*t at the wall and hoping something will stick......

 

[oldtimer]

The examples I've seen in this thread would get filtered and manually sent to spam.


Do not start with you.


Look through your spam folder and you will see what I mean. Saying "I am a company [...]" or "I am/want to reach out to you for [...]" does not provoke a single bit of emotion outside of annoyance. Don't play them for stupid, we can all see through these phrases.


For this reason, it is why we start with them.


A good outbound message will evoke emotion, consume their mind, show the light — all while, seemingly, being harmless. (Not a sell)


You must:

Do your research - Read their About Us page, find the decision maker on social, circle around ways you can help or make a connection with them.

Make a connection - Be human. What would you do if you were meeting this person face-to-face? You wouldn't throw products in their face — you would find mutual grounds of comparison, compliment on their business or accomplishments, then push for other means of contact or begin your pitch. Treat outbound the same way.

Ask leading questions - These are questions that answer themselves and make the receiver's gears turn. Play to their emotion, whether it be fear, desire, or other. After making a connection, say something like "What would you say if I could increase your social media post click-through rate with a few simple suggestions?" The obvious answer here is "tell me more!" (And now you have a reply.)

Be an arbitrary party - The receiver must feel you are here by chance, not necessity or for any reason (especially not to take their money). You are contacting them because you care about something they are doing and you have valuable input; Ideas are free, help them with some simple information (noticed a typo, should post on Twitter more, I liked this campaign and you should do it more, etc) and they will be in the palm of your hand.

Give value, value, and value - As an arbitrary party, you want to help out of the good within your soul. You just so happen to have a domain they may be able to make use of in a positive manner.

Be patient - They say it takes about 7 touches to convert a cold lead. Don't push directly for the sale in your first message. Your goal for your initial contact is to get an answer and your foot in the door as someone that can benefit their organization.


There's your homework; I will be back later to give a few examples and pick apart a few of the creatives others have shared (no offense).

That all sounds good and logical if you get a chance to actually engage in a conversation with a CEO on LinkedIn or social media, but when it comes to outbound emails since most of them are going to be filtered or ignored it makes it imperative that you get the attention of the decision maker in the company through your subject line.

As domainers we all receive those SEO marketing emails everyday which most people just delete, but there have been a few occasionally that have attracted my attention and made me curious enough to want to learn more about what they were offering (although I have never actually responded to any of them).

So I believe the first thing should be to try to come up with the ideal subject line that is going to pass through the filters and that can create enough curiosity and interest for the decision maker in the company to open the email. Then we can move on to discussing the most effective content for each specific situations.

Disclaimer: As I have already said before, you should only send a few targeted emails for your higher quality domains that are considered to be a perfect fit for the prospective companies and businesses either as an upgrade for their main website or as one that is a perfect match to one of their products and services. I strongly discourage sending mass emails, because even if you get some results but it might not be worth it as it will only make all domainers look bad in the eyes of the general public.

IMO

 

[frank-germany]

That all sounds good and logical if you get a chance to actually engage in a conversation with a CEO on LinkedIn or social media, but when it comes to outbound emails since most of them are going to be filtered or ignored it makes it imperative that you get the attention of the decision maker in the company through your subject line.

As domainers we all receive those SEO marketing emails everyday which most people just delete, but there have been a few occasionally that have attracted my attention and made me curious enough to want to learn more about what they were offering (although I have never actually responded to any of them).

So I believe the first thing should be to try to come up with the ideal subject line that is going to pass through the filters and that can create enough curiosity and interest for the decision maker in the company to open the email. Then we can move on to discussing the most effective content for each specific situations.

Disclaimer: As I have already said before, you should only send a few targeted emails for your higher quality domains that are considered to be a perfect fit for the prospective companies and businesses either as an upgrade for their main website or as one that is a perfect match to one of their products and services. I strongly discourage sending mass emails, because even if you get some results but it might not be worth it as it will only make all domainers look bad in the eyes of the general public.

IMO

I would suggest
you do a few outbound emails
right now

and then let us know
how it worked out

 

[Randolph]

That all sounds good and logical if you get a chance to actually engage in a conversation with a CEO on LinkedIn or social media, but when it comes to outbound emails since most of them are going to be filtered or ignored it makes it imperative that you get the attention of the decision maker in the company through your subject line.

As domainers we all receive those SEO marketing emails everyday which most people just delete, but there have been a few occasionally that have attracted my attention and made me curious enough to want to learn more about what they were offering (although I have never actually responded to any of them).

So I believe the first thing should be to try to come up with the ideal subject line that is going to pass through the filters and that can create enough curiosity and interest for the decision maker in the company to open the email. Then we can move on to discussing the most effective content for each specific situations.

Disclaimer: As I have already said before, you should only send a few targeted emails for your higher quality domains that are considered to be a perfect fit for the prospective companies and businesses either as an upgrade for their main website or as one that is a perfect match to one of their products and services. I strongly discourage spending mass emails, because even if you get some results but it might not be worth it as it will only make all domainers look bad in the eyes of the general public.

IMO

I completely agree.

With my prior statement, this should help you stay out of the "automatic" spam folder.

We must remember that the first line and a half will be seen in most email boxes, next to the subject line; That is why you must connect with them on the first line of the body.

The subject line is definitely the most important. I touched on this in the thread that motivated this thread.

