❄️ my cold email litmus
the final straw: reply based outreach
I receive tons of this sucky outreach, just like you do. On LinkedIn and via email.
Most of these emails never pass my first litmus: the title of the thing. most titles suck. “Partnership”, “Collaboration”, “ROI”, etc. as soon as they’re filtered by my brain as “non-personal” / “not important” / “not urgent”, they’re discarded. That’s 90% of the outreach I get.
Second litmus once I clicked the email: is this a personal message sent to me, or was it sent at scale? What’s the level of personalization? What’s the structure of the message? Is it long, boring and “professional” or does it look like a friend of mine texting me? Does it at least use AI? I skim through the emails in 0.1s. If it passes this test, 99% don’t, then I’ll actually read the email.
Third, the email needs to be really good. It needs to also be something that I’m actively looking for, ie a YouTube video editor or something that has to do with my current focus: podcasts. it needs to have the very best offer for my very niche. It also needs to be written by a CEO, someone I have respect for, not a junior SDR going through life.
Finally, and here’s the “final straw” and the final test for me to make it in your calendar: don’t send me a friggin calendly link. Not yet. Cold emails should be all REPLY BASED nowadays, ie:
{{first_name}} would love to have you on my CEO Wisdom Pod to talk {{vertical}} and {{company}}, can I send more info here?
Do not go with “would love to book a call” or even worse “here’s my link”. Not yet!
Wait for the reply. This right there discards the last .9% of champions that made it through my mailbox. Result, only 0.1% of cold emails convert me. The pickiest of picky. As I teach the thang. Cold Senseï knows.
My campaigns get in average 7% reply rate at scale. Some 30% sure but I won’t talk bout those. I thus convert in the top percentile. That’s cuz I am patient, different and sound more like a friend than a sales rep. I don’t ask directly. I establish mailbox rapport, then earn the right to ask. Oh, and more than 30% of folks ask themselves for the call. My goal, once I get a reply, is to add value+value+value. Until they can’t take it anymore and ask about my stripe link.
This is where the industry is moving, if you’re going to go for direct sales outreach. I must mention that direct outreach is fading out and that techniques like podcast funnels are working way better, but still, 35% of my campaigns are about direct sales “can I send you more info” style.
u welcome,