question The vast majority of my cold emails ending in a 'black hole'. Why?

[Emil K.]

Something is terribly wrong concerning my emails sent to prospects.


Here's the latest example:

A few days ago I sent about 250 emails extracted from 100 websites. Shortly after submitting, I received about 15 notices about message defects (which is within the normal range), while the feedback messages about opening (reading) was just 6 (without any "Re:", of course), which is disastrous fact for me.

The worst part is that this is already repeated several times (for example with my domains: NewYorkDentalServices.com and SiantPaulLawFirm.com - both now expired). Unfortunately, I got the impression that it becomes regular occurrence.

To assist you in solving this enigma, I'll present here all relevant data related to my emailing.

-Domain name: TopTeaBrands.com (hand-reg; 590 monthly searches on Google). Please note that at least 60% of prospects domain names are completely worthless in my humble estimate.

-Email client: MS Outlook 2016 (has the ability to display the number of read emails)

-Email provider: GoDaddy (Email Essentials based on MS Office)

-Sending method: sending a group of 30 emails every 5 minutes (to avoid congestion)

-Days of sending: Tuesday through Thursday

-Sending time: 10.00 - 12.00 AM (scheduled time of receipt)

-Subject line: "One more thing linked with tea industry" (before that: "Top Tea Brands" and "Tea brands" - all of them without quotes). Everyone with approximately the same open rates.

-Body of email: very short but meaningful, concise, accurate, non-intrusive, in a friendly manner.

-The target group of prospects: companies engaged in tea trade (wholesalers, dealers, shops, suppliers...).

-Qualitu of send emails: unfortunately, the vast majority have type: info@..., support@..., customercare@..., [email protected]. (they are the most affordable), although there are about 20% - 25% of them with personal title.

What to say after all? I'm pretty desperate. Each sending of emails represents a real nightmare for me. I can't explain myself so much indifference of prospects.

Do any of you have an idea what to do to avoid such a poor open rate?

I could use any good advice and personal experiences regarding ways of solving similar situations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fatter]

Did you have the domain name in the header, I almost always do, with the sale price also, so they don't have to open it if not interested just delete it.
Joe T

 

[promo]

Let me ask you.. How many of your spam emails do you open?

If you are not sending individual messages and you are targetting harvested emails.. Then you are a spammer and most likely people are correctly identifying you as such from your header or sender address. Then you are put in the spam box and hardly no one sees your email.

Drop the mass emails and find the right leads and write them individual messages.

 

[bmugford]

Proactively selling domains is not easy, especially when the domains you are offering are low to average quality.

There is also no miracle method to compel someone to open your email.
As promo said above, you are better off targeting fewer, better leads.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

-Subject line: "One more thing linked with tea industry" (before that: "Top Tea Brands" and "Tea brands" - all of them without quotes). Everyone with approximately the same open rates.

I would just put something like -

TopTeaBrands.com - Domain For Sale
or
Domain Name Question

But in reality the open rates are going to be low no matter what the title is.

Brad

 

[Emil K.]

Drop the mass emails and find the right leads and write them individual messages.

For me as a beginner is very difficult to distil the email addresses of those who make decisions about buying something, in this case the domain name.

From websites I usualy (in most cases) can extract email addresses like "info", "support " and other similar.
How to get to the email address of the owners, CMOs, CEOs, chairmans, directors, CITOs and other 'large carnivores' in the company, that is the question?
Do you have any constructive idea on this?

 

[MapleDots]

I will chime in here for you.... something you are not considering.

I use gmail and have tweaked the filters for years. I get virtually no spam or emails from anyone I don't know.

Now here is the point that applies to you....

I even added my dad and father in law to spam because they keep forwarding emails and I don't want to be disturbed at work. That does not mean I do not read the emails. I look through my spam box and of course gmail blocks all the images which is a factor for most programs to determine if an email is read. I only unblock the images for the emails I chose to read, so if you sent me one of your emails chances would be I did read it but did not unblock images etc. Because I only looked at the preview in spam no identifying read receipt can reach you.

So as another poster said.... put as much info as possible on the subject line and chances are I will read the domain name. Does not mean I am interested or will open your email but you did reach me. You would never know this but you may even luck put if it is a domain I am really interested in.

Not sure if I clarified that well enough, but I hope you get the point.

 

[fm1234]

As others, have suggested, just drop the mass mailing entirely. As I posted a couple of times in the incredibly long, incredibly old, and now sadly useless but still quite famous end user thread if you have more than 30 potential buyers on your list, your list is too long and not nearly targeted enough. Finding a decent prospect list can be as daunting a task as finding a decent domain name in the first place.