A subject that is 3-5 words long has always worked best. For smaller companies or singular entities, the domain name as the subject itself can be all you need to draw interest. However, you must act based on the research you conducted prior to contacting.

I find myself using "A few thoughts" as subject lines these days. This is because I merge my ex-branding experience into my outbounds by giving useful insight that can help them, most often monetarily.


Also, the CEO is typically not the ideal receiver unless the company is <20 employees. They receive a flood of emails on the daily. Find their decision maker and let them forward further details to the Big Shot.

 

[oldtimer]

I would suggest
you do a few outbound emails
right now

and then let us know
how it worked out

We first have to brainstorm together to come up the right outbound email before we even come to the point of testing it.

Once a consensus is achieved on what to use in an email then people can report their results if they wish to help others.

Frank, what is your suggestion about what a good outbound email should look like.

IMO

 

[ThatNameGuy]

If you are emailing most companies, especially with 500+ employees from an unrecognised email the recipient will have a big warning displayed on their email saying it has come from an outside source and advise them to be careful or delete the email, this happens if you included a link or not......

Keep it short and sweet,

Use their first name

Try the old jedi mind trick (still works - I get replies apologising that they missed my call )

"I have tried calling you several times without success"

Promote 3 USP's (unique selling points) and why it would benefit their business

Provide a link to a sales lander (call to action)

Ask if there is a good time to call them and give them the option to call you (provide phone number)

Include in your signature your LinkedIn profile full name, business name (if applicable) and contact number (social proof)

Do NOT ramble
Do not OVER PROMOTE
Do NOT use unprofessional language or words
Do NOT use a personal email account

Would help if you can speak to people on the phone, otherwise you are throwing sh*t at the wall and hoping something will stick......

I'll share again, most key executives are on Linkedin and it would be well worth your time to explore who within an organization makes these sort o decisions. If you can't find who, I'd suggest you make a call to "administration" and ask who? It doesn't hurt to ask

 

[uzver]

posting ideas of others
neatly summarised in long, winding post,
is not discussing knowledge and experience.

Am I the only one who immediately thinks of Bob when he reads this?

 

[alizxxz]

@frank-germany
can i contact you via PM ?

 

[NickB]

I'll share again, most key executives are on Linkedin and it would be well worth your time to explore who within an organization makes these sort o decisions. If you can't find who, I'd suggest you make a call to "administration" and ask who? It doesn't hurt to ask

Don't need to....it is what I do for a living have CHRO's CPO's, SVP's, VP's, senior directors, directors, global heads, heads and everything else in my network...

Knowing who they are is one thing, creating a relationship or dialogue is another....

They are my professional network not my domaining hobby network

 

[frank-germany]

@frank-germany
can i contact you via PM ?

sure

 

[Randolph]

I'll share again, most key executives are on Linkedin and it would be well worth your time to explore who within an organization makes these sort o decisions. If you can't find who, I'd suggest you make a call to "administration" and ask who? It doesn't hurt to ask

Exactly, Richard.

Old-schoolers know this is the way into an organization. You want to make a ruckus, start moving your way through the org by first touching their secretary or whomever mans the main phone line.

Telling a decision maker you spoke with Cathy from another department will ease your chances at speaking with the person you need to speak with. Cathy likely told you who to speak with.

We live in a time where you can find any information about a company and it's employees with a few minutes of research, especially on social media. Take advantage.

 

[frank-germany]

We first have to brainstorm together to come up the right outbound email before we even come to the point of testing it.

Once a consensus is achieved on what to use in an email then people can report their results if they wish to help others.

Frank, what is your suggestion about what a good outbound email should look like.

IMO

its not about discussing
and thinking

its all about testing
testing
testing

and it's your choice if you do it
or discuss it

 

[NickB]

Exactly, Richard.

Old-schoolers know this is the way into an organization. You want to make a ruckus, start moving your way through the org by first touching their secretary or whomever mans the main phone line.

Telling a decision maker you spoke with Cathy from another department will ease your chances at speaking with the person you need to speak with. Cathy likely told you who to speak with.

We live in a time where you can find any information about a company and it's employees with a few minutes of research, especially on social media. Take advantage.

No...why do this when you can use tools like lusha to get the decision makers direct phone numbers?Or emails....If you have to speak to the PA then do it, but nowadays you can get a direct dial or mobile number very easily....

 

[frank-germany]

No...why do this when you can use tools like lusha to get the decision makers direct phone numbers?Or emails....If you have to speak to the PA then do it, but nowadays you can get a direct dial or mobile number very easily....

thanks @NickB

that's real information

 

[oldtimer]

its not about discussing
and thinking

its all about testing
testing
testing

and it's your choice if you do it
or discuss it

Frank you're right, but we have to have something to test for.

If you have already found an outbound method that has passed all the tests and that you want to share it here then I am all ears, but otherwise perhaps you should allow this thread to develop and evolve for a few weeks so that we can hear everyone's input and experience so that we'll have something to test for.

IMO

 

[Randolph]

No...why do this when you can use tools like lusha to get the decision makers direct phone numbers?Or emails....If you have to speak to the PA then do it, but nowadays you can get a direct dial or mobile number very easily....

Receiving contact out of the blue

vs

Having a 10-minute conversation with another person in the org and having them tell you who would be best to talk to. Possibly having this trusted person warm your decision maker up before even speaking with you.


Which would have a higher conversion ratio?

The latter is how it works with real businesses and corporations, unless you're okay with an offer from the petty change fund.