Having trouble getting any return on cold email outreach

[treeleef]

I've been trying a number of methods for lead generation. Picking up business cards from neighboring towns and cities, using google to find small corporations, using lead generation tools online, looking at business directories online. Everytime I try to use the email cold approach to reach them, I'm met with radio silence. I've sent about 25 emails a day for the past month or so and I've only had 2 people respond, neither of which actually wanted a website.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there any demand for web design anymore? Maybe my email text is too stale? Any help would be appreciated. I want to continue with this pursuit, but so far I'm not getting any results.

 

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[themarkboogie]

Hey man - you mind sharing your process? What does your email look like? What's your CTA? Are you sending individualized emails or mass emails? Are you using an email tracking application to view open/bounce rates? Have you checked your email spam score?

The issue is that business owners are constantly sent spam emails from web designers/digital marketers trying to sell their services. So it's hard to drown out the noise.

 

[David Fitz]

I get cold emails and cold calls every week. It annoys the hell out of me. I've not seen one email yet that has been different.

If you want to do cold emails then start sending video emails of how you can help them. That will make you stand out more but it will take a lot of time.

 

[Itizn]

Are you even running a follow-up process with these prospects?

 

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[Mammoth]

Try going back and calling all of those prospects that you've sent an email to. Then you can bring up the email once you get them on the phone so that there's a reason you're calling.

Don't underestimate the power of the phone.

 

[treeleef]

Hey man - you mind sharing your process? What does your email look like? What's your CTA? Are you sending individualized emails or mass emails? Are you using an email tracking application to view open/bounce rates? Have you checked your email spam score?

The issue is that business owners are constantly sent spam emails from web designers/digital marketers trying to sell their services. So it's hard to drown out the noise.

At first, I took the personalized business card route. That's where I got my two responses from. But they refused. After that, after sending more than 50 or so emails with no response, I decided to try switching up my technique. I found a way to acquire email lists and started batching them out at 25 per day, scattering them throughout the day in groups of 5-7 at a time. I haven't received any responses from this technique.

My email looks very much like this one from Fox's video:

View: https://youtu.be/EqMtb0JxWiY


Not sure what a CTA is.

I was going to use tracking, but I read somewhere that it's not suggested for cold emailing because somehow it increases the likelihood of being lumped into spam.

I get cold emails and cold calls every week. It annoys the hell out of me. I've not seen one email yet that has been different.

If you want to do cold emails then start sending video emails of how you can help them. That will make you stand out more but it will take a lot of time.

I was thinking about this. It just takes more time I guess.

Are you even running a follow-up process with these prospects?

I've planned on it, but haven't yet. I've saved the phone numbers of all these businesses, and I just need to find the time to give them all a call and follow up. Maybe that's the key?

Try going back and calling all of those prospects that you've sent an email to. Then you can bring up the email once you get them on the phone so that there's a reason you're calling.

Don't underestimate the power of the phone.

Maybe this is the missing link. It's easier and time-efficient for me to send out batches of emails, but maybe I just need to take more time to call each of them individually after a bit of time.

 

[themarkboogie]

At first, I took the personalized business card route. That's where I got my two responses from. But they refused. After that, after sending more than 50 or so emails with no response, I decided to try switching up my technique. I found a way to acquire email lists and started batching them out at 25 per day, scattering them throughout the day in groups of 5-7 at a time. I haven't received any responses from this technique.

My email looks very much like this one from Fox's video:

View: https://youtu.be/EqMtb0JxWiY


Not sure what a CTA is.

I was going to use tracking, but I read somewhere that it's not suggested for cold emailing because somehow it increases the likelihood of being lumped into spam.

My guess: the reason you aren't receiving responses is that your emails are too generic. It's incredibly hard to get anyone to respond to mass emails.

You received 2 responses from personalized emails. That's a good start. It's unfortunate they didn't want your services but you got some feedback. I'd go back to whatever you were doing when you sent those emails.

As @momo suggested, it's worth personalizing these emails so that others know you're a real person. Do this with the first sentence in your cold email. You can also send video audits for free through Loom and it'll alert you if they view it (which can be pretty exciting).

CTA is your call to action. You want to try to get the smallest "yes" you can when you are cold emailing. Offer to provide them something of value for free or to send them a free website audit. Once they say "yes" once it'll be 10x easier to get them to say yes again to jump onto a call with you. This should be the last sentence of your email as people are more likely to respond if you end with a question.

You should also use email tracking so you can see open/bounce rates. If you're worried about your email going to spam you could invest in a G Suite Google Business account or use Lemlist's email warm-up. I use HubSpot CRM for tracking, it's free. Yamm is also great.

You can test your email address for deliverability here for free. Make sure you have your DMARC and everything set up on your domain side to increase your deliverability.

Finally, as @Itizn and @Mammoth suggested, the money with cold outreach is in the follow-up. You should expect a 1% response rate after one email. But now you can follow up with a phone call and say "I'm following up with an email I sent over"

I'm far from an expert in cold outreach but if you want to copy & paste the email you're sending we can take a look at improving it.

 

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[Itizn]

my cold emails are usually a result of being referred by a colleague or acquaintance, but the ones that have good responses always speak "their language"

whatever industry you are pitching to has people who's ears perk up at a certain key-word or phrase. Identify what they are by talking to people in that niche, and use them in your copy.

CTA in your position is very key. Make it very simple and not a big ask.

The way to bypass being a stranger while also triggering a reply (ideally one in your favor) is to:

speaking their language + having a call to action.
That should be enough to guide your copy.

Best of luck.

 

[Kevin88660]

I've been trying a number of methods for lead generation. Picking up business cards from neighboring towns and cities, using google to find small corporations, using lead generation tools online, looking at business directories online. Everytime I try to use the email cold approach to reach them, I'm met with radio silence. I've sent about 25 emails a day for the past month or so and I've only had 2 people respond, neither of which actually wanted a website.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there any demand for web design anymore? Maybe my email text is too stale? Any help would be appreciated. I want to continue with this pursuit, but so far I'm not getting any results.

Try something different and see if it helps.

One method is to set up whatsapp/wechat/teleggram group to pull biz owners in and make it as a resource matching/networking group. You as the admin can also share tips on “how to improve your website to have better lead” for free.

You are just one of them a business owner too. But you set the agenda for the community. You can pin your own marketing too. Ideally is to have 90 percent of the content/work to serve the community, 10 percent of it serve to market yourself, so that it doesn’t look like a spam to them.

Do I need free advice on website? Maybe not. Networking with other business owners. Hell yes.

Set up some ground rules that it is mainly meant for collaboration: looking for partner, supplier..anyother thing that is not having someone spamming b2b pitch at them, then leaving one day a week specially for approved b2b marketing for some community members.

Just need to pick up some skills on community management. One place to learn that is look at how Fastlane forum is being ran. Lots of work in the initial stage but once you identify active participants who have incentives to actively make it running it will run on its own with less maintainance.

 

[Deleted68316]

Did you read @Fox Web Designer Guide?

It's free and a must-have. In there you are going to find what you are doing wrong.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XZP5PPG/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

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