I gave myself a fifteen minute time limit and went looking for some potential end users for your example domain TopTeaBrands.com ... in fifteen minutes I found three interesting corporate prospects (Starbucks, Fexy Media, and Penton, all of whom own large numbers of gourmet/tea related domains) and one interesting indie prospect (Lake Missoula Tea Company, who does not own a bunch of domains but who does spend money on AdWords and SEO services, with focus on wholesale teas, and might well be interested in an "Internet billboard" type of domain such as TopTeaBrands.) Will any of these companies buy your domain? No idea. But if your prospective buyers do not fit into one of those categories -- either holders of large relevant portfolios, or small companies who are spending money on relevant advertising and promotional services -- they probably shouldn't be on your prospect list. "Anyone who sells tea" is not a prospective buyer for TopTeaBrands.com. "Anyone who is definitely spending money trying to reach the online tea market" is definitely a prospect. "Anyone who owns a shit ton of unbranded coffee/tea related domains" is definitely a prospect. I hope this makes sense, and does not sound as if I am talking down to you.

As far as finding the right person to talk to, this can be a harder task. With the indie companies it's often as easy as e-mailing the address in their WHOIS, or using the contact form on their site. Bigger companies tend to use third parties (Starbucks uses CSC) to manage their online branding, and the basic contact addresses for most of them receive 5875839585999274958 e-mails a day so there's not much point using them. There are plenty of tips online you can find for weeding out the right person. But whatever you do, first thing is to stop "extracting" hundreds of address to shotgun blast your offer. It feels as if you're being organised and productive putting all that together, but as your own results show, it's really a huge waste of your time and energy.


Frank

 

[Kate]

OP:
These days end users (and domainers alike) are flooded with domain spam, in addition to the SEO/webdesign spam that has been a plague for so many years. You're fighting an uphill battle by sticking to those 'marketing' methods IMO.
Based on what you are saying, it looks clear that you have too many leads and they are not targeted enough. And probably not personalized.

I am pretty sure that a lot of recipients use gmail as the backend, or some other mail system that is smart enough to figure out the pattern. When multiple, identical messages are dispatched across the Internet it's usually a telltale sign. Especially when they are not sent from trusted sources and compliant with E-mail marketing standards.

I think it's better to spend time and energy toward finding good names, than finding end users.
I am not sure that a domain like TopTeaBrands.com can really make a difference to an end user. It's 3 keywords, too long and there must be no shortage of alternatives. It's not what I would call an outstanding domain. If they already have a domain name, you must offer something that would be a clear upgrade to what they are using. And maybe you're targeting the wrong industry too.

You also need to identify yourself properly. By definition a spam or a message perceived as such is not trusted by the recipient. You're just an Internet stranger with a message that isn't compelling enough to escape the gravity force of the spambin. IMHO.

 

[Emil K.]

"Anyone who sells tea" is not a prospective buyer for TopTeaBrands.com. "Anyone who is definitely spending money trying to reach the online tea market" is definitely a prospect. "Anyone who owns a sh*t ton of unbranded coffee/tea related domains" is definitely a prospect. I hope this makes sense, and does not sound as if I am talking down to you.

I fully understand the point of your message. Crude access to this important segment of domaining isn't going anywhere. Tactless approach choice prospects (potential customers) leading to loss of time and failure.

Unfortunately, to me, as a beginner, it's easier to move across longer path (that leads nowhere), at least so far.

If we continue to stay with the case of TopTeaBrands.com, apropos prospects who belong Tea Industry, I ask you to figure out a way that I found a companies "who are definitely spending money trying to reach the online tea market". What types of search tools can I use to find them? How to distinguish them from those who believe that their advertising (and thus a new domain name) are not necessary for them?

On the other hand, how to find and identify those companies who "owns a ton of unbranded tea related domains"?

To successfully started with this (not so easy) job, the most important is to find out the way to find the "usable" potential buyers, for now.

Later finding the right person from selected companies to talk to, seems like less of a problem than this, but this is not the topic of this discussion.

Any good advice I could use.

Thanks.

 

[Emil K.]

I think it's better to spend time and energy toward finding good names, than finding end users.
I am not sure that a domain like TopTeaBrands.com can really make a difference to an end user. It's 3 keywords, too long and there must be no shortage of alternatives. It's not what I would call an outstanding domain. If they already have a domain name, you must offer something that would be a clear upgrade to what they are using. And maybe you're targeting the wrong industry too.

To my regret, I still do not have enough knowledge and experience to be able to choose a domain name that would be considered very good. For this reason I need to keep on hand-reg, for now. Besides, I do not have enough money so I could buy at auctions.

What is right or wrong in relation to the area (industry) I choose domain is highly debatable. Tea industry seemed quite acceptable to me. It's not? Why? Some another it is. For what reasons? What make it such?

Observing from your point of view, this what I write may seems a bit silly, but that's what am I now in domaining. I hope it will be better.

I'd love to see your comments on the above mentioned. I hope it doesn't take up too much time.

Thanks.

 

[Kate]

To my regret, I still do not have enough knowledge and experience to be able to choose a domain name that would be considered very good. For this reason I need to keep on hand-reg, for now. Besides, I do not have enough money so I could buy at auctions.

I am glad you mentioned this, because many newbies say they don't have money, hence they handreg domains. But after dozens or hundreds of registrations (and no sales) we are fast into the hundreds of dollars. That money could have been devoted toward just a handful of acquisitions, but quality ones. On the occasion I still find good names at places like Godaddy auctions, that are overlooked by others. Very viable and often aged domains for less than $30. I am not saying you should be spending 4 figures right now. Just set the bar higher.

What is right or wrong in relation to the area (industry) I choose domain is highly debatable. Tea industry seemed quite acceptable to me. It's not? Why? Some another it is. For what reasons? What make it such?

What I meant to say is that some industries are more dependent on the Internet than others. For example, real estate today cannot exist without the Internet, or an online presence of some sort. On the other hand, some professions do not need a fully fledged website, and could do with a facebook page (like many restaurants). Selling domain names to those end users is going to be difficult if they don't see the need for a website.
Unless of course you have insider knowledge about the tea industry, and you know there could be demand for your names.

Observing from your point of view, this what I write may seems a bit silly, but that's what am I now in domaining. I hope it will be better.

No, it's not silly. Everybody can register so-so domains. People will only buy from you if you have compelling domain names that they want/need. And then you won't have to chase end users, they will naturally come to you provided you are patient enough and selective in your purchases. Easier said than done, but so is domaining

Now if you are reading between the lines: I am indeed openly saying that outbound is often counterproductive. Even if you had a 100% delivery rate it doesn't mean you would be making sales. There is no correlation between delivery rate and success rate

To use your example TopTeaBrands.com: the domain name has been registered in the past and it dropped in August 2013 (it was parked before). It was registered again in January of this year. So it's been sitting unregistered for more than 3 years. Believe me, a good domain name does not remain unnoticed for so long. It was available for a reason imo, and selling domains like these is an uphill battle.

TL;DR version: I don't think the poor delivery rate is the problem.

Good luck.

 

[deez007]

Whenever sending out cold emails, even if it's not related to domaining. You can expect a very very very low open rate. As with any spam.

I would suggest.. not sending out so many mails..weed out the BEST leads from your list then send then a personalised email. Then wait a few days and follow up with a phone call. This phone call won't be a "cold call" it will be warm... because when you phone them, you would introduce yourself and mention the email you sent them a few days ago regarding xyzdomain.com - You won't have to go thru an entire sales pitch on the phone cos they will know who you are and why u are calling... so then it's just a matter of closing the sale assuming your price is right and you not being too optimistic, you have a better chance of closing a sale with 25 leads by doing this compared to sending out 500 cold emails

 

[THowell1234]

I am by no means an experienced seller, but I do a LOT of reading posts and how to's etc and I have seen where several guys who are selling hundreds of thousands of dollars a year mention calling these people.
Just saying.

 

[Emil K.]

I am by no means an experienced seller, but I do a LOT of reading posts and how to's etc and I have seen where several guys who are selling hundreds of thousands of dollars a year mention calling these people.
Just saying.

I have not experienced enough to domaining yet to be able to make business by phone. That needs to be ready with answers to all sorts of questions at any time.

 

[Emil K.]

"Anyone who sells tea" is not a prospective buyer for TopTeaBrands.com. "Anyone who is definitely spending money trying to reach the online tea market" is definitely a prospect. "Anyone who owns a sh*t ton of unbranded coffee/tea related domains" is definitely a prospect. I hope this makes sense, and does not sound as if I am talking down to you.

If you have some time, please give me a brief answer on a few questions I asked in relation to your comment in this topic. I think these answers could significantly affect on change my strategy in the future.

Thanks

 

[THowell1234]

I have not experienced enough to domaining yet to be able to make business by phone. That needs to be ready with answers to all sorts of questions at any time.

Well, part of my comment did not print. I meant in reading, studying those who are successful, etc. I have seen it commented more than once that they are calling these people on the phone. Possibly as a follow up to the email to see if they go it, then if not, they tell them what they want. One person said that the majority of sales were credited to the phone calls.

 

[namerav]

Cold emails strike rate is less than 10%. So if you are getting 2-3 replies for every 100 mails than that's excellent.

 

[Emil K.]

Cold emails strike rate is less than 10%. So if you are getting 2-3 replies for every 100 mails than that's excellent.

So Cold emailing is not really a good way to sell domains. Can you recommend me something else in that direction? Or give me some useful link?

 

[namerav]

So Cold emailing is not really a good way to sell domains. Can you recommend me something else in that direction? Or give me some useful link?

If you get 8-9 replies for every 100 emails you sent is in right sales direction. My previous statement in this regard is positive.